The times., 1897-12-27
CHRIST AS A VILLAGE Lad
DR.. Talmage DiseOurses on the
BoyhOod of Jesus.
No Reason to Reject Events Record
ed IL the Apocrypha--New Testa-
ment Only Small Transcript.

| 1ne sermon OF Dr. Taliuagp, at the FirS
Presbyterian Church yesterday morning
| was la the nature OF a Christmas dis
COURSE, his subject being Christ, the
Boy" and was based upon the text IRON
Luke, MAO; And the child grew ant
wsXed strong in spirit filled with wisdom
aud the face of God was upon him."
Concerning what founded the boy:iooo
of Christ, the preacher said, we Ina ce
| whole libraries OF books and whole gal
leries OF canvas and scripture, but pen
| and pencil and chi haze with8fe " ex-
ceptioRs passed by Chr is, the village
lad. Yet by three conjointad evi
dences,'' lie said. Il think can Copre TO
| as accurate an idea Of what Christ WIS as
| boy as OF " hat Christ was as a tuan.
First, we have tie Eible account of
| His boyhooa. Then we have he pro
ionged account OF what Christ was at
thirty years of age. We have fpsilcs
an uninspire,i book, that was for the inst
| three or four centuries after Christ APP
| pearanCe received by many as inspired,
and which gives a prolonged account OF
| Christ's boGhood.
| The st t-called apocrypftai Gospel. in
1
| upon, 1 do not believe TO he livinely
| inspired, and yet it may present Facts
| worthy Of cons Iteration Eeca Use it
represents the boy Christ as peri ;r ming
miracles, sumo have overth-own that wlole
apocrypbal book. But what right have
You to say that Christ did not perform
miracles n ten Years OF 3ge, we'll as
at thirty lie was in hoyhood as GER
u,,,i,
while lad He must have had the pD,ser
tn work miracles, whether lie did cr
not work them. When, having rcac he'd
manhood, Christ turned water into wine,
that was Said to he the beginning OF
miracles. Eut that may mean That II
was the Beginning of that series OF nan-
hood miracles.
In a voru I think that the New Testa-
ment is only small transcript of what
Jesus $; id and did. SO we are at liberty to
believe or reject those rar,s Of the apocry
phal Gospel which say that when the boy
Christ with his mother passed a land Of
thieves, He told His mother hat two OF them
Dunaehus aud Titus by name. would he
the two thieves who aiterwarh would eS
pire on crosses beside Hin. Vas thai more
wonderful than some OF Cbrist's manhood
prophecies Or the inspired St,-Iy II at the
boy Christ made a fountain sLnBg from
the roots Of a sycamore tee so that Hi.
mother washed His coat in tie stream
was that more unbeiie, able than tie man
hood miracle that changed common water
'nto marriage beverage? Or theun!nspired
story that two sick children We're recoy ered
by bathing III the water where Christ had
washed. Wastha tmore wonder flsl thanthe
manhood miracle by which the woma n,
twelve years a complete invalid, should
have been made straight hy touching the
fringe of ChriSts CCat? Is that n.oIe won
derful than the manhood miracles by which
Christ nominated tile dead again ana gain
without going V here they were or ey Ell see
ing them2
From the naturalneSs. the simplicitc s
the freshness of His parallels and siiuil.s
and metaphors in manhood discourse !
know that He had ;een Il boy OF the fields
and had bathed in the streams and heard
the night ingsle's call, and broken through
the flowery hedge and looked out of the
emhraSureS of the fort ress, and drank
fron the wells and chased the butter
flies
Dr. TalmagC referred to Christ in the
mechanics shop, having been taught the
carpenter trace by His father, Joseph
His hammer pounding, His saw vaCillat-
ing, His axe descending and the perspra
ton from his work standing on his brow."
Then said the preacher; Il show you d
more marvellous seene-Christ, the smooth
browed lad. among the long bear led,
W white-ha ired. high-foreheaded ecclesi ls-
ties of the Temple"
Following other events recorded in the
apocrypla. the preacher asked it ohsy
were more wonderful than events recorded
in the New Testament.
''If Christ We're divine was He not able
at ten or twelve years to describe the humln
system as well as though He had been
fifty years standing at an operating table
or in dissecting room? In other words
while / do not believe that any part
OF the so-calied apocryphal New Test a.
ment is inspired, / Relieve much of il is
true, Just as l believe a thousand books,
none of which is divineIy inspired"
"A child twelve years old surrounded
by septuagenanans, He asking His own
questions anG answering theirs. Let me
introduce you to Some of these ecclesiastics.
This is the great Rabbin Simeon! This
is the venerable Hillel! This is the famous
Shammai! These are the sons Of the
distin guished Betirah. The first time
in all Il cir lives these religionistS have
found theiI match, and more than theii
match. Though So Young, He knew all
about that Temple under whose roof they
held that most wonderful discussion of
all history
Concluding his discourse, the preacher |
said:
The best thing that Rabbin Simeon |
and Hiilel and Shammai and the sons of |
Betirah ever did was, in the Temple, to |
bend over the lad who, first made ruddy |
of cheek by the breath of the Judean hills |
and ON his way to the mechanics shop, |
where he was soon to be the support of |
his bereaved mother, stopped long enough |
to grapple with the venerable dialecticianS
Of the Orient, both hearing them and asking |