The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-03-02
AS SEEN In THE FACE.
THE MAP OF THE MIND DISCUSSED
AT THE TABERNACLE.

AT THE TABERNACLE.
Rev. Ds Taimage Says the Character Of ths
Countenance IL u Mirror of the Soul
Most Wonderful of Gods Works.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 25.--In the Brook.
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 subject of universal interest. The
text was Ecclesiastes viii, 1, "A man g
wisdom maketh his face to shine, and
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 English
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 decid-
ed by the Almighty, and we cannot
change them, but under God we decide
whether we shall have countenances
benignant or baleful, sour or sweet,
wrathful 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 12 inches from the hair
line of the forehead to the bottom of
the chin and the broadcast face is less
than inches from cheek bone to cheek
bone, yet in that small compass God
hath wrought such differences that the
1000, 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. 1t is the throne of the emo
tons. 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 countenances shall be pleas
ant or disagreeable. This is SO much SO
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 that shines through them. Acct
dent or sickness or scarifcation may
veil the face so that it shall not express
the soul, but in the majority OF cases
give me deliberate look at man s
countenance and will tell you whether
he is cynic or an optimist, whether he
is miser or philanthropist, whether
he is noble or ignominious, whether he
is good or bad. Our first impression OF
a man or woman is generally the aecu-
rate impression. You at the first glance
make up 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 you
will be compelled to return to your orig
inal 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. Phrenol-
ogy is one index, and while it may be
carried to an absurd extent there is no
doubt that you can judge somewhat of
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 and moral
traits.
BIBLE PHYSIOGNOMY.
Physiognomy is another index, and
while the contour of the human face
may sometimes mislead us we can gen.
orally, after looking into the eye and
noticing the curve of the lip and the
spread of the nostril and the correla-
ton of all the features, come to right
estimate of mans character. If it
were not SO, how would we know whom
to trust and whom to avoid? Whether
we will or not, physiognomy decides a
thousand things in commercial and
financial and social and religious do
mains. From one lid of the Bible to
the other there is no science SO recog-
nized as that of physiognomy, and moth
ing more thoroughly taken for granted
than the power of the soul to transfg-
ure the face. The Bible speaks of the
face of God," the face of Jesus
Christ" the face of Esau, y the "face
of Israel, the "face of Job, - the face
of the old man." the shining 'face Of
Moses, +" the wrathtul face of Phara-
Oh" the ashes on the face of humilia-
ton, the resurrectionary staff on the
face of the dead child, the hypocrites
disfiguring their face, and in my text
the Bible declares, "A mans wisdom
maketh his face to shine, and the sour
ness of his face shall be sweetened'' If
the Bible has SO much to say about physi-
ognomy, we do not wonder that the
world has made it study from the
early ages. In vain the English parlia-
ment in the time of George II ordered
publicly whipped and imprisoned those
who studied physiognomy. Intelligent
people always have studied it and al
ways will study it. The pens of Moses
and Joshua and Job and John and Paul
as we'll as of Homer and Hippocrates
and Galen and 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 make of this subjects
am going to show that while we are not
responsible for our features, the Lord
Almighty having decided what they
shall be prenatally, as the psalmist de-
clares 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 nightly. Ev.
cry man would like to have been mad
in appearance an Alcibiades, and ever,
woman woIld like to have been made