History has never known another such an enthusiasm for a hero as the multitude once felt toward Jesus Christ.  There have indeed been times when such patriots as Garibaldi, Kossuth and Lincoln have kindled in men an enthusiasm akin to adoration and worship.  Yet let us hasten to confess that the qualities calculated to quicken men into raptures of devotion appeared in these patriots only in fragmentary form, while they dwelt in Christ in full-orbed majesty and splendor.  The welcome Chicago gave to Grant upon his return from his journey around the world; the enthusiasm excited by Kossuth when in 1851 he drove through Broadway, New York; the wave of gratitude that swept over the Italian multitude when Garibaldi appeared in Florence—­all these are events that bear witness to society’s devotion to its patriots and heroes.  But, be it remembered, these scenes occurred but once in the history of each of these great men.

It stirs wonder in us, therefore, that Christ’s every journey across the fields took on the aspect of a triumphal procession, while His popularity waxed with familiarity and the increasing years.  Indeed, full oft the rapture men felt toward Him amounted to an intoxication and an ecstasy of devotion.  True it is that men now look upon Him through a blaze of light, and, remembering His achievements for art, liberty and learning, have stained His name through and through with lustrous colors.  As at eventide we look out upon the sun through white and golden clouds that the sun itself has lifted, so do we behold the carpenter’s son standing forth under the dazzling light of nearly two thousand years of history, while the heart colors His name with all that is noblest in human aspiration and achievement.

Nevertheless, be it instantly confessed that from the very beginning this divine Teacher exhibited qualities that kindled in men an enthusiasm that amounted to transcendent delight.  The time was when scholars attempted to explain His influence over the multitude by portraying Him with a halo of light about His head.  Fortunately these ideas that robbed men of all fellowship with their divine brother have perished, and now we know that there was nothing unusual about His appearance, nor did any effulgent light blaze forth from His person.  Whether or not unique beauty of face and form was His we do not know.  Coins and statues portray for us the Roman emperors and the Greek scholars.  Yet art has broken down utterly in the attempt to combine in one face Christ’s majesty and meekness, strength and gentleness, suffering and victory.  All that we can know of His personal appearance must be gained through imagination, as it clothed Him with those traits that alone cannot account for His influence over the multitudes.  What sweet allurement in the face that made children leap into His arms!  What winsome benignity that made mothers feel that His touch would return the babe with double worth into the parent’s bosom!