The Penn's Grove record., 1889-06-29

fatigue of His arms, and as He stops a
moment to rest l see him painting, His
hand on His side, from the exhaust
lion. Now He goes forth in the morn
ing loaded with implements of work
heavier than any modern kit of tools.
tUnder the tropical sun He swelters.
Lifting, pulling, adjusting, cleaving,
splitting, all day long! At nightfall He
lgoes home to the plsin supper provided
by His mother, and sits down too tired
to talk. Work work! work. You can
not tell Christ anything new about bis
tered hands or aching ankles or bruised
fingers or stiff joints or rising in the
morning as tired us when you lay down.
while yet a boy He knew it all, He felt
it all, He suffered it all. The boy car
penter! The boy wagon maker! The
boy house builderl o Christ, we have
seen Thee when full grown, in Pilates
police-court room, we have seen Thee
when full Thou vert ass~assinated
on Golgotha, but, o Christ, let all the
weary artisans and mechanics of the
earth see Thee while yet understood,
and arms not yet mu~scularized, and
with the undeveloped strength ofjuven-
escence trying to take Thy fathers
place in gaining the livelihood for the
family.
THE o IN TIL TEMPLE.
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-bearsled, white-haired,
high-forheaded ecclesiastics of the
Temple. Hundreds of thousands of
strangers had come to Jerusalemto keep
a great religious festival. After the
lhospltable 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
q child. More than two million people
have been known to gather at Jerusa-
lem 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 the boy
JESUS WAS LOST!
His parents, knowing that He was
mature enough and agile enough to take
care Of Himself, are on the way home
without any anxiety. surprising that
their boy is coming with some of the
groups. But after a while they suspect
He is lost, and with flushed cheek and
q terrorized look they rush this way and
that way saying: "Have you seen any
thing of my boy? He istwelve yearso 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. Forthree
days they search and inquire, wonder
ing if He had 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 surround
ing hills that most dismal sound, 81
lost child! 4 lost child!"
And 10, after three days they discover
Him in the great Temple, seated among
the mightiest 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
questions and answering theirs. Let
me introduce you to some of these
ecclesiastics. This is the great Rabbin
Simeon! This is the venerable Hlllell
This is the famous Shammai! These
are the sons OF the distinguished Betirah.
What can this t~welve-year lad teach
them or what questions can He ask
worthy their cogitation? All, the first
time in all their lives these religionists
have found their match, and more than
their match. Though so young, He
knew all about that Temple under whose
roof they held
THAT MOST WONDERFUL DISCUSSION
of all history. He knew the meaning of
every altar, of every sacrifice, Of every
golden candlestick, of every e~mbroider-
ed curtain, of every crumb of shrew
bread, of every drop of oil in that
sacred edifice. He knew all about God.
He knew all about man. He knew all
about hea, en-, for He came from it. He
knew all about this world, for He made
it. 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
a wreath of emphasis: "Both hearing
them and asking them questions"
/ am not so much interested in the
questions they asked Him as the ques-
tions He asked them. He asked the
Questions not to get information from
the doctors, for He knew it already, but
to humble them by showing them the
heights and depth and length and
breadth of their own ignorance. The
radient boy with any one OF a hundred
questions about theology, about philos-
opy, about astronomy, about time, about
eternity, may have baked them, discon-
certed them. Behold the boy
CHRIST ASKING QUESTIONS,
and listen when your child asks ques-
The more He asks the better. Alas for
the stupidity Of the child without in
quisitivenessl 1t is Christ-like to ask
Questions. Answer them if you can.
Do not say: 81 can't be bothered now.
1t is your place to be bothered with
questions. If you are not able to
answer, surrender and confess your in
capacity, as 1 have no doubt did Rabbin
Simeon, and Hillel, and Shammai, and
the som of Betirah when that splendid
boy, sitting or standing there, with a
garment reaching from neck to ankle,
and girdled at the waist, put them to
their very wits end. 1t is no disgrace
to say, II don't know" The only being
in the universe who never needs to say,
81 do not know" is the Lord Almighty.
The fact that they did not know sent
Keppler, and Cuvier, and Columbus,
and Humboldt, and Herschel, and Morse,
and Sir William Hamilton, and all the
other of the worlds mightiest natures
into their lifelong explorations. Teles-
cope and microscope and stethoscope,
and electric battery, and all the scientific
apparatus Of all the ages, are only ques-
tions asked at the door of mystery. Be-
hold this Nazarene lad asking questions,
giving dignity to earnest interrogation.
But while 1 see the old theologians
standing around the boy Christ l am
| g. 80 o.ou F,o x,,+I, 4ha fact