Connecticut western news., 1894-03-01
AS SEEN IN THE FACE.
THE MAP OF THE MIND DISCUSSED
 AT THE TABERNACLE.

>-A~& eoso& Countenanoe Is . Mirror of the Soul. Most Wonderful of God's Works.
 BROOKLYN. Feb. 25.-In the Brook lyn Tabernacle this forenoon Rev. Dr. Talmage chose for the subject of his sermon "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, and the beldness 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 cur 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 ia 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 broadest face is less than 8 inches from cheek bone to cheek bone. yet in that small compass God hath wrought such differences that the 1900, 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. It is the throne of the emo- tons. 1t is the battlefield of tine pas sions. Itis the catalogue of character. It is the map of sthe 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 conferences shall be pleas ant or disagIeeable. This is so much so that some of the most beautiful faces are unattIactive because of their arro- gance or their deceitfulness, and some of the most rugged and irregular fea- tures are attractive because of the kind ness that shines through them. Acci- dent or sickness or scarifcation may veil the face SO that it shall not express give me a deliberate look at a man s countenance and will tell you whether he is a cynic or an optimist, whether he is miser or a philanthropist, whether he is noble or ignominious, whether he is good or bad. Our first impression of a man or woman is generally the accu- 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. It 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 mans character by the shape of his head. PalmistIy 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 ind. .cative 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 a 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 noth- ing more thoroughly taken for granted than the power of the soul to transfig- ure the face. The Bible speaks of the ''face of God" the ..face of Jesus Christ, the 'sface 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 Phara- oh," the ashes on the face of humilia- tion, the resurrectionary staff on the face of the dead child, the hypocrites disfguring 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 a 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 well 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 subject am going to show that while we are moi 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 ir continuance were fashioned when al yet there was none of them," yet tht character which under God we form will chisel the face most nightly. Ev cry man would like to have been made in appearance an Alcibiades, and every : woman would like to have been made C Josephine We all want to be agree able. Our usefulness depends so mucf upon 1t that consider it important and Christian for every man and woman tt be as agreeable as possible. The slouch the sloven. the man who does not cars