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About The Sioux County journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1888-1899 | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1894)
""'if-ft, y mt . ,. , . v ...... j , t ! j 1 a The Sioux County Journal i V OIOIE YL HAKKISOX, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1894. NUMBER 27. TALM AGE'S SERMON. THE MAP OF THE MIND IS ABLY DISCUSSED. A Hera Id the r -!!. Ir. Talmas Say. Ilia Chinrtor ol the CountfDincs 1 Mirror of the S;ll-Hgil Wonder, lul of tiod' Work. The Tabernacle I'olplt- In the Brooklyn Taljrnacle Sunday forenoon Kev. Dr. 'Palmare chose for the Mubjeet of bin sermon "The Human Face" and hold his groat audience fascinated with the charm of hiu elo quence aa he tliHcoursel on a subject of universal interest. The text was EcclehiaHtea viii, i, "A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the bold ness of bU face shall be changed," or, as it may be rendered, "the sourness 1 of his face shall be sweetened." I Thus a little change in our Knglish translation brings out the Tetter mean- j ing of the text, which seU forth that ' the character of the face is derided by tho character of the soul. The main features of our countenance wero de cided by the Almighty, and we cannot change them, but under God we decide whetuer we shall have countenances benignant or baleful, sour or sweet, wrathful or genial. Ix-nevolunt or mean, honest or scoundrelly, impudent or modest, courageous or cowardly, frank or sneaking. In all the works of God there is nothing more wonderful than the human countenance. Though the longest face is less than twelve inches from the hair line of the fore bead to the Ixittora of the chin and the broadest face is loss than eight inches from check bone to cheek lxme, yet in that small eompa God hiith wrought euch differences that the l,rti0.fMj(U)iin of the human race may Im distinguished from each other by their facial ap pearances. , An lndfli of Charartfr. The face la ordinarily the index of character. It is the throne of the emo tions. Jt is the battlefield of the pas fsiuns. It Is the catalogue of character. It is the man of the mind. It is the geography of the soul. And while the Lord decides before our birth whether wo shall l handsome or homely we are by the- character we form deciding whether our countenances shall be pleasant or disagreeable. This is so much so that some of the most beauti ful faces are unattractive because of their arrogance or their deceitfulness, and some of the most rugged and ir regular features are attractive because "Of the kindness that shines through tbem. Accident' or sickness or scarifi cation mav veil the face so that it shall not express the soul, but in the majority Of cases give me a deliberate look at a man's countenance and I will tell you whether he is a cynic or an optimist, whether he is a miser or a philan thropist, whether he is noble or igno minious, whether he is good or bad. Our first impression of a man or wo man is generally the accurate impres fcion. You at the hrst glance make up your mind that some man is unworthy of your friendship, but afterward, by circumstances being put into intimate association with him, you come to like bim and trust him. Vet stay with him loug eno jgh, and you will bo compelled to return to your original estimate of his character, but it will bo after he has cheated you out of everything he could luy his hands on. It is of God's mercy that we have these outside in dexes of character. 1'hrenology is one index, and while it may 1m; carried to an absurd extent there is no doubt that you can judge somewhat of a mun's character by the shape of his head. Palmistry Is another index, and while It may bo carried into the fanciful and necromantic there Is nodoubtthat cer tain lines in the palm of the hand are indicative of mental and moral traits. A HrathlnK lljlnlr." Now, my text suggests how we may, independent of feuturos, make our selves agreeable, "A man's wisdom niaketh his face shine, and the sourness of his face shall bo (woetened." What I say may come too late for many. Their countenance may by long years of hardness have iieen fro.en into Btolidity, or by long years of cruel be havior they may have Horodiod all the machinery of expression. or by long years of avarice they may have been Bhylocked until their face is as hard as tho precious metal thoy aro noard ing.but I am In time to help multitudes If the Lord will. That it Is ossible to overcome disadvantages of physiog nomy was in this country mightily il lustrated by one whoso life recently closed after having served in tho Presidential Cabinet at Washington. By accident of fire in childhood his face had lioon more pltoousty scarred than any human vlsuge that I ever saw. Uy hard study lie arose from be ing a poor toy to the very height of the legal profession, and when an At torney General for tho Lnitod States was needed ho entered the I'roslden tial'Cabinet. What a triumph over do Btrovea human countenance: 1 do not wonder that when an opt ing attorney in a Philadelphia court room cruelly referred to this personal disllguremeut lJenjainiu b iirewster replied in these words: "When I was a babe, I was a beautiful blue eyed child. 