The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-06-05

derstand it.
Volumes have been written of the hand.
Wondrous instrument! With 1t we give
friendly recognition, and grasp the sword,
and climb the rocks and write and carve
and build. 1t constructed the pyramids and
hoisted the Parthenon. 1t made the harp,
and then struck out of it all the worlds
minstrelsy. In it the white marble Of PEN
telican mines dreamed itself away into I'M
mortal sculpture. It reins in the swltt
engine: it holds the steamer to its path IN
the sea: it snatcheS the fire from heaven:
It feels the pulse of the sick child with its
delicate touch, and makes the nations quake
with its stupendous achievements. :,
What power brought down the forests ana
made the marshes blossom, and burdened the
earth with all the cities that thunder on
Hjth entarprise and power? Four fingers
end a thumb. A hundred million dollars
would not purchase for you a machine as e1'
ouisite and wonderful as your own hand.
MIGHTY handl In all its bones and muscles
and Joints learn that God IS good.
Behold tho eye, which in its Photographic
e,allerv TN an instant catches the mountain
and the sea. This perpetual telegraphng
of the nerves; these joints, that are the only
hinges that do not wear out; these bones ana
muscles Of the body with fourteen Thousand
different adaptations; these one hunureu
thousand glands; these two hundred ml1ion
pores; this mysterious heart, contracting 1ouf
thousand times every hour; this chemical
process Of digestion; this laboratory, beyond
the understanding Of the most skillful philos-
ophy; this furnace whose heat is kept up
from cradle to grave; this factory of life,
whose wheels and spindles and bands are
God directed. If we could realize the Won
ders of our physical organization we would
be hypochondriacs, fearing every moment
that some part Of the machine would break
down. But there are men here who have
lived through seventy years, and not nerve
has ceased to thrill. or muscle to contract,
or lung to breathe, or hand to manipu-
late.
take step higher and look at mans
mental constitution. Behold the benev-
olence Of God in powers OF perception, as the
faculty of transporting this outside world
into your own Misunderstanding into your
brain the majesty of the storm and the
splendor Of the day dawn, and lifting into
your mind the ocean as easily as you might
put glass Of water to your lips.
Watch the lew Of association, or the mys-
ferrous linking together of all you ever
thought or knew or felt and then giving you
the power to take hold OF the clew line and
draw through your mind the long train with
indescribable velocity-one thought startlng
UP hundred and this again thousand-as
the chirp Of one bird sometimes wakes a
whole forest Of voices. or the thrum or one
string will rouse an orchestra.
Watch your memory-that shesf binder,
that goes forth to gather the harvest OF the
past and bring it into the present. Your
bower and velocity Of thought-thought OF
the swift wing and the lightning foot;
thought that outspeeds the star aud circles
through the heavens and weighs worlds,
and, from posing amid wheeling constelIa'
tions, comes down to count the blossoms IN
tuft OF mignonette, then starts again to ny
the fathoming Of the bottomless, and the
scaling Of the insurmountable, to be swal
lowed up in the incomprehensibie and lost IN
God,
In reason and understanding man Is alone.
The OK surpasses him in strength, the ante.
lope in speed, the hound in keenness OF nos.
tril, the eagle in far reaching sight, the rab-
bit in ouickness Of hearing. the honey bee
in delicacy Of tongue, the spider In hneness
of touch. Mans power, therefore, consist
eth not in what he can lift, or how fast he
can run, or how strong a wrestler he can
throw-for in these respects the OK, the os
trich and the hyena are his superiors-but
by his reason he comes forth to rule all;
through his ingenious contrivance to outrun,
outlift, outwrestle, outsee, outhear, outdo.
At his all conquering decree the forest
that has stood for ages step aside to let him
build his cabin and cultivate his farm. The
sea which has raved and foamed upon the
race has become crystal pathway for COM
merce to march on. The thunder cloud that
slept lazily above the mountain Is made to
come down and carry mail bags. Man, dis
satisfied with his slowness OF advancement,
and liftr' Come and draw" Come and
helpm And they answered, "Aye, aye, we
come" and they Joined hands-the fire and
tae water-and the shuttles fly, and the rail
train rattles on, and the steamship comes
coughing, painting, flaming across the deep.
He elevates the telescope to the heavens,
and as easily as through the stethoscope the
physician hears the movement OF the lung,
the astronomer catches the pulsatlon or dill
ferent systems of worlds throbbing with
life. He takes the microscope, and discov.
ers that there are hundreds Of thousands OF
snimacule living, moving, working, dying
within circle that could be covered with
the point of pin-animals to which q rain
drop would be an ocean, rose Leaf heml.
sphere, and the flash Of firehy lasting
enough to give them light to several genera
tions.
I take step higher and look at mans
moral nature. Made in the image OF God.
Vast capacity for enjoyment; capable at frst
Of eternal JOY, and though now disordered,
still, through the cuperative force OF
heavenly grace, able to mount up to more
than its original felicity; faculties that may
blossom and bear fruit inexhaustibly. I'm.
mortality written upon every capacity;
soul destined to range in unlimited spheres
OF activity long after the world has put on
ashes and the solar system shall have
snapped its axle, and the stars that, in their
courses, fought against Sisera, shall have
been slain and buried amid the tolling
thunders of the last day.
You see that God has adapted everything
to our comfort and advantage. Pleasant
things for the palate; music for the ear;
beauty for the eye; aroma for the nostril;
kindred for our affections; poetry for our
taste; religion for our soul. We are put II
a garden, and told that from all the trees
we may eat, except here and there one.
He gives the sun to shine on us, and the
waters to refresh us and food to strengthen
us; and the herbs yield medicine when we
are sick, and the forests lumber when VIZ
would build house or cross the water In 9
ship.
The rocks are transported for our foun.
dation, and metals upturned for our cur.
rency, and wild beasts must give US cover
ing, and the mountains must be tunneled
TO let us pass, and the fish Of the sea come
up in our net. and the birds OF the air drop
at the Hash OF our guns and the cattle on q
thousand hills come down to give US meat
For us the peach orchards bend down their
fruit and the vineyards their purple clusters
TO feed and refresh our intellect, ten thou
sand wonders in nature and providence.
wonders Of mind and body, wonders OF
earth and air, and deep analogies ard anti
theses, all colors and sounds, lyrics in the
air, idyls in the field, confasrations in the
sunset, robes OF mist on the mountains and
the "Grand March" of God in the storm.
Butlu the soul still higher adaptation
fountain in which it may wash; ladder
by which it may climb; song Of endless