Catoctin clarion., 1905-04-06
SSS5383S8S8Y8
SUNDAY SERMON
~ Y y y
A Scholarly Discourse By
Bishop d. A. Coodsell.

|
listen to Bishop d. A. GOOdsell. His
subject was "The Face of Christ"
The text was from II. Corinthians i've:
"The glory Of God in the face Of Jesus
Christ" Bishop Goodse9 said in the
course of his sermon:
AS you read the Bible both in the
Old and New Testaments you are i'm.
pressed with the great number Of
times which the word "face" is used.
| When you travel in Eastern lands you
find that this word is used far more
often and in many different relations
among the Eastern people than we our.
selves are accustomed to use 1t.
This word face is used in reference
to a mans whole character, l am told,
everywhere in the East, and we have
Il great many traces Of it in the Bible;
and now when we come to think of 1t
| isn't it true that we are accustomed
to recognize each other more by the
face than by any other one thing. Is
1t not wonderful that upon the few
elements in the face, the forehead. the
eyes, nose, mouth and chin there
should be such an infinite variety Of
expression stamped by the great Gre
ator?
! There is q general conviction among
us that the face will work out the
inner character. so that whatever may
be the beginning of life when we have
/ lived with ourselves Il long time we
will be pretty apt to show upon our
! faces what kind of a person we have
| lived with. 1t Is impossible for any
person to give way to avarice without
showing it on their face. If he had an
open face once it will change and so
| the man who gives way to the forces
Of passion, whether he gives way to
lust or whether he gives way to drink,
or whether he gives way to appetite
for food, it will show out on his face.
| We write upon our faces what we live
with and no man can wear n mask so
completely that those who are wise in
these things are not able to read be-
hind the mask.
Now, what one is there among us
| that has not desired again and again
to have lived when the face of Jesus
Christ could have been seen. / think
there is no dcvout soul that in his
trouble has not said. Oh that |
could look into my Masters face. oh,
! that | could" live as the little children
did, have rested my head against His
| breast and have heard Him say to me
as He said TO them, Suffer them to
| come"
You can scarcely 20 into a Christian
home to-day where Christian education
has presided where there is not at least
I one or more representations of the
| face of Jesus Christ. l have observed
according to our experiences, accord
ing to our wants, we faSten upon the
representations of Jesus Christ's face
that are most satisfying TO us, most
| fitting. So that if we are under deep
! pcnitence Of sin, we are apt to have
| the face of the suffering Christ upon
the Cross. and If the SORROWS of the
world have hurdCned our hearts, we
will carry there the face Of the thorn
crowned Christ in our homes. If We
have dWelt upon Christ in His
strength, in His power, in His resist
ance to evil, in the calm majesty of
one who knows he is innocent, we
would most likely have the picture OF
Christ before PLATE. From the days
of the CatacombS up to the present
time. men have been trying to put
ChristS face before humanity, and
why? Because all souls in their greater
| moments. in their spiritual moments,
and therefore in their religious mo-
ments, would like to have Him brought
near by. They would like to have Him
made more real
The best thing is to so carry Jesus
Christ in our heart that we shall see
Him and behold the glory Of God in
the face of Jesus Christ
The actual picture must remain the
same. We may study it, we may un-
derstand its history. 1t is not at all
probable that any one is going to see in
moment what it took the artist
years to produce, though this may hap
pen. But as we grow spiritually it is
possible for us by spiritual sight to
behold our Lord, to behold Him more
clearly as the years 80 on.
When we study this one word, the
word face. we find that it stands relat-
ed TO three great facts and to none
other that | know Of and these three
facts are, first, revelation, then ill.,
spiration and finally reward. This is
exactly what the Apostle means by
this text, that he who studies the face
Of Jesus Christ, he who enlarges his
vision by spiritual imagination, will
have the revelation Of the divine truth
come 10 him. For do we not know that
Jesus came to reveal God to us, to re-
veal God to world in which the dim
eye Of sin could but imperfectly see
Him. But the trouble is that our eyes
see rs We are educated to see. | have
often noticed while passing along the
street that a man is usually inter
ested in the trade he represents. If he
was Il halter he looked at my hat; if
he was Il tailor he looked at my
clothes; If lie was shoemaker he
looked at my shoes; if he was a boot
black he looked to see whether they
We're muddy or not and so our vision
is trained by what we are doing, by
what we are thinking. If our eyes
are trained only to the things of time,
then all the beauty that we see is in
the things of time. but by using these
as stepping stones to something higher
and nobler. then we see by the power
of Gods revelation that there is Il
God here in this world, and that He is
ruling the world in the interest of |
Jesus Christ
| believe that YOU would have |
thought yourself victims of fate if you
had not been taught by Jesus Christ !
the doctrine of divine fatherhood. You |
would have thought perhaps that this
world was made by chance If you
had not seen Him standing in the |
stern of the ship and saying to the |
troubled waves, Peace, be still" But |
because He has come, because He has !
passed through all the phases OF our
life from infancy to maturity because
He has been tempted, because He sub
mitted to wrong in order that He
might do a great and holy work, be-
cause He has given the most perfect
example of what humanity ougb: to
he under all phases and circumstances,