The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-08-20
The Religious
World
The aiOnal Sunday School
lesson for August % is ''Tilc Visit
TO Nazareth" Luke 4:16-3O.

AI0H( .IO-tO. |
(Ry William T. Elis.)
In a New York restaurant the 9TH
or ul' l saw q man reading intcntly
a village newspaper from the middle
West. He was Indifferent to the
great daliles of the metropolis that
were iylng about him. They were
only New York common !
t. everybody: his was the paper |
from back Home. However far a
man NAV roam. and however great
he may become. he never loses his |
romantic interest in the place where
ne was brought up. The Old Home
week idea of New England is a sue
cessful effort to capitalize this senti-
ment. The hOming instinct is one
OF the deepest in human nature.
The romantic love Of the scenes Of
childhood was experienced by Jesus,
VINO shared all the passions of man
KIND. Nazareth, where he had been
brought up. meant more to him han
thriving city of C~arDerntum.
Even Jerusalem, the city Of the king,
had not the place in His heart that
was held by this little village which
nestled in a cup-like valley Of Cali
lee. From his Capernaum successes
Jesus returned to Nazareth, taking
with Him, doubtless. His disciples.
There were members Of His family
to be visited; probably His mother
wa NtiShS hiS L q hhO"i.
since h were in almost every
house.
AS the Carpenter walked down the
slope that leads from Tiberias His
eve lighted up at the si~h+ Of many
familiar scenes. Yonder were oxen
plOughing in a yoke which He him
self had made. The plough itself
had come from His WORKSHOP. Here
and there were houses that He had
Dullt: in Wonder limestone cave He
often unused through the hot summer
noontide: every foot of the village
and its environs was sacred in His
NOR The spring from which
Mary had carried water as a girl.
and which still flows in the center
OF Nazareth, had been to Him as to
all the other boys of the village. a
place of resort.
1T was for Him. as for every man.
a great hour when He went back
home for the first time after win
min success abroad. Nothing is said
IN the Scripture about he renewals
of old associations and the visits
nome and the pallet, perhaps, IN
the corner Of the old house where He
had slept since earliest 1t
was a homecoming. with all that
the experience means Of romance and
pleasure.
When the Preacher Goes Home.
One Sunday morning in the Eng
~Gsh-sDeaking church in Lucerne |
met more American a~cQuaintanceS
than during "a week in the rest Of
Switzerland. Persons of principle
adhere to those principles wherever
they may be. and the church-gOing
kind Of folk may be found at church
wherever they are. When Jesus re-
turned to Nazareth. He did not give
His Sabbath to holding a levee. In
stead. He went to the old synagogue,
the familiar building that was asso-
cited with His earliest memories OF
religion. How proud Mary must
have been of Him that morning, as
she saw all eyes turned to Him when
He entered the village GUS Of wor-
ship.
Il thought I'd get a rest when ]
went back home" said the preacher
the other day. But the home folks
would not have it any other way
than that l should preach for them
so / worked as hard as if l had been
here" Incomprehensible would be
the community that would not ask
one Of its old boys who had become
a preacher to enter its pulpit. The
etiquette of the occasion put the
readers roll into the hands of Jesus
that morning in the Nazareth syna'
ogu and when He unfurled the
scroll of Isaiah. which was HANDED
to Him by the clerk. it was fount
that the days indicated portion wa:
more appropriate than almost any
other passage in the Old Tesla
ment.
The Great Mission.
For then came the self-reVelatio1
of the Carpenter who had become {
rabbi and who had returned home
b thrill in His voice startled ever.
nearer as He read,
1.-THE Spirit of the Lord is upon me
Because he anointed me to preach
good tidings to the poor;
He hath sent me to proclaim reieaS
to the captiVes.
And recovering of sight to the blinO
To set at liberty them that are
bruised
To proclaim the acceptable year Q
the Lnrd.'