The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-04-16

lor1s bel-efs. forms ma ceremonies atff
expecting the coming Of Messiah.
spoken Of by the prophets leader
who VIII throw of the dominion OF
Rome. and re- establish the throne Of
David.
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST
It is when the nation is at such
State, four years before the death Of
Herod, that we see a man and woman
coming up the Bethlehem road, bring
ing a babe, and a pair of turtle doves
to the temple. Familiar. to all is the
story of the birth Of that child in a.
stable at Bethlehen.-his presentation
at the altar-an old man and an aged
woman taking him il their arms, and
speaking remarkable words concern
ing him. A few days later a caravan
comes over this ridge of Olivet from
the other side of the Jordan, and en-
tiers the city. The men accompanying
it set all Jerusalem agOg by their IN
quiries concerning the place where
the future King Of the Jews was to
be born Startling words they are to
King Herod. What rival is this ?
We know what followed-the babe
taken to Egypt, and weeping and
wailing at Bethlehem.
Going in imagination with the crowd
into the temple. we see the courts oc-
cupied by dealers in doves, pigeons.
lambs, sheep and cattle. and money
changers-as if the temple was the
city market. We behold that carpen-
ter of Nazareth entering the gate,
walking through the magnificent col
onades, gazing upon the scene. He
is not an officer of the temple clothed
with authority, not member of the
Sanhedrim, has received no appoint
ment as police officer, yet he drives
out the whole crew of stall keepers,
overturns the tables and clears the
courts. No wonder that the people
want to know where he obtained his
authority for doing it.
The festival ended, he goes up the
road leading northward to Samaria,
sitting down to rest himself by well
just outside Of that town, and has
talk with a woman about well OF
living water. f..
Twelve years later we behold the
child in the temple. among the hair
splitting lawyers, asking them wise
questions. We hear his reply to his
mother He must be about his Faith
er's business. Mysterious words they
are to the mother, and she thinks Sc
riousiy of them as she goes with her
son up yonder slope, northWard, to-
ward their distant home.
A SCENE IN THE TEMPLE.
Fifteen years more 60 By. 1t is
spring time; flowers are in bloom and
the grain is waving on these hills.
Jerusalem is crowded with people
who have come to celebrate the Pass
over. Among the multitude is
young man twenty seven years of age
"a carpenter from Nazareth-he who
questioned the lawyers in his child
hood. He has been baptized in the
river Jordan by his cousin, who lives
a sort of hermit life, sleeping in the
limestone caves of these hills east Of
us, eating iocusts. and honey made
by the wild bees, and who wears a
came's hair shirt, but who is highly
esteemed by the people as holy man.
A year later he is here again to the
Passover. He has been travelling the
while through Galilee, and IS known
now as the Great Teacher, the Good
Physician and Wonderful Man No
one utters such words Of wisdom, so
full Of beauty and truth. There is no
such physician as he in all the land
He cures all kinds of disease, levers
and lcprosy, gives strength to the lame
and sight to the blind. He never has
studied medicine, yet even. the dead
come to life at his command He is
a poor man, receives no fee, has the
po0rfer his patients, and yet, because
he sits down to eat with those who
have not washed their hands, accord
ing to the traditions Of the oral law
aud IN accordance with the decisions
of the lawyers, the Pharisees hate him
pos BETHANY. HElE
We pass over a twelvemonth and
think of him during the last weeks Of
his life, making Bethany his home.
Walk with me over the hill. 1t Is a
superb panorama which Is spread be-
fore US as we stand on the summit
the whole country eastward to the
Dead Sea is in view. We look down
upon hills, ravines, valleys-here and
there olive groves, in the distance the
Jordan and the Dead Sea. How clear
the dark blue water, rejecting the
mountains! We descend the eastern
slope, walk out upon a spur Of the
mountain toward the southeast. wind
round its summit. descending again,
and behold a miserable Arab VII age,
the ancient Bethany, on the hillside,
a ravine in front leading southeast.
You will have to. travel TO ind in
America such squalor as that before
vou-huts OF stone 1.-The earth for a