Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-04-26

them to himself before the world has time
to dcspoil and harden them, and so they
are now at the windows of the palace and
on the dooIsteps and playing on the green.
Sometimes Matthew or Mark or Luke tells
q story Of Christ and only one tells it,
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.
Pure In Body and Mind.
Not only was Christ altogether lovely in
his countCnance but lovely in his habits.
/ know, without being told, that the Lord
who made the rivers and lakes and oceans
was clearly in his appearance He disliked
the disease of lcprosy not only because it
was distressing, but because it was not
clean, and his curative words were: Il
will BE thou clean. ~ He declared himself
in favor of thorough washing and opposed
to superficial washing when he denounced
the hypocritSs for making clean only "the
outside of the platter" and he applauds
his disciples by saying, Now arc ye
clean, =" and giving directions to those who
tasted, among other things, he says wash
thy face, - and to a bliSd man whom he
was doctoring, Co waSss~,n the pool of
SLOAN, and he himself actually washed
the disciples feet, l suppose not only to
demonstrate his own humility, but proba-
bly, their feet needed TO be washed. The
fact is the Lord was "a great friend of
water. l know that from the fact that
most of the world is wGtcr. But when
find Christ in such constant Commcndl-
ton of water | know he was personally
neat, although he mingled much among
very rough populations ard took such long
journeys on dusty highways. 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 I'M
kcmpt. Yea, all his habits of personal APP
pearance were lovely.
SobriCty 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 out, he
made gallons on gallons of grape juice, but
it was as unlike what the world makes in
our time as health is different from disease
and as calm pulses are different from the
paroXysms of dclirium trcmons. There was
no strychnine in that beverage or logwood
or nuX vOmica
The tipplers and the sots who now quote
the winemaliing in Cana of Galilce as an
excuse for the fiery and dnmning beverages
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 a day
and send barrel of ii around to my collar.
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 he who Gained the maniacs into their
right mind would create that style of
drink which does moro 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 pau
perism, 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 stutfs the pcnitentiaries. A lovely So
briefly was written all over his face, from
the hair line of tho forehead to the bottom
of the bearded chin.
Christ Loved Home.
Domesticity was also his habit. Though
too poor to have homo of his own, he
went out to spend the night at Bethany,
two or three miles walk from Jerusalem.
and over rough and billy road that made
it equal to six or seven ordinary miles, ev-
cry morning and night going to and fro.
l would rather walk from here to Central
park or walk from Edinburgh to Arthurs
Seat, or in London clear around Hyde
park, than to walk that road that Christ
walked twice day from Jerusalem to
Bethany But he liked the quictude of
home life, and he was lovely in his domes-
ITCHY.
low hn IgrN To-
directed boy to his mother and the resur-
rec,ed girl to her father and rcconstructing
homesteads which disease or death was
breaking upl AS the song Home Sweet
Home" was written by man who at
that time had no home, SO l think the
homelessness of Christ added to his ap-
probation of domesticity.
Furthermore, he was lovely In his sym
pathies. Now, dropsy is "a most distressful
complaint 1t inf1ames and swells and tor
lures any limb or physical organ it touches.
AS soon as a case of that kind is submitted
to Christ he, without any use of diapho-
retics, commands its cure. And what an
eye doctor he was for opening the long
closed gates of sight to the blue of the sky,
and the yellow of the flower and the en-
erald of the grass! What Christ he was
for cooling fcvers without so much as a
spoonful of febrifugc, and strengthening
crooked backs without any pang of sur
gerry, and standing whole choirs Of music
along the silent galleries of deaf ear, and
giving healthful nervous system TO cata-
leptics! Sympathy He did not give them
stoical advice or philosophizo about the
science of grief He sat down and cried
with them.
1t is spoken of as the shortest verse in
tho Bible, but to inc it is about the longest
and grandest, Jesus wcpt." All, many
of us know the meaning of that! When we
were in great trouble some one came in
with voluble consolation and quoted tho
Scripture in a sort of hcartlcss way and
did not help us at all But after awhile
some one else came in, and without saying
a word sat down and burst into flood of
tears at the sight of our woo, and some
how it helped us right away. Jesus
wept." You see, it was deeply attached
household, that of Mary and Martha and
Lazarus. The father and mother were
dead, and the girls depended on their
brother. Lazarus had said to them: "Now