The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-12-03

ana TO WOUUeI GlltI W diU III LIS illdIl-
hood sermon he said, Behold the
fowls of the air In Nazareth and on
the road to it there are a great many
camelS. | see them now in memory
making their slow way up the ZigZag
road from the plain Of Esdraelon to
Nazareth. Familiar was Christ with
their appearance, also with that small
insect, the gnat, which he had seen his
mother strain ont from cup of water
or pail of milk. and no wonder he
brings afterWard the large Quadruped
and the small insect into his sermon
and, while seeing the PhariSeeS careful
about small sins and reckless about
large ones. cries out: "NOe unto you
blind guides which strain out a grat
aud swallow a camel" :"
HE KNEW ABOUT THE SHEEP.
He had in boyhood seen the shep-
herds get their flocks mixed up, and to
one not familiar with the habits of
shepherds and their tlocks, hopelessly
mixed up. And sheepstealer appears
on the scene and dishonesty demands
some Of those sheep, when he owns not
one of them. "Well." say the two hon
matter" and one shepherd goes out in
one direction and the o.her shepherd
goes out in the other direction, and the
sheepStealer in another direction, and
each one calls, and the flockS of each Of
the honest shepherds rush to their
owner, while the sheepstealer call and
calls again, but gets not one of the
flock. No wonder that Christ. years
efter, preaching on a great occasion
and illustrating his own shepherd
qualities, says: When he putteth
forth his own sheep he goeth before
them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice, and the stranger
they viii not ol'ow, for 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 trim
ming of the grapevines. Clip! goes
the knife and off falls branch. The
child Christ says to the farmer, What
do you do that for?" "Oh,' says the
farmer, that is dead branch and tits
doing nothing and is only in the way,
so cut it off," Then the farmer with
his sharp knife prunes from a living
branch this and that tendril and the
other tendril. But" says the child
Christ, these twigs that you cut off
now are not dead; what do you do that
for" "Oh," saws the farmer, eve
prune off these that the main branch
may have more of the sap and so be
more fruitful" No wonder in after
years Christ said in his sermon II
am the true vine and my father is the
husbandman; every branch in me that
beareth not fruit he taketh away, and
every branch that beareth fruit he
purgeth it. that it may bring forth
more fruit" Capital No one who had
not been & country boy would have said
that.
Streaks of nature all through Christ's
sermons and conversations When a
pigeon descended upon Christ's head
at his baptism in the Jordon it was rot
the first pigeon he had seen. And then
be has such wide sweep of discourse
as you may imagine from one who has
stood on the hills that overlook NaZa-
reth. AS far as l understand, Christ
visited the Mediterranean sea only
once, but any clear morning he could
run up on a hill near Nazareth and
| 'ook of to the west and see the Medl-
l.teranean, while there in the north IS
snowy MounJLeDan0n, cIad asln white
robe Of ascension, and younder On the
| east and southeast Mount Gilboa.
Mount Tabor and Mount Gilead, and
yonGer in the south is the plain Of
Esdraelon over which we rode yester-
day on our way to Nazareth. Those
mountains of his boyhood in his men,
ory, do you wonder that Christ when
be wanted good pulpit made it out of
a mountain-"seeingt the mu.titndes he
! went UP into the mountain" And
when he wanted especial communion
with God he took James and John and
Peter into "a mountain apart"
HE WAS A COUNTRY BOY.
Oh. this country toy of Nazareth,
come forth to atone for the sins of the
world, aud to correct the follieS of the
world, and to stamp out the crueltieS
o. the world, and to illumine the dark
ress Of the world, and to transfgu-e
I the hemlspheres! So it has beeu the
mission OF the country boys in all ages
Ito transform and inspire and rescue.
TTThey come into our merchandise and
oaour court rooms and our healing art
sand our studious and our theology.
s.-Ihey lived in Nazareth before they en-
stered Jerusalem. And but for that
ennual influx our cities would have
,,nervated and Sickened and slain The
,;nace. Late hours and hurtful apparel
md overtaxed digestive organs and
rsowding environments of city life
JJ3aHculd have halted the world; but the
;si ALLEYS and mountains of Nazareth
Haye given fresh supply of health and
$oral IMMIGRATION to Jerusalem, and
Ne country saves the town. From the
. tAls of New Hampshire and the hills
- Virginia and the hills of Georgia
:ne into our national eloquence the
ebsters and the Clays and the Henry
s3Eeeiradys. From the plain homes CT
o1I;ne achusetts and Maryland come into
me- ational charities the George Pea
ionsir; and the William Corcorans.
;sG nv the cabins of the 10 lely country
nI;cI Us come into our national desti-
aa,.;na " ,.1o the Andrew JacksonS and the
en-in5 800 nam Llrcolns. From plow boys
~ ND " and village counter and black
'.I .sIi.,rrsts. Nearly all the MessiahS in all
80, ,tments dwell in Nazareth before
go tame to Jerusalem. | send this
go ,nnr banks from these cities, mostly
-.GsnSprosperous by country boys, to
no in farmhouse and the prairies and
,G no Buntain cabins, and the obscure
q % was Eeads of north and south and
S that Mnd west, to the fathers and
~ ~ hot IS in plain homespul if they
s;Sps alive or the hillockS under
II hird yhey sleep the long sleep. Thanks
~ not tEusalem to Nazareth.
ne 'necies as, that the city should SO Of
- hat 1t the country boys as Of old the
N n Nazareth was treated at Jer-
rn,ons. 4 Slain not by hammers and
tar in Sut by instruments just as cru
iscoyer livery street of every city the
:. bov cM goes Oh. Every year shows
;"rs 10 itYusand of the slain. Oh, how
rsarhes ~ s wthem up. Under what wheels,
h;ch he inail!s. and for what an awful