Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-24

| now OIteu WOulO nave gathered tnee AZ
ben gathereth her chickens under her
wings!' He had seen his mother open
the family wardrobe ut the close OF sum-
mer and the moth millers flying out
having destroyed the garments. and il
after years he says: LAY not up fol-
yourselves treasures on earth where
moth doth corrupt In childhood He
had seen mile of flowers, white as the
snow, or red as the flame. or blue as the
sen, or green as the tree tops, and nc
wonder in his manhood sermon He said
CONSIDER THE LILIES
While one day on high point where
now stands the tomb of Neby Ismail
He had seen winging past Him so near as
to furry His hair, the partridge and the
hoopoa, AMI the thrush and the osprey
ana the crane, aud the raven, and nc
| wonder afterwards in His manhood ser
mon He said, "Behold the fowls of the
air. Nazareth and on the road to il
there are great many camels. l see
them now in memory making their SLOW
| way up the ZiZ-Zag road from the plain
| of Esdraeiou to Nazareth. Familiar was
Christ with their appearance, also with
that small insect. the gnat, which He
had seen His mother strain out from her
cup of water or pail of milk, and no
| wonder he brings afterward the iarae
Quadruped. and the small insect into Il Is
| sermon and, wnie seeing the Pharisees
careful about small sins, and reckless
about large ones, cries out: "Woe unto
you blind guides which strain al gnar
| and swallow a cu,nel. -
He had in boyhood seen the shepherds
get their fiocks mixed up, and TO one not
familiar with the habits of shepherds and
fi.sit. sal,
| sheep stealer appears on the scene and
/ dishonesty demands some of those sheep,
| when he owns
NOT ONE OF THEM.
"Well, - say the two honest shep-
! herds, ave will soon settle this mat
ter, - and one shepherd goes gu: in one
direction and the other shepherd goes
out in the other direction. aud the sheep
steater in another direction, and each
one calls, and the tiocks of each of the
honest shepherds rush to their owner,
while the sheep stealer calls and call.
again, but gets not one Of the flock. No
wonder thai Christ years after, preach
ing Oh great occasion ana 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
teTraced for grapes. The boy Christ had
often stood with great round eyes watch
ing the trimming of the grape vines.
Clip, goes the knife, and off falls
branch. The child Christ says to the
farmer, ''W hat do you do that for?'
son. says the farmer, "that is u dead
branch, and it is doing nothing and is
only in the way, so / cut it off. Then
the farmer, with his shap knife, prunes
from living branch this, and that ten
drill and the other tendril. "But,'
says the child Christ, "these twgs that
you cut of now are not dead; what do
You do that for?'' CON- says the
farmer. awe prune off these that
THE MAIN BRANCH MAY
have more of sap, and so be more fruit
ful. No wonder in after years Christ
said in His sermon: 81 am the true
vine and my Father is the husbandman;
every branch in me that baareth not
frui; 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 II
pigeon descended on Chrst's head ut
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
Us understand, Christ visited the Medi-
terranean Sea only once, but any clear
morning He could run up on hill near
Nazareth and look off to the west and
see the Mediterranean, while there in
the north Is snowy Mount Lebanon clad
rs in white robe of ascension, and Wonder |
on the east and southeast Mount Gilboa, |
Mount Tabor and Mount Gilrad, and |
yonder in the south is the plain of Es- |
draelOn 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 q |
good pulpit, made it out of mountain
= seeing the nultitudes He went up into
the mountain And when he wanted |
especial communion with God, He took |
james aud John aud Peter into
"a MOUNTAIN APART. -
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 illumiue the darkness of
the " ORD and to transtfgure the hpmi-
spheres! SO it has been the mission of
the country boys in all ages to transform
aud inspire and rescue They come into
our merchandise and our courtrooms 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 ould have
and sickeued and slain the
'ace. Late hours aud hurtful apparel
ind overtaxed digestive organs and
environments of city life would
nave halted the world, but the valleys
and mountains of Nazareth have given
fresh supply of health and moral invig-
'raiion 10 Jerusalem, and the country
aves the town. From the hills of New
aud the hills of Virginia and
he hills of Georgia come into our ma
ional eloquence the Websters and the
Jlsys and the Henry W. Gradys. From
he plain homes of Massachusetts and /
Maryland come into our national chari-
les the George Peabodys and the Will
IAN CorcOrnns. From the cabins of Tho
onelr country regions come into ur ma
ional destinies the Andrew Jacksous
md the Abraham Lincolns. From