The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-05-04

~A "a AOEDiuulnB appearances DuL
no sooner did Christ appear in the do
mestic group than there was an an
fantile excitement, and the youngsters
began to struggle to get out of their
mothers arms. They could not hold
the children back. ''Stand back with
those childrenl" scolded come of the
disciples. Perhaps the little ones may
have been playing in the dirt, and
/ their faces may not have been clean,
or they may not have been well clad,
or the disciples may have Thought
Christ's religion was a religion chiefly
| for big folks But Christ made the in
/ fantile excitement still livelier by His
| saying that He liked children better
than grown people, declaring: Except
We become as little child ye can
not enter into the Kingdom of God. 4"
Alasl for the 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 in infancy. Christ is so fond
OF children that He takes them to Him
self before the world has time to de-
| spoil and harden them, and so they are
now at the windows Of the palace, and
/ on the doorsteps, and playing on the
/ green. Sometimes Matthew, or Mark,
or Luke tells a story OF Christ, and
only one tell 1t, but Matthew, Mark
and Luke all join in that picture OF
Christ girdled by children, and know
| by what occurred at that time that
Christ had face full of geniality.
Not only was Christ altogether lovely
In His countenance, but lovely in His
| habits. / know, without being told,
/ that the Lord who made the rivers, and
| lakes, and oceans was cleanly In His
appearance. He dislil1ed the disease
| of leprosy, not only because it was dis
tressing, but because it was not clean,
and HIS curative words were: ST will;
be thou clean" He declared Himself
in favor of thorough washing, and OPP
posed to superficial washing, when He
denounced the hypocrites for making
clean only "the outside of the plat
ter" and lie applauds His disciples
| by saying, Now are ye clean" and
| giving directions to those who tasted;
among other things He says, Wash thy
| face;" and toa blind man whom He was
/ doctoring: $50, wash in the pool of
Siloam." And He Himself actually
washed the disciples feet, I suppose
not only to demonstrate His own hu-
| mility, but probably their feet needed
to be washed. The fact is, the Lord
was great friend of water. know
that from the fact that most of the
world is water. But when find Christ
| in such constant commendation of wa
ter, know He was personally neat, al
though He mingled much among very
rough populati0rs,- uTd-t0olz such long
| journeys on dusty highways. He wore
His hair long, according to the custom
of His land and time, but neither
trouble or old age had thinned or in
! jured His locks, which were never
worn shaggy or unkempt. Yes, all
His habits of personal appearance were
lovely.
Sobriety was also an established
habit of His life. In addition to the
water, He drank the juice of the grape
| When at wedding party this bever-
age gave out, He made gallons on gall
Ions of grape juice, but it was as un-
| like what the world makes in our time
as health is different from disease. and
| paroxysms of delirum tremens. There
was no strychnine in that beverage, or
| logwood, or nux vomica. The tipplers
and the sots who now quote
the wine-making in Cana of Cali
lee as an excuse for the
fiery and damning beverages of the
n nineteenth century, forget that the
wine at the New Testament wedding
had two characteristics, the one that
the Lord made it, and the other that it
was made out of water. Buy all you
can of that kind and drink it at least
three times day, and send barrel of
it around to my cellar. You can not
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 He 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 pauperism; 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 peni-
tentiaries. A lovely sobriety was
written all over His face, from the hair
line of the forehead to the bottom of
the bearded chin.
Domesticity was also His habit.
Though too poor to have home of His
own He went ont to spend the night
at Bethany, two or three miles walk
| from Jerusalem, and over a rough and
hilly road that made it equal to six or
seven ordinary miles, every morning
and night going to and fro. / would
rather walk from here to Central park,
or walk from Edinburgh to Arthur's
seat, or in London clear around Hyde
park, than TO walk that road that
Christ walked twice day from Jeru-
salem to Bethany. But He liked the
quietude of home life and He was love
| ly in His domeSticity.
How He enjoyed handing over the
resurrected boy to his mother and. the
resurrected girl to her father and re-
constructing homesteads which disease
or death was breaking up. As the
song Home, Sweet Home was writ
ten by man who at that time had no
home, so think the homelessness of
Christ added to His appreciation of
domesticity.
Furthermore, He was lovely in His
sympathies. Now, dropsy is a most
distressing complaint. 1t inf lmes and
swells and tortures any limb or phys
ical organ it touches. As soon as a
case of that kind is submitted to Christ