GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



to the sin of the world. Well, the most 

 striking- illustration of the depravity of the 

 present a^e I clip from the Independent. I 

 have put on a head of my own, as you will 

 notice. 



COSTS $10,500,000; WAS six YEARS IN BUILDING; 



1000 MFN WERE ABOARD OF HER, AND SUNK 



IN SIX MINUTES. 



Six years ago the British determined to build a 

 battle-cruiser that should be bigger and swifter and 

 stronger than any afloat. Hundreds of skilled work- 

 men labored for years in her construction. Ten and 

 n half million dollars were spent on her. She was 

 protected with armor plate of the hardest steel nine 

 inches thick. She was propelled by the most efficient 

 of steam-engines, the turbine. She was armed with 

 ten 13.5-inch guns, which could discharge a 1400 

 pound projectile every thirty seconds ; also with six- 

 teen 4-inch guns, twelve 6-inch guns, and two tor- 

 pedo tubes. The British, properly proud of her, 

 named her after their queen. A thousand men were 

 put aboard of her, and she was sent into action on 

 the last day of May. 



Tlie German warships opened fire, and within six 

 minutes the " Queen Mary " was torn asunder by a 

 terrific explosion, and sunk. 



I suppose this gi-eat warship was paid 

 for and built by taxing good honest hard- 

 working people. To say nothing of the 

 waste of life, think of the property and the 

 hard work that were wasted in just six 

 minutes. Will the great wide world learn a 

 lesson from the above event? or will the 

 nations keep on building warships on such 

 a scale, or even a larger scale, to meet a 

 like cata.strophe and disaster? Who can 

 answer? Will any power on earth put a 

 stop to it unless it is the Lamb of God that 

 taketh away the sin of the world? If he 

 should command the nations to cease such 

 awful and wicked waste, would they obey 

 him as did the money changers in the tem- 

 ple? I read somewhere that somebody sug- 

 gested that these war times have demon- 

 strated the failure of religion; but a by- 

 stander quickly replied, " Not so, my friend, 

 for religion has not even been tried." 



And now in closing this Home paper 1 

 want to give you the contents of a tract 

 just sent me by the good woman who gave 

 us " War on Christian Principles." On the 

 first page of this tract there is an excellent 

 picture of a shoemaker working with his 

 last. By the way, it used to be the fashion 

 some fifty years ago for shoemakers to 

 entertain a lot of loafers, and too often they 

 wasted their time in denouncing Christian- 

 ity and in holding up to view the faults of 

 Christian people. It seems that a Bible- 

 reader went into the shop, and the skeptical 

 shoemaker commenced on him, with the re- 

 sult as follows : 



THE SKEPTICAL SHOEMAKER. 



" I have read," said the shoemaker, " a good deal 

 about the heathen gods, and I believe the account of 

 Christ is taken from some of the heathen writings 

 or other." 



" Will you abide by your own decision on two 

 questions which I will put to you? " said the Bible- 

 reader. "If so, I will freely do the same; I will 

 abide by your own answers. By doing so we shall 

 save much lime and arrive more quickly at the 

 truth." 



" Well," said he, " out with it, and let us see if 

 T can answer; there are but few things but what I 

 can say something about." 



" Well, my friend," replied the reader, " my first 

 question is : Suppose all men were Christians, ac- 

 cording to the account given to us in the Gospels 

 concerning Christ; what would be the state of so- 

 ciety? " 



He remained silent for some time, in deep thought, 

 and then was constrained to say, " Well, if all men 

 were really Christians in practice as well as theory, 

 of course we should be a happy brotherhood indeed." 



" I promised you," said the reader, " that I 

 would abide by your answers: will you do the 

 same ■" 



" Oh, yes!" he readily replied; " no man can deny 

 the goodness of the system in practice. But now 

 for the other question; perhaps I shall get on better 

 with that. You have got a chalk this time against 

 me." 



"Well, my next question is this: Suppose all men 

 were infidels ; what then would be the state of Lon- 

 don and the world? " 



He seemed still more perplexed, and remained a 

 long time silent. At length he said, " You certainly 

 have beaten me, for I never before saw the two 

 effects upon society. I now see that where the 

 Christian builds up the infidel pulls down. I thank 

 you. I shall think of what has passed this after- 

 noon." 



The sequel was that he was fully persuaded in his 

 own mind to give up his infidel companions and 

 follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But the change did 

 not stop here. When first the reader called he found 

 him sitting on an old dirty chair, with a number of 

 half-starved children in rags on the floor around him, 

 neglected and uncared for; now they have removed' 

 to a better home in a cleaner street. Within all is 

 cheerful and happy. The father, no longer faithless, 

 delights in the company of his wife and children, 

 all of whom are neatly dressed; and his chief happi- 

 ness is to read and speak of the things which belong 

 to their everlasting peace. 



American Tract Society, 



150 Nassau St., New York. 



There are several points in the above that 

 come home to me with considerable force. 

 First, the Bible-reader did not propo^ to 

 argue the matter; and I have often thought 

 that it is a waste of time as well as a waste 

 of breath to undertake to argue with one 

 who opposes Christianity and the Bible. 

 Second, the Bible-reader tells the shoemaker 

 he can be his own judge and jury, and that 

 he, the Bible-reader, Avill agree with his 

 decision. The shoemaker answered with 

 considerable confidence. He had had a lot 

 of practice in defending infidelity. The 

 Bible-reader's reply is the same as every 

 sane man or woman will be obliged to give. 

 He says, "If all men were all really Chris- 

 tians." Oar friend the shoemaker had re- 

 ceived a stunner the first clip; but he 

 recovered a little, and thought he could do 

 better next time. The poor foolish man ! 

 wliat tvonld be the condition of London and 

 all the world if we were all infidels? 



