1881 



GLEANmGS IN BEE CULTUliE. 



4.57 



i^UV %i)lV^* 



He that doeth righteousness, is righteous.— 



I. John 3:7. 



'ERY iQiple and easy, is it not, friends? 

 To be sure, he tluit doeth righteous- 

 ness, is righteous. What should call 

 forth any such asseveration, and why should 

 anyone think of disv)uting such a self-evi- 

 dent proiJOsitionV AVell, you know I said 

 considerable last month in regard to the im- 

 portance of not only attending churcl^, but 

 of uniting yourself with the nearest Christian 

 congregation. Now, I bv no means meant 

 that the simple fact of your attending church, 

 or even uniting with a Christian congrega- 

 tion, was going to make you a Christian. If 

 you are at all consistent and honest, it would 

 surelv have a strong tendency toward better 

 lives." but the uniting with a church should 

 certainlv be rather the effect of some thing 

 l»ehind "it. .Suppose a man. after having 

 wronged a neighbor in a Ijargain. should say 

 to himself. " Well, that was almost too bad. 

 I declare. I think, to make up for it, I will 

 go to praver-meeting this afternoon, and 

 take a part, and help the meeting along, the 

 best I know how.-' What would you think 

 of such a fashion of religion? What do 

 you suppose the wronged neighl)or might 

 think of it, if he were present? 



In one of my letters a few days ago. the 

 following occurred:— 



My neighlDoi', just across the street, is a professing 

 Christian also. This man was requested to resign 

 membership with our little Schoolhouse Methodist 

 Church, and save expulsion. It was alleged, that 

 he had been compelled to settle for timber cut on 

 land belonging to other parties. He has been at 

 camp meeting for the last three days, and we all 

 .ioin in the wish that his good wife expressed in the 

 words, "I hope he will return home a better man." 



Xow. if the effect of the three days at camp 

 meeting is to make him come out"before the 

 people and confesshissin fully, without try- 

 ing to soften or screen himself, everybody, 

 skeptics and church-members, would pro- 

 nounce theciimpiueetingagreat institution: 

 but if he only went there and exhorted other 

 people to give up their sins, or talked ex- 

 cellently without following it up with actions, 

 the world's people would have little faith in 

 camp meetings, and very likely little dispo- 

 sition to look into the matter to see whether 

 it was a good thing or not. They would 

 have very much more charity for the man if 

 he made" good his deliiKiuencies by honest, 

 square day's work during week days, and 

 then passed the Sabbath in the Avay indicat- 

 ed by the liible. I by no means wish to say 

 that camp meetings are necessarily out of 

 the way, but it does seem to me that those 

 who go should be very sure that they have 

 the time to spare, without making any' broth- 

 er feel that they would serve the cause of 

 Christ more by attending faithfully to their 

 week-day woik. There are times when I 

 should feel that I had no kind of a right to 

 go to a camp meeting, and my conscience 

 would censure me as sorely from being away 

 from the post of duty, where God has placed 



me, as it would if I w^ere taking money, in- 

 stead of time, that was not my own. I like 

 religious zeal and enthusiasm when it takes 

 the'shape of straightening up crookedness 

 in one's past life. 



Behold, to obey is better than sacriflce. 



Humanity is very much the same now that 

 it was when Samuel si)oke the above words 

 to Saul, and men Hnd it very much easier to 

 rtui off into some kind of a semblance of a 

 zeal for righteousness, than to take up the 

 stern nard work of that kind of righteous- 

 ness which means going right to work to 

 make wrong things right. 



Xow, there are different opinions in regard 

 to right and wrong, and people's ideas of 

 what a Christian ought and ought not to do 

 vary greatly. To illustrate this, I will give 

 an extract from another letter, recently at 

 hand : — 



When my wife says you must be a Christian, I look 

 at her and dare not saj- a word; but I think what in- 

 consistency you display in the Aug. No., as on pages 

 391 and 382, about Mitchell; and on page 40" you talk 

 again in his favor. Can a man slander another as 

 you do, and be pure in heart/ "What is the use, any- 

 way, to publish Humbugs and Swindles about Mitch- 

 ell? We all have our faults. J. D. 



As our friend sees it, I have slandered 

 ^litchell by ])ublishing letters from those 

 who have sent him money and never got any 

 returns. He also thinks it inconsistent be- 

 cause I spoke of the Mitchell hive as being 

 pretty, and quite convenient for extracting, 

 as used by friend Reed. I do not believe I 

 have any ill will toward Mitchell, for I should 

 think it a real pleasure to take him by the 

 hand, at any time ; but I should give him the 

 severest talking-to he probably ever got, for 

 taking people's money as he does, and con- 

 tinuatly advertising "to get more. Jiesides 

 tlie talking-to. if he did not seem inclined to 

 give up those di.shonest ways, I. would use 

 all the influence I could bring to bear, to get 

 him shut up where he could not defraud our 

 bee-men any more as lie has in the years 

 past. Well." how do I know that I could be 

 a Christian in so doing, and that the friend 

 who writes the above is wrong? AVe all have 

 our faults, and what is the use of having a 

 Humbug and Swindle column? JSTy answer 

 is, that I feel God's approving voice in the 

 Humbug and Swindle department, very 

 much as I do in this one, especially when I 

 try to keep out all malice and ill will in con- 

 ducting it. The feeling is still more strength- 

 ened by the approving voice of the great 

 multitude of you, my friends, in the past 

 years that these letters have been published. 

 There is also a happy thought connected 

 with it, and it is that of those who have been 

 published for getting money in this way, all 

 have ceased, and, so far as I know, are doing 

 a straight business, with the exception of 

 Mitchell. Eor this I can honestly say, God 

 be praised ; and while I pitblish letters of 

 complaint against Mitchell, I can honestly 

 pray that they may teach him that such acts 

 come to lignt so quickly through the press, 

 that he can not long get enough to pay his 

 printing expenses. Friend J. D. , I feel" that 

 God has called me to take up this work, and 

 it is my prayer that, when I am gone, he 



