Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-06-19

through his neighborhood, the dogs bari
ing at their approach at sundown. A
afterward he was a perfect man, in th
time of which speak he was perfect boy
with the spring of boys foot, the spark
of boys eye, the rebound of boys lif
and just the opposite of those juveniles VIII
Sit around morbid and unelastic, old men q
ten. warrant he was able to take his owl
part and to take the part of others. Il
that village of Nazareth am certain ther
was what is found in all the neighborhooa
of the earth, that terror of children, th
bully, who seems born to strike, to punch
to bruise, to Oyerpower the less muscula
and robust. The Christ who afterward il
no limited terms denounced hypocrite ant
Pharisee, warrant, never let such juvenile
villain impose upon less vigorous childhood
and yet go uuscathed and undefended. A.
ten years he was in sympathy with tht
underlings as he was at thirty and thirty
three. l want no further inspired or unin
spired information to persuade me that he
was splendid boy, radiant boy, the
grandest, holiest, mightest boy of all the
ages. Hence I commend him as a 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.
Let the world look out how it treads on
boy, for that very moment it treads on
Christ. You strike a boy, you strike
Christ; you insult boy, you insult Christ
you cheat boy, you cheat Christ. 1t is
an awful and infinite mistake to come as
far as manhood without Christ when here
is boy Christ. That was one reason, ]
suppose, that Jonathan Edwards, after
wards the greatest American logician and
preacher of his time, became Christian
at seven years of age; and Robert Hall,
who afterwards shook Christendom with
his sacred eloQuence, became Christian at
twelve years of age; and Isaac Watts, who
divided with Charles Wesley the dominion
of holy song, became a Christian at uine
years Of age; and if in any large religious
assemblage it we're asked that 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 religious sense is true in
a secular sense. Themistocles amazed his
school-fellows with talents 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, evi.
denced a disposition towards the expert.
ments which afterwards showed the nations
how the worlds swing. Robert Stephenson,
the boy, with his kite on the commons, ex-
perimented with electric currents and
prophesied work which should yet make
him immortal. ''Get out of ray wayp'
said rough man to boy, "get out of my
wsyl what are you good for, anyhow"
The boy answered: "They make men out
of such things as we are" Hear it,
70 NH 10 ptb ioLo
and patriots! hear it, all the young! The
temporal and eternal destiny of the most of
the inhabitants of this earth is decided be-
fore 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, must show you him in the me-
chanic's shop. Joseph, his father, died
very early, Immediately after the famous
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 royal lace 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 a
throne as anything you can imagine. But
God k5ows what they are doing 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 example in this boy
Christ taking care of his mother. He had
been taught the carpenters trade by his
father The boy bad 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 sbavings. He helped hold the differ
ent 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 q carpenter in
Christ's koyhood 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, it is a grand thing
to have tho child able to take care of him
self and help take care Of others. Now
that Joseph, his father, is dead and the re-
sponsiblity of family support comes down
on this boy, hear from morning to night
his hammer pounding, his saw vacillating,
his Ak descending, his gimlets boring, and
shop find the perspiration gathering on
his temples and notice the fatigue Of his
arm, and as he stops moment / see him
painting, his hand on his side, from the ex-
haustion. Now he goes for tn in the morn
ing loaded with implements Of work heav-
ier than any modern kit OF tools. Urder
the tropical sun hesweltsrs. Lifting, pull
ing, adjusting, cleaving, splitting all day
long. At nightfall be 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 in
the morning as tired 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 maker! The
boy house builder! O, Christ, We have
seen Thee when full grown in Pilates
Police Courtroom, we have seen Thee
when full grown Thou vert assassinated
OH Golgotha, but, o Christ, let all the
weary artisans and mechanics of the earth
see Thee while yet understood and arms
not yet museularised and with the unde-
veloped strength Of juvenescence trying to
take thy fathers place in gaining the liveli-
hood for the family.
But having seen C1rlst, the BOY Oh the
fields and the boy in the mechanics shop,
show you more marvellous scene, Christ
the smooth -browed lad among the long.
bearded, white-haired, high h-foreheaded &C.
clesiastics of the Temple. Hundreds OF
thousands of strangers had come to Jerusa-
lem to keep great religious festival. After
the hospitable homes were crowded with
visitors, the tents were spread all around
the city to shelter the immense throngs OF
strangers. It 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 thai
national feast. You must not think of those
regions as sparsely settled. The ancient
historian Josephus says there were in Cali
lee two hundred cities, the smallest of them
containing fifteen thousand people. M
wonder that amid the crowds at the tint
spoken of Jesus the boy was lost. His par
ents, knowing that he was mature enough
and agile enough to take care of Himself
are on their way home without any anxiety