Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1894-05-10
'FAIREST OF THE FAIR.
Rev DR.. Talmage Discourses on the
Physical Appearance of Christ.
IN No Age or Climate Was There Ever the
saviour's Equai-The Ideals of the
Son of God as Presented
by Painters.

Of he Saviour, the text chosen being
solomon's Song. v. l6 "He is alto,
gether lovely"
The human race has during centuries
been impoving For awhile it DETECTED
and degenerated, and, from all | can
read, was tending towards barbarism.
But under the overwhelming and deep
ening influence of Christianity. the
tendency is now in the upward direc-
ton. The physical appearance of the
human race is IS per cent. more at
tractive than in the sixteenth, seven
teenth or eighteenth centuries. From
the pictures on canvas, and the faces
and forms in sculpture of those who
were considered the grand-looking
men and the attractive women of two
hundred years ago, / conclude the SUI
Geri0rity of the men and women of our
time Such looking people of the past
centuries as painting and sculptures
have presented as fine specimens of
beauty and dignity. would be in our
time considered deformity and repul-
siveness complete. The fact that many
men and women in antediluvian times
were eight and ten feet high tended to
make the human race obnoxious rather
tAan winning. Such portable noun
taius 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
physical attraetiveness could be COM
pared to Him whom my text celebrates,
thousands of years before lie put His
intantile 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 writer's declare Him to
nave been a brunette or dark com
pleXioned St John, of Damascus,
writing eleven hundred years ago and
So 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 fifteen
hundred years ago represents Christ as
q 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 di-
yided down the center after the fashion
OF the Nazarines. 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.
bis beard is full, of the same color as |
His hair, and forked in form; His eyes
blue and extremely brilliant"
Wy opinion is. it was a Jewish face. |
His mother was a Jewess, and there is
no womanhood on earth more beauti
iul than Jewish womanhood, Alas
that He lived so long before the Da-
guerrean and Photographic arts were
born, or we might have known His eX-
act features. / know that sculpture
and painting were born long before
Christ, and they might have trans
ierred from olden times to our times
the forehead, the nostril, the eye, the
lips Of our Hord. Phidias. the seulp-
tor put down his chisel of enchant-
ment five hundred 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? Polygnotus the
painter, put down his pencil four hum
dred years before Christ Why did not
some one take it up, and give us at
least the eve of our Lord, the eye, that
sovereign of the face? Dionysius, the
literary artist, who saw at Heliopolis
Egypt, the strange darkening of the
heaven at the time of Christ's cruel
EXON near Jerusalem, and not know
ing what it was, but describing it as a
peculiar eclipse of the sun, and saying:
Either the Deity suffers or sympa-
thizes with some sufferer, that Diony-
sius 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 appearance
d The worlds favorites only, and not
q. form and appearance of the peas
anfry among whom Christ appeared.
II was not until the fifteenth century.
or until more than fourteen hundred
Years after Christ, that talented paint
.-r-eAAA RAINA ~ At1A-NAA ~ P ~ - ---- /
aea Of Christ's face. The pictures be-
lore that time were SO offensive that
.he council Of Constantinople forbade
heir exhibition. But Leonardo Da
'nci in the fifteenth century, pre-
'snted Christ's face on two eanvases.
'et the one was a repulsive face. and
he other an effeminate face. Albert
.arer face Of Christ was a savage
ace Titians face of Christ is an eN-
1ressionless face. The mightiest ar
ISIS either with pencil or chisel, have
aaae signal failure in attempting TO
i've the forehead, the cheek. the eyes
Ae nostril, the mouth of our blessed
-ord
But about His face ! can tell You
ome thing positive, and beyond contro-
ersy. ] am sure it was a soulful face.
he face is only the curtain of the soul.
1 was impossible that a disposition
ise Christ's should not have demon
I