Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-02-28

but mere comes another Chlsel, and
its name is hypocrisy. Christ with one
terrific stroke in his sermon on the
mount described this character, "When
ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a
sad countenance, for they disfigure theiI
faces that they may appear unto men tC
fast" Hypocrisy having taken posses
sion of the soul, it Immediately appears
in the countenance. Hypocrites are al.
ways solemn. They carry several coun.
try graveyards in their faces. They are
fearful when there is nothing to CRY
about, and in their prayers they catch
for their breath and have such general
dolefulness that they disgust young peo-
pie with religion. We had one Of them
in one of my churches. When be ex-
orted, he always deplored the low state
of religion in other people, and when he
prayed it was an attack of hysteria, and
he went into paroxysm of obs and abs
that seemed to demand resuscitation.
He went on in that way until we had to
expel him from the church for stealing
the property intrusted to him as admin.
istrator and for other vices that / will
not mention, and he wrote me several
letters not at all complimentary from
the west, saying that he was daily
praying for my everlasting destruction.
A man cannot have hypocrisy in his
heart without somehow showing it in
his face. All intelligent people who
witness it know it is nothing but a
decentralization.
Here comes another chisel, and that
belongs to the old fashioned religion.
1t first takes possession of the whole
soul, washing out its sins by the blood
of the Lamb and starting heaven right
there and then. This done, deep down in
the heart religions says: Now let me
go up to the windows and front gate of
the face and set up some signal that !
have taken possession of this castle.
will celebrate the victory by an illumi-
nation that no one can mistake. have
made this man happy, and now l will
make him look happy. will draw the
corners of his mouth as far up as they
were drawn down. / will take the con
temrtuous curl away from the lip and
uObNAAls Will lAiohO hAo NO co AldDh anu
his cheeks glow at every mention of
Christ and heaven. will make even
the wrinkles of his face look like fur
rows plowed for the harvest of joy. l
will make what we call the crow s
feet around his temples suggestive that
the dove of peace has been alighting
there" There may be signs of trouble
on that face, but trouble sanctified.
There may be scars of battle on that face,
but they will be scars of campaigns
won.
POWER OF A FACE.
Now, "says some one, Il know very
good people who have no such religion
in their faces" My friend, the reason
probably is that they were not converted
until late in life. Worldliness and Sin
had been at work with their chisels ON
that face for 80 or 40 years, and Grace,
the divine sculptress, has been busy with
her chisel only five or ten years. Do not
be surprised that Phidias and Green
ough with their fine chisels cannot in a
short while remove all the marks of the
stone mason's crowbar, which has been
busy there for a long while. i say to
all the young, if you would have SYM
pathetic face, hopeful face, courageous
face, cheerful face, kind face, at the
earliest possible moment by the grace
of God have planted in your soul SYM
pathy and hope and courage and good
cheer and kindness. No man ever in
dulged a gracious feeling or was moved
by righteous indignation or was stirred
by benevolent impulse but its effect
was more or less indicated in the coun-
tenance, while David noticed the physi-
ognomic effect of bad disposition when
he said, "a wicked man hardeneth his
face" and jeremiah must have noticed
1t when he said of the cruel, "They
have made their faces harder than a
rock"
Oh, the power of the human facet l
warrant that you have known faces so
magnetic and impressive that, though
they vanished long ago, they still hold
you with holy spell. How long since
your child went2 "Well, you say, "if
she had lived she would have been 10
years old now, or 20 or 80 years." But
does not that infant face still have ten
der supremacy over your entire nature?
During many an eventide does it not
look at your In your dreams do ysu not
see itf What a sanctifying, hallowing
influence it has been in your lifel You
can say in the words of the poet, "Bet-
ter to have loved and lost than never to
have loved at all, Or II may have
been sisters face. Perhaps che was
the invalid of the family. Perhaps she
never went out except on very 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 it all. AS that face looks
at you through the years with what an
elevated and heavenly emotion you are
filed. Or was it fathers faeeI The
storms of life had somewhat Ioughened
it. A good deal Of the brightness Of
tho eye had been quenched, and the ear
was turned with the hand behind II in
order to hear at all. But yOu remember
that face SO yiyidly that if you were an
artist you could put il on canvas, aud
1t would mean 10 you more than any
Il. =