The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1894-04-26
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
ri!E BROOKLYN DtviSE'J SgN-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Fairest OF the Fair"

generated, and from all can read for ages
he whole tendency was toward barOarism
)ut under the ever widening and deepening
influence OF Christianity the tendency IL now
the upward direction. The physical ap
,earance OF the human racq is seventy-ave
per cent. more attractive than in the six.
ieenth. seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
from the pictures on canvas and the faces an
orins I'm sculpture Of those who were consid.
sred the grand looking men and the attrac.
i've women o. 20) years ago conclude the
superiority OF the men ami women of our
ime. Such looking people OF the past CEN
| urcs rs painting and sculpture nave pre-
'ented rs fine specimens of beauty and dig
iity would be ia our time considered ieform-
/ ty AMI responsiveness complete The fact
hat many men and women in ant sdlluvian
| lines were eight and ten feet high tended 10
make the human race obnoxious rather than
winning. Such portable mountains OF hu-
nan flesh did no: add TO the charms OF the
World.
! But in no climate and In no age did there
ver appear any one who in physical at
ractivenass could be compared TO Him
whom my text celebrates thousands OF years
)e,ore He put His infantiie foot on the hill
oack OF Bethlehem. VI, was and Is altogether
! ovely. The physical appearance OF Christ
=, for the most part, an artistic guess. Some
writer's declare Him to have been brunette
)r dark complexioned. st. John, OF Damas-
.us, writing 100 wears ago. and so much
iearer than ourselves 10 the time OF Christ,
md hence with more likelihood OF accurate
tradition, represents Him with beard olack.
md curly eyebrows Joined together, and
yellow complexion. and long fingers like
His mother" An author, writing 1900 years
igo, represents Christ rs blond: "His hair
the color OF wine and golden AZ the root
straight and without luster, but from tho
evel OF the ears. curling and glossy, and
fivided down the center after the fashion OF
he Sazarenes. His forehead In even and
smooth. His face without blemish and en-
ianced by tempered bloom. His counten-
lnce ingenious and kind. Nose and mouth
.re in no way faulty. His beard Is full. of
he same color as His hair and forked In
'orm HIS eyes blue and extremely brill
ant.
Ny opinion is, II was Jewish face His
mother was Jewess. and there IL no wo-
manhood on earth more beautiful than Jew
sh womanhood. Alas that He lived 80 long
before the daguerrean and phot tographic
arts we're born, or We might have known His
,xact features. know that sculpture and
painting were born long before Christ. and
hey might have transferred from olden
lines to our times the forehead, the nostril,
he eye, the lips Of our Lord.
Phidias. the sculptor. pat down his chisel
u encha antment t0) years before Christ came.
Why did not some one take up that chisel
wv -''' W. 'u' oii' it'c VI luN lice Oh our
Lori2 Polygnotls, the painter, put down
MS pencil 400 years before Christ. Why did
lot some one tase II up and give us at least
he eye OF our Lori-the cye, that sovereign
)i the face2 Dionysius, the literary artist
who saw at Heliopolis. Egypt. the strange
iarkening OF the heavens at the tims OF
Christ's cruci1xion near Jerusalem, and not
knowing what IT was, but describing IL as a
peculiar eclipse OF the sun and saying,
Either the De.y suffers or sympatnizes
With some sufferer that Dionysius might
have put his pen 10 the work ami drawn the
portrait OF our Lord. But. no the fine arts
we're busy perpetuating the form and ap-
'earance OF the woriis fa.;orite' J,!... and
'''h"'- mad apnsarInces fthe peasantrv.
among whom Christ appeared.
II was not until the flftesnth century, or
lntil mora than 400 years after Christ, that
'alentei painters attempted by pencil TO give
is the id3l OF Chr.st's face. Tbs pictures
before that time were 80 Offensive that the
'ouac!. q. Constantinople forbade their ex-
lloition. But Leonardo IA Yinci in the tit-
eenth century, presented Christ's face on
wo canvases. yet the on, WAS repulsive
ace and the other IN eifeminste face Rlph-
ieHs face OF Christ Is "A weak face Albert
Ourers face o! Christ was savage face.
ritian'S face OF Christ is an expressiouless
ace. The mighties; artists. either with pen
I'll or chlsal, hnvs made signal failure In at
'thpA'A- w lAN' Aht lpTfuftus IUb fneFk,
he eyes, the nos;ril, the mouth Of our blessed
Lord.
But about His face can tell you something
positive and beyond controversy. am sure
WAS soulful face. The face Is only the
urtain OF the soul, It WIS impossible that
disposition like Christ's should not hay,
demonstrated itself In His physiognomy.
Kindness As m occasional impulse IN ~ give
10 illumination TO the features but kindness
is the lifelong, dominant habit will pro luce
utracttveness OF countenance AS certainly as
he SHINING OF the sun produces flowers
Children arc afraid OF a scowling or hard
'isaged man. They cry out II he proposesto
AXE them. II he try TO caress them, no
,vokes a slap rather thar kiss. All mothers
Snow how hard 1t is to get their children 10
90 10 man or woman OF for5iddng appear
ince. But no sooner did Christ appear in
he domestic group than there was an in
antile excitement and the youngsters began
o struggle 20 get out ofther mothers arms.
they could not hold the children bacK.
stand back with those children" scoldsd
some o.; the disciples. Perhaps the little ones
may have been paying In the dirt. and their
iaces may not have been clean 0 r they may
not have been we'll clad, or the disciples may
have thought Christ's religion WAS a religion
'hehy for big folks. But Christ made rhe
ntantile excitement still livelier by His say.
ing that Ha liked children better than grown
. y
little enid ye cannot enter into the kingdom
Of God"
Alas Tor those people who do not like chill
dren They had letter stay out OF heaven.
Tor the plHce Is iull of them That, think.
is one reason why the vast majority OF the
human race die IN infancy. Christ Is SO
iond OF children that He taxes them 10 HIM
sell before the world has time 10 despoil and
harden them, and 80 they are now at the
windows OF the palace AMI on the doorsteps
and playing on the green. Sometimes
Matthew or Mark or Luke tells story of
Christ. and only one tells 1t. but Matthew,
Mark and Luke all join in that picture OF
Christ girdled by children, and | know by
what occurred at that time that Christ had q
face iull OF geniality.
Not only was Christ altogether lovely in
His countenance, but lovsly in His habits. " I
know, without being told. that the Lord who
made the rivers aud lakes and oceans was
tlesnly in HIS appearance. He disliked the
disease OF lsprosy not only because IL was
distressing, but because II was not clean. and
His curative words were II will. Be thou
cIean.' He declared Himself in favor of
thoroughly washing and opposed TO super
hcisl washing when He denounced the hypo-
critics for making clean only "ths outside OF
The platter, and He applauds His discinles