1 know this because my dear dead mother told me so, but I was one day playing with my sister when her clothes took fire, and 1 ran to her re lief and saved hor, but in doing so my clothes took fire, and the tiro was not put out until mv face was as black as the heart of the scoundrel who has just now referred to my disligure ment." Heroism conouoring physical disabilities! That scholarly regulai features are not necessary for making powerful impression witness Paul, who photographs himself as la "bodily presence weak," aod George White told, whpae ayes were struck with w-abuunus, and Aloxandor II. Stephens, who Mt with pale and sick law in an Invalid's chair, while he thrilled the Amertoaa Congress with blf eloqiMBoa, and thousands of invalid preachers and Sabbath school teach ers and Christian workers. Aye, the most glorious being the world ever saw was foreseen by Isaiah, who do scribed his fact briied and gashed and scarified and said of him, 'JIU visage was so marred, more than any man." So you see that tho loveliest face in the universe was a scarred face. The Bright Side ana the Ihtrlc And now I am going to tell you of some of the chiels that work for the disliguration or irradiution of the hu- j man countenance. One of the sharpest and most destructive of those chisels of the countenance is cyniiLsm. That sours the disohition anil then sours the face. It gives a contemptuous curl to the lip. It draws down the corners of the mouth and inflates the nontril as with a malodor. What David said in haste they say in their delileration, "All men are liars," everything is go ing to ruin. All men and women are bad or going to be. Society and the church are on the down grade. Tell them of an act of benevolence, and they say he pave that to advertise himself. They do not like the present fashion of hats for women or of coats for men. They are opposed to the ad ministration, municipal and state and national. Somehow food does not tasto as it used to, and they wonder why there are no oets or orators or preachers as when they were toys. Kven Solomon, one of the wisest and at one time one of the worst of men, falls into the pessimistic mood and cries out in the twenty-tirst chapter of Proverlw.'Who can find a virtuous woman?" If he had behaved himself totter and kept in good associations, he would not nave written that inter rogation oint implying tho scarcity of good womanhood. Cynicism, if a habit, as it is with ten of thousands of people, writes itself all over the fea tures: hence M) many sour visages all up anil down the street, all up and down the church and tho world. One good way to make the world woiue is to say it is worse. Let a depressed and forelioding opinion of everything take possession or you for twenty yours, and you will to a sight to behold. It is tho chastisement of God that when a man allows his heart to be cursed with cynicism his face becomes gloomed and scowled and lachryinosed and blasted with the same midnight. Afl'ftlo'fl Kun. But let the Chrlstiunchecrfulnesstry its chisel upon a man's countenance. Feeling thut all things are for his good, and that God rules, and that tho Bible, being true the world's Morali.a tion is rapidly approaching, and tho day when toer mug and demijohn and distillery and 'tjomtwhell and rifle nit and seventy-four pounders and roulette tables and corrupt tiook and satanic firintlng press will have quit work. the rightness that comes from such an ticipation not only gives zest to bis work, but shines in his eyes and glows in his cheek und kindles a morning in his entire countenance. Those aro tho faces I look for in an audience. Those countenances are sections of Millennial glory. They are Heaven impersonated. They are tho sculptur ing of God's right hand. They at e ho sunnas in human flesh. They are halle luiahs alighted. They are Christ rein carnated. I do not care what vour fea tures aro or whether you look like your father or your mother or look like no one under the heavens, toGodandman you aro beautiful. Michael Angelo, the sculptor, visiting Florence, some one showed him in a back yard a piece of marble that was so shapeless it seemed of no use, and Angelo was asked If ho could make anything out of it. and if so was told ho could own it. The artist took tho marble, and