The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-06-15
THE SAVIOUR'S BOYHOOD
A Sermon By DR.. TaImage on the
Boy Jesus.
The Grand Natural Scenery Where He
Passed His Early Life-The Boy In the
Carpenters Shop and In the Tenn
ple-His Simplicity.

I'M lNA bhO v a
Lad" He took for his text Luke II. 40:
ana the child grew, and waxed strong
IN spirit hlled with wisdom; and the
grace OF God was upon Him" The preach
or said:
ABOUT Christ as a village lad l speak.
mere Is Tor The most part a silence more
ina eighteen centuries long about Christ
between infancy and manhood. What
KIND OF a boy was He? Was He a genuine
boy at all, or did there settle upon Him
from the start oil the intensities of mar
tyrdomY We have on this subject only a
little guessing, n few surmises, and here
n there an unimportant '~perhaps."
concerning what bounded h boyhood
on both sides we nave whole libraries of
BOOKS ana wbols galleries of canvas and
Before the infant child In
Mary's arms, or taking His first sleep in
the rough clubhouse, ali the painters bow.
and we have Paul Veronese's 'Holy Fam
lily" and Perugino's Nativity and An
geiico da Fiesole's 'Infant Christ" and
hubens' Alteration of the Magi," and
Tintoret's "Adoration If the Magi,rsand
Ch~irlandojo's Elaboration of the Magi.D
n Raphael's Madonna" and Orcagna's
madonna" and Muritlo's Madonna"
n Madonnas by all the schools of paint
ing In all lights and shade and with all
styles of attractive feature and impressive
surroundings, but pen and pencil and
chisel have with few exceptions passed
by Christ the village lad. Yet by three
conjoined evidences l think we can come
to as accurate an idea of what Christ was
as q boy as we can of what Christ was as
q man.
First, we have the brief Bible account.
Ihen we have the prolonged account of
what Christ was at thirty years of age.
Now you have only to minify that account
somewhat Inc you find what He was
at ten years of age. Temperanents never
change. A %sanguine temperament never
becomes a phlegmatic temperament A
nervous temperament never becomes a
Emphatic temperament. Religion changes
ones affections and ambitions, but il is
the same old temperament acting in a diff
ferent direction. As Christ had no relig-
ious change, He was a a lad what He was
as q nan only on not so large n scale.
When all tradition and all art and all his
tory represent Him as n blonde with gol-
den hair 4 know He was in boyhood a
We hnvp. beside. an uninspired book
that WAS Tor fhe first three or four CEN
trfie& H<ter Dhflstis appearances received
BY many as Inspired and which gives pro-
bOAA6O0 aSCOuub VI SuTlslS DOYnOOu. some
OF 1t may be true, most of II may be true,
none OF 1t may bs true. Il may be partly
built on facts, or by the passage of the
ages. some real facts may have been dis
torted. But because n book Is not divine-
iy inspired we are not therefore to con-
clude that there are not true things In it.
Prescotrs conquest Of Mexico" was
not inspired, but we believe it,
although it may contain mistakes.
Macaulay's "History of England" was
not inspired, but we bell we it, although it
may have been married with many errors.
The so-called apocryphal gospel in which
the boyhood of Christ is dweit upon / do
not believe to be divlnely inspired, and
yet 1t may present facts worthy of consid-
GRAFTON. Because it represents the boy
Christ as performing miracles some have :
overthrown hat whole apocryphal book.
But what right have you to say that Christ
did not perform miracles at ten years of
age as we'll as at thirty? He was in boy
hood as certainly d vine as in manhood.
While / do not believe that any of the
so-called apocryphal New Testament is
inspired, / believe much of IL is true; Just
o l believe n thousand books, none of
which are divinely inspired. Much Of it
was just like Christ. Just as certain as
Sao man IN y WINS buO " III JlIuo
getting the men out of trouble, l think
that the boy Christ was the most of the
time getting boys out of trouble. 1 have
declared to you this day n boys Christ.
And the world wants such n 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 become a
man, l conclude there was not a rock or a
hill or a cavern or a tree for miles around
that He was not familiar with in child
hood. He had cautiously felt his way
down into the caves and had with 1.-THE
and agile limb gained a poise on many a
high tree top. His boyhood was passed
among grand scenery. as most all the great
natures I'VE passed early life among the
mountains. They. may live now on the
7fdtsSAN receptive days
of lad~hoo4Gm16ng the hills. among the
mountains of New Hampshire or the
mountains of Virginia or the
mountains OF Kentucky or the
mountains of Switzerland or Italy or
Austria or Scotland. On mountains as high
and rugged as they, many of the worlds
thrilling biographies began. Our Lords
boyhood was passed in a ne~ighborhood
twelve hundred feet above the level of the
lssS and surrounded by mountains five or
six hundred feet still higher. Before it
could shine on the village where this boy
slept the sun had to climb far enough up
TO look over the hills that held their heads
far aloft. Authors have taken pains TO
say thai Christ was not affected bv these
surroundings, and that He from wi hin
lived outward and independent OF circum-
stances. So far from thai being true. He
was the most sensitive being hat ever
walked the earth, and IL a pale invalid's
weak finger could not touch His robe
without strength going out from Him
these mountains and seas could not have
touched His eye without irradiating His
entire nature with their magnilcence. l
warrant that He had mounted and ex-
pIored all the fifteen hills around Naza-
f5th, among them Hermon with it's crystal
coronet of perpetual snow, and Carmel
and Tabor and Gilboa, and they all had
their sublime echo in after time from the
Oiivetic pulpit
And then II was not uncultivated grand
sur. These hills carried i'm their arms or
on their hacks gardens, groves. orchards,
terraces, vineyards, cactus, sycamores.
These outbi anching foliages did not have
70 wait for the floods before their silence
wal broken, for through them and over
them and In circles round them and under
them were pelicans, were thrushes, were
sparrows, were nightinga'es, were larks,
were quails, were blackbirds, were part
ridges. were bulbuls. Yonder the white
fiocks of sheep showed down over the
pasture lands. And yonder the brook re-
hearses to the pebbles its adventures
down the rocky shelving. Yonder are
the oriental homes, the housewife M
pitcher on the shoulder entering the doosi
and down the lawn in front Children
rsveIing among the flaming fora. And
all this spring and song n grass and
sunshine and shadow woven into the most
exquisite nature that ever breathed OF
wept or sung or suffered. Through study
ing the sky between the hills Christ had
noticed the weather signs, and h a a
crimson sky at night meant dry weather
next day, and that q crimson sky In the
morning meant wet weather before night
And how beautifully He made use of 1t in
e<Cer years as He drove down upon the
psstiferous Pharisee and Sadducee by
crying out: 'When 1t Is evening ye say
II will be fair weather, for the sky is red,
and In the morning it will be foul weather
to-day, for the sky is red and lowering.
O. ye hypocrites, ye can discern the signs Of
the times.n By day, as every boy has
done, He watched the barnyard fow at
sight Of overswinging hawk, cluck her
chicksns under wing. and in after years
He said: 20, Jerusalem, Jerusalemi How
often would / ave gathered thee as a hen
Enthereth her chickens under her wingV"
BY night He had noticed His mother by
the plain candlelight, which, as ever and
anon 1t was snuffed aud the removed wick
put down on the candlestick. beamed
brightly through all the family sitting
room as His mother was mending His gar