Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1894-04-28

~ w a. w
pearance. But no sooner did Christ ap-
pear i'll the domestic group than there
was an infant'ilc excitement, and the
youngsters began t. struggle TO get ont
of their mothers' arms. They could not
hold the children back. stand back
with those children scolded some of
the disciples. Perhaps the little ones
may have been playing i'll the dirt. and
their faces may not save been clean, or
they may not have been we'll clad or the
disciples may have thought Christi re-
ligion was a religion chiefly for big
folks. But Christ made the infantile ex-
citement still livelier by his saying that
he liked children better than grown peo-
pie. declaring. Except We become rs u
little child We cannot enter into the
kingdom Of God "
Alas for those people who do not like
children, They had better stay out of
heaven, for the place is full of them.
That. think, is one reason why the
vast majority of the human race die i'll
infancy Christ is so fond of children
that he takes them 10 himself before the
world has time to despoil and harden
them. and so they are now at the win
dows Of the palace and on the doorsteps
and playing On the green. Sometimes
Matthew or Mark or Luke tells II story
of Christ. and only one tells il, but
Matthew, Mark and Luke all join in
that picture of Christ girlled by chill
dren, and | know by what occurred ut
.l Al l.
geniality.
Habits of Chri.t.
Not only was Christ altogether lovely
in Ii; cDuntcnance. but lovely i'll his
habit. 1 know. without being told, that
the Lord who made the rivers and lakes
and oceans was cleanly in his appear
ance. He disliked the disease of leprosy
not only because il was distressing. but
because il was not clean. and his curative
words were: Il will. Be thou clean.
He declared himself III favor of thor
ough washing and opposed To superb
cial washing when he denounced the
hypocrites for making clean only 1.-The
outside of the platter, and he applauds
his disciples by saying. Now are We
clean, and giving directions to those
who tasted among other things, he says,
Wash thy face" and To blind man
whom he was doctoring, Go, wash i'll
the pool of Sloan" and he himself
actually washed the disciples feet, i
suppose not only Ia demonstrate his
own humility. but probably their feet
needed To be washed.
The fact is. the Lord was great
friend of water. know that from the
fact that NEST of the world i water.
But when find Christ i'll such constant
commcndation of water | know he was
personally neat, although he mingled
much among very rough populations and
took such long journeys on dusty high
ways. He wore his hair long. according
To the custom of his land and time, but
neither trouble nor old age had thinned
or injured his locks. which were never
worn shaggy or unkempt. Yea, all his
habits of personal appearance We're
lovely.
Sobriety was also an established habit
of his life. In addition to the water, he
drank the juice Of the grape. When at
a wedding party this beverage gave ont.
he made gallons on gallons of grape
juice, but il was as unlike what the
world makes in our time Us health is
different from disease and as calm
pulses are different from the paroxysms
Of delirium tremens There was no
strychnine i'll that beverage or logwood
or nuX vomica. The tipplers and the
sots who now quote the winemaking in
Cana of Galilee as an excuse for the
fiery and lanning beverages Of the nine
teenth century forget that the wine ut
the New Testament wedding had two
characteristicS-the one that the Lord
made il and the other that il was made
out Of water. Buy all you can of that
kind and drink il at least three times a
day and send Il barrel of il round to my
cellar.
You cannot make me believe that the
blessed Christ who went up and down
healing the sick would create for man
that style of drink which is the cause
of disease more than all other causes
combined, or that hc who calmed the
maniacs into their right mind would
create that style of drink which does
more than anything else To fill insane
asylums, or that he who was SO helpful
To the poor would make a style of drink
that crowds the earth with pauperisn.,
or that he who came to save the nations
from sin would create liquor that is
the source of most of the crime that
now stuffs the penitentiaries. A lovely
sobricty was written all over his face
from the hair line of the forehead to the
bottom of the bearded chin.
Christ the Physician.
Domesticity was also his habit
Though too poor To have Il home of his
own, he went out to spend the night at
Bethany, two or three miles walk from
Jerusalem, and over rough and hilly
road that made il equal To six or seven
ordinary miles, every morning and night
going To and fro. ! would rather walk
Edinburgh To Arthur's Seat, or in Lon
don clear around Hyde park, than to
walk that road that Christ walked twice
u day from Jerusalem to Bethany. But
he liked the quietudc uf home life, and
he was lovely in his domesticity.
How he enjoyed handing over the res
urrected boy To- his mother and the res
urrccted girl to her father, and recon
structing homesteals which disease ar
death WAS breaking up! As the song
Home, Sweet Home" was written by
Il man who at that time had no home,
80 think the homelessness of Christ
added 10 his appreciation of domesticity
Furthermore, he was lovely i'll his
sympathics. Now, drolsy is a most dis
trcssful complaint. IL inflamcs and
swells and tortures any limb or physical
organ il touches. AS soon ils a case of
that kind is submitted To Christ he,
without any use of diaphoretics. com
mands It's cure And what AN eye doc
tor he Was for opening the long closed
gates of sight to the blue of the sky.
and the yellow of the flower. and the
n.