The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-08-15
THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS.
Thoughts and Theories Suggested
by Christ's Early Life.
His Unwritten Works and Early Days,
Predicated on the Character of
the Man as Revealed in
Written History.

ject of a sermon recently delivered by
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle. His text was:
and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit,
filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was
with Hfm.-Luke H.. 90.
About Christ as a village lad l speak.
There is for the most part silence more
than eighteen centuries long about Christ
between infancy and manhood, What
kind Of boy was He? Was He genuine
boy at all, or did there settle upon Him
from the start all the intensities of mar
tyrdom? We have on this subject only
little guessing, few surmlses, 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
Mary's arms, or taking His first sleep in
the rough clubhouse, all the painters bow,
and we have Paul Veronese's holy Fam
ily," and PeruginO's Nativity" and An
gelico da Fiesole's Infant Christ" and
Rubens' elaboration of the Magi," and
Tintoret's Alteration of the Magi," and
Chirlandoio's elaboration 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 all 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
cohioined evidences l think we can come
to as accurate an idea Of what Christ was
as boy as we can of what Christ was as
q man.
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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 phlegmatic temperament A
nervous temperament never becomes a
lymphatic temperament. Religion
changes ones affections and ambitions,
but it is the same old temperament act
ing in a different direction. AS Christ
had no religious change, He was as a lad
what He was as a man, only on not so
large a scale. When all tt addition and all
art and all history represent Him as a
blonde with golden hair / know He was in
boyhood blonde.
We have, beside, an uninspired book
uries after Christ's appearance, received
by many as inspired, and which gives
a prolonged account of Christ's boyhood.
Some OF it may be true, most of it may be
true, none of it may be true. It may be
partly built on facts, or, by the passage
of ages, some real facts may have been
distorted. But because a book is not d.
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 it, although it may have
been married with many errors. The So
called apocryphal Gospel in which the
boyhood of Christ is dwelt upon 1 do not
believe to be divinely inspired, and yet it
may present facts worthy of considera-
ton. 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 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 lad He must have
had the power to work miracles, whether
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 that
series Of manhood miracles.
In a word, think that the New Testa-
ment 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 q
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 Christs manhood prophesies;
Or the uninspired story that the boy
Christ made fountain spring from the
roots of sycamore tree so that His moth
er washed His coat in the stream-was
that more unbelievable than the man.
hood miracle that changed cannon wa
ter into marriage beverage? Or the I'M
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 a COM
plete invalid should have been made
straight by touching the fringe of Christ's
coat?
In other words, while / do not believe
that any of the so-oalled apocryphal New
Testament is inspired, / believe much of
it is true; just as 1 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, 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
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, 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 aud agile limb, gained a
poise on many 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
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