1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



511 



§ur f cip#. 



So fight I, ns not beatiujar the air: hut I buffet my 

 body, and bring it into bondngo: lest by any means, 

 after that 1 have preached to others, I myself should 

 be rejected.— I. CoR. 0:26, 27, New Version. 



S I sit down this morning to write Our 

 Homes, it is with a feeling of sadness 

 in my heart, because of the news just 

 at hand, that our I'resident is dead. Sad- 

 ness and gloom are resting over our nation. 

 Had he died of a natural sickness there 

 Avould have been sorrow, but not just the 

 kind of sorrow we have now. Wickedness, 

 Iniquity, and crime, are in our land and in 

 our midst ; and although we call ourselves a 

 Christian people, it would almost seem as 

 though the one Avho accepts the office of 

 chief ruler of our land , even by the Avish and 

 voice of the people, Accepts it at the risk and 

 peril of his life. 



In our Sabbath- school of late we have 

 learned how God, in olden times, destroyed 

 nations for their wickedness and disobedi- 

 ence. Most of us well remember how God 

 punished us during our civil war, by taking 

 the life blood of our firstborn ; and how do 

 we know that some great calamity will not 

 sweep our land again, if this stream of evil 

 is not in some way arrested V A few weeks 

 ago I visited the Reform School at Lansing, 

 Mich. Over 1200 little boys were being cared 

 for by the State, because their parents could 

 not manage them at home. As I scanned 

 the faces of them, one after another, I felt 

 like thanking God that the authorities of 

 the State were doing so well what the pa- 

 rents would not, or thought they could not, 

 do. What are we doing, as a people, to re- 

 strain crime, and what will God do with us 

 if we are too lazy, listless, and selfish, to do 

 any thing V We have many times discussed 

 this matter here in these pages, and most of 

 you probably remember the incident given 

 in our February number, in regard to the 

 men who were robbing a turkey roost. 

 What shall we do with crime, and what 

 shall we do with criminals, when we meet 

 them defying the laws of God and man V 

 Here are two instructive letters in regard to 

 the matter :— 



Friend Root:— Your questions at the close of the 

 Home Papers in the February number of Glean- 

 ings, in regard to what Mr. Baird should have done 

 on the occasion of having his turkey roost robbed, 

 were intended, I take it, to bring out a principle, 

 which principle I eoDceive to be involved ia the fol- 

 lowing query: Whether it is better to use force or 

 moral suasion in dealing with the violators of the 

 law. 



Had Mr. B. attempted the latter, had he gone out, 

 for instance, and read a chapter from the Bible, and 

 expostulated with these thieves on the sinfulness 

 of their course, it is altogether likely that they 

 would have laughed him to scorn; and if they were 

 persuaded that this would be the only power which 

 he would oppose to their unlawful designs, tuey 

 would doubtless have despoiled him of his turkeys 

 before his very eyes. 



Further, if any class of men in the community 

 should act upon the principle of opposing only mor- 



al suasion to the selfishness of their fellow-men, it is 

 clear that the unprincipled would flock to them 

 from every quarter, and quickly strip them of 

 every thing they possessed. In the present condi- 

 tion of human nature, society would speedily be 

 hopelessly disorganized if the higher class of minds 

 should undertake to deal with the criminal class on 

 the principle of moral suasion alone. On the other 

 hand, the question arises: How far should force be 

 applied in protecting ourselves from the incursions 

 of the lawless? I reply, to the extent of completely 

 protecting ourselves and our property, and placing 

 the criminal entirely in our power. 



Had Mr. Baird quietly slipped out of the back door 

 and stirred up neighbors enough to have surrounded 

 and captured these thieves, he had placed himself 

 in a position where his moral suasion would have 

 had the best field for its activity. When a man 

 stands helpless before us he is in the best situation 

 to appreciate kindness from our hands, llude and 

 selfish minds look for rudeness and selfishness from 

 their fellow-men, and when kindness and good will 

 are manifested toward them they excite in their 

 minds either contempt or love. If their moral pre- 

 ceptor is not a person who cau command their re- 

 spect, they will treat his teachings with contempt. 

 If, on the other hand, they feel that he is superior to 

 them, or is in a position to successfully oppose force 

 to force, and selfishness to selfishness, yet out of 

 the goodness of his heart treats them with respect 

 and kindness, the nobler attributes of their souls 

 respond like an echo. 



I have heard ministers say that their feelings were 

 often shocked at the rudeness with which they had 

 seen children in the mission schools of our great 

 cities treated by their spiritual teachers. Where, 

 according to their idea, love and gentleness should 

 abound, they had seen rude force applied to compel 

 respect and obedience. 



The mission teacher, however, had learned from 

 experience that among the class with which he had 

 to deal were many whose lower natures, by inheri- 

 tance and wrong training, possessed such a feaiful 

 ascendency over their higher natures, that appeals 

 to the latter could scarcely awaken any response 

 till the energy of the former had been subdued. 



W^ithout proceeding further, I think my position 

 in regard to the midnight assassin will be clearly un- 

 derstood. It is this: Give him to understand that 

 you are ready to oppose force to force in the defense 

 of yourself and property; to strike him down, or 

 even to shoot him, if necessary; but when he is 

 helpless in your power, then let your good will to- 

 ward him be shown by binding up his wounds, and 

 using your moral suasion to turn him from the evil 

 of his ways to righteousness. James McNeil. 



Hudson, N. Y., Feb. 11, 1881. 



Within the past few months I have been 

 led to feel the force of much that is said in 

 the foregoing ; yet I think our next friend 

 supplements well the letter with a timely 

 caution :— 



AS YE WOULD THAT MEN SHOtJLD DO TO YOU, DO 



YB ALSO UNTO THEM LIKEWISE.— LUKE 6:31. 



BE NOT OVERCOME OF EVIL, BUT OVERCOME EVIL 



WITH GOOD.— ROM. 12:21. 



Friend Rvot:— Your comments on the communica- 

 tions of Messrs. Baird and Stites suggested the idea 

 of sending you a few thoughts on the same subject. 

 With the spirit of both the communications, and 

 your comments on the same, I am well pleased. 



