Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-11-27

I
partridge and the hoopoe and the thrush
and the osprey and the crane and the ra-
ven, and no wonder afterward in his man
A1od sermon he said, Behold the fowls of
the aig.p In Nazareth and on the road to
II there are great many camels. | see
them now in memory making their slow
way mp 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 out from cup Of water or
pail Of milk, and no wonder he brings NJ
terwara 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; ''SNoe
unto you blind guides which strain out
gnat and swallow camelr
HE RSEw ABOUT THE SHEEP.
He had in boyhood seen the shepherds
get their flocks mixed up. and to one not
familiar with the habits of shepherds and
their fiocks, hopelessly mixed up Aud q
sheepstealer appears on the scene and dis
honestly demands some of those sheep,
when he owns not one OF them. WELL
say the two honest shepherds, 1--WE viii
soon settle this natter and one shepherd
goes ont in one direction and the other
shepherd goes out in the other direction,
and the sheepstealer in another direction,
and each one calls, ana the ilocks Of each
of the honest shepherds rush to their
owner, while the sheepstealer calls and
calls again, but gets not one of the flock.
| No wonder that Christ, Years after, preach
| ing 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
will not follow, 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 trimming of the grapeyines
Clipl goes the knife and off falls IA branch.
The child Christ says TO the farmer, ''What
do you do that foryn cob, says the farm.
err, that is a dead branch and it IS doing
nothing and is only in the way, so cut it
Off" Then the farmer with his sharp knife
prunes from living branch this and that
tendril and the other t'ndrl. Bat, says
the child Christ, these twigs that you cut
off now are not dead; what do you do that
forYn "Oh,n says the farmer, I'VE prune
off these that the main branch may have
more of the sap and 80 be more fruitful
No wonder in after years Christ said ia his
sermoni 1 am the true vine and my father
is the husbhudman. every branch in me
that beareth not fruit lie taSeth away, and
every branch that beareth fruit he pargeth
it, that 10 may bring forth more fruit.
Capital Noone who bad not been country
boy would have said that.
Streaks Of nature all through Christ's
sermons aud conversational When upigeon
descended upon Chriyt's head az his hap
tism ii the Jordan it was not the first
pigeon he bad seen. And then he has such
wide sweep OF discourse as you may mag
inc from one who has stood on the hills
that overlook Nazareth. As far as ! under
stand. Christ visited THE Mediterranean
sea only once, but any clear morning he
could run up on a hill near Nazareth and
look OIL TO the west and see the Mediter
ranean, while there in the north is snowy
Mount Lebanon, clad as in white robe OF as
censiOn and youler on the cast and south
east Mount Gilboa, Mount Tabor and
Mount Gilcrd, and yonder IN the south is
the plain 81 Esdraelon over which we rode
yesterday on our way TO Nazareth. Those
mountains Of his boyhood in his memory,
do you wonder that Christ when he wanted
a good pulpit mnde il our of a mountain
seeing the multitudes he went up into
the mountain And when lie wanted es-
pecial communion with God he took james
and John and Peter into "a mountain
apart.
HE WAS A COUNTRY BOY.
Oh. this country boy Of Nazareth. come
forth TO atone for the sins Of the world,
and to correct the foilies OF the world, and
to stamp out the eruelties Of the world,
and to illumine the darkness of the world,
and to transiigure the hemispheres. So il
has been the mission Of the country boys
in al ages 20 transform aud inspire aud
rescue. They come into our merchandise
and our court rooms and our healing art
and our studios aud orr theology They
lived in Nazareth before they entered Jeru-
salem. And but for that annual influx
our cities would have enervated and sick
ened ana slain the race. Late hours and
hurtful apparel and overtaxed digestive
organs aud crowding environments Of city
life would have matted the world; but the
valleys and mountains of Nazareth have
given fresh supply 81 health and moral in
viroration 10 Jerusalem, aud the country
saves the town. From the hills OF New
Hampshire aud the bills of Virginia and
eloqueiea the Nellster8 and the Clays end
the Henry W. Gg@iys From the plain
homes OF Massachusetts and Maryland
come into our national charities the George
Penh1dys and the William Corcorans.
From the cabins Of the loa Z country re-
gions come into our natinaui destinies the
Andrew .Iacksons and he Abraham Lin
colas. From plow boys fllrraw aud vii
lage counter aud blaeksmith's forge come
most Of our city giants. Nearly all the
Mcssiahs in ali Departments dwell in Naz-
areth before they came TO Jerusalem. |
s.ad this day thanks from these cities,
n SIS made prosperous BY country bows.
20 tine farmhouse and the prair,es aud the
mountain cabins. and the obscure home
si..;.ds of north and south and east AID
west, to the fathers and mothers Ia plaiu
hou,espun il they be still alive or the hill
locks under which they sleep the long
sleep Thanks from Jerusalem TO Naya.
reth
But alas, that the city should 50 often
Great the country boys as Of old the one
from Nazareth was treated at Jerusaieml
.as D. D H..s