The national leader., 1889-06-15
WASHINGTON, d. c., SATURDAY, JUNE 15 1889. NEWS

grandest, holiest, mightest boy of all the ages.
Hence l commend Him as boys Christ.
What multitudes between ten and fifteen
years have found Him out as the one just
suited by His own personal experience to help
any boy.
But having shown you the divine lad in the
fields, must show you Him in the mechanics
shop. Joseph, His father, died very early,
Immediately after the famous trip to the
Temple, and this lad not only to support Him
self 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 atlroop from their shoulders. The plain
chair on which they sit is as much unlike a
thronefas anything you car imagine. But
God knows what they are doing and through
what sacrifices they go, and through all
eternity God viii keep paying them for their
flial behavior. They shall get full measure
of reward, the measure pressed down, shaken
together and running over. They have their
example 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 finish
ing 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 a carpenter in Christs boyhood
days meant to make plows, yokes, shovels,
wagons, tables, chairs, SOFAS houses, and al
most everything that was made. Fortunate
was it that the boy had learned the trade
for, when the head of the family dies,
it is a grand thing to have the child
able to take care of himself and help take
care Of others Now that Joseph, His father,
is dead ard the responsibility of family sup
port comes down on this boy, | hear from
morning to night His hammer pounding His
saw vacillating His axe descending, His gim-
lets boring, and standing amid the dust and
debris of the shop l find the perspiration
gathering on His temples and notice the fa-
tigue of His arm, and as He stops moment to
rest | 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, adjusting, 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 any
thing now about blistered hands or aching
ankles or bruised fingers or stiff joints or
rising in the morning as tired as when you
laid down. While yet boy He knew
it all, He felt it all, He suffered it all.
The boy carpenter! The boy wagon
makerl The boy house builderl o Christ,
we have seen Thee when full grown in Pilates
police court room, we have seen Thee when full
grown Thou vert assassinated on Golgotha,
but 0 Christ let all the weary artisans and
mechanics of the earth see Thee while yet un-
dersized and arms not yet musculariZed and
with the undeveloped strength of juvenes-
cence 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 in the mechanics shop,
show you a more marvellous scene, Christ
the smooth-browed lad among the long
bearded, white-haired, high forheaded eccle-
siastics of the Temple. Hundreds of thou
sands of strangers had come to Jerusalem to
keep a great religious festival. After the
hospital 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 throng 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 ancient historian Josephus says
there were in Galilee two hundred cities, the
smallest of them containing fifteen thousand
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 after 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 pri-
vate houses and among the surrounding hills.
For three days they search and inquire, Won
dering 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 tie city
and among all the surrounding hills that most
dismal sound: ga lost child A lost childE p
Andlo, after three days they discover Him in
the great Temple seated among the mightest
religionistS 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 ques-
tions and answering theirs Let me introduce
you to some of these ecclesiastics This is the
great Rabbin Simeon! This is the venerable
Hillel! This isthe famous Shammal. These are
the SONS of the distin guished Betirah. What
can this twelve year lad teach them or what
questions can He ask worthy their cogitation?
Ah the first time in all their lives these re-
ligionists have found their match and more
than their match. Though so young, He
knew all about the famous Temple under
whose roof they held that most wonderful
discussion of all history. He know
the meaning of every altar, of every
sacrifice, of every golden candlestick,
of every embroidered curtain, of every
crumb of shew bread, of every drop of
oil in that sacred edifice. He knew all about
God. He knew all about man. He knew all
about heaven. for He came from it. He knew
all about thisworld, for He madeit. He knew
all worlds, for they were only the sparkling
morning dewdrops on the lawn In front of His
heavenly palace. Put these seven Bible words
In wreath of emphasis: Both hearing
them and asking them questions"
am not SO much interested in the questions
they asked Him as in the questions He asked
them. He asked the questions not to get in
formation from the doctors, for He knew it