The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-06-26
CHRISTs BOYHOOD.
d.. Talmage breaches on "Christ
as q Village Lad"

.Ss@AAsA@0
Trees Around Misunderstanding In
His Fathers Carpenter Shop, and
Teaching the Doctors in
the Temple.
1he subject Of DR.. Talmage's recent SER
mon was "Christ the Village Lad" He took
for his text Luke Ii 40: Sand the child
grew and waved strong In spirit, filled with
wisdom; and the grace Of God was upon
him" Following is the sermon
About Christ as q village lad / speak.
There is for the most part silence more
than eighteen centuries long about Christ
between infancy and manhood. What kind
Il Q boy was hel Was he genuine boy at
Ill or did there settle upon him from the
start all the intensities of martyrdoma We
have on this subject only little guessing,
Q few surmises and here and there an un-
important perhaps" Concerning what
bounded that boyhood on both sides we have
whole libraries Of books and whole galleries
ef canvass and sculpture. Before the in
FAINT Christ in Mary's arms, or taking his
6rst sleep in the rough clubhouse, all the
painters bow, and we have Paul Veronese's
''Holy Family and Perugino's Nativity"
end Angelica da Fesole's 'Tnfant Christ"
and Rubens' "Adoration of the Magi'' and
Tintoret's Alteration Of the Magi' and
Chirlandojo's Alteration Of the Magi" and
Raphael's madonna" and Orcagna's "Ma-
donna" and Murillo's Madonna" and Ma
donnas by all the schools Of painting In all
lights and shades and with all styles Of at
tractive feature and impressive surround
ings, but pen and pencil and chisel have,
with few exceptions, passed by Christ the
village lad. Yet by three oonioined evil
lences think we can come to as accurate
a idea Of what Christ was as boy a. we
can Of what Christ was as 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 some
what and you find what he was at ten years
Of sge. Temperaments never change. A
Ganguine' temperament never becomes Q
phlsgmatic temperament. A nervous tenn
permanent never becomes Emphatic tenn.
permanent. Religion changes ones affec-
tons and ambitions, but it is the same old
temperament acting in different direction.
As Christ had the religious change, He was
- q lad what He was as man, only on not
% large scale. When all tradition, and all
art, and all history represent Him as
blonde with golden hair know He was in
boyhood blonde.
p We have, beside, an uninspired book that
was for the first three or four centuries
after Christ's appearance received by many
Is inspired, and which gives prolonged
account Of Christ's boyhood. Some Of it
ho tVs,,o - ha
Of IL may be true. 1t may be partly built on
facts, or by the passage Of the ages, some
real facts may have been distorted. But
because book is not divinely 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 be- marred with many errors. The So
called a. 1cryphal gospel in which the boy
hood Of Christ is dwelt upon l do not be-
lieve to he divinely inspired, and yet it may
present facts worthy Of consideration. Be-
cause it represents the boy Christ as per-
forming 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 certain
~ divine as in manhood. Then while lad
he must have had the power to work mira
cles, whether he did or did not work them
When, having reached manhood, Christ
turned water into wine that was said to be
Che beginning of miracles. But that may
mean that it was the beginning of that series
yniV Tn, a ;v,1y
that the New Testament is only small
transcript Of what Jesus did and
said. Indeed, the Bible declares posi-
lively that If all Christ did and said
were written, the world would not con-
tain the books. So we are at liberty to be-
lieve or reject those parts Of the apocryphal
gospel which says that when the boy Christ
with His mother passed band Of thieves
He told His mother that two Of them, Du-
machus and Titus by name, would be the
two thieves who afterwards would expire
on the cross 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 sycamore tree so that His
mother washed his coat in the stream-was
that more unbelievable than the manhood
miracle that changed common water into a
marriage beveragel Or the uninspired story
that two sick children were recovered by
bathing in the water where Christ had
! washedl Was that more wonderful than
the manhood miracle by which the woman
twelve years complete invalid should have
been made straight by touching the fringe
| Of Christ's coat9 -qsg g
In other words, while I do not believe
that any of the so-called apocryphal New
Testament is inspired, believe much Of it
is true; iustas believe 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 men out of trouble. think that the
boy Christ was the most of the time getting
boys out of trouble, 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 un-
wreathed themselves into his sermons after
he had become man concluded there was
not rock or hill or cavern or a 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 poise
on many 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 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 noun.
tains as high and ragged as they, many OF