for nine months shut him self up to work, first trying to make of it a statue of David with his foot on Goliath, but tho marble was not quite long enough at tho base to make the prostrate form of the giant, and so the artist fashioned tho marble into an other figure that Is so famous for all time because of its expressiveness. A critic came in and was asked by Angelo for bis criticism, and ho said it was beautiful, but tho nose of tho statue was not of right shape. Angelo picked up from tho lloor some sand and tossed it atout the face of the statue, pre tending ho whs using his chisel to make tho Improvement suggested by tho critic. "What do you think of it now?" said tho artist. "Wonderfully im proved," said the critic. "Well." said tho artist, "I have not changed it at all." My friends, the grace of God comes to the heart of a man or woman and then attempts to change a forbid ding and prejudicial face into attrac tiveness. Perhaps tho face is most un promising, for tho Divine Sculptor. Hut having changed tho heart It be gins to work on the countenance with celestial chisel, und into all tho linea ments of the face puts a gladness and an expectation that changes it from glory to glory, and though earthly criticism may disapprove of this or that in the appearance of the faco Christ says of the newly created countenance that which I'ilatosaidof him, "Uohold the man!" Hero js another mighty chisel for tho countenance, and you may call it revenge or hate or malevolence. This spirit having taken possession of the heart, it em amps seven devils under tho eyebrows. It puts cruelty Into the compression of tho lliw. '(Toucan tell from a man's looks that ho is pursuing some ono and trying to get even with him. There aro suggestions of Nero and i.'otospierro and Diocletian and thumlmcrews and racks allupand down tho features. Infernal artists with murderers' daggers have been cutting away at thut visage. The revengeful heart bos built Its perdition in tho re vengeful countenance. Disliguration of diatolie passion! But here comes another chisel to shape the countenance, and It is kind ness. There came a moving day and into her soul moved the whole family of Christian graces, with all their chil dren and grandchildren, and tho command- has come forth from the heavens that that woman's face shall to made to correspond with her supurb soul. Her entire face from ear to ear be comes tho canvas on'which all the best , artists of Heaven begin to put their finest strokes, and on the small com pass of that face are put pictures of ; sunrise over the sea, and angels of ; mercy going up and down ladders all 1 atlaah, and mountains of transfiguration I and noonday in Heaven. Kindness! It Is the most magnificent sculptor that 1 ever touched human countenance. Here comes another chisel, and that belongs to the old-fashioned religion. It 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 sayB: "Now let me go up to the windows and front gate of the face and set up some signal that I have taken possession of this castle. I will celebrate the victory by an il lumination that no one can mistake. I have made this man happy, and now I will make him look happy. I will draw the corners of his mouth as far up as they were drawn down. 1 will take the contemptuous curl away from the lip and nostril. I will make ,hls eyes flash and his cheeks glow at every mention of Christ and Heaven. I will make even the wrinkles of his lace look like furrows plowed for the harv est of joy. I will make what we call the 'crow's feet' around his temples suggestive that tho dove of peace has been alighting tnere." There may bo I signs of trout) e on tnat lace, dui trouble sanctified. There may be Bears of battle on that face, but they will be scars of campaigns won. Power of m Fare, "Now," says some one, "I know very good people who have no such religion in their faces." My friend, the reawn probably is that they wore not con verted until late in iifo. Wror'.d lines and sin had been at work with their chisels on that face for thirty or forty years, and Grace, the divine sculptress, has been busy with her chisel only five or ten years, l.o not bo surprised that Phidias and Greenoiigh with their fine chisels cannot in a short while remove all tho marks of tho stone mason's crowbar, which hits been busy there for a long while. I say to all tho young, if you would have sympathetic face, hopeful face, courageous face, cheerful face, kind face, at the earliest possible moment by the grace of God have planted in your soul sympathy and hope and courage and good cheer and kindness. No man over indulged a gracious feeling or was moved by- a righteous indignation or was stirred by a benevolent impulse but its effect was more orle-s indicated in tho