Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1894-04-28
FAIREST OFTHE FAIR
REV. DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON AT THE
BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.

REV. DR.. TALmAGE'S SERMON AT THE
BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.
The Eloquent Pastor Di-cus>-. the Attri-
butss at Christ The Great. the Good. the
Fair. the snbiim. 4 Characteristic Ser
m"n Praise Prom ~ Thousand Noirss.
BRookLNN. April 81 v Mrs. Prentiss'
hymn, "Mors Love 10 Thee, . Christ,
was never more effectively rendered than
this morning by the thousands of voices
in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, led ON by
organ and cornet, while by new vocabu-
larry and fresh imagery DIR Talmage
presented the gospel. The subject of the
sermon was ''Fairst of the Fair, " the
text chosen being Solomon's SONG V, Ii.
He is altogether lovely"
The human race has during centuries
been improving. For awhile il detected
and degenerated, and from all can read
for ages the whole tendency was toward
barbaris1n, but under the ever widening
and deepening influence of Christianity
the tendency is now in the upward di-
rection. The physical appearance of the
human race Is 80 per cent more attract
i've than i'll the sixteenth, seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. From the pic
lures on canvas and the faces and forms
i'll sculpture of those who We're consid
cred the grand looking men and the at
tractive women of 200 years ago con-
clude the superiority of the men and
women of our time Such looking peo-
pie of the past centuries a. painting and
sculpture have presented a. fine speci
mems of beauty and dignity would be in
our time considered leformity and re-
pulsiveness complete. The fact that
many men ami women in antediluvian
times We're X and 10 feet high tended tn
make the human race obnoxious rather
than winning. Such portable mountains
of human flesh did not add to the charms
of the world.
The Physical Christ.
Eut in no climate and i'll no age did
there ever appear any one Who III phys
ical attractiVcncss could h. compared
10 him whom my text celebrates thou
sands of years before he put his infan
tile foot on the hill back of Bethlehem.
He WAS and is altogether lovely The
physical appearance Of Christ is for the
most part, an artistic guess. Some writ
ers declare him To have been "a brunette
or dark complexioned. and others u
blond or light complcxioned. St. John
of Damascus. writing /. 100 years ago,
and 50 much nearer than ourselves TO
the time of Christ, and hence with more
likelihood of accurate tradition, repre-
sents him with beard black, and curly
eyebrows joined together. and yellow
complexion, and long fingers like his
mother" An author, writing 1900
years ago, represents Christ as a blond:
His hair is the color of wine and golden
at the root. straight and without lus-
ter but from the level of the ears. curl
ing and glossy, and divided down the
center after the fashion Of the Naza-
rcnes. His forehead is even and smooth.
his face without blemish and enhanced
by 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 extremely
brilliant.
My opinion is, it was Jewish face,
His mother was "a JeweSs. and there il
no wonIanhood on earth more beautiful
than Jewish womanhood. Alas that he
lived 50 long before the daguerrean and
Photographic arts We're born, or we
might have known his exact features.
know that sculpture and painting We're
born long before Christ, and they might
have transferred from oldcn times TO
our times the forehead, the nostril the
eye, the lips Of our Lord.
Phidias, the sculptor, put down his
chisel of enchantinent 500 years before
Christ came Why did not some one
take up that chisel and give us the side
face or full face Of our Lord: Polygno-
tus. the painter, put down his pencil
400 years before Christ. Why did not
some one take it up and give Us at least
the eve of our Lor,l-thc eye, that SOW
ereign of the face: Dionysius. the litera-
nv artist who saw at Heliopolis, Egypt.
the strange darkening of the heavens at
the time of Christ : cruciiixion near .Ic-
rusalem. ami not knowing what il was,
but describing il as a peculiar eclipse
Of the sun, and saying, Either the Del
~ suffers or sympathiZes with some suf
ferer. that Dionysius might have put
his pen To the work and drawn the por-
trait Of our Lord. But. no; the fine arts
We're busy pcrpetuating the form and
appearance of the worlds favoritcs only,
and not tine form and appearance of the
peasantry. among whom Christ appear
ed
Port traits of Christ.
It was not until the fifteenth century,
or until more than I, 100 years after
Christ. that talented painters attempted
by pencil to give us the idea of Christ's
face The pictures before that time were
so offensive that the council at Constan
tinople forbade their exhibition But
Leonardo da Ninci, in the fifteenth cen
tury, presented Christ $ face on two can
vases, yet the one was requisite face
and the other an cffeminate face Raph-
ael's face Of Christ is weak face.
Albert Durcr's face Of Christ was saw
ago face Titian's face of Christ is an
expressionless face The mightiest art
lists. either with pencil or chisel, have
made signal failure i'll attempting TO
give the forehead, the check, the eyes,
the noStril, the mouth of our blessed
d Lord