Evangelists of Art Picture-Sermons for Children   By: James Patrick

"Here, when Art was still religion, with a simple, reverent heart, Lived and laboured Albrecht Dürer, the Evangelist of Art;

Hence in silence and in sorrow, toiling still with busy hand, Like an emigrant he wandered, seeking for the Better Land."

LONGFELLOW, Nuremberg .

EVANGELISTS OF ART

PICTURE SERMONS FOR CHILDREN

BY

REV. JAMES PATRICK, B.D., B.Sc.

COUPER UNITED FREE CHURCH, BURNTISLAND

"Could I have traced one form that should express The sacred mystery that underlies All Beauty, and through man's enraptured eyes Teach him how beautiful is Holiness..." Sir J. NOËL PATON

CINCINNATI

JENNINGS & GRAHAM

1903

Printed by MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, Edinburgh

CONTENTS

I. CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE . . . . . . . . . W. Holman Hunt

II. LUTHER AT ERFÜRT . . . . . . . . . . . Sir J. Noël Paton, R.S.A.

III. HERCULES WRESTLING WITH DEATH FOR THE BODY OF ALCESTIS . . . . . . . . . Lord Leighton, P.R.A.

IV. ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE . . . . . . . . . G. F. Watts, S.A.

V. THE LAST SLEEP OF ARGYLL . . . . . . . E. M. Ward, R.A.

VI. WISHART DISPENSING THE SACRAMENT BEFORE HIS MARTYRDOM . . . . . . . . . W. Q. Orchardson, R.A.

VII. THE RIDER ON THE WHITE HORSE . . . . . G. F. Watts, R.A.

VIII. THE MAN WITH THE MUCK RAKE . . . . . . Sir J. Noël Paton, R.S.A.

CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE

BY W. HOLMAN HUNT

[Illustration: CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE. By permission of Mr. Holman Hunt, and of Mrs. Holt, Liverpool]

CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE

How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be in My Father's house? LUKE ii. 49 (Revised Version).

The Bible story from which the text is taken has been illustrated by a famous picture. The artist is Mr. Holman Hunt, who has painted many pictures on Bible subjects, and has spent many years in Palestine in connection with his work. His painting of "The Finding of Christ in the Temple" is well worth seeing for the rich beauty of its colouring and the delicate fineness of its workmanship, and every one who loves the Bible must feel that it is still more worth seeing for the sake of the scene which it represents.

As you look at the picture you have before you the interior of a spacious portico in the Temple at Jerusalem. The roof is supported on graceful pillars, and from it there hang many lamps of beautiful metal work. The farther end is closed by an ornamental lattice screen. At the right hand side a wide doorway opens on the steps which lead down to one of the Temple courts. A beggar sits on the steps just outside the opening, and beyond him there are workmen busy at the building of the Temple, which, as you know, was not finished for many years after the boyhood of Jesus. You remember that when He had grown to manhood, the Jews said to Him, Forty and six years was this Temple in building ,[1] and even then we know that it was not completed. In our picture we see the scaffolding of the masons, and one of the cranes by which they raised the stones into position. The workmen themselves are engaged with a large marble block which is lying on the ground, and for which there is a vacant space in the wall above. Beyond the unfinished building there is a grove of trees, and in the further distance we get a glimpse of the roofs of the city and of the hills behind. Coming back to the interior of the portico we see an interesting group of figures at the farther end. A father and mother have come to present their child in the Temple, and they have bought a lamb to offer in sacrifice. The father, with the lamb on his shoulder, and the mother, with the little one in her arms, are following a priest and another attendant who are leading the way further into the Temple, while the man who has sold them the lamb is holding back the mother sheep. Doves are flying in by the doorway or hovering about inside. They are among the