The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-04-27
FAIREST OF THE FAIR.
The Saviours loneliness Depicted
by DR.. Talmage.
Characteristics of Our Lord-He Believed
In Cleanliness, Sobriety and Do
mesticity-His Great Love
and sympathy.

subject of a late sermon preached at
Brooklyn by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage,
the text chosen being: Solomon's Song
V. i6: He is altogether lovely" Fol-
lowing is the sermon:
The human race has during centuries
been improving. For awhile it de-
Elected and degenerated- and from all
can read, for ages the whole tendency
was toward barbarism But under the
ever widening and deepening Influence
of Christianity the tendency is now in
the upward direction. The physical
appearance of the human race is 20 per
cent more attractive than in the six
teenth, seventeenth or eighteenth CEN
turtles The fact that many men and
women in antediluvian times were S
and 10 feet high tended to make the
human race obnoxious rather than
winning. Such portable mountains of
human flesh did not add to the charms
of the world.
But in no climate and in no age did
there ever appear any one who in phys
ical attractiveness could be compared
to Him whom nv text celebrates,
thousands Of years before He put His
infantile foot on the hill back of Beth
lehem. He was, and IS altogether
lovely. The physical appearance of
Christ is, for the most part, an artistic
guess Some writers declare Him to
have been brunette or dark complex
toned. and others a blonde or light
complexioned. St John, of Damascus,
writing 100 years ago and so much
nearer than ourselves to the time of
Christ. and hence with more likelihood
of accurate tradition, represents Him
with beard black and curly, eyebrows
Joined together, and yellow complex
ion, and long fingers like His mother"
An author writing l. 500 years ago rep
resents Christ as a blonde: His hair
the color of wine and golden at the
root; straight and without luster; but
from the level of the ears curling and
glossy, and divided down the center
after the fashion of the Nazarenes
His forehead is even and smooth, His
face without blemish. aud enhanced
BY a tempered bloom; His countenance
ingenious and kind. Nose and mouth
are in no way faulty. His beard is
full, OF the same color as His hair, and
forked in form; His eyes blue and ex-
tremely brilliant"
My opinion Is it was a Jewish face
His mother was a Jewess. and there is
no womanhood on earth more beauti-
full than Jewish womanhood Alas,
that He lived so long before the Da-
guerrean and photogra phic arts were
born, or we might have known his ex-
act features.
1t was not until the fifteenth century,
or until more than 1.4OO wears after
Christ that talented painters attempt
ed by pencil to give US the idea of
Christ's face. The pictures before that
time were so offensive that the council
at Constantinople forbade their exhi-
bition.
But about his face l can tell you
something positive. and beyond con-
troversy. l am sure it was a soulful
face. The face is only the curtain of
the soul 1t was impossible that dis
position like Christ's should not have
demonstrated itself in his physiogno-
my. Kindness as an occasional i'm
pulse may give no illumination to the
features, but kindness as the lifelong,
dominant habit will produce attract
iveness of countenance as certainly as
the shining of sun produces flowers
Children are afraid of a scowIing or
hard-visaged man. They cry out if he
proposes to take them II he tries to
caress them, he evokes slap rather
than a kiss All mothers know how
- Ill :
60 to a man or woman of forbidding
appearance. But no sooner did Christ
appear in the domestic group than
there was an infantile excitement,
and the youngsters began to struggle
to get out of their mothers arms They
could not hold the children back
stand back with those children
scolded some of the disciples Perhaps
the little ones may have been playing
in the dirt, and their faces may not
have been clean, or they may not have
been well clad, or the disciples may
have thought Christ's religion was
religion chiefly for big folks But
Christ made the infantile excitement
still livelier by HIS saying that He
liked children better than grown peo-
pie. declaring, except ye become as
a little child We can not enter into the
kingdom of God" Alas, for the people
who do not like children They had
better stay out of Heaven, for the
place is full of them
Not only was Christ altogether love
" in His countenance, but lovely in His
habits | know, without being told.
that the Lord who made the rivers, and
lakes, and oceans was clearly in His ap-
pearance. He disliked the disease of
leprosy, not only because It was dis
tressing, but because il was not clean,
and his curative words were: Il will;
be thou clean" He declared Himself
in favor of thorough washing. and op-
posed the superficial washing. when He
denounced the hypocrites for making
clean only the outside of the platter"
and He applauds his disciples By
saying: Now are We clean" and,
giving directions TO those who tasted.
among other things. He says: Wash
thy face" and to blind man whom He
was doctoring: go. wash in the pool
of Sloan" And He. Himself, actually
washed the disciples feet, | suppose
not only todemonstrate His own humil-
ity, but probably their feet needed to
be washed The fact is, the Lord was
a great friend of water / know that
from the fact that most of the world is
water But when | find Christ in such
constant commendation of water, /
know He was personally neat, although
He mingled much among very rough
populations. and took such long jour
neys on dusty highways. He wore His
hair long, according to the custom of
His land and time, but neither trouble
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