Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-08-02

] uaTNblOuSly COuSlTuCltu Has Ouo uluSClC
to lift the eye, and another muscle to
lower the eye, and another muscle to
roll it to the right, and another muscle
to roll it to the left, and another muscle
passing through a pulley to turn it
round and round-an elaborate gearing
Of six muscles as perfect as God could
make them. There also is the retina,
gathering the rays Of light and passing
the visual impression along the optic
nerve, about the thickness Of the lamp
wick-passing the visual impression on
to the sensorism and on into the soul
What delicate lens, what an exquisite
screen, what soft cushions what Won
derful chemistry Of the human eyel The
eye, washed by slow stream Of mois-
ture whether we sleep or wake, rolling
imperceptibly over the pebble Of the eye
and emptying into bone of the nostril
A contrivance so wonderful that it can
see the sun, 80, 900, 600 miles away, and
the point Of a pin. Telescope and mi
,roscOpe in the same contriyance. The as
ronomer swings and moves this way
and that and adjusts and readjusts the
telescope until he gets it to the right TO-
Gus. The microscopic moves thisway and
chat and adjusts and readjusts the mag
nifying glass until it is prepared to do its
work, but the human eye, without
touch, beholds the star and the smallest
insect The traveller among the Alps,
with one glance taking in Mont Blanc
and the face of his watch to see whether
he has time to climb it.
The Tear Glands.
Oh, this wonderful camera obscura
which you and carry about with us, SO
today we can take in our friends, so
from the top of Mount Washington we
can take in New England, so at night
we can sweep into our vision the con-
stellations from horizon to horizon. So
delicate, so semi-infnite, and yet the
light coming 80, 1000, 600 of miles at the
rate of 200, 900 miles a second is obliged
to halt at the gate Of the eye, waiting
for admission until the pOrtcullis be
lifted. Something hurled 90, 900, 900 Of
miles and striking an instrument which
has not the agitation Of even winklng
under the power Of the stroke There
also is the merciful arrangement Of the
tear gland, by which the eye is washed,
and from which rolls the tide which
brings the relief that comes in tears
when some bereavement or great loss
strikes us. The tear not an augmenta-
ton Of sorrow, but the breaking up OF
the arctic Of frozen grief in the warm
gulf stream Of consolation. Incapacity to
weep is madness or death. Thank God
for the tear glands, and that the crystal
gates are so easily opened. Oh, the won
derful hydraulic apparatus Of the hu-
man eve Divinely constructed vision
Two lighthouses at the harbor OF the
immortal soul, under the shining Of
which the world sails in and drops
anchor! What an anthem Of praise to
God is the human eye The tongue is
speechless and a clumsy instrument OF
expression as compared with it. Have
you not seen it flash with Indignation, or
kindle with enthusiasm, or expand with
devotion, or melt with sympathy, or
stare with fright, or leer with villainy,
or droop with sadness, or pale with
envy, or fire with revenge, or twinkle
with mirth, or beam with love? 1t is
tragedy and comedy and pastoral and
lyric in turn. Have you not seen its up
lifted brow Of surprise, or its frown OF
wrath, or its contraction Of pain? If the
eye say one thing and the lips say an
other thing, you believe the eye rather
than the lips
The eyes Of Archibald Alexander and
Charles G. Finney were the mightiest
part Of their sermon. George Whitefeld
enthralled great assemblages with his
eyes, though they were crippled with
strabismus. Many military chieftain
has with a look hurled a regiment to
victory or to death. Martin Luther turn
ed his great eye on an assassin who came
to take his life, and the villain fled.
Under the glance Of the human eye the
tiger. with five times mans strength,
snarls back into the African jungle.
But those best appreciate the value OF
the eve who have lost it. The Emperor
Adrian by accident put out the eye OF
his servant, and he said to his servant:
what shall 1 pay you in, money or In
lands? Anything you ask me. l am SO
sorry I put your eye out. " But the serv-
ant refused to put any financial estimate
ON the value Of the eye, and when the
emperor urged and urged again the mat
ter be said, "Oh, emperor, want moth
ing but my lost eye" Alas for those
for whom a thick and impenetrable veil
is drawn across the face Of the heavens
and the face of ones own kindred. That
was pathetic scene when blind man
lighted a torch at night and was found
passing along the highway, and some
one said, "Why do you carry that torch,
! whom Won can't see?' "Ah," said he,
"I can't see, but carry this torch that
others may see me and pity my helpless
ness and not run me down" Samson,
the giant, with his eyes put out by the
Philistines, is more helpless than the
smallest dwarf with vision undamaged.
All the sympathies Of Christ were stirred
when he saw Bartimeus with darkened
retina, and the only salve he ever made
that we read Of was a mixture OF dust
and saliva and prayer, with which he
cured the eyes Of man blind from his
nativity. The value Of the eye is shown
as much by its catastrophe as by its
healthful action. Ask the man who for
30 years has not seen the sun rise. Ask
the man who for half century has not
seen the face Of friend. Ask in the
hospital the victim Of ophthalmia Ask
the man whose eyesight perished in a
powder blast. Ask the Bartimeus who
never met a Christ or the man born
blind who is to die blind. Ask him.
This morning in my imperfect way,
have only hinted at the splendors, the
glories, the wonders. the divine reveia-
tions. the apocalypses Of the human eye,
and stagger back from the awful por-
tails Of the physiological miracle which
must have taxed the ingenuity Of God,
to cry out in your ears the words OF my
text, HE that formed the eye, shall he
not see?' Shall Herschel not know as
much as his telescopei Shall Fraunhofer
not know as much as his spectroscopel
a...~. ~.raIa