The Brookhaven leader., 1889-06-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Thoughts on the Unwritten Works
of Jesus.
The Boyhood OF the saviour Reviewed In
the Light OF what History Tells
Of His Days OF Man
hood.

text was:
And the child grew and waIed strong in spirit
filled with wisdom; and the grace OF God was
with Him.-Luke H., 90
About Christ as q village lad / speak.
There is for the most part silence moro
than eighteen centuries long about Christ
between infancy aud manhood. What
kind Of boy was Hei Was He q genuine
boy at all, or did there settle upon Him
from the start all the intensities OF mar
tyrdomi We have on this subject only q
little guessing, a few surmises, and here
and there an unimportant perhaps"
Concerning what bounded that boyhood
on both sides We have whole libraries OF
books and whole galleries OF canvas and
sculpture. Before the infant Christ in
Nary's arms, or taking His first sleep in
the rough clubhouse, all the painters bow,
and we have Paul veronese's Holy Fam
lily" and Perugino's Nativity" and Au-
gelico da Fiesole's Infant Christ" and
Rubens' Alteration of the Magi," and
Tintoret's Alteration Of the Magi," and
Chirlandojo's Alteration Of the Magi,"
and Raphael's madonna" and Orcagua's
Madonna" and Murillo's Madonna"
and Madonnas by all the schools Of paint
ing, in oil lights and shades, 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 I think we can como
to as accurate an idea of what Christ was
as a boy as we can of what Christ was as
a man.
First we have the brief Bible account.
Then 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 ind what He was at
ten years Of age. Temperaments never
change. sanguine temperament never
becomes phlegmatic temperament.
nervous temperament never becomes
Emphatic temperament. Religion
changes ones affections and ambitions,
but ii Is the same old temperament act
ing In a different direction. As Christ
sad no religious change, he was as lad
what He was as a man, only on not so
'arge a scale. When all tradition and all
art and all history represent Him as =
blonde with golden hair know he was In
boyhood blonde.
Wo have, beside, an uninspired book
that was, for the first three or four cent
1ries after Christs appearance, received
by many as inspired, and which gives
a prolonged account Of Christ's boyhood.
Some Of 1t may be true, most Of 1t may be
true, none of it may be true. 1t may be
partly built on facts, or, by the passage
Of ages, some real facts may have been
distorted. But because book is not 6i-
vinely inspired, we are not therefore to
conclude that there are not true things in
it. Prescott's 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 believe 1t, although it may have
been married with many errors. The So
called apocryphal Gospel in which the
boyhood Of Christ is dwelt upon do not
believe to be divinely inspired, and yet it
may present facts worthy of cOnsidera-
ton. Because 1t represents the boy
Christ as performing miracles some have
overthrow that whole apooryphal 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 boyhood as certainly divine as In man
hood. Then, while a lad He must have
had the power 10 work miracles, whether
He did or did not work them. When, hav-
ing reached manhood, Christ turned
water into wine, that was said to be the
beginning of miracles. But that may
mean that 1t was the beginning Of that
series of manhood miracles.
In a word, think that the New Testa-
meut is only a small transcript of what
Jesus did and said. Indeed, the Bible de-
clares positively that If all Christ did
and said were written, the world would
not contain the books. So we are at lib
erty to believe or reject those parts Of the
apocryphal 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 two thieves who aft
erward would expire on crosses beside
Him. Was that more wonderful than
some of Christ's manhood prophesies?
Or the uninspired story that the boy
Christ made fountain spring from the
roots of a sycamore tree so that His moth
or washed His coat in the stream-was
that more unbelievable than the man
hood miracle that changed cannon wa
ter into a marriage beverage? Or the un-
inspired story that two sick children were
recovered by bathing in the water where
Christ had washed? Was that more won.
derful than the manhood miracle by
which the woman twelve years com.
plete invalid should have been made
straight by touching the fringe of Christ's
coat!
In other words, while l do not believe
that any Of the so-called apocryphal New
Testament is inspired, believe much of
1t Is true; just as / believe a thousand
books, none of which are divinely in
spired. Much of 1t was just like Christ.
lust as certain as the man Christ was the
most of the time getting men out of
rouble, I think that the boy Christ was
he most Of the time getting boys out Of
trouble. 1 have declared to you this day
boys Christ. And the world wants such
4 one. He did not sit around moping over
What was to be, or what was. From the
way in which natural objects uuwreathed
themselves into His sermons after He had
secome q man, / conclude there was not
rock, or hill, or q cavern, or tree for
miles around that He was not familiar
With in childhood. He had cautiously
lslt His way down into the caves, and
nad, with 1.-THE and agile limb, gained a
poise on many a high tree-top. His boy.
hood was passed among grand scenery,
rs most all the great natures have passed
Early life among the mountains. They
may live now on the fats, but they passed
he receptive days of ladhood among the
aills. Among the mountains of New
Hampshire, or the mountains Of Virginia,
,r the mountains Of Kentucky. or the
mountains of Switzerland, or Italy, or
Austria, or Scotland, or mountains as
high and rugged as they, many Of the
worlds thrilling biographies begin.
Our Lords boyhood was passed in q
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