Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-12-05
REV. DR.. .TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE's SUM-
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "AMoNG THE HOLY HILLS

TEXT. /" He came TO Nazareth, ubere He
Gds brought up."-Luke iv., 10.
What splendid sleep had last night in
q Catholic convent my first sleep within
doors since leaving Jerusalem, and all of
US as kindly treated as though we had been
the Pope and his college of Cardinals pass
ing that wayl Last evening the genial sis,
terhood OF the convent ordered a hundred
bright-eyed Arab children brought out ~
sing for me, and il was glorious This
morning come out on the steps of the con-
vent and look upon the most beautiful vii
iage OF all Palestine its houses of white
limestone. Guess its namel Nazareth, his
torical Nazareth. one of the trinity of places
that all Christian travellers must see or feel
that they have not seen Palestine-namely,
bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth. Baby
hood, boyhood, manhood of Him for whom
believe there are fifty million people who
would now, II 1t were required, march out
and die whether under az or down in the
Hoods or straight through the fire.
Grand old village is Nazareth, even putting
aside its sacred associations. First OF all, It
Is clean; and that can be said OF few OF the
oriental villages. Its neighboring town OF
Nablouf Is the filthiest town | ever saw,
although its chief industry is the manutac-
ture Of soap. They export all Of it. Naza.
reth has been the scene OF battles passing IL
from Israelite to Mohammedan and
from Mohammedan to Christian, the
most wonderful Of the battles be-
ing that in which twenty-five thou.
hundred French, Napoleon Bonaparte
commanding, the greatest Of Frenchmen
Salking these very streets through
which Jesus walked for nearly thirty years
the morals Of the two, the sntipodes, the
SHOWS Of Russia and the plaques OF Egypt
appropriately following the one, the doIolo-
gies OF earth and the hallelujahs of heaven
appropriately following the other. And then
this town Is SO beautifully situated in a great
green bowl. the sides Of the bowl surround
ing fifteen hills. The God Of nature who is
the God OF the Bible evidently scooped out
this valley forprivacy and separation from all
the world during three most important de-
cades, the thirty years Of Christ's boyhood
and youth, for of the thirty-three years OF
Christs stay on earth he spent thirty OF
them in this town In getting ready-a start
ing rebuke to those who have no patience
with the long years Of preparation necessary
the church or the world The trouble is with
most young men that they want to launch
their ship from the drydock before II is ready,
and hence so many sink In the first cyclone
All Christ's boyhood was spent In this viii
lage and its surroundings. There is the very
we'll called THE Fountain Of the Virgin" to
which by His mothers side He trottsd along
holding her hand. No doubt about 1t; 1t Il
the only well In the village, and IL has been
the only well for three thousand years. This
morning we visit it. and the mothers have
their children 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 for their turn at IL. three great and
everlasting springs rolling out into that well
their barrels their hogsheads OF water in
hoods gloriously abundant. The we'll Is sur
rounded by olive groves and wide spaces in
which people talked and children, wearing
charms on their heads as protection against
the 'evil eye" are playing, and women with
their stings OF coin on either side of their
face, and in skirts Of blue and scar
let and white and green move on with
water jars on their heads. Mary, l
suppose, almost always took Jesus
the boy with her, for she had no one she
could leave Him with, being in humble cir
cumstances and having no attendants. / do
not believe there was one Of the surrounding
fifteen hills that the boy Christ did not range
from bottom to top, or one cavern in their
sides He did not explore, or one species Of
bird flying 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 1t all through His sermons. II
man becomes public speaker, in his ora
tions or discourses you discover his eaRly
and seventeen always sticks to him. When
the apostle Peter breaches you see the
fishing nets with which he had from his
earliest days been familiar. And when Amos
delivers his prophecy you hear I'm IL the
bleating 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 il.
He had in boyhood seen the shepherds get
their ilocks mixed up, and to one not familiar
with the habits of shepherds and their fiocks,
hoplessly mixed up. And a sheepstealer APP
pears on the scene and dishonesty demands
some Of those sheep, when he owns not one OF
them. well, says the two honest shepJ
herds, I'VE will soon settle this matter" and
one shepherd goes out In one direction and the
other shepherd goes out in the other direction,
and the sheepstealer in another direction,
and each one calls, and the focks 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, preaching
on a great occasion and illustrating His own
shepherd qualities, says: when He putteth
forth His own sheep He gocth before them,
and 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 torraced for
grapes. The boy Christhad often stood with
great round eyes watching the trimming Of
the grapevines. Clip goes the knife and off
falls branch. The child Christ says to the
farmer. ''What do you do that forF'
'Oh," gays the farmer, that is
dead branch and IL 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 tendril. But" says
the child Christ. these twigs that you cut
off now are not dead; what DO YOU do that
torS' '0h," says the farmer, we prune
of these that the main branch may have
more Of the sap and so DO more fruitful"
| No wonder In after years Christ said In His
sermon: II am the true vine and My Father
Is the husbandmsn; every branch in Me that
beareth not fruit He taketh away, and every
branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it
that 1t may bring forth more fruit" Capital!
| No one who had not been q country boy
would have said that.
Oh, this country boy OF Nazareth, come
forth to atone for the sins Of the world,
and to correct the follies of the world, and
to stamp out the cruelties Of the world,
and to illumine the darkness of, the world,
and to transfgure the hemispheresl SO II
has been the mission OF the country boys
in all ages 10 transform and inspire and
rescue. They come into our merchandise
and our court rooms and our healing art
and our studios and our theology. They
lived In Nazareth before they entered Jeru-
salem. And but for that annual influx our
cities would have enervated and sicksnsd and
slain the race. Lats hours and hurtful ap-
parel and overtaxed digestive organs and
crowding environments OF city life would
have halted the world. but the valleyI
and mountains OF Nazareth have giver
fresh supply of health and moral invigora
ton to Jerusalem and the country save
the town From the hills Of New Hamp
shire and the hills Of Virginia and Ii,
| hilIa of Genrpin coma In our natinna