Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-03-09
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: "The Human Face"

|
changed" or as IL may be rendered, "he
SottrneSS Of has face shall be s,cectened. --
Ecclesiastes viii, l.
Thus little change in our English trans
! lation brings out the better meaning 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 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
scoundrelly, impudent or modest courage
Gus or cowardly, frank or sneaking. In all
the works of Go there is nothing moro
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
has wrought such differences that the 1 $780,
10000 of the human race may be dis
tinguished from each other by their facial
appearance.
The face is ordinarily tho index of charac-
ter. 1t is the throne of the emotions. 1t is
the battlefield Of the passions. 1t is the
catalogue of character. 1t is the map of the
mind. IT 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 countenance shall be pleasant
or disagreeable. This is so much so that
some ofthe most beautiful faces are unattrac-
tive because of their arrogance or their de-
ceitfulness, and some Of the most rugged
| and irregular features are attractive because
of the kindness that shines through them.
Accident or sickness or scariflcation may
veil the face so that it shall not express the
soul, but in the majority of cases give me a
| deliberate look at q mans countenance
and l will tell you whether he is a
! cynic or an optimist, whether he
is a 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 accurate impression.
You at the first glance make up your mind
that some man Is unworthy Of your friend
ship, but afterward, 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 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. It 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
mans 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.
Physiognomy 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 1he spread OF the nostri], and
the correlation Of all the features, come to q
right estimate of q mans character. If it
were not so, how would we know whom to
trust and whom to avoidY Whether we will
or not, physiognomy decides a 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
so recognized as that OF physiognony, and
nothing more thoroughly taken for granted
than the power of the soul to transhgure the
face. The Bible speaks of the "face
of God" the "iace of Jesus Christ
the "face of Esau," the "iace oil
Israel" the "face OF job" the "faco
of the old man, the shining "face ofMoses,"
the wrathful "iace of Pharaoh, )" the ashes
on the face of humiliation, the resurrection
airy staff on the face of the dead child. the
hypocrites disfiguring their face, and in my
text the Bible declares, GA mans wisdom
maketh his face to shine, and the sourness
of his face shall be sweetened." II the Bible
has SC much to say about physiognomY, We
do not wonder that the world has made it
study from the early ages. In vain the Eng
lish 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
Homer and Hippocrates and Galen AMI
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 subject? l am GO
ing to show that while we are not response
bic for our features, the Lord Almighty hay
ing decided what they shall be prenatally, 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 we form will
chisel the face most NIGHTLY. Every man
would like to have been made III appearance
an Alcibiades, and every woman would like
to have been made Josephine. We all want
to be agreeable. Our usefulness depends so
much upon it that / consider it important
and Christian for every man and woman u
be as agreeable as possible. The SLOUGH, the
sloven; the man who does not care how he
looks, all such people lack equipment for
usefulness. minister who has to throw
quid 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 a hindrance to religion more
than a recommendation.
Now, 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 stol-
idity, or by long years of cruel behavior they
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 il
the Lord WILL That it is possible 10 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 l ever |
saw. By hard study he arose from being |
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 a triumph over
destroyed human countenance
do not wonder that when an opposing at |
torney in Philadelphia courtroom cruelty |
referred to this personal Disagreement Ben
jamin T. Brewster replied in these words: |
"When | was a babe, l was beautiful, blue |