coun tenance, while David noticed the phj .'i oguuimo effect, of a bad disposition when he Baid, "A wicked man harden eth bis face," and Jeremiah must have noticed it when ho said of tho cruel, "They have made their faces harder than a rock." Oh, the M)wer of tho human face! I warrant that you have known faces so magnetic and impressive that, thougli thev vanished long ago, they still hold you with a holy sjiell. How long since your child went? "Well," you say, "if she had lived sho would have been 10 years old now, or 0 or 'M years." Hut does not that infant face still have tender .supremacy over your entiro na ture? During many an eventide does it not look at you? In your dreams do you not see it? What a sanctifying, hallowing intluence it has been in your life! You can say in tho words of tho poet, "Better to have loved and lost than never to have lovod ut all." Or it may have been a sister's faco. Per haps sho was the invalid of the family, Perhaps she never went out except on very clear days, and then she had to to carried down the stairs to tho piu. za or for a short ride, but bIio was so patient and cheerful under it all. As that face looks at you through the years with what an elevated and heav enly emotion you are filled. Or was it a father's face? The storms of life had somewhat roughened it. A good deal of the brightness of tho eye hod been quenched, and tho ear was turned with the hand behind it in order to hear at all. But you remember that face so vividly that if vou wero an artist you could put it on canvas, and it would moan to you more than any face that Kembrandt ever sketched. That faco, though long ago veiled from human sight, is as plain in your mem ory oa though you this moment saw it moving gently forward and backward In tho rocking chair by tho stove in tho old farmhouse. Or was it your mother's face? A good mother's faco is never homely to her boys and girls. It is a "Madonna" in tho picture gallery of tho memory. What a sympathetic face it 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 cheek? Did you ever do a bad thing and a shadow did not cross it? Oh, it was a sweet faco! The spectacles with largo, round glasses through which sho looked at you, how sacredly they have toen kept In bureau or closet! Vour mother's face, your mother's smile, your mother's tears! What an overpower ing mernorv. Thoueh vou have como' Pen to midlife or old ago, how you would like just once more to bury-your face in her lup and have a good cry! But I cun tell you of a more sympa thetic and more' tender and more lov ing face than any of the fuce:s I have mentioned. "No, you cannot," says some one. I can, and I will. It is the face of Jesus Christ as ho was on earth and is now in Heaven. When prepar ing my lifo of Christ, entitled ' From Manger to Throne." I ransacked the art galleries and Krtfollos of the world to find a picture of our Saviour's face that might bo most expressive, and I saw It as Francesco Francia pulnted it In the sixteenth century, and as the emerald intaglio of the sixth century presented it, and as Leonardo da Vinci showed it in "The Last Sup per," and I looked in the Louvro, and tho Luxembourg, and the Vatican, and the Dresden, and the Berlin, and Nea politan, and London galleries for tho most inspiring faco of Christ,, and many of tho presentations were won derful for pathos and tnatesty and power and execution, but although I selected that by Ary Scheffer as in some respects the most expressive I felt as we all fool that our Christ has never yet been presented either in sculpture or painting, and that we will have to wait until wo rise to the upper palace, where we shall see Him as lie is. vYhat a gentle face it must have been to induce the babes to struggle out of their mother's arms into His arms! What an expressive face it must have toen when one reproving look of it threw stalwart Peter into a fit of tears! What a pleading face it must have toen to lead the psalmist in prayer to say of it, "Look upon the face of thine annointed!" What a sympathetic face it must have toen to encourage the sick woman who was beyond any belp from the doctor to touch the hem of His garment! What a suffering face it must have been when suspended on the perpendicular and horizontal pieces of the wood martyrdom, and His antagonist slapped tho pallid cheek with their rough hands and befouled it writh the saliva of their blasphemous lips! What a tremendous face it must nave been to lead St. John to describe it in the com ing judgment as scattering tho uni verse when ho says, "From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away." The Fare Omnipotent, O Christ! Once the Nazarene, but now tho celestial! Once of cross, but now of throne! Once crowned with stinging bramble, but