The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-06-19

religious asSemDlage IL were asked tnaI all
the men and women who learned to love
Christ before they were fifteen years of
age would please lift their right hand,
there would be enough hands lifted to
wave coronation. What is true in a re-
ligious sense is true in a secular sense.
Themistocles amazed his school fellows
with talent which in after years made the
world stare. Isaac Newton. the boy, by
driving pegs in the side of a house TO mark
the decline of the sun, evidenced dispo-
sition toward the experiments which aft
erward showed the nations how the
worlds swing Robert Stephenson, the
boy, with his kite on the commons eXper-
imented with electric currents and proph-
esied work which should yet make him
immortal. "Get out of my way" said a
rough man to boy, get out of my way
What are you good for, anyhow" The
boy answered: 'They make men out of
such things as we are" Hear it, fathers,
mothers! Hear it, philanthropists and
patriots; hear it, all the young The tenn
poral and eternal destiny OF the most OF
the inhabitants of this earth is decided
before fourteen years OF age. Behold the
Nazareth Christ, the village Christ, the
country Christ, the boy Christ.
But having shown you the Divine lad in
the fields, l must show you Him in the
mechanics shop. Joseph, His father,
died very early, Immediately after the ia
nous trip to the temple, and this lad had
not only to support Himself, but support
His mother and what that is some of you
know. There is a royal race of boys on
earth now doing the same thing. They
wear no crown. They have no purple
robe adroop from their shoulders. The
plain chair on which they sit is as much
unlike throne as anything you can i'm
agine. But God knows what they are do
ing and through what sacrifices they go,
and through all eternity God will keep
paying them for their filial behavior
They shall get full measure OF reward, the
measure pressed down, shaken together
and running over. They have their ex-
ample in this boy Christ taking care OF
His mother He had been taught the car
| penter's trade by His father. The boy had
done the palmer work at the shop while
His father had put on the finishing
touches of the work. The boy also cleared
away the chips and blocks and shavings
He helped hold the different pieces of
work while the father joined them. In
our day we have all kinds OF mechanics,
and the work is divided up among them.
But to be carpenter in Christ's boyhood
days meant to make plows, yokes, shovels,
wagons, tables, chairs, sofas, houses, and
almost everything that was made.
Fortunate was it that the boy had
learned the trade, for, when the head of
the family dies, 1t is grand thing to have
the child able TO take care of himself and
help take care others. Now that Joseph,
his father, is dead and the responsibility
of family support comes down on this boy,
| I
mer pounding. his saw vacillating, his AK
descending, his gimlets boring, and stand
ing amid the dust and debris OF the shop
find the Precipitation gathering on his tenn
pies and notice the fatigue of his arm, and
as he stops a moment TO rest l see him
painting his hand on his side, from the
exhaustion. Now he goes forth IN the
morning loaded with implements Of work
heavier than any modern kit OF
tools. Under the tropical sun he
swelters. Lifting, pulling, adjust
ing, cleaving, splitting all day long. At
nightfall he goes home to the plain supper
provided by his mother, and sits down too
tired to talk. Work work work! You
cannot tell Christ anything now about
blistered hands, or aching ankles, or
bruised fingers, or stiff joints, or rising as
tired in the morning as when you laid
down. While yet a boy He knew it all,
He felt it all, He suffered it all. The boy
carpenter The boy wagon-makeri The
boy householder o, Christ! we have
have seen Thee when full-grown in Pr
late's police court; we have seen Thee
when full grown Thou were assassinated
on Golgotha, but O, Christ, let all the
weary artisans and mechanics OF the
earth see Thee while yet understood and
arms not yet muscularized, and with
the undeveloped strength of juven-
escence, trying to take Thy fathers
place in gaining the livelihood for the
family.
But, having seen Christ the boy of the
fields and the boy of the mechanics shop,
show you more marvellous scene-Christ
the smooth-browed lad among the long
bearded, white-haired, high-foreheaded
ecclesiastics of the temple. Hundreds OF
thousands of strangers had come to Jeru-
salem to keep a great religious festival.
After the hospitable homes were crowded
with visitors, the tents were spread all
around the city to shelter immense throngs
OF strangers. 1t was very easy among the
vast throngs coming and going to lose a
child. More than two million people have
been known to gather at Jerusalem for
that national feast. You must not think
of those regions as sparsely settled. The an
cient historian Josephus says there were
in Gallilee 200 cities, the smallest
of them containing 1900 people. No
wonder that amid the crowds at the time
spoken of Jesus, the boy, was lost. His
parents, knowing that he was mature
enough and agile enough to take care of
himself, are on their way home without
any anxiety, supposing that their boy is
coming with some of the groups. But af.
ter a while they suspect he is lost, and
with flushed cheek and terroriZed look
they rush this way and that, saying:
'Have you seen anything OF my boy? He
is twelve years Of age, of fair complexion,
and has blue eyes and auburn hair. Have
you seen him since we left the city,"
Back they go in hot haste, in and out the
streets, in and out the private houses and
among the surrounding hills. For three
days they search and inquire, wondering
If he has been trampled under
foot OF some of the throngs
or has ventured on the cliffs or
fallen off a precipice. Send through
all the streets and lanes of the CITY and
among all the surrounding hills that most
dismal sound, "A lost child! A lost
childp
And 10, after three days they discover
him in the great temple, seated among
the mightiest reigionists of all the world
The walls of no other building ever looked
down on such a scene. A child twelve
years old surrounded by septuagenarians,
he asking his own questions and answer
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