The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1902-05-29
WE SHALL SEE HIM.
DR.. CHAPMANS SUNDAY SERMON.
The Delightful Hope of Every Chris.
Iian Is 10 Behold the Radiant Face
of Jesus.

New YoRK CITY.-The following ser
mon is one prepared for publication by the
Rev. DR.. j. Wilbur Chapman, Americas best
known evangelist, who Is now preaeamg
to overAowing congregations IN thus CITY;
It is entitled "a Vision of His Face, and
is founded on the text, Rev. xxi: 4, AND
they shall pee His face :. Il
The Apocalypse, or Revelation, as ~ Is
more FREQUENTLY called, is supposed to have
been written A. d. 95 to 81, and thus Tor
1900 wears the Christian world has been nv
ing in the hope and inspiration OF this text
of Scripture. The glad cry OF the falthtul
everywhere has been:
"As for me, l will behold Thy face in
Righteousness. l shall be satisfied when l
awake with Thy likeness. Psalm XVII: 10.
/ wish we might see Him now, We have
had hints of His beauty, and little glmpSes
of His glory, but on, to behold Him! we
are rrestly indebted to the artists OF the
world for what they have shown us OF their
vision of His grandeur. Christ Before
plate" was picture so real tina. little
cirl. when she looked upon it wanted to be
lifted I'D that she might unite HIS hands.
Hoffman's 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 certainty
done their work. They have stirred the
imaginations of the people ihey nave
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
looking upon them. Count Zinzendorf,
founder OF the Moravian settlement, sad
that the deepest impression that was ever
1. T. 20 h trha
upon a picture OF the sutferIngs 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 II?
of the fish was to draw attention to Him
who made men fishers of other men. The
drawing of vine was to draw the atten.
tion to Hin who said, II 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 the picture OF
Moses striking the rock. one could see a
representation Of Christ, who SAID: II
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
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 "Chef Shepherd
In the eighth century men began to
paint His likeness as they conceived it, but
1t is easy to understand that these repre-.
sentations could not be reliable because
every trace of His physical appearance was
lost. Not syllable in the Gospels or the
Epistles tells US how He looked when de
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
would shrink from anything that would
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 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 I would a thousand times rather
have the picture l carry about with me OF
Christ, which no artist has ever painted.
or ever can paint, which l could not de-
scribe to you in words, even il | had the
tongue of an angel. 1t is far beyond any
earthly art. The early disciples must have
felt this Fourth, it may he that because
He was so different from what He was be-
fore that they could not paint the first
picture and they would not try 10 pant
the second.
And vet we do know much about Him.
1t would not have been difficu.s to tell how
Stephen looked We have but to read
Acts VIII IS, 6O-"But he, being full OF the
Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into
heaven, and saw the CORY of God and
Jesus standing on the right hand OF God;
And he kneeled down, and cried
with loud voice, Lord, lay not this SIN
to their charge And when he had said
this he fell asleep" So it is with Jesus
Himself. We nave had some hints of His
beauty in the legends of old. The story
of St. Safronica; of the handkerchief used
to wipe His face as He went to Calvary,
upon which the impression of His face was
left, and which was to be seen as 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 Lentulus,
wno was said to be President of the peo-
PIE OF Jerusalem, to the Roman Senate,
runs thus:
"There came one among US, tall in stat
ure, beautiful IN appearance, His hair
wavy and crisp and falling down over His
shoulders. His brow broad. smooth and