The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-10-17

!
s'Upon my honor, gentlemen, the load which
Quit is by far heavier than the one you see
me carry. The weightiest Is but straw
when compared to that world under which l
labored have slept more in four nights
than have during all my reign. l begin to
he a King myself. Elect whom you choose.
for me who am so we'll it would be madness
to return to court"
"Well.n saws somebody, "such overloaded
persons ought to be pitied, for their worrl-
ments are real and their insomnia and their
nervous prostration are genuine" l reply
that they could get rid Of the bothersome
surplus by giving it away. If man hrs
more houses than he can carry without
vexation let him drop few Of them. If his
estate is so great he cannot manage it with
ou. getting nervous dvsnepsia from having
too much, let him divide up with those
who have nervous dyspepsia because they
| cannot get enough. No! they guard their sixth
! finger with more care thnn they did fhe
original five. They 60 limp;ng with what
they call gout, and know not that, like the
giaut of my text. they are lamed by super
fiuous toe. A few of them by lrrge chari-
ties bleed themselves of this financial obesity
and monetary plethora, but many of them
hang on to the hindering superfluity till
death. and then as they are compelled to
! give the money up anyhow, in their last will
and testament they generously give some
of it to the Lord. expecting no doubt
that He will feel uuch obliged to
them Thank God that once in q while we
have Peter Cooper, who. owning an interest
! in the iron works at Trenton, said to MIR.
Lester: 81 do not fecl quite easy about the
amount we are making. Working under one
| Of our patents. we have q monopoly which
s,eins to me something wrong Everybody
has to come to Us for it and we
are making money too fast" So they
re luced the price. and this while our philan-
l,,.. Ire{ oh
mothers hundred Institutes Of kindness and
mercy all over the land. But the world had
to wait five thousand eight hundred years for
Peter Cooper. am glad for the benevolent
institut ons that get legacy from men who
during their life were rs stingy as death, but
who in their last will and testament bestowed
money on hospitals and missionary societies;
but for such testators I have no respect
They would have taken every cent of it With
them if they could, and bought up half Of
beaven and let it out at ruinous rent, or
loaned the money to celestial citizens at two
per cent. month and got a corner on harps
and trumpets They lived in this world
fifty or sixty years in the presence of appall-
ing suffering and want, and made no effort
for their relief The charities Of such people
are for the most part in ''paulo-post future"
tense and they are going to do them The
probability is that if such a one in his last
will by donation to benevolent societies
CTlpS 10 dpOIl6 LOT HIS llte-UltIlo ClOSe-DSLeu-
ness, the heirs at law will try to break tho
Will by proving that the old man was senile
or crazy, and the expense Of the litigation
will about leave in the lawyers hands what
was meant for the American Bible Society,"
Oye overweighted successful business men,
whether this sermon reach your ear or your
eye, let me say that if you are prostrated
with ax!eties about keeping or investing
these tremendous fortunes, I can tell you
how you can do more to get your health
back and yonr spirits raised than by
drinking gallons of bad-tasting water at
Saratoga, Homburg or Carlsbad give
to God and humanity and the Bible ten
per cent. of all your income, and it will make
a new man of you, and from restless walking
of the floor at night you shall have eight
hours sleep without the help of bromide of
potassium, and from no appetite you will
hardly be able to wait your regular meals.
and your wan cheek will ill up, and when
you die the blessings of those who but for
you would have perished will bloom all over
your grave with violets If it be spring, or
gladiolus. if it be autumn.
Perhaps some of you will take this advice,
but the most of you will not. And you will
try to cure your swollen hand by getting on
it more fingers, and your rheumatic foot by
getting on it more toes, and there will be
sigh of relief when you are gone out Of the
world: and when over your remains the min
lister recites the words: Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord" persons who have keen
appreciation of the ludicrous will hardly be
able to keep their face straight. But
whether in that direction my words do good
or not, I am anxious that all who have only
ordinary equipment be thankful for what
they have and rightly employ it. think
you all have fguratively as we'll as literally,
fingers enough. Do not long for hindering
superAuities. Standing in the presence OF
this fallen giant OF my text and in
this post-mortem examination OF him.
let us learn how much better OFF we
usual foot You have thanked God for
thousand things. but I warrant you never
thanked Him for those two implements of
work and locomotion, that no one but the
Infinite and Omnipotent God could have
ever planned or made, the hand and the foot
Only that soldier OF that mechanic who in a
battle or through machinery has lost them
knows anything about their value, and only
the Christian scientist can have any appre-
are Sir Charles Bell, she English
surgeon, on the battlefield Of Water
loo. while engaged in amputations
of the wounded was so impressed with the
wondrous construction OF the human hand
that when the Earl Of Brdgewater gave
forty thousand dollars for essays on the wis
dom and goodness of God, and eight books
were written, Sir Charles Bell wrote his en-
tire book on the wisdom and goodness Of
God as displayed in the human hand. The
twenty seven bones in hand and wrist with
cartiages and ligaments and phalanges OF
the fingers, all made just ready to knlt 10
sew, to build up. to pull down, to weave,
to write, to plow, to pound, to wheel, TO oat,
tie, to give friendly salutation. The tips OF
the fingers are so many telegraph Offices by
reason of their sensitiveness of tou:h. The
bridges, the tunnels, the cities Of the whole
earth are the victories Of the hand. The
hands are not dumb but often speak as dis
tinctly as the lips With our hands
we invite, we .repel, we invoke, we
antreat, We wiring them in grief or
aip psaseson ss On 0f or sRfean sem of ese
giants hand in the text glorites the usua!
hand. Fashioned of God more equisitely and
wondrousy than any human mechanism
that was ever contrived, l charge you use It
for God ana the lifting Of the world out Of
its moral predicarnent Employ it Ill the
sublime work of gospel handshakng. You
can see the hand is just made for that. -Four
fingers just set right o touch your neighbors
hand on one side and your thumb set so as to
clench it OIL the other side. BY allits bones, and
joints, and muscles, and cartilages, and liga-
ments the voice of nature joins with the
voice of God commanding yon to shake
hands. The custom is as old as the
Bible, anyhow. Jehu said to Jehonadeb:
rs thine heart right as my heart is with
When hands join in Christian salutation
gospel electricity thrills across the palm from
heart to heart, and from the shoulder Of one
to the shoulder of the other. Shake hands
all around. With the timid and for
their encouragement, shake hands. With
the troubled and in warm hearted sympathy,
shake hands. With the young man just en-
tarjnp husineSq and disroura oed at the