1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



43 



He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sor- 

 rows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were 

 our faces from him: he was despised, and we esteemed 

 him not.— Isaiah 53 : 3. 



Almost every day some new magazine or 

 periodical is presented to my notice, and I 

 have wondered again and again if this great 

 wide world could take care of them all, read 

 them all, and support them all. Several 

 times I have been tempted to say we have 

 magazines enough, and I was almost tempted 

 to add that I did not want to see any more 

 new ones. And then I reflected that every 

 little while I come across something perhaps 

 in the new magazines or periodicals I would 

 not have missed for quite a sum of money. 

 Well, a few days ago my youngest daughter 

 brought me a magazine entitled The Chris- 

 tian. She said, "Papa, here is something 

 that will interest you, I am sure," Then she 

 held liefore me a picture representing a copy 

 of a celebrated painting now in London. 

 You will find the picture that met my gaze, 

 on the opposite page. I looked at it, and as 

 I gathered its significance the tears came in- 

 to my eyes. Yes, even I in my old age had 

 a good cry by just looking at a picture. Ev- 

 ery little while I would look from the picture 

 tothe title, "despised and rejected of men;" 

 and then the tears came again. I cried be- 

 cause I could not help feeling that the pic- 

 ture gave us a glimpse of the true state of 

 affairs even in this present age. The de- 

 scriptive matter that was given with the 

 picture is also given on the opposite page. 



That poor human form with his agonizing 

 crown of thorns is bowed in grief over the 

 carelessness, indifference, and selfishness of 

 humanity. Although he is the Son of God 

 he came to earth and assumed a human form 

 like ours. He felt as we feel, and he suffer- 

 ed as we suffer, yet he was without spot or 

 blemish. The old hymn says: 



Was it for crimes that I had done 



He groaned upon the tree? 

 Amazing pity, grace unknown, 



And love heyond degree. 



While he is held up prominently before all 

 the world (for all the world knows now of 

 "Jesus and the cross"), the multitudes pass 

 by; the priests fold thejr hands in a holy 

 sanctimonious attitude, and yet turn their 

 heads the other way. The millionaires, the 

 money-makers, and the fashionables belles of 

 society, do not give him a passing look, much 

 less a passing thought. Their heads are tip- 

 ped in lofty disdain, for they look away above 

 "Jesus and him crucified." Even the news- 

 boy, in calling attention to the most impor- 

 tant things in this world, from his point of 

 view, ignores the suffering Savior. In our 



thanksgiving sermon a few days ago the good 

 pastor, B. N. Tanner, said, in summing up 

 our reasons for thankfulness, "Brethren, 

 what is it that really exalts a nation? Is it 

 prosperity, such as we have l)een discussing? 

 Is it education? Is it mental and scientitc 

 progress? Is it even 'conquering and pre- 

 venting disease? No, not any of these. What 

 is it then? The good Book, this old Book, 

 the Holy Scriptures, tells us that it is right- 

 eousness that exalteth a nation. Now, friends, 

 are we as a people, are we as a great nation, 

 seeking Ji?'st "the kingdom of God and his 

 righteousness " ? I fear we are not. I fear 

 we are Jorgetiing that this same righteous- 

 ness is of more importance, and is above all 

 and over all." 



I delight in seeing this pi'ogress; I rejoice 

 in all new inventions. I lift my heart in 

 thanksgiving and praise when we' surmount 

 difficulty after difficulty in sc-ience and me- 

 chanics. I rejoice when we succeed in com- 

 bating disease, in making the Panama region 

 a healthy place to live in while we undertake 

 the greatest piece of engineering the world 

 ever saw.* But a feeling of sadness comes 

 over me when I hear of graft and greed and 

 extortion; when I am forced to admit that 

 this great busy world with all its talent and 

 ability is too much like the picture where the 

 people are, day after day, month after month, 

 year after year, and century after century, 

 pushing by. scarcely stoppirg to look at the 

 image of the suffering Savior, the thorn- 

 crowned Christ. Thank God, there is one in- 

 dividual in that picture who has stopped and 

 noticed the "despised and rejected of men" 

 —a hospital nurse. Her womanly spirit cries 

 out in protest. The painter has put whole 

 sermons in that look. Thank God, if it is in- 

 deed true that men are as a rule indifferent 

 to his claims, there are some women who are 

 ready to stop and rebuke by their looks and 

 actions, if nothing more, a sinful world. 



When I was in the busy city of Leed, in 

 the Black Hills, in South Dakota, 1 landed 

 after dark. With the rushing multitude I 

 went to a hotel and asked for a room. Re- 

 membering my former experiences, however, 

 I told the clerk I wanted a room with outside 

 wi7idows. He then said that I would have 

 to pay a price that I did not feel like paying. 

 May be it is all right, friends, but I feel as if 

 it were an outrage to be asked to pay more 

 than the majority of people get for a day's 

 work, for the privilege of having a breath of 

 God's pure air. I felt homesick. Yes, I do 

 get homesick when I am away among stran- 

 gers, a stranger in a strange land. I told the 

 clerk that, if he would excuse me, I would not 

 take the room. I then got on to the trolley 

 car and rode a mile or two out of the city. 

 There I found a hotel where I could get a 

 very comfortable room for fijty cents. Now, 

 the dollar I saved was not because I was 

 greedy, but because I felt as if I would rath- 



* Come to think of it, if I am not mistaken there 

 was just a little graft and selfishness exhibited in the 

 early undertakmg of that same Panama canal was 

 there not. friends? And this graft did not exactly 

 exalt that nation, especially in the estimation of the 

 other nations of the earth when the matter came out 



