The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-10-14

feet are not shod with the supernatural.
and we remember what poor work
Peter made Of it when he tried to walk
the water.
Christ our leader is on the top OF tine
tossing waves, and it is about half-past
three in the morning and it is the darks-
est time just before day -break. But W
the flashes of lightning we see Him put.
ting His feet on the crest of the wave,
stepping from crest to crest, walking
the white surf, solid as though it was
frozen snow. The sailors think p
ghost is striding the tempest, but b
cheers them into placidity, showing
Himself to be great Christ for sailors.
And He walks the Atlantic and Pacific
and Mediterranean and Adriatic now,
and if exhausted and affrighted vQy-
ayers will listen for His voice at half.
past three o'clock in the morning on
any sea, indeed, at any hour, they will
hear His voice of compassion and en-
enlargement
We continue to follow our Chieftain,
and here is blind man by the wayside
1t is not from cataract of the eye or
from ophthalmia, the eye-eXtinguhher
of the east; but he was born blind. ''Be
openedr' He cries, and first there is a
smarting of the eye-lids, and then a
twilight, and then a mid-noon, and
then a shout. 81 see! I see!" Tell it
to all the blind, and they, at least, can
appreciate it. And here is the widows
dead son, and' here is the expired
damsel, and here is Lazarus "Live!
our Chieftain cries, and they live. Tell
it through all the bereft households;
tell it among the groves. And here
around Him gather the deaf and the
dumb and the sick, and at His word
they turn on their couchcs and blush
from awful pallor of helpless illness to
rubicund health. and the swollen foot
of the dropsical sufferer becomes feet
as roe on the mountains.
The music of the grove and house,
hold wakens the deaf ear, and lunatic
and maniac return into bright intelli-
gence, and the leper's breath becomes
as sweet as the breath of child, and
the flesh as roseate. Tell it to all the
sick, through all the homes, through all
the hospitals Tell it at IL o'clock at
night; tell it at o'clock in the morn
ing; tell it at $50, and in the last watch
of the night, that Jesus walks the tenn
pest.
Still we follow our Chieftain until
the government that gave no protec-
ton insists that He pay tax, and. too
poor to raise the requisite $3.75, He or
ders Peter to catch fish that has in
its mouth Roman slater, which is a
bright coin land you know that fish
naturally bite at any thing bright, but
it was miracle that Peter should have
caught it at the first haul
Now we follow our Chieftain until
for the paltry sum of SIS, Judas sells
him to his pursuerS Tell it to all the
betrayed! If for $4,000 or for $500 or for
500 your interests were sold out, consid-
err for how much cheaper sum the Lord
of earth and Heaven was supendHed
to humiliation and death. But Here
while following him on spring night
between II and 10 o'clock, we see the
flash of torches and lanterns and we hear
the cry of mob of Nihilists. They are
breaking in on the quietude of Geth-
semane with clubs-like mob with
sticks chasing a mad dog. 1t is herd of
Jerusalem "roughs" led on by Judas to
arrest Christ and punish Him for being
the loveliest and best being that ever
lived
But rioters are liable to assail the
wrong man How were they to be sure
which one was Jesus? n will kiss
Him." says Judas, land by that signal
you will know on whom to lay your
hands of arrest" So the kiss which
throughout the human race and for all
time God intended as the most sacred
demonstration of affection, for Paul
writes to the Romans and the Corinthi-
ans and the Thessalonians concerning
the "holy kiss" and Peter celebrates
the kiss of charity, and with that con-
junction of lips Laban met Jacob, and
Joseph met his brethren, and Aaron
met Moses and Samuel met Saul and
Jonathan met David and Orpah parted
from Naomi, and Paul separated from
his friends at Ephesus, and the father
in the parable greeted the returning
prodigal, and when the millennium
shall come we are told righteousness
and peace will kiss each other, and all
the world is melted to greet Christ as
inspiration cries OUT kiss the Son,
lest He be angry and We perish from the
way"-that most sacred demonstration
of reunion and affection was desecrated
as the filthy lips of Judas touched the
pure cheek of Christ, and the horrid
smack of that kiss has its echo in the
treachery and debasement and hypoc-
risy of all ages.
As in December, 1889, l walked the
way from Bethany, and at the foot of
Mount Olivet, a half mile from the wall
of jerusalem through the Garden of
Gethsemane, and under the eight vener.
able olive trees now standing, their
genealogical ancestors having been wit.
nesses OF the occurrences spoken of,
the scene of horror and crime came
back to me, until l shuddered with the
historical "reminiscences.
In further following our great Chief
tain's march through the centuries, l
find myself in a crowd in front of
Herod's palace in Jerusalem, and on a
movable platform, placed upon a tes
selated pavement Pontius Plate sits.
And as once year a condemned Grim.
inal is hardened plate lots the ,,nnnln