Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-05-04
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Fairest of the Fair"
TEXT: "He is altogether lorety. Sole
mons Song v. Is.

TEXT: ole is altogether loUely. "-Solo-
| mons Song v. IS.
| The human race has during centuries been
| improving. For awhile it DETECTED and de-
| generated. and from all l can read for ages
| the whole tendency was toward barbar1sm,
| but under the ever widening and deepening
influence OF Christianity the tendency is now
| in the upward direction. The physical ap'
pearance of the human race is Seventy-hve
| per cent. more attractive than in the six
| tenth. seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
| From the pictures on canvas and the faces and
| forms in sculpture OF those who were consid-
| cred the grand looking men and the attrac-
/ live women OF 200 years ago [ conclude the
| superiority of the men AMI women OF our
| time. Such looking people Of the past CEN
| turtles as painting and sculpture have pre-
| sented as fine specimens OF beauty and dig
| nifty would be in our time considered defOrm-
| lty and responsiveness complete. The fact
| that many men AMI women in antediluvian
| times were eight and ten feet high tended to
| make the human race obnoxious rather than
| winning. Such portable mountains of hui
| man 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 physical at
| tractivenes3 could be compared to Him
| whom my text celebrates thousands of years
BEFORE he put His infantie foot on the hill
| back Of Bethlehem. II was AMI is altogether
| lovely. The physical appearance OF Christ
| Is for the most part, an artistic guess Some
writer's declare HIM 70 have been n brunette
| or dark complexiOntI. st. John, of Damas-
| Gus, writing 100 years ago. and 50 much
| nearer than ourselves to the time of Christ,
| and hence with more likelihood Of accurate
| tradition, represents Him with beari black,
and curly eyebrows jOinel together, and
| ''yellow complexion. AMI long fingers like
| His mother" An author, writing 1900 years
| ago, represents Christ as u b!on /: Ills hair
| Is the color OF wine aud golden ut the root
| straight and without Iu5ter but from the
| level of the cars. curling AMI glossy, an
| divided down the center after the fashion OF
| the Nazarenes. His fOreheal is even and
smooth, His face without bonish and en-
| HANGED by a tempered bloom, His cOunten-
| ance 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 brill
| liant"
My opinion is. it was {! Jewish face. His
mother was 81 JeWess, and there is no wo-
manhood on earth more beautiful than jew
| Ish wOmanhood. Alas that He lived so long
| before the daguerre IN ana Photographic
| arts were born, or we might have known His
exact features / know that Scui pture and
| painting were born lon; before Christ. and
| they might have trIl5fGrral from Olden
times to our times the fOrehCaI the nO5triI,
| the eye, tho lips OF our LOr !.
Phidias, the scu]ptOr, pat down his chisel
of enchantment L0) 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? POlygnOtis, the painter, put down
his pencil 400 years befO-3 Christ. Why did
! not somo one take it up AMI give US at least
the eye of our Lord-the eye. that sovereign
ofthe face? DiOnysjus. the literary artist
who saw at HeliOpOls, Egypt, the strange
darkening OF the heavens at the time Of
Chrsts crucillxiOn near Jerusalem, ana not
knowing what it was. but describing it as a
peculiar eclipse of the sun, and saying
either the Diety suffers or sympathizes
with some sufferer that DiOnysiuS might
have put his pen to the work an drawn the
portrait OF our Lord. But, no the fine arts
were busy pafpetuatiny the form and APP
pearance OF the worl Is favOrito5 only, and
not the form and appearance ofthe peasantry,
among whom Christ appeared.
1t was not until the fifteenth century, or
until more than 400 years after Christ, that
talented painters attempted by pencil to giva
US the idea OF Christs face. The pictures
before that time were 50 offensive that tho
council at Constautinople foroal 10 their ox-
hibitiOn. But Leonardo da Vinci. in the fiji
teenth century, presented Christ'5 face on
two canvaSeS, Y0t the ono was a repulSiv9
face and the other an effeminate face. Raph-
aelS face OF Christ is q weak face. Albert
DurerS face OF Christ was q savage face.
Titian'S face of Christ is an GXprCssiOnles5
face. The mlghtiest artists either with pen
ell or chisel, have made signal failure in at
tempting to give the forehead, the check,
the eyes, the nostril, the mouth of our blessed
Lord.
But about His face can tell you something
positive and beyond controversy. | am sure
it was a soulful face. The face is only the
curtain of the soul. 1t was impossible that
disposition like Christ's should not have
demonstrated itself in His physiOgnOmy.
Eiy,lT iTDn fpiJ
no illumination to the features. but kindGe5S
rs the lifelong, dominant habit will prOluc3
attractiveness of countenance is certainly as
the shining of the sun produces flowers.
Children ara afraid of Il Sowing or hard
visagod man. They cry out if he propo5e5to
take them. II he try to caresS them, he
evOkes a slap rather than kiss. All mothers
know how hard it is to get their children to
go to man or woman of fOrbidding appear
ance. But no sooner did Christ appear in
the domestic group than there was an in
fantie excitement and the youngsters began
to struggle to get out Oftheir mothers arms.
They could not hold the children back.
''Stand back with those chldrenr ~ 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 we'll clad, or the disciples may
have thought Christ's religion Was "a religion
chiefly for big folks. But Christ made tho
infantile excitement still liv0lier by His say
ing that He liked children better than grown
people, declaring, Except ye become rs
little child ye cannot enter into the kingdom
of God"
Alas for those people who do not like chill
dren! They had better stay out Of heaven,
for the place is full of them. That | think
is one reason why the vast ma Ority of the
human race die in infancy. Christ is 50
fond of children that He takes them to Him
self before the world has time to desDOl and
harden fhprO nt ba
windows OF the palace and on the dOOrstop5
and playing on the green. Sometimes
Matthew or Mark or Luke tells a story of
Christ, and only one tells it. but Matthew,
Mark and Luke all join in that picture of
Christ girdled by children, and L know by
what occurred at that time that Christ had u
face full of geniality.
Not only was Christ altogether lovely in
His cOuntenance, but lovely in His habits. l
know, without being told, that the Lord who
made the rivers and lakes and oceans was
cleanly in His appearances. He dislikel the
disease OF leproSy not only because it was
distressing, but because it was not clean, and
His curative words were II will. Be thou
clean" He declared Himself in favor of
thoroughly washing and opposed to SUPER
fetal washing when He denounced the hypo-
critics for making clean only 1.-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 a
blind man whom He was dOctorinc, go,
wash i'll the pool of Sloan" AMI He Himself
actually washed His disciples feet. [ suppose
not only to demonstrate His own humility
but probably their feet needed to be washed.
The fact is, the Lord was a great friend Of
water. l know that from the fact that most
OF the world IS water. But when l find
Christ in such constant communication Of
water L know He was personally neat,
although He mingled much among very
rough populations and took such long
Journeys on dusty highways. He wore His
hair long, according to the custom of His
land and time, but neither trouble nor Oil
age had thinned or injured His locks, which
were never worn shaggy or unkempt. Yea,
all His habits Of personal appearance were
lovely.
Sobriety was also an established habit OF
His life. In addition to the water. He drank
the juice of the grape. When at q wedding