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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



In the little sketch the man was guilty of 

 one offense, and he suffered an unreason- 

 able penalty, that those coming after him 

 might none of them suffer the same. Our 

 Savior suffered in the same way, but he 

 was entirely innocent— the only spotless 

 character, so far as sin or crime was con- 

 cerned, the world has ever known. Let me 

 quote from my little tract once more. 



When I was a student at the university, I saw anoth- 

 er sight 1 never can forget— a man brought out to die. 

 His arms were pinioned, his face already pale qs death 

 —thousands of eager eyes were on him as he came up 

 from the jail in sight. Did any man ask to die in his 

 room ? Did any friend come and loose the rope, and 

 say, " Put it around my neck, I die instead " ? No; he 

 underwent the sentence of the law. For many offenses? 

 No; for one offense. He had stolen a money parcel from 

 a stage-coach. He broke the law at one point, and died 

 for it. It was the penalty of a changing human law in 

 this case also; it was the last instance of capital pun- 

 ishment being inflicted for that offense. 



You see this was at a time when hanging 

 was the penalty for theft. This man, for the 

 first and perhaps the only time in his life, 

 stole a parcel of money; and in this case al- 

 so, community at large decided that there 

 was no sense in taking a man's life for 

 stealing a little money. Dear me! what a 

 lot of hanging we should have just now if 

 every man were put to death who takes 

 money (millionaires and all) that does not 

 belong to him! 



Years ago when lynching was common for 

 stealing horses and cattle on the plains of 

 the great West, we are told that a good 

 Christian man came on a crowd of cowboys 

 about to hang a man on the limb of a tree, 

 for stealing cattle. This Christian man pro- 

 tested with all his eloquence, but they 

 laughed him to scorn; and finally one of the 

 boldest threatened his life also if he did not 

 stand out of the way, and let them proceed 

 to "business. " ^m smess indeed! But this 

 Christian man was no coward. He walked 

 up to the man who had a rope around his 

 neck, and said something like this: 



" All right, friends. If you will persist in 

 taking this man's life for a minor offense, 

 or. very likely, no offense at all, for I fully 

 believe the man may he innocent of the 

 charge you are making against him, you 

 may string me up at the same time." 



Then placing his back against the back of 

 the culprit he quickly slipped the noose large 

 enough to put it around his own neck and 

 that of the culprit, and bade them go on and 

 pull up the rope if they wanted to. One of 

 the boldest, and perhaps the most wicked— 

 a- criminal himself, no doubt— said, "All 

 right, boys, let's have a double hanging. It 

 will be more fun to hang two men than one. 

 Get hold of the rope, and up they go." For 

 a time it seemed as if this would be the out- 

 come. But when the boys thought of the 

 idea of hanging one innocent man just be- 

 cause he preferred death rather than to 

 see a fellow-being put to death, it was too 

 much for them: It appealed to their better 

 natures. The rope was taken off, and the 

 cattle-thief was allowed to go before the 

 proper authorities and be tried according to 

 law. Is there one among my readers who 



has not been stirred by a sort of enthusiasm 

 for the man who is bold enough and brave 

 enough to go to such a length in protecting 

 a fellow-being, and one who was an utter 

 stranger? 



Let me now take one more illustration 

 from that little tract: 



I saw another sight— it matters not when— myself a 

 sinner, standing on the brink of ruin, deserving naught 

 but hell. For owe sin ? No; for many, many sins, com- 

 mitted against the unchanging laws of God. But again 

 I looked and saw Jesus, my substitute, scourged in my 

 stead, and dying on the cross for me. I looked and 

 wept, and was forgiven. And it seemed to me to be my 

 duty to write this to tell you of that Savior, to see if 

 you will not also "look and live."j^,_ ^.^.^-jl^: ji'-^A 



The above incident took a mighty hold on 

 me when I read it, for it was my experi- 

 ence exactly. Yes, dear reader, it was your 

 old friend A. I. Root who, something like 

 forty years ago, was himself a helpless sin- 

 ner standing on the brink of ruin. I was 

 loaded down with Satan's chains. I had 

 striven in vain to break the shackles that 

 held me down, but I was helpless and dis- 

 couraged—not for one sin, but for many. 

 Like the writer of the little tract, in my des- 

 peration and utter helplessness I turned to 

 Jesus. I had heard sermons almost with- 

 out number, but I did not understand that 

 Jesus could take my place. I did not com- 

 prehend that he could take the cruel rope 

 from my own neck and put it around his al- 

 so. I had supposed, in my want of faith, 

 that I would have to carry the iron chains 

 and the shackles by my own strength. And 

 is it any thing strange, friends, that, when 

 he took me and all my burdens, and bade 

 me "go in peace and sin no more," it is my 

 pleasure, even though toward forty years 

 have passed, to continue to tell that old, old 

 story to my friends and neighbors? 



I will now give you the rest of the little 

 tract : 



And how simple it all becomes when God opens the 

 eye! A friend who lately came from Paris told me of 

 an English groom there, a very careless old man, who 

 had during a severe illness been inade to feel that he 

 was a sinner. He dared not die as he was. The clergy- 

 man whom he sent for got tired of visiting him, having 

 told him all he himself then knew of the way of salva- 

 tion. But one Sunday afternoon the groom's daughter 

 waited in the vestry after church, saying, "You must 

 come once more, sir. I can not see my father again 

 without you." "I can tell him nothing new," said 

 the preacher; " but I may take the sermon I have 

 been preaching, and read it to him." The dying man 

 lay as before in anguish, thinking of his sins, and 

 whither they must carry him. "My friend, I have 

 come to read to you the sermon I have just preached. 

 First, I shall tell you the text, he rvas wounded for our 

 transgressions. Now I shall read." " Hold!" said the 

 dying man; " / have it ! read no more, he was wounded 

 for my transgressions." Soon after, he died rejoicing 

 in Christ his righteousness. 



When I read the story, I remembered Archimedes 

 running through the streets of Syracuse straight from 

 the bath where he had found out, in bathing, the secret 

 of testing' whether the king's crown had or had not 

 been alloyed by the goldsmith in making it. And as he 

 ran he cried, " I have found it ! I have found it ! " 



Poor philosopher, you have found out only a new 

 principle in science. Happy groom, you have found in 

 Jesus Christ a savior for your precious soul. 



The clergyman himself who visited the dying groom 

 was thus awakened and found Christ. 



Sir James Simpson, Edinburgh, Scotland. 



Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that heareth my 

 word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath ever- 

 lasting life, and shall not come into' condemnation; but 

 is passed from death unto life. —John 5 :24. 



