Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-11-29

such carpenters SHOP as Jesus worked in.
supporting His widowed mother after He
was old enough to do so. l looked in, ami
there were hammer and saw and plane and
auger and wise and measuring rule and
chissl and drill and adzs and wrench and
bit and all the tools of carpentry, Think
OF It'll He who smootned the surface OF the
earth showing a plane; He who cleft the
mountains BY earthquake pounding a
clisel; He who opsned the mammoth caves
Of the earth turning an auger; He who
wieids the thunlerbolt striking with
hammer; He who scooped out the bed for
tae OCEAN following a lade; He who flashes
the morning on the earth and makes the
midnight heavens quiyef with aurora con-
ssructlng a window. | cannot understand
it, but believe II. A skeptic said to an old
Clergyman: II will not believe ANYTHING /
cannot explain" Indeed, said the clergy
man, you viii not balievs anything
you cannot explain. Please to explain
to me way some cows have horns and
others have no horns. ''No,n said the
skeptic II did not mean exactly that. |
mean that will not believe any thing have
not SEEM Indeed said the clergyman
you will not believe anything You have not
the skeptic. How do you known said the
clergyman. Have you ever seen its' This
mystery of Golhood and hu nanity inter
Joined cannot understand and | cannot ex-
plain, but believe it. | am glad there are
SO many things we cannot understand, for
that leaves something for heaven.
In about two hours we pass through Cana,
the village of Palestine, where the mother of
Christ and our Lord Attended the wedding of
poor relative. having come over from
Nazareth for that purpose. The mother of
Christ-for women are first to notica such
things-found that the provisions had fallen
short and sac told Christ, and He to relieve
the embarrassment OF thu houssk separ, WAC
had lnytet more gusts tnan the pantry
warranted became the butler Of the occasion,
and out of cluster of a few sympathetic
words squeezed eyorage OF few hundred
and twenty-six gallons Of wine in which
was no5 oas drop of intoxicant or it would
have left that party as mau1liu aud drunk
as the grelt centennial banquet in New
YORK, two years ago, lett senator's. and
governors, and generals, and merchant
princes, the difference between the wine at
the wedding in Cana and the wine at this ban
guet in New York being, that the Lord made
the one and the devil made the other. We
got OF our horses and examined some of
these water jars at Cana said to be the very
ones that held the plan water that Christ
turned into the purple bloom of an especial
vintage. | measured them and found them
eighteen inches from edge to edge and nine
teen inches deep, and declined to accept their
identity. But we realized the immensely OF
a supply of a hundred and twenJy-six gall
Ions of wine.
Among the arts and inventions Of the fu-
ture hope there may be some one that eau
press the juices from the grape and so mingle
them and without one drop OF damning alco-
holism that it will keep for years. And the
more of it you take the clearer will be the
brain and tbs healthier the stomach. And
here is a remarkable fact in my recent jour-
ney-I Travelled through Italy and Greece
ami Egypt and Palestine and Syria and Tur-
key, and how many intoxicated People Go
you think | saw in all those five great realns3
Not one. We must in our Chrjstianized lands
have got hold OF some kind of beverage that
Christ did not make.
Oh, | auI glad that Jesus was present at
that wedding, and last December, standing
at Cana, that wedding came backl Night
had fallen on the village aad its surround
ings. The bridegroom had put on his head
bright turoan and garland of flowers, and
his garments hal been made fragrant with
trankiucense and canphor, an odor which
the oriental especially likes. Accompanied
by groomsmeu, and preceded by band of
musicians with flutes and drums and
horns, ard by torches in full blaze,
he starts for tho brides home.
This river of fire is INST by another river of
fire, the torches OF the bride and brides
maids, fambeau answering fambeau The
tIlue Is IN "ultb TOUe &l1 Her ven uOb Dul1
covers her facs but envelopes her body.
Her trousseau is as elaborate as the resources
OF her fathers house permit. Her attendants
ara decked with all the ornaments they own
or can borrow; but tleir own personal charms
make tame the Jewels for those oriental wo-
men eclipse in attraetlveneSs all others except
those OF Our own land. The damSon rose is
in their cheek, and the diamond in the
luster OF their eyes, and the black
ness of the night in their long locSs, and in
their stepis the graceiulness of the morning.
At the first sight Of the torches of the
bridegroom and his attendants coming
over the hill the cry rings through the
home of the bride; They are in sight Get
ready! Hehold the bridegroom cometh! Go
We out to meet himp' AS the two process
sions approach each other tho timbrels
Strike ard the songs commingle, and then
the two PROFESSIONS become one and march
toward tbs bfidegrooms house and meet
third procession which is made up of the
friends of both bride and bridegroom.
Then all enter the house and the dance
begins and the door is shut And all this
Christ Uses to illustrate the joy with which
the ransonied of earth shall meet Him When
He comes garlauded with clouds and robei
in the morning and trumpsted by the thun-
ders OF the last day. Look. Taere He
comes down off the hills of heaven, the
Bridegroom! And let us start out to hail
Him. for I hear the voices of the judgment
day souidihgi 'Behold the Bridegroom
coinethl Go We out to meet Him. And the
disappointment of Those who have declined
the invitation to the gosp5l wedding IS prs
scented under the figure of q door heavily
c osed. You hear it slam. Too late. The
door is shut.
But we must hasten on, for do not mean
to close my eyes tonight till | see from a
mountain top Lake Galilee ON whose banks
pxt will hi nd on
waters the following morning we will take
sail. On and up we 20 in the seyerest climb
o. all Palestine, the ascent of the Mount Of
BeatitLdes. on the top of which Christ
preached that famous sermon on the biesseis
blessed this and blessed shat. Up to their
knees the horses plunge in ntolehills and
surface that gives way at the first touch of
the hoof, and again and again the tired beasts
halt, as much as to say to the riders, cit ia
unjust for you to make us climb these sleeps"
On and up over mountain sides, where III the
later season hyacinths ami DAISIES and phloxes
and afiemones kiudle their beauty. On and
uu until 6u the rocks of black basalt we dis
mount, and climbing to tne highest peak look
out on an enchantmert of scenery that seems
be the oeatltItdes themselves arehed into
skies and rounded into valleys and silyered
into waves. The view is like that OF Tsnnessee
and North Carolina from the top OF Look
out Mountain, or like that OF Vermont ana
New hampshire from the Top Oh MOufib
Washington. Hail hills of Galilee! Hail
Lake Gennesaret, only four miles away
Yonder. clear up and most conspicuous, is
Safed, the very city to which Christ pointed
for illustration in the sermon preached here,
saying; "a city set on hill cannot be hid"
There are ROCKS around me on this Mount of
Beatitudes enough to build the highest pulpit
the world ever saw Az, it is the highest
pulpit. Itoverlooss all time and all eternity.
The valley of Hattin, between here and
Lake Gailee, is an amphitheatre, as though
the natural contour of the earth had invited
all nations to come aIl sit down and hear
Christ preach a sermon in which there were
more startling novelties than were ever an
nounced in all the sermons that were
ever preached. To those who heard Him ON
this very spot His word must have seemed
the contradiction of everything that they
had ever heard or read or experienced. The
worlds theory had besu: Blessed are
the arrogant; blessed ara the super
cilious; blessed ara the fearless; blessed
are they that have everything taeir own
wav: blessed are the war eagles; blassst
are the prosecutors: blessed are the popular;
blessed are tae Herods and the CAESARS AMI
the Ahabs. 'tNoi no! nor says Christ, with
a voice that rings over these rocks and
through yonder valley of Hattin, and down
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