Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-06-12
assing the children OF men,"

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But, my friends, that portrait Of
Christ's face which was carved upon
the emerald by Caesars order has been
proved by the archIologists to have
been q description taken from spuri-
Gus tablet. 1t was forgery and was
not written until 200 years after
Christ's death. So, In order to find
whether or no Christ's face was n scar
red face, we must turn to the words Of
the Bible. Was his forehead SCARED :?
oh, yes; the cruciflers plated a crown
Of thorns upon his head. AS the sharp
thorns were driven into the white skin
the blood must have flowed; the skin
must have been liberated. Read from
Isaiah iii, IA, "IIis visage was so mar
red, more than any man, and his form
more than the sons Of men" Turn to
the fourteenth chapter Of Mark, "And
some began to spit on him and to cover
his face and to buffet him and to say
unto him, Prophesy, and the servants
did strike him with the palms Of their
hands" After the agonies Of the cru
cifixion could Christ's face be other
than a SCARED face?
The Record of the Scars.
And Christ's face is Scared face
because it is the face of one who real
lied the awful nature Of sin. Though
Christ could forgive us our sins by the
sacrifice Of blood, yet he could not take
away the punishment for sin. So he
offered his own face to be lacerated.
He offered his lips to become parched
and bleeding. He offered his eyes to
become CLASSY in death. Yet the scar.
red and disfigurcd face Of Christ will
be more beautiful to the redeemed
spirits in the heavenly land than IL
those divine features were without spot
or blemish. The scars upon his face
will appeal to us in the same way that
the wrinkles upon our mothers face
touched our hearts when she lay asleep
in the casket We looked at the wrin-
kles and said: THAT wrinkle came
when she took care of me while was
sick with diphtheria. This wrinkle
came when my brother died. That
other wrinkle came when she was pre-.
pairing my clothes for college. Yonder
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and left home" Therefore to us chill.
dren those wrinkles were beautiful be-
cause they told the story of her vicari-
Gus love and suffering. Yes, in heaven
we want to see our mothers wrinkles,
that came as the battle scars Of life
while fighting for her children. In
| heaven we also want to see the SCARED
/ nf ~, t.,
to his fair skin while suffering for our
redemption.
When Alexander the Great had his
portrait painted, be made the artist
represent him with his head resting
upon his hand. The emperor did this
SO that his forefnger might cover up a
deep scar which was slashed into his
But when the Bible paints for us
Christ's face 1t does not cover up one
Of the divine scars. To the Christian
the most beautiful parts Of the divine
face should be the places which reveal
to us how Christ suffered and died that
we might live.
The Scared face Of Christ is an IL
sad countenance light up with smile
Have you ever heard little child burst
forth into a laugh in the midst Of fit
Of crying--laugh when a tear is yet
glistening upon the wet cheek? Well,
Christs face, though in one sense 4 sad
face, a Scared face, is yet an illumined
face. 1t has joy in the eye JOY on the
lip, joy in the cheek, JOY everywhere,
when one of his loved ones has been
saved by the sacrifice Of bis blood
There is more Joy in that divine face
over one sinner that repenteth than
over ninety and nine just persons that
need no repentance.
IlIumincd by Love.
If Christs had not been an illumined
face the little children would not have
loved to run to him. Children are at.
tracted by smile. They are afraid of
tears. Yet everywhere. as Jesus smil,
ing face appears, we can hear the chill.
dren calling to one another: Come
come. Here is Jesus! Come, come" If
Jesus fac was not an illuminod face, he
could never have spoken such trium
plant words as those which he spoke to
him sick Of the palsy, "Son, be Of good
cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee" He
could never have spoken such words OF
commentator as those he spoke IL
reference to the centurion, verify,
say unto you, have not found so great
faith, no. not in Israel" And. o my
brother. If our sins are making the Saw
tours face such a sad face and if oul
repentance will make Christ's face
such an illumined face, should we moi
be willing to brighten up our SavioHr's
face since II has suffered so much?
But the sweetest thought to me of all
Is that Chrlst's is face that wants tC
be loved. Some portraits have an In.
describabe something about them
which proves that those faces crave
affection. If the closed lips could
speak. they would say II live for 9th
ers in order that others might live for
me. love in order that can be loved
l suffer in order that others can be
made happy. And, being happy, they
can pour out their gratitude upon me-
only awokc TO the fact few years
ago that Christs face was face tina,
wanted to be loved. | used to think
that | must love Christ because Christ
could and would save me if l asked
him. But now l have learned to love