The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-05-09
REV, DIR. TALMAGE
TIE BROOKLYN DIvINE's SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: ssFairest Of the Fair"

TEXT: "Re is altogether louely. Solo
mons Song ". 16.
! The human race has during centuries BEEN
improving. For awhile It DETECTED and de-
generated, and from all can read for ages
the whole tendency was toward baroarlsm,
but under the ever widening and deepening
influence OF Christianity the tendency Is now
In the upward direction The physical ap-
pearance of tho human race Is seveney-nve
s,er cent. more attractive than In the st1-
feenth. seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
From the pictures on canvas and the faces ana
forms In sculpture OF those who were consid-
cred the grand looking men and the attrac'
live women OF 200 years ago conclude the
eureriorty Of the men and women OF our
time. Such looking people OF the past cen
turtles as painting and sculpture have pre-
Bented as fine specimens OF beauty and Dig
nifty would be In our time considered deform.
ity and responsiveness complete. The fact
that MANY men and women In antediluvian
fines 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
tractivenees could be compared to Him
whom my text celebrates thousands OF years
before BE put His infan!ile foot on the hill
hack of Bethlehem. Hs was and Is altogether
lovely. The physical appearance OF Christ
is, for the most part, an artistic guess. Some
writer's declare Him to have been brunette
or dark complexioned. st. John, OF Damas-
c11s~ writing HOO years ago, and so mucn
nearer than ourselves to tho time OF Christ,
and hence with more likelihood OF accurate
tradition, represents Hlm with beard olacS.
and curly eyebrows joined together, and
Hyellow complexion. and long fingers like
His mother." An author, writing 1900 years
AGO, represents Christ as blond: "Hts hair
is the color Of wine and golden at the root,
straight and without luster, but from the
level OF the ears, curling and glossy, ana
divided down the center after the fashion OF
fhe Nazarenes. His forehead Is even and
kmooth, His face without blemish and en-
HANGED by q tempered bloom, His counten-
ance ingenious and kind. Nose ana mouth
are In no. way faulty. His beard Is full, OF
the same color as His hair and torked In
form; His eyes blue and extremely brill
liant"
NV opinion is, It was Jewish face His
mother was a 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 Ills
exact features. know that sculpture an9
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 Lord.
Phidias, the sculptor, put down his ch1sa
OF enchantment 500 years before Christ came
WHY did not some one take up that chisel
and give rs the side face or full face OF our
Lord? Polygnotis, the painter, put down
his pencil 400 years before Christ. why did
not some one take 1t up and give Us at leaa
the eye Of our Lord-the eye. that sovereign
ofthe face2 Dionysius, the literary artist
who saw at Heliopolis, Egypt, the strange
darkeniag of the heavens at the time OF
.Christ's cruciixion near Jerusalem, and moi
tnowinc what It was, BIZ describing It as
peculiar eclipse OF the sun, and saying,
1sEither the Diety suffers or sympathizss
with some sufferer" that Dionysius m1ghi
have put his pen to the work and drawn the
were busy perpetuating the form and ap.
pesrance Of the worll's fsyorttes only, and
not the form and appearance OF the peasanfryi
among whom Christ appeared.
It was not until the fifteenth century, or
until moro than 14O0 years after Christ, that
talented painters attempted By pencil to give
as the idas OF Christ's face. The pictures
before that time were so offensive that the
council at Constantinople forbade their ex-
:
teenth century, presented Christ's face on
two canvases, yet the one was repulsive
face and, the other an effeminate face Rsph-
aals face Of Christ Is q weak face Albert
Durer's face OF Christ was savage face.
Titian's fsce Of Christ Is an expressionless
face. The mightiest artists, either with PEN
oil or chisei, have made signal failure In at
tempting to give the forehead, the cneek,
the eyes, the nostril, the mouth OF our blessed
Lord.
But about His face can tell you something
positive and beyond controversy. am sure
IL was a soulful face. The face Is only the
curtain Of the soul. It was impossible thar
a disposition like Christ's should not have
demonstrated itself In His physiognomy.
Kindness as an occasional impulse may give
no illumination to the features, but Sindness
as the lifelong, dominant habit will produce
8ttractlveness Of countenance as certainly as
the shining OF tho sun produces flowers.
Children are afraid OF scowling or hard
ylsaged man. They cry out II he proposesto
take them. II he try to caress them, hs
eyokes slap rather than Skiss. All mothers
know how hard 1t Is to get their children to
70 to a man or woman of forbidding appear.
ance. But no sooner did Christ appear In
the domestic group than there was an In
fantile excitement and the youngsters began
TO struggle to get out oftheir mothers arms.
,IsStand back With those children" 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
mot have been we'll clad, or the disciples may
have thought Christ's religion was religion
chiefly for big folks. But Christ made the
dnfantile excitement still lvelier by His say
ing that He Liz ed children better than grown
people, declaring. Except SO become as a
little child ye cannot enter Into the kingdom
of God"
Alas for those people who do not like chil-
dren! They had better stay out OF heaven,
for the place Is full Of them. That, think,
Is one reason why the vast majority OF the
human race die In infancy. Christ 1s 30
fond of children that BE taxes them to Him
self before the world has time to despou and
harden them, and 80 they are now at the
windows OF the palace and on the doorsteps
and playing on the green. Sometimes
Matthew or Mark or Luke tells q story OF
Christ, and only one tells 1t, but Matthew,
Mark and Luke all join In that picture OF
Christ girdled by children, and I know by
what occurred at that time that Christ had d
face full OF geniality.
! Not only was Christ altogether lovely In
His countenance, but lovely In His habits.
know, without being told. tnat the Lord who
made the rivers and lakes AMI oceans was
cleanly In His appearance. He disliked the
disease OF leprosy not only because 1t was
distressing, but because it was not clean, AMI
His curative words were II will. Be thou
clean" He declared Himself In favor OF
thoroughly washing and opposed to SUPER
fcial washing when He denounced the hypo-
critics for making clean only ''ths outside OF
the platter" and He applauds His disciples
by saying, "Now are ye clean," and giving
directions to those who tasted, among other
things. He says, "Wash thy face" and to a
blind man whom He was doctorinS, "Go,
-, h. 80 ETa utrnaal