The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-03-03
THE HUMAN FACE.
DR.. Talmage Tells How 1t May Be
Made Beautiful.
Goodness VIII Make IL Attractive No
Matter How Misshapcn the Features
What May DisGgure or Irra-
diate the Countenance.

The subject of a late sermon preached
at Brooklyn by Rev. L. Dewitt Tai
mage was The Human Face" and the
text was from Ecclesiastes viii. 1: "A
mans wisdom maketh his face to shine
and the boldness of his face shall be
changed" or, as it may be rendered,
1.-The sourness of his face shall be
sweetened." DIR. Talmage said:
Thus a little change in our English
translation brings out the better mean
ing of the text, which sets forth that
II character of the face is decided by
h character of the soul. The main
features of our c~ountenance were de-
cided by the Almighty, and we cannot
change them: but under God we decide
b%enignant or b~aleful, sour or sweet,
wrathful or genial, benevolent or
mean, honest or scouIdrelly, impudent
or modest, courageous or coward
ly, frank or sneaking. In all the
works of God there is nothing more
wonderful than the human counten-
ance. The face is ordinarily the index
of character. 1t is the throne of emo
tions. 1t is the battlefield of the pas
sions. 1t 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 deciding
whether our co~untenances shall be
pleasant or d~isagreeable. This is so
much SO that some of the most beauti-
full faces are unattractive, because of
their arrogance or their deceitfulness,
and some of the most rugged and irreg-
u'ar features are attractive because of
the kindness hat shines through them.
Whether we will or not, physiognomy
decides a thousand things in COM
mercial and financial and social and
religious domains. From one lid
of the Bible to the other there
is no science so recognized as that of
physiognomy, and nothing more thor
oughly taken for granted than the
power of the soul to transfigure 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 of Moses" the
wrathful face of Pharaoh" the ashes
on the face of humiliation, the resur-
rectionary staff on the face of the lead
child, the hypocrites disfiguring their
faces, and in my text the Bible declares:
"A 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 1t
a study from the early ages.
Now. what practical religious and
eternal use would l make of this sub
ject? / am going to show that while
we are not responsible for our features,
the Lord Almighty having decided
what the shall be pre-natally, as the
Psalmist declares when he writes: ''In
thy book all my members were written
which in continuance were fashioned
when as yet there was none of them"
yet the character which under God we
form will chisel the face most might
lily. 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. Dur usefulness depends
so much upon it that | consider it i'm.
portant and Christian for every man
and woman to be as agreeable as pos.
sible.
Now, my text suggests how we may,
independent of features, make our.
selves agreeable: "a mans wisdom
maketh his face to shine and the sour.
ness of his face shall be sweetened. F"
What ] say may come o. late for
many. Their countenance may by
long years of hardness have been
frozen into stolidity; or by long years
of cruel behavior they may have
Herodized all the machinery of expires.
sion; or by long years of avarice they
may have been ~Shylocked until their
face is as hard as the precious metal
they are boarding; but | am in time tc
help multitudes if the Lord will. Tha,
It is possible to overcome disadvantage.
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 han any human visage thai
ever saw. BY hard study he rose from
being a poor boy to the very height Of
the legal profession, and when an at
torney-general Of the United States
was needed he entered the presidential
cabinet. What a triumph over de
stroyed human countenance! do no
wonder that when an opposing attor
ney in a Philadelphia court room
cruelty referred to this personal dis
fgurement, BENJAMIN +. Brewster re
Piled in these words: "When l was
babe l was a beautiful clue-eyed child
| know this, because my dear dea,
mother told me SO; but l was one da,
playing with my sister when he
clothes took fire and l ran to her re
lief and saved her; but in doing SO m,
clothes took fire, and the fire was no
put out until my face was as black a
the heart of the scoundrel who ha
Just now referred to my disfigure
ment."
And now / I'm going to tell you c
some Of the chisels that work for tn
designation or i~rradiation of the hl
: man countenance. One of the sharpes
= and most destructive of those chisel
of the countenance is Cynicism. Tha
sours the disposition and then soul
the face. 1t gives a contemptuous cul
to the lip. 1t draws down h cornel
of the mouth and initiates the nostril 1
with q malodor. What David said
haste they say in their deliberatio,
'.All men are liars" everything is g,
I ing to ruin. All men and women 81
3 bad, or going to be. Society and IL
church are ON the down grade. TIE
them of an act of b~enevolence, and the
! say he gave that to advertise himseI
They do not like the present fashit
OF hats for women, or of coats I
I men. They are opposed to the admi
istration, municipal, and state, and n
Z tional. Somehow, food does not tas
: as it used to, and they wonder wi
: there are no poets, no orators, or preac
: ers as when they were boys. Eve
Solomon, one OF the wisest, and at OIL
time n of the worst. of men. falls int
pessimistic mood, and cries out In Il
twenty-tirst chapter Of Proverbs: "Wl
] can find a virtuous woman?' II he h;
behaved himself better and kept
8 good associations he would not ha'
written that Interrogation point impl
ing the scarcity of good womanhood.
But let Christian cheerfulness try |
= chisel upon u mans countenanc
Feeling that all things are for h
I good. and that God rules, and that Il
Bible being true the worlds tioraliz
: tion is rapidly approaching, and 81
! day when beer-muV. aud demiioh