The Richmond palladium., 1874-02-07
ADD Il EES
MRS. EMF B. SW ANK,
At the Annual Meeting Of the Ho@e
ADDR e 8 .

At the Annual Meeting Of the Home
for Ffiendless, Ian. 2Sth, 1874.
The little Province of Galilee was
once one of the most beautiful lands
of the East. Its small bright lakes,
its embowered streams, its fertile val
leys and green mountains lay smiling
beneath the Syrian sunshine land
beloved by God and man. Not far
from Nazareth Mt. Carmel swept down
on the West to the sea, and Mt. Gill
boa rose up toward the sky, and at
their feet lay the smiling valleys that
were to become dear to the heart of
the world. For amid these mountains
and valleys, life was lived, and
work was done, which has become the
light of the world through all the end
less years to come. This brief life
lived in this small province, this beau
tiful work done in Galilee had in it
such living power that it reaches down
through the dead centuries of the
past, and connects itself with our life,
and our work in this present time, and
in all times. It had in it such living
power that it has become lamp to
the feet of hundreds of thousands Of
worshippers that follow after it by
the royal road of toll and self-sacrifce.
It has become banner of hope hung
out through all the ages to the sor-
rowing and the SHINING. 1t has be-
come an immortal inspiration to all
heroic souls forever calling them to
more consecrated work. Forever say
ing to them in low, sweet tones Of
wondrous beauty, II am the life and
the way" Follow me-"
And when charmed with this inner
voice that speaks from His spirit unto
our spirit, we seek to know this Di-
vine life in all its fullness and beauty;
we find that this man of Nazareth
spent his divine energies in healing
the sick, curing the insane, casting out
devils, and teaching the way of life to
publicans and sinners. We find that
He Himself looked upon this work as
divine: for when John sent to know
if He were indeed the Messiah, He said
''Go and tell John the things that "
do see the blind see, the lame walk
the leper is healed, the deaf hear, the
dead are raised, and the poor have thu
Gospel preached unto them" We alst
find that Jesus of Nazareth did no
wait to convert the world to righteous
nesss, but went to work right in hi
own small province of Galilee
ing, teaching, helping whoever needle,
help; SO that his work scarcely ex
tended beyond the limits familiar t
His childhood. No sorrow was to-
small for His divine sympathy, no lif
too low for His divine aid, no sin to
great for His divine charity.
While He did all the glorious wor1
that His Father had given Him to dc
He omitted not the smallest servic
to the SHINING, suffering men an
women of his own small town of Naz
areth, and his own little Galilee. An
this divinest life of earth shining dow
on us from that far land illumines an
glorifies all service, however humbl,
all work. however small, which helr
uplift fellow being; and if we are
be the followers of this divine life
even afar Off we are to accept it q
the example after which we trace ou
own, ever so faintly have no othe
choice than to lay our hand to th
work we find to do at our own door
We have no other choice than to II
to uplift our fellow mortal by relic,
ing their physical and spiritual need
The one supreme truth taught |
Christ above all truth, is the huma
brotherhood of man; and that he vi
ministers to the needs Of his fello
man in christian love, is the true
minister of Christ and that one wol
Christianity, rightly understood,
all its heights and depths, includes a
there is of true manhood or womal
hood. This Christian love is Il
beginning and the ending of the la
That the first commandment, 'Lo'
the Lord thy God with all thy heart
is like unto the second, "Love Il
neighbor as thysclf," and that on the
two loves, which are like unto ca,
other, hang all the law and the Prop
cts.
In that sermon on the Mount
Olives, which is high above all 9th
sermons, as Heaven is above cart
still runs this golden thread of 10
and charity. In His teaching by 4
! lakes and rivers, in His discourses
the seaside, and in the valleys; in q
agonized prayers in the last awf
hours in Gethsemene, and on Calva,
still-pity, love, forgiveness, we're t
words upon His lips and in his hes
the lesson taught by His life al
His death-the divine inheritance
queathed to his followers ON cart
when He ascended to His Father
Heaven; and if we are in very tru
His followers here, we take this
{ heritance of love into our hearts a
/ make it, as he made it, a tie of SYM
thy between US and all men-a pied
I Of help to all the needy, the sinnil
and the suffering. five are, indie