Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-06-12


Boston meeting with the avowed in
tention Of interrupting Mr.. Webstcr's
speech and turning his remarks into
rldicule. when Mr.. Webster arose to
speak," wrote Bayard Taylor. "he
turned his great eyes upon us students
AS he did 30 he seemed to us to read
our very thoughts. The intelligence of
his face seemed to speak volumes, al
though his lips had not yet parted. We
college boys came to scoff. We dared
not move. so subdued were we at the
sight Of that great lawyers face"
Go with me where you will--into the
studies Of the great masters of the law,
of literature, music, sculpture or the
sciences-and almost without excep-
ton the intelligence Of these mental
giants has been made manifest in their
faces. A Hugo. Tennyson. a Dante,
Milton, a Luther, Calvin-all prove
by their physiognomy that this state
ment Is true. So Christ must have had
an intelligent face. 1t was not, as some
artists have painted 1t. the face Of an
Impractical dreamer or Of n fanatic
or OF an effeminate nonentity. His was
the face Of one who had q masterful
mind. When we begin to study Christ's
face, we are impressed with the con-
viction that his eye was an omniscient
eye, that the brain back of that face
was an omnipotent brain, that the ear
was an all hearing ear. That face re.
vealed the fact that Christ knew all
from eternity past to eternity to come.
But what is more important to us per-
sonally when we look upon Christs
face is that we intutively feel Christ
knows every thought and hope and
deed Of our lives. He knows what we
have done and what we would have
liked to do
AS little child, when I would be
sent to bed for having done wrong, l
could see In the darkness of the bed
room the face of Christ lowering over
and watching me. used to bury my
head in the pillow and cover myself up
completely with the bedclothes, yet
could not blot out that Christ face.
A sympathetic Face.
Jesus Christ's face was also SYM
|
men we have seen whose faces repre-
sented intelligent power. but without
mercy--faces such as you could easily
imagine a Robespierre might have had
or Frankenstein or any of the great
leaders Of the inquisition! Those were
the faces Of men like Napoleon, who,
hearing a marshal of France after
| ho tl,o
awful slaughter of human life, replied
"Oh, that is nothing. In order to make
an omelet you must break few
eggs" Those were the faces Of men
like Prince Nawab, who drove 146
British prisoners into the Black Hole
Of Calcutta, sitting room only eight
cen feet square, and left them there I'M
til the misery Of all but twenty three
was ended by suffocaton. Those were
the kind Of faces that must have been
possessed by men like Mana Sahib, the
fiend of Cawnpur, and women like
Catherine de- Medici. the evil spirit Of
st. Bartholomew's massacre, when 3d.
600 French Huguenots were slain in
one day, and by Deliliah, the betray-
Cl VI q SuluoOli, ullQ JcLcUcl, ING Qc-
stroyer of a Naboth.
But all strong faces are not evil
faces Some of the strongest faces we
have ever seen have been the sweetest
and most magnanimous. These faces
had love attracting power for the be-
holders, like the face Of old DIR. Plum
er, one Of the strongest men the Amer
nj Tlr
er's face was sweet and tender and
loving face. although one Of the stron-
gest of faces. One day. as he was
walking across Pittsburg park, lit
tie child ran up to him and took his
hand; then looking up into that great,
good face-a face that never had any
bitterness against any one, but only
forgiveness-the child asked, II say,
mister, are you GodT"
So we must not think Of Christ's face
only as an intelligent face, face of
power, but also as loving, sympa-
thetic, forgiving face. We must think
of him as having the same kind Of a
face your earthly father may have
had. You remember when, in the past,
you did what your father had for
hidden, you came to his side and
buried your face in his lap and cried,
Father, will you forgive me?" Then
you remember how he took you up in
his great, strong arms. What a sweet
look came into his loving face! How
his lip trembled and his eyes filled
with tears as be said: my boy, my
dear little son, | was in hopes that you
would come to me as you have done
My heart was almost breaking, my
child, because you did wrong. But II
was breaking the more because my
little son did not come to his father
and ask to be forgiven" And Their
you found that the tears which trio
killed. down your cheek were not those
which came from your eyes alone
Mingled with them were the tears
which flowed from your earthly par
ent's eyes. Yes, our Christ's face. al
though strong face, was a sympa
thetic face.
Forgiveness In Christ's Face.
And my Christ's face must have beer
forgiving face because it was such
an intelligent face. He knows all thai
we have done and suffered. He also
we'll knows how hard some of us have
struggled in our own strength to dc
right. He knows how we have crap
,I,l al, 90, 1,, tt,,c