The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-06-21
THE SAVIOlR'S BOYHOOD
A Sermon By DIR. Talmage on the
Boy Jesus.
The Grand Natural Scenery Whore He
Passed His Early Life-The Boy In the
Carpenters shop and In the Tenn
pls-His simplicity.

4
pls-His simplicity.
In q recsut sermon at Brooklyn DR.. Tai.
uage's subject was ''Christ the Village
Lad" He took for his text Luke ii. 10:
| sand the child grew, and waved strong
In spirit filed with wisdom; and the
| grace of God was upon Hin" The preach.
| er said:
About Christ a. q village lad speak.
There IL for the most part silence more
than eighteen centuries long about Christ
! between infancy and manhood. What
kind of q boy was Her Was He q genuine
boy at all. or did there settle upon Him
| from the start all tho intensities Of mar
| tyrdom? We have on. this subject only q
| little guessing. 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 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.
ily," and Perugino's Nativity" and An
gelico da Fissole's Infant Christ" and
Rubens' Alteration OF the Magi" and
Tintoret's ''Adora alton Of the Magi," and
Chirlandojo's elaboration of the Magi"
and Raphael's Madonna" and Orcagna's
Madonna" and Muri!lo's madonna"
and Madonnas by all the schools of paint
ing in all lights and shades and with all
styles of attractivefeaturea and impressive
surroundings, but pen and pencil and
chisel have with few exceptions passed
by Christ the village lad. Yet by three
coujoined evidences think we can come
to as accurate an idea of what Christ was
as a boy as we can of what Christ was as
q 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 find what He was
at ten years of age. Temperaments never
change. A sanguine temperament never
becomes a phlegmatic temperament A
nervous temperament never becomes q
Emphatic temperament Religion changes
ones affections and ambitions, but it 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 a man. only on not SO large a scale.
When all tradition and all art and all his
tory represent Him as blonde with gol.
den hair I know He was in boy hood q
blonde.
We have, beside. an uninspired book
that was for the first three or four cen.
turtles after Christ's appearance received
by many as Inspired and which gives pro-
longed account of Christ's boyhood. Some
OF it may be true, most of it may be true
none of it may be true. 1t may be partly
built on facts. or by the passage of the
| ages, some real facts may have been dis
torted. But because a book is not divine
ly insp ired We are not therefore to con-
clude 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 it, although it
may have been married with many errors.
The so-called apocryphal gospel in which
the boyhood of Christ is dwelt upon l do
not believe to be divlnely inspired, and
yet it may present facts worthy of consid-
Grafton. Because it represents tbs 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
hood as certainly divine as in manhood
Then while a lad He must have had the
power to work miracles whether He did
or did not work them. When, having
reached manhood, Christ turned water in
to wine that was said to be the beginning
of miracles. But that may mean that it
was the beginning of that series OF man.
hood miracles. In a word, think that
the New Testament is only q small tran.
script of what Jesus did ana said. Indeed.
the Bible declares positively that if all
Christ did and said were written the world
would not contain the books.
While / do not believe that any of the
so-called apocryphal New Testament is
| inspired, l believe much of it is true; just
as l believe a thousand books. none of
which are divinely inspired. Much Of it
was just like Christ. just as certain as
the man Christ was the most of the time
| getting the men out of trouble l think
| that the boy Christ was the most Of the
time getting boys out of trouble I have
declared to you this day q boys Christ
| And the world wants such q one. He did
not sit around moping over what was to
| be or what was. From the way in which
| natural objects snwreathed themselves
| into His sermons after He had become .
| man, conclude there was not q rock or q
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 poise on many q
high tree top. His boyhood was passed
among grand scenery, as most all the great
natures have passed early life among the
mountains. They may live now on the
Oats, 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. On mountains as high
and rugged as they, many OF the worlds
thrilling biographies began. Our Lords
boyhood was passed il q 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 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 that Christ was not affected by these
surroundings. and that He from within
lived outward and independent of circum-
stances. So far from that being true. He
was the most sensitive being that ever
walked the earth, and if 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 magniicence. /
warrant that He had mounted aud ex-
plored all the fifteen hills around Naxa.
reth. among them Hermon with its crystal
coronet of perpetual snow. and Carmel