Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-12-11

''But." says the child Christ, 'thcse twigs
| that you cut off now are not dead; what do
! you do that for?' ''Oh," says the farmer
1--WE prune off these that the main branch
may have more sap and 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 pigeon
| descended upon Christ's head at his baptism
| in the Jordan it was not the first pigeon
He had seen. And then He has such wide
| sweep of discourse as you may imagine
| from one who has stood on the hills that
| overlook Nazareth. AS far as understand
Christ visited the Mediterranean Sea only
once, but any clear morning He could run up
on q hill near Nazareth and look off to tho
| west and see the Mediterranean, whilo
there in the north is snowy Mount Leban-
on, clad as in white robe Of ascention, and
| yondcr on the east and southeast Mount
| Gilboa. Mount Tabor and Mount Gilead,
| and yonder in the south Is the plain of
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 good
pulpit. made it out of Notwithstanding
the multitude He went up into the noun
TAIN" And when He wanted especial COM
munion with God, He took James and
John and Peter into "a mountain apart"
| Oh, this country boy of Nazareth, come
| So. %I,o -, a.
to correct the follics Of the world, and to
stamp out the cruelties of TIE world, and to
illumine tho darkness of the worll, and to
transfgure the hcmispheres! So it has
been the mission of the country boys in all
ages to 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 Jerusalem.
And but for that annual influx our cities
would have enervated and sickened and
| slain the race. Late hours and hurtful
apparel and overtaxed digestive organs and
crowded environments Of city life, would
have halted the world, but the valleys and
mountains Of Nazareth have given fresh
| supply Of health and moral invigoration to
Jerusalem, and the country saves the town.
From the hills of New Hampshire and the
hills Of Virginia and the hills of Georgia
come into our national eloquence the Web
sters and the Clays and the Henry w.
Gradys. From the plain homes of Massa-
chusetts and Maryland come into our ma
tional charities the George Pcabodys and
the William Corcorans. From the cabi ms
of the lonely country regions come into
our national destinies the Andrew jack
sons aud the Abraham Lincolns. From
| f,,rr
blacksmith's forge come most Of our city
giants. Nearly all the Messiahs in all de-
paTtments dwelt in Nazareth before they
came to Jerusalem. send this day thanks
from these cities, mostly made prosperous
by country boys, to the farm house and
the prairies and tho mountain cabins and
the obscure homesteads of North and South
and East and West, to the fathers and
mothers in plain homespun, if they be still
| alive, or the hillocks under which they sleep
the long sleep. Thanks from Jerusalem to
Nazareth.
On this December morning in Palestine
on our way out from Nazareth we saw
just such . carpenters shop as Jesus
| worked in, supporting his widowed
A..t..E, hise, ne was old enough to do so.
l looked in, and there were hammer, and
saw, and plane, and auger, and vice, and
measuring-rule, and chisel, and drill, aud
adze, and wrench, and bit and all tho
tools of carpentry. Think Of it! He who
smoothed the surface OF the earth, showing
a plane. He who cleft the mountains by
earthquake, pounding chisel. He who
opened the mammoth caves Of the earth,
turning an auger. He who wields the
thunderbolt, striking with hammer. He
who scooped out the bed for the ocean,
| ho1 cd Iyo ,hn 81
morning on the earth, and makes the mid
night heavens CULVER with aurora, con-
structing window. cannot understand
1t, but believe it. A sceptic said to an
old clergyman, II will not believe any
thing cannot explain" ''Indeed" said
tho clergyman, "You will not believe any,
thing you cannot explain. Please to ex-
plain to me why some cows have horns,
and others have no horns" ''No!" said
the sceptic, II did not mean exactly that.
[ mean that will not believe anything
I have not seen" ''Indeedw said the
clergyman, "You will not believe anything
you have not seen. Have you backbone?"
Eyes" said the sceptic. ''How do know"
said the clergyman. Shave you ever seen
it?" This mystery of God-head and hu-
manity interjoined I cannot understand,
and cannot explain, but I believe 1t.
am glad there are so many things we can
not understand, for that leaves something
for heaven. If we know everything here
heaven would be great Incidence. What
foolish people, those who are in perpetual
fret because they cannot understand all
that God says and does. A child in the
frst juvenile primer might a. well burst
into tears because it cannot understand
comic sections. In this world we are only
in the Abe class, and we cannot now
understand the libraries Of eternity which
put to utmost test faculties archangelic.
would be ashamed of heaven il we did
not know more there, with all our facul-
ties intensified q million fold and at the
center Of the universe, than we do here
with our dim faculties and clinging to the
outside rim Of the universe.
In about two hours we pass through
Cana, the village Of Palestine where the
mother OF Christ and our Lord attended