Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-06-13

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,
could see in the darkness of the bed
room the face of Christ lowering over
and watching me. l used to bury my
completely with the bedclothes, yet I
could not blot out that Christ face.
A sympathetic Face.
Jesus Christ's face was also a SYM
pathetic and forgiving face. How many
men we have seen whose faces repre-
sented intelligent power, but without
mercy-faces such as you could easily
imagine Robespierre might have had
or a Frankenstein or any of the great
leaders of the inquisition! Those were
the faces of men like Napoleon, who,
hearing q marshal OF France after a
bloody battle express regret over the
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 14j
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 suffocation. Those were
the kind of faces that must have been
possessed by men like Mana Sahib, the
dend OF Cawnpur, and women like
Catherine de- Medici. the evil spirit Of
st. Bartholomew's massacre, when 80
600 French Huguenots were slain in
one day, and by Deliliah, the betray-
| CT Of a Samson, and Jezebel, the de-
Stroyer of n 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 n love attracting power for the be-
holders, like the face OF old DR.. Plum
err one of the strongest men the Amer
lean pulpit ever produced. DR.. Plum
ers face was q sweet and tender and
loving face, although one Of the stron-
gest of faces. One day. as he was
walking across a Pittsburg park, a 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, 81 say,
mister, are you God?"
SO we must not think of Christ's face
only as All intelligent face. face of
power, but also as a loving. sympa-
tbetic, forgiying face. We must think
of him as having the same kind OF n
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 n sweet
look came into his loving facet How
his lip trembled and his eyes filled
with tears as he said: "My boy, my
Gear 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 IL
was breaking the more because my
| little son did not come to his father
and ask to be forgiven" And then
you found that the tears which trio.
Sled down your check 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 n strong face, was n sympa.
thetic face.
Forgiveness In Christ's Face.
And my Christ's face must have been
a forgiying face because it was such
an intelligent face. He knows all that
we have done and suffered. He also
well knows how hard some OF us have
struggled in our own strength TO do
light. He knows how we have crap
pied each OF us with bis own besetting
sin, which we dare not tell to any hu
| man ear. He knows-yes, he knows
how impossible it is for us TO succeed
in battling that sin In our own
strength. So when we come TO Christ
TO ask for help To resist the evil pres.
ent and TO avert the evil future rs well
as TO wipe out the evil past, oh, then
the strong face of Christ becomes n
tender, sympathetic, forgiving face.
Our Saviours eyes will fill with tears
or JOY. Our Saviour's lip will CULVER.
Our Saviour's look Will be one OF par
don and OF unutterable love.
Christs face is SCARED face. mo,
no." says some one; please do not tell
me that my Christ's face is n Scared
face. have always thought of Jesus
face as the most beautiful ever owned
by man; 1 have always believed his
face was as beautiful as the Christ
face described in the exquisite portrait
carved upon an emerald by the order
OF Tiberius Caesar: His forehead was
plain and very delicate; his face was
without spot or wrinkle. beautified with
lovely red; his nose and mouth were
so formed that nothing could be repre-
hended; his beard was thlckish. in col
or like his hair, not very long. but
forked; his look was innocent ana ma
ture; his eyes were clear and quick.
He was man for his singular beauty
surprising the children of men,
But, my friends, that portrait of
Christ's face which was carved upon
the emerald by CAESARS order has been
proved by the psychologists to have
been description taken from spuri-
Gus tablet. II was a forgery and was
not written until 200 years after
Christs death So. in order to find
whether or no Christ's face was a scar
red face, we must turn TO the words of
the Bible. Was his forehead SCARED
Oh. yes; the crucifiers 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 lacerated Read from
Isaiah Iii, II, His 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 SCARED face?
The Record of the ScarS