The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-05-22


the burden on his own shoulders.
That was Christ-like. That was "a
hand under the wing.
In our time it is the habit to denounce J
the cities, and to speak of them as the /
perdition of all wickedness. Is it not |
time for someone to tell the other side
of the story and to say that the city is
the heaven of practical helpfulnessP
Look at the embowered and fountained
parks, where the invalids may come
and be refreshed; the Bowery mission,
through which annually over 100000
come to get bread for this life, and
bread for the life to come, all the pill.
lows of that institution under the bless
ing of Him who had not where to lay
His head; the free schools, where the
most impoverished are educated; the
hospitals for broken bones; the homes
for the restoration of intellects astray;
the orphan house, father and mother
to all who come under its benediction;
the midnight missions, which pour mid.
noon upon the darkened; the Prison Re-
form association; the house of mercy;
the infirmaries; the sheltering arms;
the aid societies; the industrial schools;
the sailors snug harbor; the founding
asylum; the free dispensaries, where
greatest scientific skill feels the pulse
of wan pauper; the ambulance, the
startling stroke of it's bell clearing the
way to the place of casualty; and good
souls like the mother who came to the
Howard mission, with its crowd Of
friendless boys picked up from the
streets, and saying: IF you have a
crippled boy, give him to me; my dear
boy died with the spinal complaint, "
and such a one she found and took
him home and nursed him till he was
well. 1t would take a sermon three
weeks long to do justice to the mighty
things which our cities are doing for
the unfortunate and the lost. Do not
say that Christianity in our cities is all
show, and talk, and genuheXion, and
sacred noise. You have been so long
looking at the hand of cruelty, and the
hand of theft, and the hand of fraud
and the hand of outrage, that you have
not sufficiently appreciated the hand
of help, stretched forth from the doors
md windows of churches, and from
merciful institutions, the Christ-lil1t
hand, the cherubic hand, 1.-The hant
under the wings"
There is also in my subject the sug
gestion of rewarded work for God anC
righteousness. When the wing wen
the hand went. When the wing as
cended the hand ascended; and TO
every useful and Christian hand ther
will be elevation celestial and eternal
Expect no human gratitude, for it will
not come. That was wise thing Fen
elon wrote to his friend 81 am YER
glad, my dear, good fellow, that yo
are pleased with one of my letter
which has been shown to you. You ar
right in saying and believing that | as
little of men in general. try to d
much for them and to expect nothin
in return. l find decided advantag
in these terms. On these terms | def
them to disappoint me-" But, m
hearers, the day cometh when you
work, which perhaps no one has NJ
ticed, or rewarded, or honOred, wi
rise to heavenly recognition. While
have been telling you that the han
: was under the wing of the cherubim,
want you to realize that the wing wa
over the hand Perhaps reward ma
not come to you right away. Was
l ington lost more battles than he wol
E but he triumphed at the Lass. Waltz
= Scott, in boyhood was called ''Tl
Greek Blocl1head,' but what Height
renown did he not afterwards treaC
And | promise you victory further {
and higher up: if not in this worl
): then in the next. o, the heavenly di
=. when your lifted hand shall be glove
with what honors, its fingers enring'
with what Jewels, its wrist clasp
, with what splendors. Come up al
: take it, you Christian woman, wi
II served at the washtub Come I
II and take it, you Christian shoemake
= who pounded the shoelast. Come I
IL and take it. you profession
I nurse. whose compensation never ful
J. paid for broken nights and Il
II whims and struggles of delirious 81,
e rooms. Come up and take it, you fir
# men. besweated. far down amid Il
a greasy machinery of ocean steamer
: and We conductors and engineers I
u railroads. that know no Sunday, al
u whose ringing bells and loud whistl
~ never warned off your own anXietit
a Come up and take it, you mother
a who rocked and lullabied the fami
le brood until they took wing for 9th
St nests. and never appreciated what Y,
~ had done and suffered for them. Go
~ hand was well favored when you we
y Young, and it was beautiful hand,
10 well rounded, so graceful that mai
VI admired and eulogized it: but ha
in work calloused it, and twisted it, a
e, self-sacrificing toll for others pal
We 1t. and many household griefs thinn
es it, and the ring which went on on
ts with n push at the marriage alta
:. now is too large, and falls off, a
~ again and again you have lost it. Pc
III hand Weary hand! Worn-out har
n But God will reconstruct it, reanima
,st it, readorn it. and all Heaven will knt
lie the story of that hand. What fall
". ones it lifted! What tears it wir
or away! What, wounds it bandag'
Iis What lighthouses it kindled! WI
' IS storm-tossed ships it brought into I
y pearl -beached harbor! 0, | am 81
es' that in the vision Of my text Eek
Nv saw the wing above the hand. r
ir' on that everlasting rest for all
OF toiling, and misunderstood, and s
he fering, and weary children of God, a
{ know right well that to join your hal
an at last emancipated from the strugg
ay will he the soft hand the gentle hal