The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-12-22
BY THE VERY REV. F. W. FAR
RAR, D. D., DEAN OF CANTERBURY.

copyrighted 1895, by S. S. Mcclure. Ltd
1t is a matter Of real establishment
that outside the circle of canonical
gospels, SO few "reminiscences are pre-
served of the Perfect Man, who,
though he was the Son of God, yet
lived as a living man among living
men. There were multitudes of histor-
zeal celebrities respecting the incidents
of whose lives endless details and an
ecdotes have been recorded and pre-
served. 1t is little short of amazing
that neither history nor tradition
should have embalmed for us one GER
tain Of precious saying or Circumstance
in the life of the Savior Of mankind,
except the comparatively few events
recorded in four very brief biographies
st. Paul has preserved for us the one
deep word of the Lord Jesus, how He
said, cit is more blessed to give than
to receive;" and it is just possible that
the rule, Approve yourselves trust
worthy money changers" quoted by
several Of the Fathers, which, after all
is little more than an epitome Of the
parable Of the talents and the pounds,
may be a true recollection Of His
words. Many of the ''unrecorded say
ingS" of Christ (the agrapha dogmata)
are profound and forcible, and it is far
from improbable that some of them
may be a true echo of what He said;
but there is not one of them which
adds a new thought or a new lesson to
those contained in the authentic dis
courses and parallels. 1t is is quite
certain that neither from the apocry-
phal gospels, nor from any other source
do we derive one anecdote. or even one
hint upon which we can rely as ex-
---1,~ frC+ T1a-E
example, or a singular additional par
ticular of His mortal life.
What Was Christs Appearance:
We could not have a more signal
proof of this total failure of tradition
than the astounding fact that. not
only at this day, but in the early CEN
only at this day, but even in the early
centuries. there was not even dim
remembrance as to the physical ap-
pearance of the King of Glory. Was
He of beautiful features and command
ing aspect, or was he of nlarred Wis
age and NEE appearance? We might
surely have anticipated that so much,
at least. might have been remembered.
But it was not. The description of
Christ. which for centuries haunted and
dominated the numberless endeavors
of art to represent Him during and
since the Middle Ages. were late for
the seventh and eighth centuries. AS
early as the fourth and fifth centuries
1t was disputed whether He was the
chief among 10000, and altogether
lovely.'' 'fairer than the children of
men," and endowed with the Oil OF
gladness above His fellows" or wheth-
er He was smitten, and stricken. and
ugly. and dwarfish, and perhaps even
a Ieper (''Nos putavimus cum quasi
Ieprosum.'' Isaiah iii.). The earlier
view that He was exceptionally beau-
tiful in appearance prevailed mainly
in consequence of the false conception
of life. and the revolving glor1ncation
of dirt and unnatural ascettcisnl, which
invaded Christianity from Paganism
and the east, and upheld before Chris
tians the ideal of yogis and fakirs.
The belief that there must have been
something starry in the look Of
Christ, and that one who was repellant
in aspect could never have won the
passionate alteration of multitudes,
commended itself to the opinion of the
great fourth century fathers, who,
further, rightly argued that His out
ward form could not but have been
translucent with the divine moral and
spiritual beauty within. But the re-
nsrkable thing is that neither party
of those who treated the subject from
onnosite points of view was able to
claim the slightest authority of tradi-
tion for their opinion on a subject so
full of interest. They argued exclu-
sively a priori, from what they re
garded as most fitting, or q posteriori
from their Interpretation of passages
in Isaiah and the Psalms Nor did the
earliest efforts of Christian Art afford
them the smallest assistance For
nearly five centuries it was generally
REGARDED as profane, among the great
est writer's and thinkers in the church
to attempt any naturalistic represent
alton of Christ at all. The sweet ana
simple artists of the Catacombs. with |
no exception before the fourth century,
and with but few exception for two or
three centuries later. only idealized |
Him as a radiant boy; and men like !
Eusebius. Epiphanius and Asterius |
were even shocked and scandaliZed by |
any wish or attempt to paint the hui
man Christ in any naturalistic method, |
or otherwise than by way Of symbol |
Now if tradition could not even tell |