Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-05-09

TIE BROOKLYN DIvINE,S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Fairest of the Fair"

The human race has during centuries beer
Improving. For awhile 1t DETECTED and de-
generated, and from all can read for ages
the whole tendency was toward barbarian
but under the ever widening and deepening
influence OF Christianity the tendency is now
In the upward direction. The physical api
pearance of the human race Is seyenty-flye
per cent. more attractive than in the six.
teenth, 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-
tive women OF zoo years ago 1 conclude the
superiority OF the men and women OF our
zine. Such looking people OF the past CEN
suries as painting and sculpture have pre-
sented as fine specimens OF beauty and dig
nifty would be in cur time considered deform-
fty and responsiveness complete The fact
that many men and women In sntediluvian
times were eight and ten feet high tended to
make the human race obnoxious rather than
winning. Such portable mountains of hu-
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
tractiyeness could be compared to Him
whom my text celebrates thousands of years
beiore He put His infantile 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
writers declare Him 10 have been a brunette
or dark compleXiOned. 81. John, OF Damas-
Gus, 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 complexion. and long fingers like
His mother" An author, writing 1900 years
ago, represents Christ as blond: ''His hair
Is the color OF wine and golden at the root,
straight and without luster but from the
Lava Of hn nTnr nd fr1A1 a,,l
divided down the center after the fashion OF
the NaZ8renes. His forehead is even and
smooth, His face without blemish and en-
hanced by a tempered bloom, His counten-
Rnce 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 a Jewish face. His
mother Was Jewess, and there Is no wo-
manhood on earth more beautiful than Jew-
ish womanhood. Alas that He lived so long
before the daguerrean and Photographic
arts were born, or we might have known His
exact features. 1 know that sculpture and
painting were born long before Christ and
they might have transferred from olden
times TO our times the forehead, the nostril,
the eye, the lips of our Lori.
Phidias, the sculptor, pat down his chiseI
OF enchantment 500 years before Christ came
Why did not some one take up that chisel
and give US the side face or iull face OF our
Lord7 Polygnotis, the painter, put down
his pencil 400 years before Christ. Why did
not some one take it up and give US at least
the eye Of our LOrd-the eye. that sovereign
otthe face? DiOnysius, the literary artist
who saw at HeliopOlis, Egypt, the strange
darkening of the heavens mt the time of
Christ's crucihXiOn near Jerusalem, and not
knowing what it was, but describing IL as a
peculiar eclipse OF the sun, and saying,
~
with some sufferer that DiOnysius might
have put his pen to the work and drawn the
portrait OF our Lord. But, no the fine arts
were busy perpetuating the form and ap-
pearancs of the wOrlis fsvortes only, and
not the form and appearance ofthe peasantry,
among whom Christ appeared.
II was not until the fifteenth century. or
until more than 400 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 ConstantinOple forbade their ex-
hibttion. But Leonardo da Yinci, in the If
teenth century, presented ChriStS face on
two canvases, yet the one was a repulsive
face and the other IN effsmtnate face Raph-
aers face Of Christ Is weak face. Albert
Durers face of Christ was a savage face
Titian's face Of Christ Is an expressionless
face. The mightiest artists, either with PEN
ell or chisel, have made signal failure in at
tempting to give the forehead, the cheek,
the eyes, the nostril, the mouth Of our blessed
Lord.
But about His face can tell you something
positive and beyond controversy. L am sure
1t was soulful face. The face Is only the
curtain OF the soul. 1t was impossible that
q disposition Ike Chrlst's should not have
demonstrated itself in His physiOGnomy.
Kindness as an occasional impulse may give
no illumination to the features, but kindness
as the lifelong, dominant habit will produce
of countenance as certainly as
the shining OF the sun produces flowers.
Children are afraid of q scowling or hard
vissged man. They cry out If he proposesto
take them. II he try to caress them, he
evokes q slap rather than kiss. All mothers
know how hard 1t is to get their children to
go TO q man or woman of forbiddlng appear
ance. But no sooner did Christ appear in
the domestic group than there was an In
Iantile excitement and the youngsters began
10 struggle TO get out oftheir mothers arms.
They could not hold the children back.
'Stlnd back with those children J" scolded
some OF the disciples. Perhaps the little ones
may have been playing in the dirt, and their
Iaces may not have been clean, or they may
not have been well clad or the disciples may
have thought Christ's religion was a religion
chiefly for big folks. But Christ made the
excitement still Iivelier by His say
Ing that He liked children better than grown
people, declaring. Except ye become as q
little child ye cannot enter into the kingdom
Of God"
Alas FOR those people who do not Ike chill.
1renl They had better stay out of heaven,
Tor the place is full of them. That, think,
IS one reason why the vast majority of ths
human race die in infancy Christ IS 50
'ond of children that He takes them to Him
self before the world has time to despoil and
harden them, and 80 they are now at the
windows OF the palace and on the doorsteps
md playing on the green. Sometimes
Matthew or Mark or Luke tells a story of
Christ. and only one tells II, but Matthew,
Mark and Luke all Join in that picture of
Christ Sirdled by children, and L know by
What occurred at that time that Christ had a
ace full of geniality.
Not only was Christ altogether lovely In
His countonlnce, but lovely in His habits. I
inow, without being told, that the Lord who
made the rivers and lakes and oceans was
,leanly in His appearance. He disllked the !
iisease Of leprosy not only because it was
but because IL was not clean, and |
His curative words were az will. Be thou |
,lean." He declared Himself in favor OF |
thoroughly washing and opposed to super |
icial washing when He denounced the hypo- |
rites for making clean only ''the outside OF |
he platter" and He applauds His disciples |
~ saying, "Now are ye clean" and giving !
directions to those who tasted, among other
hings, He says, "Nash thy face" and to a 4,
blind man whom He was doctorinS, GO, |
Nd5u III inc poor OF oliOtUl, anu ne E1lIuSeIl
lctually washed His disciples feet, suppose |
lot only to demonstrate His own humility, |
Jut 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 !
If the world is water. But when l find
Christ in such constant communication OF ]
water 1 know He was personally neat,
although He mingled much among very
.ough populations and took such long
ourreys on dusty highways. He wore His
lair long, according to the custom of Hi.
and and time, but neither trouble nor old
ge had thtnned or injured His locks, which
Tere never worn shaggy or unkempt Yea,
IL His habits of persona! appearance se-s
ovely.
Sobriety was also an established habit OF
lis life. In addition to the water. lie drank
he "a Ice Of the grape. When Mt a wedding
arty this beverage gave out. He made gal-
ons on gallons of grape juice, but L was "a
nike what the world makes in our time as
calth Is different from disease and ms calm
ulses are different from the paroZysms OF
elirium tremens. There was no stryehnjne
, thafh