The progress., 1890-11-29

VIII not IOlloW 1Or thegs know not the voice
of a stranger" The sides Of these hills
are terraced for grapes. The boy Christ
had often stood with great round eyes
watching the trimming5of the grape-vines.
Clip, goes the knife, and on falls branch.
| The child Christ says to the farmer,
"What do YOU do that for?" ''Oh," says
| the farmer. THAT is 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 tcndril and the other tendrii.
'sBut." says the child Christ, '.these twigs
that you cutoff now are not dead what do
you-do that for?" Oh says the farmer,
I'VE prune of these that the main branch
may have more sap and be moro 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. j
Strcaks of nature all through Christ's
scrlnons and conversations. When o pigeon
descended upon Christ's head at his baptism
in the Jordan il 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 clearmorIiing Hecould Fun up
/ on hill near Nazareth and look of TO the
west and see the Mediterranean, while
there il the north is snowy Mount Leban-
/ on. cladss in white robe Of ascention, and
q flt4 CT Ion,
| 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 III His memory, do you
/ wonder that Christ when Heswanted a good
/ pulpit, made it out Of mountain-s's seeing
the multitude He went up into tho 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.
forth to atone for tho sins of the world, and
to correct the follics of the world, and to
stamp out the cruelties of the world, and to
| illumine the darkness of the world, and to
| transtiglre the hcmispheres. Soait has
4 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 eneryated and sickened and
slain the race. Late hours and hurtful
apparel and overtaxed digestive organs and
i crowded environments OF city life, would
have halted the world, but tho valleys and
mountains of Nazareth have given fresh
| ~ INV; 10
| 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-
| chusctts and Maryland como into our ma
! tional charities the George Peabodys and
the William Corcorans. From the cabins
| Of the lonely country regions come into
/ our national destinies the Andrew Jack
sons and the Abraham Lincolns. From
plough boy furrow and village counter and
i 5lacksmith's forge come most of our city
giants Nearly all the Messiahs in all de-
paItments dWelt in Nazareth before they
i came to Jerusalem. | send this day thanks
! from these cities, mostly made prosperous
j by country boys to the farm house and
| the prairies and the mountain cabins and
L
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
mother, after he was old enough to do so.
| looked in, and there were hammer, and
saw, and plane, and auger, and vice, and
measuring rule, and chisel, and drill, and
adze, and wrench, and bit, and all the
tools of cafpentry. Think of it! He who
smoothed the surface of the earth, showing
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
lthunderbolt, striking with hammer. He
who scooped out the bed for the ocean,
following a ladle. He who flashes the
morning on the earth, and makes the mid
night heavens quiver with aurora, con-
structing window / cannot understand
| it, but / believe it. A sceptic said to an
| old clergyman, II will not believe any
| thing l cannot explain" ''Indeed!" said
the 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" MOP said
the sceptic, II did not mean exactly that.
mean that win not believe anything
i have Lot seen" ''Indeedw said the
clergyman. ''You will not believe anything
i you have not seen. Have you backbone?"
Yes" said the sceptic. "How do Anow?"
said the clergyman. "Have you ever seen
It." This mystery of God-head and hu-
manity interjoined l cannot understand,