Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-06-19
CHRIST THE VILLAGE LAD.
TEE DIVINE LAD IN THE FIELDS
AND WORKSHOP.
WHAT THEOLOGY MOST WANTS is
MORE OF CHILDISH
SIMPLICITYY.
THREE IMPORTANT ARTICLES OF
CREED.
BEHOLD THE BOY!
DIR. TA1MAeE's SERMON SUNDAY, JUNE 9TH.

Dof people filling all the available places
joined in the opening doxology at
Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning. The
pastor, the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, DID,,
expounded the passage in John about the
unwritten works of Christ which the world
itself could not have contained. The sub
ject Of DR.. Talmage's sermon was "Christ,
the Village Lad" He tosk for his text
Luke ii. 40: "And the child grew and wax
ed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and
the grace of God was upon him." The
preacher said
About Christ az 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 lie a genuine boy at
all, or did there settle upon him from the
start all the intensities of martyrdomP We
have on this subject only little guessing,
few snrmises, 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 of canvas and sculpture. Before
the infant Christ in Mary's arms, or taking
his first sleep in the rough outhouse, all the
painters bow, and we have Paul Veronese's
'sHoly Family" and Perugino's "Nativi-
",
Christ" and Rubens's elaboration of the
Magi," aud Tintoret's Elaboration of the
Magi," and Chirlandojo's elaboration of
the Magi," and Raphael's "Madonna, :"
and Orcagna's "Msdonna," and Mnrillo's
s'Madonna," and Madonnas by all the
schools of painting 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
conioined evidences think we can come to
as accurate an idea of what Christ was as q
boy as 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 age. Temperaments never change. A
sanguine temperament never becomes a
phlegmatic temperament. A nervous tenn.
perament never becomes lymphatic TEN.
permanent. Religion changes ones affec
tions and ambitions, but it is the same old
temperament acting in different direction
AS Christ had no religious change, he wai
as lad what he was as a man, only on not
SO large a scale. When all tradition and al
art and all history represent Him as &
blonde with golden hair know he was il
boyhood blonde.
We have, beside, an unipspired book tha
was for the first three or four centuries af
ter Christ's appearance received by man,
as inspired, and which gives prolonged &C
count of Christ's boyhood- Some of it ma
be true, most Of it may be true, none of
! may be true. 1t may be partly built O
facts, or by the passage of the ages som
ootc tod Ry1
because book is not divinely inspired W
are not therefore to conclude that there ar
not true things in it. Prescott's tsCouques
of Mexico" was not inspired, buG we beliey
q it, although 1t may contain mistakes. M
ceulay's "HistoIy of England" vas not il
spired, but we believe it, although it ma
have been marred with many errors. Tb
so called aprocrybal gospel, in which ID
boyhood of Christ is dwelt upou DO nj
T.. believe to be divinely inspired, aud yet
e NAV present facts worthy of consideration
s Because it represents the boy Christ as pc
l. forming miracles some have overthrow
that whole sprocyphal book. But whs
right have you to say that Christ did NJ
perform miracles at ten years Of age .
i well as at Thirty? He was in boyhood
certainly divine as in manhood. The
Tlile ,ad he must have had the power
work miracles, whether he did or did NJ
work them. When, having reaching mai
mood, Christ turned water into wine tn;
was said to the beginning of miracles. Bl
that may mean that it was the beginnin
of that series of manhood miracles. In
word. think that the New Testament
= only small transcript of what Jesus d
and said. Indeed, tho Bible declares po:
lively that if all Christ did and said we
written the world would not contain Il
books. So we are at liberty to believe