West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1889-06-20
TALMAGES SERMON.
"A GOLDEN HAIRED VILLAGE
LAD.
The Early Days OF Christ. When He
Worked I'm His Fathers shop.

TEXT: sAnd the child ore,c, and ,caaeci
strong IA spirit, filled t0ith tcisdom. and tho
grace or God tcds upon Him Luke e., 40.
About Christ village lad l speak
There is Tor the most part silence more than
eighteen centuries long about Christ between
infancy and manhood. What kind OF a boy
was Hef Was BE genuine boy at all, or did
there settle upon Him from the start all the
1ntenslties OF martydomg We have on this
suoject only little guessing, few surmises,
and hero and there an unimportant per
haps" Concerning what bounded that boy
hood on both sides we have whole libraries OF
books and whole galleries Of canvas and
sculpture.
But pen and pencil and chisel have with
Few exceptions passed by Christ the village
-. Yet by three conjoined evidences I
think we can come to as accurate an idea of
wnat Christ was as boy as We can of what
Christ was as a man.
First, we have the brief Bible account
Ihon we have the prolonged account of what
Christ was at thirty years OF age. Now you
have only TO minify that account somewhat
and you find what He was at ten years OF
age. Tempcramcnts never change. san
guine temperament never becomes a phlcg-
matte temperament. nervous ternpera-
ment never becomes n Emphatic tempcra-
ment. Religion changes ones affections and
nmbitions but IL il the same old tempera,
ment acting in different direction A,
Christ had no religious change. He was as a
large scale When all tradition and all art
and all history represent Him as a blonde
with golden hair know He was in boyhood
a blonde.
We have, beside. an uninsured book that
was for the first three or four centuries after
Chrlsts appearance received by many
as inspired and which gives pro
ionged account OF Christs boy
hood. Some of IL may be true most of il may
be true, none of IL may be true. IL may be
partly built ON facts, or by the passage OF the
ages, some real facts may have been distorted
But because book is not divinely inspired
we are not therefore to conclude that there
are not true things in il. Prescotts
conquest of Mexico was not inspired but
we believe it although it may contain mis-
takes. Mscaulay's "History of England" was
not inspired, but we believe it although it
may have been married with many errors
The so-called apocryphal Gospel i'm which the
boyhood of Christ Is dwelt upon do not be-
heve to be divinely inspired, and yet it may
present facts worthy of consideration Because
IT represents the boy Christ as performing
miracles some have overthrown that whole
apocryphal book. But what right have You
TO say that Christ did not peform miracles at
ten years OF age as well as at thirty He was
In boyhood as certainly divine as In man
hood Then while lad He must have
pad the power to work miracles, whether
tie did or not work them. When, hay
ing reached manhood, Christ turned
water into wine that was said 10 loo
the beginning OF miracles. But that may
mean that it was the beginning of that
series OF manhood miracles. In n word,
think that the New Testament Is only
small transcript of what Jesus did and said.
indeed the Bible declares positively that IL ali
Christ did and said were written the world
would not contain the books. SO we are mt
uDerty 70 pelleve or reject those parts of the
npocryphal Gospel which say that when the
boy Christ with His mother passed a band OF
thieves He told His mother that two OF them.
Dumachus and Titus by name, would be the
crosses beside Him. Was that more wonder
tul than some of Chrst's manhood pro-
phesiesS Or the uninspired story
that the boy Christ made a fountain
sPrins from the roots OF a sycamore tree so
that His mother washed His coat i'm the stream
was That more unbelievable than the man.
hood miracle that changed common water
into marriage beverage9 Or the uninspired
s1ory tnat Two SICK children We're recovered
by bathing in the water where Christ had
washed. Was that more wonderful than the
manhood miracle by which the woman twelve
years complete invalid should have been
made straight by touching the fringe of
Christ's coat?
In other words, whileI do not believe that
any OF the so-called apocryphal New Tesla
ment is inspired, believe much of IL Is tr1Ie.
just as believe a thousand books, none Of
which are divinely inspired Much of IL was
Just IKE Christ. just as certain as the man
Christ was tho most of the time getting men
out OF trouble, think that the boy Christ
was the most OF the time getting boys out OF
trouble. / have declared to Won this dav a,
boys Christ. And the world wants such
one. he did not sit around moping
over what was TO be, or what was From
the way In which natural objects enwreathed
themselves into his sermons after He had be-
come man conclude there was not a rocb
or NIL or cavern or a tree for miles
around that He was not familiar with i'm
chlldhood He had cautiously felt His wa '
down into the caves and had with 1.-the and
agile limb gained n poise on many n HIGH
tree top. HIS boyhoOd was passed among
grand scenery most all the great
natures have passed early life among
the mountains. They may live now on
the fats but they passed tho receptive
days of ladhood among the hills
Among the mountains OF New HAMPSHIRE
or the mountains Of Virginia OF the noun
tains OF Kentucky, or the mountains Of swift
zerland, O. Italy, or Austria, or Scotland, or
mountains as high and rugged as they. many
o. the worlds thrilling biographies began.
Our Lord boyhood was passed in a neigh
oornood Twelve hundred feet above the level
OF the sea and surrounded by mountains five
or SIX hundred feet still higher Before IL
could shine on the village where this bow
slept the sun had TO climb far enough 1lp to
LOOK over nils that held their heads far aioft
From yonder height His eye at one sweep took
in the mighty scoop Of the valleys and with
another sweep took I'm the Mediterranean Sea
0nd you hear the grandeur Of tho cliffs and
tue surge 0i the grent waters in His MATCH
sero SeImonoiOgy- One day 7 see that divine
Doy, the wind fiurrying His hair over His sun
DroTIfed forehead, standing on n hin ton
looking of upon Lake Tiberias on which nj
one time according TO profane history are
not Tour hundred, four thousand shiDs An
thors have taken pains 10 say that Christ was
nyt abected by these surroundings and that
Ho from within lived outward and independ-
ent Of circumstances So far from that be-
ing true, He was the most sensitive
being that ever walked the Garth
ara pale invalid's vveok
finger could not touch ais robe without
strength going out from Him thee mountains
and seas could not have touched His eve with
out nradiatinR His entire nuture with their
naBnihccnce. warrant that He hnd mounted
ana explored all the fifteen hillsarouud Noza-
rein, among them Hcrmon with its crystal
coronet N perpetual snow, and Carmel and
Tabor and Huboa, 0nd they all had thcir
sublime echo in after time from tho OIivetic
pulpit
Ana theuh was not uucuitivated Grandeur
ihefe hiils carried in their arms or On their
paeha gardens, groves, orchards terraces
sANty aioai Cactus eycam0rcs Thee ont.
Dfhnching ioiia2es did not have to wait for
tne hoods before their silence was broken for
through them and over them ard in circle.
FOUND tm1n and under them were peiirar,s
were tnru5hes were sparrove were rf,,l,f,
inHoies were larks. we're ouoils ,5cr.
D.ackbirds, were patridges were biIl,uie
Wonder tho white hOcks of siioar ,,,o,1c.i
down over Tho rnafstrr 49,