The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-07-04

A SUNDAY DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
PAsTOR.EVANCELlST.

the Hope 81 This Promiso-we Shall
See Jesus an Eternity.
New YORK CITY.-The following ser
mon "a one prepared for publication by the
Rev. Dr. j. Wilbur Chapman, Americas best
known evangelist, who Is now preaching
30 overlooking congregations ln this city
1t Is entitled "A Vision of His Face" and
is founded on the text, Rev. xxi; A, And
they shall see His face
The Apocalypse, or Revelation, as it is
more frequently called, is supposed 90 have
been written A. ID. 05 TO 81, and thus for
1900 years the Christian world has been liv-
ing in the hope and inspiration Of this text
Of Scripture. The glad cry Of the faithful
everywhere has been.
"As for me, j will behold Thy face in
righteousness i shall be satisfied when /
awake with Thy likeness. Psalm xvii 10.
! wish we might see Him now. We have
had hints of His beauty, and little glimpses
of His glory, but OH to behold Him We
are greatly indebted to the artists of the
world for what they have shown us of their
vision of His grandeur. Christ Before
Plate" was a picture SO real that a little
girl, when she looked upon it wanted to be
lifted up that she might unite His hands.
Hoftmans Christ in the Garden" is such
a masterpiece that one can not look upon
it without having his emotions stirred to
the very depths. Paintings have certainly
done their work. They have stirred the
imaginations of the people. They have
strongly impressed the beauty OF His char
acter upon hearts everywhere. They have
fixed the thoughts of men upon Him.
They have drawn the Christian nearer to
Him, and they have done much to stimu-
late fellowship with Him always. Some,
indeed, have been won to Christ by simply
I IaaIraH 4
founder of the Moravian settlement, said
that the deepest impression that was ever
made on his life came to him when looking
upon a picture of the sufferings of Christ
He saw these words underneath:
Il did all this for thee; what hast thou
done for Me-"
And yet, valuable as they are, they are
not to be relied upon because they are not
ancient enough. The early Christians
| shrank from any material presentation of
a human Christ, and thus it is that art, as
we have it to-day, has passed through GER
tain definite stages.
In the earliest age Christ was presented
by the use Of symbols. The representation
/ Of the fish was to draw attention to Him
who made men fishers OF other men, The
| drawing of vine was 10 draw the atten-
/ ton to Him who said, Il am the vine"
! The picture of the cross was supposed to
fasten the thoughts Of the people upon
! Him who was its willing victim.
| The second stage of art was the use of
| Old Testament types. In che picture Of
Moses striking the rock, one could see a
representation of Christ, who said: 'lf
any man thirst, let him come unto Me and
! drink" In the sacrifice of Abraham both
/ the love of God in the gift of His Son, and
the love of the Son in the gift of Himself
( shone forth. In the three children in the
I fiery furnace there Is a perfect representa-
ton of the Son of God seen in the form of
the fourth, (which was like unto the Son
of God Himself"
In the third stage of art New Testament
illusions were used, and a shepherd be-
came a picture of Christ who was the
Good Shepherd" the Great Shepherd"
and the Chief Shepherd"
In the eighth century men began to
paint His likeness as they conceived it, but
it is easy to understand that these repre-
sentations could not be reliable because
every trace of His physical appearance was
lost. Not a syllable in the Gospels or the
Epstles tells us how He looked when He
walked upon the earth. Why is this
Surely the disciples had not forgotten His
appearance. 1t may be for several rea'
sons: First, because the first ages of the
church were distinctly spiritual, and they
|
make Christ even seem to be material
Second, they never thought of Him after
His departure as the afflicted one or the
suffering one, but they saw Him at the
right hand of God in the glory, and as they
had no power to present a picture OF Him
there, so they had no inclination to pre-
sent Him in His humiliation. Third, be-
cause they still felt His presence with them
They had no need to put His face upon
canvas. | would thousand times rather
have the picture l carry about with me Of
Christ, which no artist has ever painted
or ever can paint, which | could not de
scribe to You in words, even if l had the
tongue of an angel. 1t is far beyond any
earthly art. The early disciples must have
felt this Fourth, it may be that because
when they saw Him after the Resurrection
He was so different from what He was be
fore that they could not paint the frs
picture, and they would not try to paint
the second.
And yet we do know much about Him
1t would not have been difficult to tell how
Stephen looked. We have but to reaC
Acts vii: So, 60-"But he, being full of tn,
Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly int
heaven, and saw the glory Of God anC
Jesus standing on the right hand of God
And he kneeled down, and crieC
with loud voice, Lord, lay not this sir
to their charge And when he had sale
this he fell asleep" So it is with jesus
Himself, We nave had some hints of Hi
beauty in the legends of old The story
of ST. Safronica; Of the handkerchief useC
to wipe His face rs He went to Calvary
upon which the impression of His face wa,
left, and which was to be seen rs it un
folded in the presence of Mary, His moth
er. This is Romish, and has no foundation
in fact. The story Of one Publius Tentulus
who was said to be President of the PEG
pie of Jerusalem, to the Roman Senate
runs thus:
There came one among us, tall in stat
ure, beautiful IN appearance, His hal
wavy and crisp and falling down over Hi
shoulders. His brow, broad smooth ant
most serene. His face without spot o
wrinkle or any such thing His nose ant
mouth faultless. His heard abundant an,
hazel color like His hair. His eyes promi