Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-05-15


solace, or the wayward reform at the call
of prayer have seen it; multitudes have
seen it, You have, if you have been willing
to see it, Deride not the faith cure. Be
cause impostors attempt it is nothing
against good men whom God hath honored
with marvellous reservations. Pronounce
nothing impossible to prayer and trust.
Because you and / cannot effect it is no
reason why others may not. BY she same
argument could prove that Raphael never
painted a Madonna, and that Mendelssohn
never wrote an oratorio, and that Phidias
never chiseled statue. Because we cannot
accomplish it ourselves, we are not to con-
clude that others may not. There are in
immensely great ranges of mists which
have proved, under closer telescope scru-
tiny, to be the store house of worlds, and
do not know but from that passage in
James, which to some of us is yet misty
and dim, there may roll out new heaven
and new earth: ''The prayer of faith shall
save the sick" The faith curists may, in
this war against disease, be only skirmish-
ing before general engagement, in which
all the maladies of earth shall be routed.
Surely allopathy and homeopathy and ny
dropathy and eclecticism need REINFORCE
ment from somewhere. Why not from the
faith and prayer of the consecrated? The
mightiest school of medicine may yet be
the school of Christ do not know but
that diseases now by all schools pronounced
incurable may give way under gospel bonn
bardment / do not know but that the day
may come when faith and prayer shall
raise the dead Strauss and Woolston and
Spinoza and Hume and Schleiermacher re-
jected the miracles of the far past. do
not propose to be like them and reject the
miracles of the far future This know
the Christ of Ascension day is mightier
than any natural laws, for on the day Of
which | speak he trampled down the
strongest of them all Law is mighty, but
he who made it is mightier Drive out ia
talism from your theology, and give grace
the throne.
cHRIsTs GESTURES.
Standing today on the Ascension peak of
Mount Olivet | am also gladdened at the
closing gesture, the last gesture Christ
ever made. "He lifted up his hands and
blessed them" says the inspired account of
our Lords departure. | am so glad lie
lifted up his hands. Gestures are often
more significant than words, attitudes than
arguments. Christ had made gesture of
contempt when with his finger he wrote
on the ground; gesture of repulsion when
he said, Get thee behind me, Satan;"
gesture of condemnation when he said,
Woe unto you, Pharisees and hypocrites y
But his last gesture, his Olivetic gesture,
is a gesture of benediction. He lifted up
his hands and blessed them. His arms are
extended, and the palms of his hands turn
ed downward, and so he dropped bene-
diction upon 0livet, benediction upon Pal
estine, benediction upon all the earth.
The cruel world took him in at the start
on a cradle Of straw, and at last thrust
him out with the point of the spear; but
benedietionl Ascending until, beneath, he
saw on one side the Bethlehem where they
put him among the cattle, and Calvary on
the other side, where they put him among
the thieves. As far rs the excited and in
tensified vision of the group on Olivet could
see him, and after he was so far up they
could no longer hear his words. they saw
the gesture of the outspread hands, the
benediction. And that is his attitude today
His benediction upon the worlds climates,
and they are changing, and will keep on
changing until the atmosphere shall be a
commingling of October and June. Bene-
diction upon the deserts till they whiten
with lily, and blush with rose, and yellow
with cowslip, and emerald with grass.
Benediction upon governments till they
become more just and humane. Benedic
ton upon nations till they lneel in prayer
Benediction upon the whole earth until
every mountain is an Olivet of conservation,
and every lake Galilee on whose mosaic
of crystal, and opal, and sapphire divine
splendors shall walk.
Oh, take the benediction of his pardon,
sinners young and sinners old, sinners
moderate and sinners abandoned. Take
the benediction of his comfort all We
broken hearted under bereavement and pri-
walton and myriad woes. Take his bene-
diction, all We sick beds, whether under
acute spasms of pain or in long protracted
invalidism. For orphanage, and childless-
ness, and widowhood a benediction. For
cradles and trundle beds and rocking chairs
of octogenarians, a benediction For life
and for death, for time and for eternity, for
earth and for heaven. benediction. Sub
FINEST gesture ever made the last gesture
of our ascending Lord. And he lifted up
his hands and blessed them"
THE WORLD WANTS KINDNESS.
Is our attitude the sameg Is it the
clenched fist or the open palm? Is it wrath
or is it kindnesss Is it diabolism or Christ
ismg God give US the grace of the open
palm, open upward to get the benediction,.
open downward to pronounce Denedic
ton. A lady was passing along a street
and suddenly ran against a ragged boy,
and she said: 81 beg your pardon, my boy,
did not mean to run against you; l am
very sorry" And the boy took off the
piece of cap he had upon his head and
said: you have my parding, lady, and you
may run agin me and knock me clear down;
| won't care" And turning to a comrade
he said: THAT nearly took me off my feet.
Nobody ever asked my parding before. "
Kindnessl Kindnessl Fill the world with
it. There has always been too much of
disregard of others. Illustrated in 1880, in
England, when 5000 acres of marshes
were drained for health and for crop rails
ing, and the sportsmen destroyed the
drainage works because they wanted to
keep the marshes for hunting ground,
where they could shoot wild ducks.
The same selfishness in all ages. Oh, for
kindness that would make our life SYM
phony suggestive of one of the ancient ban
quets where everything was set to music;
IL