The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-06-11
DIR. CHAPMANS SERMON
A SUNDAY DISCOURSE 6Y THE NOTED
PASTOR.svANcELIST.

Subject: A Vision OF His Faee-Ths Chris.
tian World Has Ever Been Living In
the Hope OF This Promise-we Shall
See Jesus IN Eternity.
New YORK CITY.-The following ser
mon is one prepared for publication by the
Rev. DR.. j. Wilbur Chapman, Americas pest
known evangelist, who is now preaching
to overfowing congregations IN TINS cit!;;
1t is entitled "a Vision OF His Face, and
is founded on the text, Rev. xii: =, AND
they shall see His face" :.
The Apocalypse, or Revelation. as It Il
more frequently called, is supposed TO nave
been written A. d. 95 to 81, and thus for
1900 years the Christian world has been nv.
ing in the hope and inspiration OF this text
of Scripture. The glad cry OF the faithful
everywhere has been:
AS for me, l will behold Thy face IN
righteousness. shall be satisfied when
awake with Thy likeness. Palm XVII: l5'
wish we might see Him now. We have
had hints of His beauty, and little glimpses
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 q picture 30 real that little
girl, when she looked upon it wanted to 6e
lifted up that she might unite His hands.
Hoffman's Christ in the Garden" is such
q masterpiece that one can not look upon
il 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 pom hearts everywhere. They have
fixed the thoughts Of men upon Him
nm SL
Him, and they have done much to stlmu'
late fellowship with Him always. Some,
indeed. have been won to Christ by simply
looking upon them. Count Zinzendorf,
founder OF the Moravian settlement, said
that the deepest impression that was ever
made on his life came to him when looking
unon a picture of the sufferings OF Christ
He saw these words underneath:
II did all this for thee; what hast thou
done for Me-"
And vet, valuable as they are, they are
not to Be relied upon because they are not
ancient enough. The early Christian.
shrank from any material presentation oi
a human Christ, and thus it is that art, IL
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
who made men fishers of other men. The
drawing of q vine was to draw the atten
ton to Him who said, Il am the vine.
The picture of the cross was supposed tc
fasten the thoughts of the people upon
Him who was its willing victim.
The second stage of art was the use o.
Old Testament types. In the picture oi
Moses striking the rock, one could see
representation of Christ, who said: III
any man thirst, let him come unto Ne 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 q 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 tc
paint His likeness as they conceived 1t, but
K 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
Episties tells US how He looked when He
walked upon the earth. Why Is this
Surely the disciples had not forgotten His
appearance. It 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 q picture OF Him
there. 80 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 carry about with me Of
Christ, which no artist has ever painted
or ever can paint, which could not de-
scribe to yon 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 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 hrst
picture, and they would not try to paint
the second.
And yet we do know much about Him
II would not have been difficult to tel how
Stephen looked. We have but to read
Acts vii: IS, G0-"Bat he, being full OF the
heaven. and saw the glory 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 rs He went to Calvary
upon which the impression Of His face was
left. and which was to be seen as 1t 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
who was said to be President OF the peo
runs thus:
"There came one among US. tail in stat
ure, beautiful IN appearance. His han
wavy and crisp and falling down over Hi,
shoulders. His brow, broad. smooth and
most serene. His face without spot OF
wrinkle or any such thing. His nose and
mouth faultless. His heard abundant and
hazel color like His hair. His eyes prom'
nent and blue. In denunciation, terrible
in admoai.ion. calm and loving. He was
never seen to laugh, but often to weep
His hands beautiful to look upon. In
speech. grave, reserved. modest. Indeed
He was fairer than all the sons of men,
All this is beautiful and interesting
as a legend, hut it is said that there
was no such Office as President of the peo
ple of Jerusalem to the Roman Senate, and
that Pub,,us T.entulus never lived.
Why all this absence of Christ in mar
bic and Christ upon the canvas? Whv IS II
that the pen has never described Him sc
that we might reproduce His face? 1t GER
tainiy must all be of God. One reason may
be in order that we might know that He
belongs to the wide world. and TO no race
ii men in particular. If He were known
10 be white. the black man might feel that
He was no, IN symapthy with him. ]! He