Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-03-09
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun.
DAY SERMON.
Subject; "The Human Face"

| Ecclesiastes viii, 1.
| Thus little change in our English trans
! latiOn brings out the better meaning of the
! text, which sets forth that the character of
| the iaco is decided by the character of tho
| soul. The main features of our count enance
| were decided by the Almighty. and we can
not change them, but under Col we decide
! whether we shall have countenances be-
| nignant or baleful, sour or sweet, wrathful
| or genial. benevolent or mean, honest or
/ scoGndrelly. impudent or modest courage
| Gus or cowardly. frank or sneaking. In all
! the works of Col there is nothing more
| wonderful than the human cOuntenance.
! Though the longest face is less than twelve
| inches from the hair line of the forehead TO
| the bottom of the chin and the broadest face
| Is less than eight inches from cheek bone to
| cheek bone, yet in that small compass God
| mas wrought such differences that the $780,
| OOO,OO OF the human race may be dis
| tinguished from each other by their facial
| appearance.
! Tho face is ordinarily the index of charac-
| ter. 1t is the throne OF the emotions II is
| the battlefield of the passions. It is the
| catalogue Of character. It is the map of the
| mind. II is the geography of the soul. And
| while the Lord decides before our birth
! whether we shall be handsome or homey,
| we are by the character We form deciding
whether our countPnance shall be pleasant
| or disagreeable. This is so much so that
some ctthe most beautiful faces are unattrac-
tive because of their arrogance or their de-
| ceitfuness, and some of the most rugged
and irregular features are attractive because
OF the Kindness that shines through them,
| Accident or sickness or scarificaton NAV
! veil the face so that it shall not express the
| soul, but in the majority of cases give me
deliberate look at mans cOuntenance
and L will tell you whether he is a
cynic or an Optimist, whether he
s a miser or a philanthropist, whether he is
noble or ignomnious. whether he is good or
bad. Our first impression of q man or
woman is generally the accurate impression.
You at the first glance make up your mind
that some man is unworthy of your friend
ship, but afterwarG, by circumstances beiry
put into intimate association with him, you
come to like him and trust him. Yet STAY
with him long enough, and you will be com
PEELED to return to your original estimate OF
his character, but It will be after he has
cheated you out of everything he could lay
his hands on. 1t is of Gods mercy that we
have these outside indexes of character
Phrenology is one index, and while it may
be carried to an absurd extent there is no
doubt that you can Judge somewhat of a
man s character by the shape of his head.
Palmistry is another index, and while it may
be carried into the fanciful and necrOmantic
there is no DOUBT that certain lines in the
palm of the hand are indicative of mental
md moral traits.
Pnysiognomy is another index, and while
the contour Of the human face may some
times miSlead US we can generally, after
looking into the eye and noticing the curve
of the lip and the spread of the nostril, and
the correlation OF all the fc ltures come to
right estimate of Il mans character. If it
were not so, how would we know whom to
trust and whom to ayOidp Whether we will
or not, physiOgnOmy decides u thousand
things in commercial and financial and So
cial and religious domains. From one lid
of the Bible to the other there is no science
rpPOTOiIp1 that Of nh nd
nothing more thoroughly taken for granted
than the power Of the soul to tranSfgure the
face. The Bible speaks of the ''face
of God" the face of Jesus Christ"
the face of Esau," the face OF
Israel" the "face of JOB" the ''face
of the old man. the shining ''face ofMoses," g"
the wrathful lace of Pharaoh" the ashes
On the face OF humiliation, the resurrection
ary staff on the face of the dead child, the
hypocrites disfguring their face, and in nv
text the Bible Declares ga mans wisdom
maketh his face to shine, and the sourness
of his face shall be SWeetened." If the Bible
has so much to say about physiognomY, we
do not wonder that the world has made it a
study from the early ages. In vain the Eng
lI5h Parliament in the time Of George II.
ordered publicly whipped and imprisoned
those who studied physiognomy. Intelligent
people always have studied it and always
will study it. The pens of Moses and Joshua
and Job and John and Paul as we'll as of
IIcuiSI anu IIppOcE1I6S anu NFal6n ana
Aristotle and Socrates and Plato and Lavater
have been dipped into it, and whole Libraries
of wheat and chaff have been garnered on
this theme.
Now, what practical religious and eternal
use would l make of this subject? an 60
ing to show that while we are not RESPONSE
BILE for our features. the Lord Almighty hav-
ing decided what they shall be prenatalIy as
the psalmiSt declares when he writes SIN
thy book all my members were written.
which in continuance were fashioned when
as vet there was none of them,' yet the
character which under God wa form will
chisel tho face most m mghtily. Every man
would like to have been made in appearance
an Alcibiades, and every woman would like
to have been made A Josephine. We all want
to be agreeable. Our usefulness depends so
much upon it that I consider it important
and Christian for every man and woman to
be as agreeable as possible. The slOuch. the
sIoven, the man who does not care how he
looks, all such people lack equipment for
usefulness. A minister who has to throw a
qud OF tobacco out of his mouth before he
begins to preach or Christians with beard I'M
trimmed, making them to look like wild
beasts come out of the lair-yea, unkempt,
uncombed, unwashed, disagreeable men or
women-are hindrance to religion more
than recommendation.
NOET, my text suggests how we may, indie
pendent of features, make ourselves agree
able, "a mans wisdom maketh his face to
shine. and the sOurnesS of his face shall be
sweetened." What | say may come too late
for many. Their cOuntenance may by long
years of hardness have been frozen into stC'-
idity, or by long years of cruel behavior they
may have Herodized all the machinery of eX-
preston, or by long years of avarice they
may have been ShylOcked until their face is
as hard as the precious metalthey are hoard
ing, but am in time to help multitudes if
the Lord will. That it is possible to over
come disadvantages of physiognomy was in
this country nightly illustrated by one
whose life recently closed after having
served in the Presidential cabinet
at Washington. BY accident of fire in
childhood his face had been more piteously
SCARED than any human visage that 1 ever
saw. By hard study he arose from being q
poor boy to the very height of the legal pro-
fession and when an Attorney General for
the United States was needed he entered the
Presidential cabinet. What triumph over
destroyed human countenance!
do not wonder that when an opposing at
torney in Philadelphia courtroom cruelty
referred to this personal Disagreement Ben
iamin +. Brewster replied in these words
when was babe, was beautiful blue
eyed child. l know this because my dear
dead mother told me So but l was one day
playing with my sister when her clothes took
fire, and -an 10 her relief and saved her,
but i'll doing so my clothes took fire, and the
fire was not put out until my face was as
black as the heart of the scoundre who has
Just now referred to my Disagreement"
Heroism conquering physical disabilities
That scholarly regular features are not nee
cssary for making powerful impression wit
ness Paul, who photographs himself as in
bodily presence weak" and George White
field. whose eyes were struck with strabis-
mus. and Alexander H. Stephens. who sat
with pale and sick face in invaltd's chair
while he thrilled the American congress with
his elcquence, and thousands of invalid
preachers and Sabbath-school teachers and
Christian workers. Aye, the most glorious
being the world ever saw was foreseen by
Isaiah. who described His face bruised and
gashed and scarifed and said of Him, "His
visage was so marred, more than any man."
So you see that the loveliest face in the uni
verse was a scared face.
And now am going to tell you of some OF