The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1890-11-27
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE SCENE OF cHRIsT's YOUTH
A Tour Through the Grand Old City OF
Nazareth.

sros brought tp."--LuSe iv., 10.
What splendid sleep had last night in
Catholic convent my first sleep within
doors since leaving Jerusalem. aud ali of
US as kindly treated as though we had been
the Pope and his college of Cardinals pass
ing that way Last evening the genial sis.
terhood OF the convent ordered a hundred
,bright-eyed Arab children brought out 10
sing for me, and IL was gloriousl This
morning come out on the steps of the con-
vent and look upon the most beautiful viii
lage OF all Palestine, its houses OF white
limestone. Guess its namel Nazareth. his
torical Nazareth, one of the trinity OF places
that Christian travellers must see or feel
that they have not seen Palestine-namely
Bethlehem. Jerusalem, Nazareth. Baby.
hood, boyhood, manhood OF Him for whom I
believe there are fifty million people who
would now, IL IL were required, march out
aud die, whether under AK or down in the
floods or straight through the fire.
Grand old village is Nazareth, even putting
aside its sacrei associations. First OF all IL
Is clean; and that can be said OF few of the
oriental villages It's neighboring town of
Nablouf IL the filthiest town I ever saw
although its chief industry is the manufac.
ture OF soap. They export all of It, Naza-
reth has been the scene of battles passing IL
from lsraelite to Mohammclan and
from Mohammedan TO Christian, tho
most wonderful of the battles be-
us 1ih. r ~ "h,Nn '"enty-nNe thou-
sand Turks were beaten by twenty-one
hundred French, Napoleon Bonaparto
commanding, the greatest of Frenchmen
walking these very streets through
Whlch jesus walked Tor nearly thirty years.
the morals OF tae two, the antipodes the
SHOWS ot RUSSIA and the plaques OF Egypt
appropriately Following the one, the doxolo-
gies OF earth and the hsllelujahs OF heaven
appropriately following the other. And then
this town is 50 beautifully situated in a great
green BOWL tne slices OF tne bowl surround
ing nlteen hlils Inc God OF nature who is
tne uod OF Tue blole evidently scooped out
TINS valley ior privacy and separation from all
cades, tne thlrty years of Christs boyhood
anu youth, lor Oh the th'rty-thre, years of
Chrsts sthy on earth he spent thirty OF
tnen IN tnis town IN getting ready-a start
hng reouRs 10 thoso who have no patience
with the long years OF preparation necessary
when .hey ehIsr on any special mission for
the church or the world. Tho trouble is with
most youns men that they want to launch
thelr snip from the drydock before IL is ready,
ana hence SO many SINK IN the first cyclone.
All Christs boynood was spent In this vii
iage and ITS surroundings. There Is the very
wei ealled me Fountain OF the Virgin" To
which by His mothers side lie trotted along
no'ulng ner hahd. NO doubt about II; IL is
tne oniy wei IN the village, and 10 has been
the only wen Tor three thousand years. This
morning we visit IT, ana the mothers have
thelr chlIuren With them now as then. The
work OF drawing water in all ages
IN those countries has been wo.
mems WORK. Scores of them are
waiting Tor thelr turn at 1t, three great and
everlasting springs rolling out into that well
their barrels, their hogsheads of water in
Hoods, g!oriously abundant The well is sur
rounueu oy oiiVe groves an wide spaces in
Which people talked and children, wearing
charms on thsir heads as protection against
the 'evli eye, are playing, and women with
their stings ot coin on either side of their
race ana IN SKIRTS OF blue and scar
te. ana Wnite ana green moveson with
wafer Jars on their heads. Mary, |
suppose, Almost always took Jesus
tne poy with her. FOR she had no one she
could leave HIM with, being IN humble cir
cumstances ana having no attendants ] do
not beneve there was one OF the surrounding
niteen mis- tnat the BOY Christ did not range
IRON from 90 3o'lom TO Top, or one cavern in their
siues ne uid not explore, or one species of
Drn nying across the tops that He could not
call by name, or one of all the species OF
fauna browsing on those sleeps that He had
not recognized
You see 10 all through His sermons. IL a
man becomes public speaker, in his ora
tons or discourses you discover his early
whereabouts. What boy sees between seven
ana seventeen always sticks to him. When
the apostle Peter breaches you see the
nshing nets with which he had from his
earliest days been familiar And when Amos
delivers his prophecy you hear in 1t the
bieating of the herds which he had in boy
hood attended. And in our Lords sermons
and conversations you see all the phases of
village life and the mountainous life sur
rounding IT,
He had in boyhood seen the shepherds get
their Hooks mixed up, aud to one not familiar
with the habits of shepherds and their fiocks
hoplessly mixed up. And n sheepstealer ar
pears on the scene and dishonesty demands
some OF those sheep, when he owns not one of
them. We'll" says the two honest shep-
herds, Two will soon settle this matter" aud
one shepherd goes out in one direction and the
other shepherd goes out in the other direction
and the sheepsteaier in another direction,
and each one calls and the hocks of each
OF the honest shepherds rush to their
owner. while the sheepstealer calls aud
calls again, but gets not one of the flock No
wonder that Christ, years after, preaching
on great occasion and illustrating His own
shepherd qualities, says: when He putteth
forth His own sheep He goeth before them.
ana the sheep follow Him, for they know His
voice and the stranger they will not follow,
Tor they know not the voice of the stranger
The sides OF these hills are terraced for
grapes. The boy Christ had often stood with
great round eyes watching the trimming of
the grapevines. Clip goes the knife and of
falls branch. The child Christ says TO the
farmer. What do you do that forT'