The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1894-03-08


would have sympathetic face, hopeful
race, courageous face, cheerful face,
klnG race, at the earliest possible mo.
ment, by the grace of God, have plant.
eo In yoarsoul sympathy and hope and
| courage and good cheer and kindness.
NO man over indulged gracious
ieeting, or was moved by a righteous
| indignation, or was stirred by a beney-
olent impulse, but It's effect was more
| or less indicated in the countenance.
while David noticed the physiognomic
effect Of a bad disposition when he
said, "a wicked man hardaneth his
race" and Jeremiah must have noticed
it when he said Of the cruel, "They
have made their faces harder than
rock" Oh, the power of the human
race! l warrant that you have
known faces so magnetic and impress.
I've That though they vanished long
ago they still hold you with a
holy spell. How long since your child
went? "Well," you say, "if she had
lived, she would have been 10 years old
now or 20 or 3O." But does not that
infant face still have tender supremacy
over you entire nature? During many
an eYentide does it not look at you?
In your dream do you not see it? What
sanctifying, hallOwing influence it
has been in your life! You can say in
the words of the poet, "Better to have
Loved and lost than never to have loved
at all"
Or it may have been a sisters face.
IerhapS she was the invalid Of the
family. Perhaps she never went out
except on every clear days, and then
she had to be carried down the stairs
to the piazza, or for short ride, but
she was so patient and cheerful under
1t all. AS that face looks at you through
the years with what an elevated ald
heavenly emotion you are filled!
Or was 1t o fathers face? The
storms OF life had somewhat rOughened
it. a good deal Of the brightness of the
eye had been quenched and the earjwas
turned with the hand behind it in order
to hear at ALL But you remember that
face SO Viyidly that if you were an
artist you could put it on canvas, and
IL would mean to you more than any
race rae that Rembrandt ever sketched.
Ihat face, through long ago viled from
human sight, is as plain in yout mem
ory as though you this moment saw it
moving gently forward and backward
IN the rocking chair by the stove in
the old farmhouse.
Or was it your mothers face? A
| good mothers face Is never homely to
her boys and girls. lG is a madonna
| in the picture gallery Of the memory.
! What sympathetic face 1t was! Did
you ever have a Joy, and that face did
not respond to it? Did you ever have
| a grief, and no tears trickled down that
maternal cheekp Did you ever do a
bad thing, and shadow did not cross
1t? on, it was a sweet face! The
| Spectacles, with large, round glasses
through which she looked at you, how
sacredlysthey have been kept in bureau
| or closet! Your mothers your mothers
smile, your mothers tears! What an,
overpowerlng memory! Through you
have come on to midlife or old age, how
you would like just once more to bury
your face in her lap and have a good
cry!
| But can tell you of a more sympa-
thetic, and more tender, and more low
ing face than any of the faces. l have
mentioned. mo, you cannot" says
some one. | can, and l will. 1t is the
face OF Jesus Christ as he was on earth
and is now in heaven. When preparing
my life of Christ, entitled "From Man
ger to Throne" l ransackcd the art
galleries and portfolios of the world to
lind picture of our Saviour's face that
might be most expressive, and | saw
1t as francesca Francia painted it in
the sixteenth century. and as the EN-
erald lntaglo Of the sixth century pres
ented 1t, and as fresco in the cat.
acombs near Rome preserved it, and as
Leonardo da Vlnci showed 1t in "rhe
Last Supper" and l looked in the
Lorver, and the Luxembourg, and the
Vatican, and the Dresden, and the
Berlin and Neapolitan and London
galleries for the most inspiring face of
Christ, and many of the presentations
were wonderful for pathos and majesty
and power and execution; but, al.
though [ selected that by AIRY Schefrer
as IN some respec' lemOst expressive
J l felt as we all fe j, that our Christ
has never yet been presented either in
sculpture or paintings and that we viii
l have to wait until we rise to the uppel
} palace, where we shall see him as he is
What gentle face it must have beer
4 to induce the babes to struggle out OF
= their mothers arms into his arm
} What an expressive face it must hay
: been when one reproying look of i
: threw Stalwart Peter into a fit to tears
= What q pleading face it must have beer
' to lead the psalmtstS in prayer to say O
+ it, "l.ook upon, the face OF thine anoint
; ed" What sympathetic face il mus
r have been to encourage the sick WO
man who was beyond any help from tn
doctors to touch the hem Of his gar
ment!
What a suffering face it must hay
been when suspended on the perpen
dlcular and horizontal pieces Of tht
wood of martyrdom, and his an
tagonists slapped the pallid cheek
; with their rough hands and befoule(
1t with the saliva OF their blasphemous
lips! What tremendous face it mu.
have been to leads John to descrih,
1t IN the coming judgement as scatter
ing the universe when he SAYS. "FTOm