The Russellville Democrat., 1890-12-04
AMONG THE HOLY HILLS.
A Day Amid the Scenes Where
 Jesus Spent Ills Boyhood.
Sermon bv Rev. r Dewitt Talmagw De- seriptise of Saxareth and Its AA- soefssfons fn Connection with
 the Life of Jesus.

she Life Of Jesus
 The ninth discourse of the series on the Holy Land was delivered by Rev. T, Dewitt Talmage in Brooklyn and New York City. from the texk
 He came to Nazareth. where he was brought up--Lake iY., ig
 What 6 splendid sleep I had last night in a Catholic convent my first sleep within doors since leaving 4JeEn- salem, and all of US as kindly treated as though we had been the Pope and his College of Cardinals passing that way. Last evening the genial sister hood of the convent ordered a hundred brigh t-eyed Arab chiIdeen brought ess to sing for me. and 1t was glorious This morning 1 come out on the steps Of the convent and looked upon the most beautiful village of all Palestine. its houses of white limestone. Guess its nameI Nazareth, historical Naza- reth, one of the trinity of places that all Christian travellers must see or feel that they have not seen Palestihe, namely, Rethlehern, Jerusalen, Nazs- reth. Babyhood, boyhood, manhood of Him for whom believe there are fifty million people phe would now, fl it were required, march out and die, whether under axe or down in the floods or straight through the fire
 All Chrisfs boyhood was spent in this village and its surroundings. There is the very we'll called The Fountain of the Vifgin." to which by His mothers side He trotted along hold ing her hand. No doubt about 1t; 1t Is the only we'll in tha village, and 1t has been the only well for three thousand years This morning Re visit H. and the mothers have their children with them now as then The work ofdraw- ing water In All ages in those countries has bsen women's work Scores of them are waiting for their turn at it. three great and everlasting springs roll ing out into that well their barrels, their hogsheads Of water ln foods elori- ously abundant The well is sur rounded bY olive groves and wide spaces in which people talk and children wearing charms on their heads as protect ton against the ''evil eye" are playing. and women with thair strings of coin on either side of their lace. and in skirts Of blue, and scarlet, and white, and green, move on with with water jars on their heads. Mary suppose, almost always took Jesus the boy with her, for she had no one she could leave Him Rith, being in humble circumstances1 and having 10 attendants. do not be- lieve there was one Of the surrounding fifteen hills that the boy Christ did not range from bottom to tor, 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 steps that He had not recognized.
 You see 1t all through His sermons. If a man becomes public speaker, in his orations or discoerses you discover his early whereabouts What boy sees between seven and seventeen always sticks to him. When the A postle Peter breaches you sec the fishing nets with which he had from his earliest days been familiar And when Amos deliv- CTS bis prophecy you hear in it the bleating of the herds which he had in boyhood attended. And in our Lords sermons and conversations yoa see all the phases of village life and the mountainous life surrounding it They raised their own chickens in Nazareth, and in after time He cries: 70 Jernsaleml Jerusalem T how often would have gathered thee as hen gatheroth her chick ems under her wings," He had seen His mother open the family ward robe at the close Of summer and the moth millers flying ous having de- ssroyed the garments, and in after years He says: Lay not up for your selves treasures on earth where moth doth corrupt Tn childhood He had snow, or red as the flame. or blue as the sea, or green as the tree-tops, and no wonder in His manhood sermon He said: Consider the lilies" While one day on a high point where now stands the tomb of Neby Ismail, He had seen wing ing past Him so near as almost to furry His hair tho partridge, and the hoopoe, and the thrush, and the osprey, and the crane, and the raven, and no wonder afterward in His manhood ser mon He said: Behold the fowls of the aiE In Nazareth and on the road to 1t there are a great many eamels see them now in memory making their slew way up the zig-zag road from the plain of Esdraelon to Nazareth. Tamil far 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~nilk, and no wonder He brings afterwsrd tbe 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: "WOe unto you blind guides which strain out gnat and swallow a camel
 He had in boyhood seen the shepherds get their fOcks mixed up, and to one not familiar with the habits of shep- herds and their focks, hopelessly mixed up And a sheep-stealer appears on tho scene and dishonestlY demands some of those sheep when he owns not one of them. Well" say the two honest shepherds Two will soon settle this matter" and one shepherd goes one direction and the other shepherd goes out in another direction, and the sheep in another direction, and each ono calls, and the focks of each of the honest shepherds rush to their owner, while the sheep-ste tealer calls, and calls again, but gets not one of the flock No wonder that Christ years after preaching on great occa- sion, 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 has often stood with great round eyes watching the trimming Of the grapevines. Clip, goes the knife, and of falls a fraueh f1ha child Chrfat