News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1894-03-01


lyn Tabernacle this forenoon Rev. DR..
Talmage chose for the subject of his
sermon 1.-THE Human Face" and held
his great audience fascinated with the
charm of his eloquence as he discoursed
on a subject of universal interest. The
text was Ecclesiastes viii, 1, "a mans
wisdom maketh his face to shine, ana
the boldness of his face shall be chang
ed" or, as it may be rendered, the
sourness of his face shall be sweetened.
Thus little change in our Engllsh
translation brings out the better mean
ing of the text, which sets forth that
the character of the face is decided by
the character of the soul. The main
features of our countenance were decld-
ed by the Almighty, and we cannot
change them, but under God we decide
whether va shall have countenances
benignant or baleful, sour or sweet,
wrathfrl or genial, benevolent or mean,
honest or scoundrelly, impudent or mod
est, courageous or cowardly, frank or
sneaking. In all the works of God there
is nothing more wonderful than the hu-
man countenance. Though the longest
face is less than l 9 inches from the hair
line of the forehead to the bottom of
the chin and the broadcast face is less
than g inches from cheek bone to cheek
hone. vet in that small compass God
hath wrought such differences that the
600. 900. 900 of the human race may
be distinguished from each other by
their facial appearances.
AN INDEX OF CHARACTER.
The face is ordinarily the index OF
character. J. is the throne of the emo
tions. 1t is tie battlefield Of the pas
sions. It Is the catalogue of character.
1t is the map of the mind. 1t Is the
geography of the soul. And while the
Lord decides before our birth whether
we shall be handsome or homely we are
by the character we form declelng
whether our countenances shall be plt;is
ant or disacreeable. This is SO much 80
that some of the most beautiful faces
are unattractive because OF their AFRO
gance or their deceitfulness, and some
of the most rugged and irregular fea-
lures are attractive because of the kind
ness IUdI Eulu6S
dent or sickness or scarificat1on may
veil the face so that it shall not express
the soul, but in the majority of cases
give me a deliberate look at man
couptenance and l will tell you whether
he is a cynic or an optimist, whether he
is miser or philanthropist, whether
he is noble or ignominious, whether ne
is good or bad Our first impression oil
a man or woman is generally the accu-
rate impression. You at the first glance
make mp your mind that some man Is
unworthy of your friendship, but after.
ward. by circumstances being put into
intimate association with him, you
come to like him and trust him. Yet
stay with him long enough, and yor
will be compelled to return TO your orig
inal estimate of his character, but i
will be after he has cheated you out o.
everything he could lay his hands on
1t is of Gods mercy that we have thes'
outside indexes of character. Phrenol
ogy is one index, and while it may b.
carried to an absurd extent there is NJ
doubt that you can judge somewhat o
a mans character by the shape of hi
head. Palmistry is another index, ant
while it may be carried into the fanclfu
and necromantic there is no doubt tina
certain lines in the palm of the han
are indicative of mental and mora
traits.
BIBLE PHYSIoGNoMY.
Physiognomy is another index, AM
while the contour of the human fac
NAV sometimes mislead us we can gen
orally, after looking into the eye an
noticing the curve of the lip and til
spread of the nostril and the correla
tion of all the features, come TO RICH
estimate of a mans character. 1t
were not SO, how would we know whom
TO trust and whom to avoid? Whethe
we will or not, physiognomy decides
thousand things in commercial an
financial and social and religious dc
mains. From one lid of the Bible t
the other there is no science SO recog
nized as that of physiognomy, and moth
ing more thoroughly taken for granite
than the power of the soul to transfig
ure the face. The Bible speaks of tn
"face of God" the face of Jesu
Christ" the ''face of Esau," the fac
of Israel, " the "face of Job, the fac
of the old man, the shining face c
Moses the wrathful face of Phara
OH the ashes ON the face of humilia
ton, the resurrectionary staff on tn
face OF the dead child, the hypocrite
disfiguring their face, and in my tex
the Bible declares, "A mans wisdoI
maketh his face to shine, and the soul
ness of his face shall be sweetened.
the Bible has SO much to say about phys
ognomy, we do not wonder that th
world has made it a study from tn
early ages. In vain the English parli;
ment in the time of George II ordere
publicly whipped and imprisoned thos
who studied physiognomy. IDtelligel
people always have studied it and a
ways will study it. The pens of Mos
and Joshua and Job and John and Pa
as well as of Homer and Hippocrat
and Galen and Aristotle and Socrat
and Plato and Lavater have been dippt
into it, and whole libraries of whe
and chaff have been garnered on tn
theme.
Now, what practical religious al
eternal use would / make of this subjec
/ am going to show that while we are n
responsible for our features, the Lo
Almighty having decided what tn
shall be prenatally, as the psalmist d
clares when he writes, lin thy book {
my members were written, which
continuance were fashioned when
vet there was none of them," yet
character which under God we fo1
will chisel the face most nightly. E
cry man would like to have been ma
In appearance an Alcibiades, and eve
woman would like to have been mad
Josephine. We all want to be ayr
able. Our usefulness depends SO mu
upon it that / consider it important a
Christian for every man and woman
be as agreeable as possible. The slouC
the sloven, the man who does not ca
how he looks, sill such people la
equipment FOR usefulness. A minis
who has to throw quid of tobacco {
of his mouth before he begins to pres
or Christians with beard untrimm
making them to look like wild bea
come oat of the lair-yea, unkem
uncombed, unwashed, disagreeable n
or women-are hindrance to religi
more than recommendation.
A sCATHNG REJOINDER.
Now, my text suggests how we m;
independent of features, make oursel
agreeable, "A mans wisdom maxi
his face to shine, and the sourness of
face shalt be sweetened. What
may come too late for many. I'll
countenance may by long years of ha
CESS have been frozen into stolidity,
by long years of cruel behavior Il
may have Herodized all che machin
ofexpress6on. or by long years@f ava1