now coroneted with the jewels of ransomed empires! Turn on'us Thy pardoning face and for give us, Thy sympathetic face and con sole us,Thy'Bufforing lace and have Thy atonement avail for us, J liy omnipotent la"e and rescue ua. Oh what a face I So sacred, so lacerated, so resplend ent, so overwhelmingly glorious that tho seraphim put wing to wing and with their conjoined pinions keep off some of tho luster that is too mighty even for eyes cherubic or angelic, and yet this morning turning upon us with a sheathed splendor like that with which He appeared when He said to the mothers bashful about presenting their chil dren, "Suffer them to como," and to the poor waif of the street, "Neither do I condemn thee," and to the eyes of tho blind besrgar of the wayside, "Bo opened." I think my brofner John, the returned foreign missionary, dying summer before last at Bound Brook, caught a glimpse of that face of Christ when in his dying hour my brother said, "ishall be satisfied when 1 awake In his likeness." 'And now unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and Hi Father. to mm be glory ana nonunion for ever and ever Amen and amen! Amen and amon! THE JUDGMENT DAY. A Nefcro Teacher's Description of What Will Happen On the Last Day. "The most wonderful sermon I ever heard," said a business man re cently, In conversation with a Pitta burg Dispatch reporter, "was deliv ered by a colored preacher in South Carolina, in a slave pen which was being utilized as a church shortly after the war, I happened to drop into this large gathering of colored people one night, and was informed that a new preacher was about to be tried. The minister arose back of a pulpit tbat had been Improvised from a barrel turned bottom upward, on which was a lighted candle stuck In a bottle. He. beaa to read the Bible, but stumbled at every word, spelling some throughout before pro nouncing them. A man In the rear said, Go ahead with your sermon,' and the preacher coased reading. He stood up at full length, and in the dim flickering light of the lone candle looked .more like an appari tion than a man. His subject was 'The Judgment.' Here came in that wonderful Imaginative quality for which the colored race is noted. In going atout during the war he had become Imbued with the military spirit, 90 he b gan by giving a vivid word picture of the hosts of heaven lying in their tents asleep the night before the judgment day. Then he worked up to a point where the bugle sounded to prepare for the decent up on the sinful world. Ho pictured the heavenly hosts hurriedly running out of their tents to form In line of bat tle with the Great Commander in front Then he described the still ness that reigned when all was ready, awaiting the command to advance. By tills time the whole congregation, Including myself, were sitting with nerves strained, excited In the ex treme, and as the preacher described the tramp, tramp of the mighty host approaching the earth, I saw several members, terrified, get down under the benches. He then followed a courier coming from the distance, who reported 'Death on a white horse' as having appeared lar awav. When the preacher described the Command er detailing a squad of his soldiers to Oo capture Death,' a terrified groan came from the audience. Finally he brought the armv of heaven down to earth lust before daybreak, aod had them resting on their arms, awaiting Gabriel's trumpet. Ho pictured at length how quiet everything was, then putting his band to his mouth he imitated the bugle call, which so terrified and completely unstrung his audience that the greater portion of it arose hurriedly and rushed out of the building. In all mv life I have never heard a sermon that had such a startling effect upon a congrega tion." CAREKUM.Y observe a man who Is particularly bright, and you will latch blm at something particular! y weak. THE COMMERCIAL BANK. ESTABLISHED 1688.1 Harrison, B. I. BuwsTut, President. D. H. ORISWOLD, Cashisr. AUTHORIZED CAPITAL. $5,0 000. Transacts a General CORRESPONDENTS: AurtBiOAX Exchange National Bank, New York, Ift'TKD States National Bank. Omaha, First National Bane, Cbadroa. Interest Paid on Time Deposito. tWDRAPTS SoLD ON ALL PARTS OF EUBOPE. THE PIONEER Phar macy J. E. PHINNEY, Proprietor. Pure Drugs, Medicines, Paints. Oils and Varnishes. W ARTISTS' MATERIAL. School Supplies. Prescriptions Carefully Compounded Day or Night. SIMMS & SMILEY, Harrison, Nebraska, Real Estate Agents, Have a number of bargains in i choice land in Sioux county. Parties desiring to buy or sell real estate should not fail to call on them. School Lands leased, taxes paid for non-residents; farms rented, oto. CORRESPONDENTS SOLICITED. Nebraska. c. F. Com, Vioe-Pridin Banking Business. QTBBUUIS. i i at x A. n