The national leader., 1889-06-15
KEY. DR.. TALMAGE.
TIE BROOKLYN DlyINF,s SIN.
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "Christ the Village 1ad.n

IExT: "And the child oreu,. and ,yored
osnoatg IN SPIRIT, filled aUitf 1Cisaonl: and The
S'"0o ~ ooo a00s upon HIM. Luke H.. 40.
I, About Christ as a VILLAGE lad T snaak
Ihere is for the most part a Silence mora than than
iIasnCeeH i centuries long about Christ between
lnla4Gy ~ ana manhood. What kind of a bow
vas ne! was He genuine boy at all. or did
Inere settle upon Him from the start all the
a,,Iala4 nIeHsltl ltles OF martydom? We have on this
,,S b only little guessing, few surmises,
~ a nere ana There an unimportant ''per-
maps" Concerning what bounded that boy
nooo on Doun sides we have whole libraries of
DOCKS and whole galleries of canvas and
sculpture.
but pen and pencil and chisel have with
lew e&ceptlons passed by Christ the village
Iau. Yet Dy three conjoined evidences [
InllA We can come to as accurate an idea of
Wnat Christ was as boy as we can of what
ChrlSt was as man
FIRST, we have the brief Bible account.
Then we have the prolonged account of what
Chrlst was at thirty years of age. Now you
nave only TO mlnify that account somewhat
and you find what He was at ten years of
age Temperaments never change. a san
gulne temperament never becomes phleg-
matte temperament. A nervous tempera-
ment never becomes a lymphatic tempera-
ment. Religion changes ones affections and
ambitions, but it is the same old tempera-
ment acting 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 scale When all tradition 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 that
was for the first three or four centuries after
Christ's appearance received by many
1ngnrnl and which CiupG
longed account of Christ's boy
hood. 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 nave 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 mis-
takes. Macaulays History of England" was
not inspired, but we believe it although it
may have been harred with many errors.
The so-called apodryphal Gospel in which the
boyhood of Christis dwelt upon l do not be-
lieve to be divinelH inspired, and yet it may
present facts worthy Of consideration. Because
il 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 peform miracles at
fen wears 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 not work them. When, hav-
ipg reached manhood, Christ turned
water into wine that was said to be
tha bacinning of miracles. But that may
olean sae '9f hat - f was the beginning of that
sar;ec of manhood miracles. In a word, l
aI;I. that the New Testament is only
-, oil transcript of what Jesus did and said
Indaed the Bible declares positively that if all
Christ did and said were written the world
would not contain the books. So we are at
,;bartv IN believe or reject those parts of the
,oooryynhal Gospel which say that when the
1| apoo1 GTbIr;St with His mother passed band of
4h;yax1as He told His mother that two OF them,
n.,,,,oob,s and Titus by name would be the
t1r.n +bieves who afterward would expire on
N1ua- wv hosde Him. Was that more wonder
fnl than some OF Ch1rsts manhood pro
- Los;aS Or the unlnspired story
Pnesle9t Ps the boy Christ made a fountain
Inae w. rom the roots of a sycamore tree SO
spri19 I.,,otber washed His coat in the stream
tnat I!I .hat more unbelievable than the man
was "a9e.siracle that changed common water
sS noou - N Marriage beverage? Or the uninspired
INTO ti,a+ n,at two sick children were recovered
SOoTy ZINC in the water where Christ had
by paI pau Twas that more wonderful than the
Wasneu! ,,;racle by which the woman twelve
manhoou uaa,nnlete invalid should have been
years a+ro;obt sj by touching the fringe of
Christ's coat? ;, uh;,o1 do o+ ,,o,;o,,o +,o+
.nv ~ Of the so-callsd apocrypnal new Iesta-
menu Is Iii.H SdHl;ove thousand books, none of
just as - 1J;vinely inspired. Much of it was
when al cn.;st Just as certain as the man
just IKE the +be most of the time getting men
Christ Ws,he Wa I | think that the boy Christ
out Of o. most Of the time getting boys out OF
trouble. have ,d ade, the 81 world ~ % wants anti uS scb
boys ChIIT aid not sit around moping
a one. he re n be- or what was. From
over wnaC rhich natural objects enwreathed
the way Id W.. .ato his sermons after He had be-
themselves ,r conclude there was not rock
come MAJ y. cavern or tree for miles
or q hill oi ue was not familiar with in
around tnagu ue had cautiously felt his way
childhood n IN .ayes and had with 1.-THE and
down into tnaIned poise on many a high
agile limb ga; g1;I boyhood was passed among
tree top. nl .r as most all the great
grand scenel' passed early life among
natures hasg hNins They may live now on
the na4S mQbut but they passed tne ~, ,recePfye trn
days s of Of ladnoGta aaopntains Of New Hampshire,
Among the Inns li Of Virginia, or the noun
or the mounlInot or the mountains of Swift
tains of KenIvII1r OF Austria, or Scotland, Or
zerIand, or lI1,s b;ah and rugged as they, many
mountains IJ,s q Drilling biographies began
Our Lords boy pSnndred feet above the level
borhood twelve trrounded by mountains five
of the sea and set stin higher. Before it
or six hundred the village where this boy
could shine on 10 climb far enough up to
slept the sun nay asst held their heads far aloft.
look over hills III tlI;Tht Hiseye at one sweep took
From wonder hetop Of the valleys and with
in the mighty TN III in the Mediterranean Sea,
another sweep ga lldeIr of the cliffs and
and you hear VI Feat waters In His match