The Russellville Democrat., 1889-06-20
THE B0YHOOD OF JESUS
Thoughts and Theories Suggested
 by Christ's Early Life.
Ills Unwritten Works and Early Days, Predicated on the Character of the Man as Revealed in
 Written History.

'Christ, the Village Ladn was the sub | ject of sermon recently delivered by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage in the Brooklyn Tabernacle. His text was:
 And the child grew and waxed strong in splriN l filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was l with Him.--Luke ii.. 4o
 About Christ as village lad speak. I There Is for the most part silence more i fs1an eighteen centuries long about Christ l between infancy and manhccd What l kind of boy was Hes Was He genuine 1 boy at all, CT aid there settle upon Him 1 from the start all the intensities of mar | tyrdom? We have on this subject only a l little guessing, few surmises, and here | and there an unimportart "reFnaps.n , l Concerning what bounded that boyhood 1 on both sides we have whole libraries of l books and whole galleries of canvas and l sculpture. Before the infant Christ in Mary's arms. or taking His first sleep In l the rough out house, all the painters bow, l and we have Paul veronese's 'tHoly Fam l ily,n and Perugino's "Nativity," and An 1 gelico da Ficsole's SInfaht Cnrist.s and | Rubens' elaboration of the Magi," and 1 Tintoret's Elaboration of the Magi" and l Chirlandoio's Elaboration of the Magi.n and Raphael's "Madonna, and Orcagua's 1 ''Madonna," and Murillo's Madonna" l and Madonnas by all the schools of paint | ing, in all lights and shades, and with all | styles of attractive feature and impressive l surroundings, but pen and pencil and chisel have. with few exceptions, passed | by Christ tho village lad. Yet by three | conioined evidences 1 think we can come to as accurate an idea of what Christ was l as boy as we can of what Christ was as a man.
 First, we have the brief Bible account. l Then we have the prolonged account of what Christ was at thirty years Of age. l Now you have only Co minify that account somewhat and you find what He vas at ten years of age, Temperaments never | change. A sanguine temperament never becomes phlegmatic temperament. A nervous temperament never becomes a | lymphatic temperament. Religion /, changes one's affections and ambitions, but it is the same old temperamept act5 ing in a different direction, As Christ had no religious change, He was as lad what He was as a man, only on not so large a scale. When all tradition and all art and all history represent Him as Q blonde with golden hair know He was in boyhood blonde.
 We have, beside, an nninspired book that was, for the fist three or four cent uries after Chris's appearance, received by many as inspired, and which gives a prolonged account of Christs boyhood. Some of it may be true, most of it may Dc 1 true, none of it may be true, IL may De partly built on facts, or, by the passage of ages, some real facts may have been distorted, But because book is not di- vinely inspired, we are not therefore to conclude that there are not true things 1n it. Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico" was ! not irfs spired, but we believe it, although it may contain mistakes. Macaulay' s History of England" was not inspired, but VIC believe it, although 1t may have been marred with many errors. The so- called apocryphal Gospel in which the boyhood of Christ is dwelt upon do mol believe 10 be divinely inspired, and yet Il may present facts worthy ot ronsidera- ton. Because 1t 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 perform 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 had the power to work miracles, whether He did or did not work them. When, hay ing reached manhood, Christ turned water into wine, that was said to be the beginning of miracles. But that may mean that it was the beginning of tha' series of manhood miracles,
 In word, I think that the New Testa' mont is only 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 1 Him. Was that more wonderful than some ot Christ's manhood prophesiesi Or the uninspired story that the boy Christ made a fountain spring from the roots of a sycamore tree so that His moth- er washed His coat in the streanl-was that more unbelievable than the man. hood miracle that changed cannon wa ter into marriage beverage? Or the un- inspired story that two sick children were recovered by bathing in the water where Christ had washed2 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 Christs coatg
 In other words, while I do not believe that any of the so-called apocryphal New Testament is inspired, l believe much of 1t is true; just as I believe thousand books, none of which are divinely in- | spired. Much of it was just like Christ Just as certain as the man Christ was the most of the time getting men out of trouble, I think that the boy Christ was the most of the time getting boys out of trouble. l have declared to you this day boys Christ. And the world wants such B one. He did not sit around moping over what was to be, or what was. From the way in which natural objects unwreathed themselves into His sermons after He had become man, 1 conclude there was not a rock, or hill, or cavern, or tree for miles around that He was not familiar with in childhood. 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 boy hood was passed among grand scenery, as most all the great natures have passed early life among the mountains. They may live now on the flats, but they passed the receptive days of ladhood among 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, or mountains as high and rugged as they, many of the worlds thrilling biographies begin.
 Our Lords boyhood was passed in a neighborhood twelve hundred feet above the level of the sea and surrounded by mountains five or six hundred feet still higher. Before it could shine on the vil- lage where this boy slept the sun had to climb far enough up to look over hills that held their heads far aloft. From