The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1897-03-06

the world could afford to forgive his oddi-
ties And the world could now afford to
have another Earl Of BridgcSvater, how
ever idiosyncratic, il he would induce some
other Sir Charles Bcll to write book on
the wisdom and goodness Of God in the
construction Of the human foot The ar
ticulation of its ICncs, the fabrication OF
Its joints, the gracefulnoSs of its lines, the
ingenuity of its cartilages the delicacy OF
its veins, the rapidity OF its muscular con-
traction, the sersitivcness of its nerves.
Apostrophe to the Foot
] sound the praises of the human foot
With that we halt or climb CT march. /,
is tho foundation Of the physical fabric. II
Is the base of u God Ioised column. With
it the warrior braces himself for battle.
With 1t the orator plants himself for eulo-
giun. With it the toilcr reaches his work.
With 1t the outraged stamps his indi gna-
ton. Its loss iIrcparahle disaster. Its
health IN invaluable equipment. If you
want to know its yelue, ask the man
whose foot paralysis hath shrivelcd, or
machinery hath crushed, OF surgeons
knife hath ampntatcd. The Bible honors
1T. Especial care LEST thou dash thy
foot against n stone, HE will not suffer
thy foot to be moved, :" "Thy feet shall not
stumble Especial charge, keep thy
Especial peril, "Thcir feet shall slide In
due time" Connected with the worlds
dissolution, HE shall got one foot ON the
sea and the other on tho earth"
Give me the history of your foot, and
will give you the history of your lifetime.
Tell me up what steps it hath gone, down
what decliyities and in what roads and in
what directions, and l viii know more
about you than / want to know. None Of
us could endure tho scrutiny. Our feet not
always in paths of God, sometimes in
paths Of worldlincss. Our feet a divine
and glorious machinery for usefulness and
work, so-often making missteps, SO often
going In the wrong direction. God know
ing livery step, the patriarch saying,
"Thou settest print on the heels Of my
feet. Crimes of the hand, crimes OF tie
tongue crimes OF the eye, crimes of the
ear not worse than crimes of the foot. Oh,
we want the wings of humility to cover
the feet! Ought we not to go into self alb
negntion before the all searching, all scru-
tinizing, all trying eye Of Gods The ser
aphs do. How much more WEI with
twain be covered the feet
All this talk about the dignity OF hu-
man nature Is braggadocio and sin. Our
nature started ut the hand of God regal
but 1t has been pauperizeG. There Is u
well in Belgium which once had very pure
water, and it was stoutly ,nasoned with
stone and brick, but that we'll nfterward
became the center of the hattie If Water
loo. At the opening OF the battle the SOL
diers, with their 81, ,,'s compelled the gar
dener, William Won J. i~o,n, to draw WA
ter out of the we, :. +: them, and 1t was
| very pure water. Bt.l the battle ragged, and
| 800 dead and hnf q, nj were flung into the
| well for quick and easy burial, SO that the
4 well of refreshmcnt bcczlzne the well of
| death, and long after people looked down
| into the we'll, and they saw the blcached
| skulls, but no water. SO the human soul
| was well OF good, but the armies OF sin
have fought around II and fought across II
and been slain, and IT has become well
Of skeletons. Dead hopes, dead resolutions,
dend opportunities, deud ambitions. An
abandoned well unless Christ shall reopen
and purify and I'LL 1t as the well Of Bel
| gium never was. Unclcan, unclean.
Relic Vandals.
Another scrnphic posture In che text,
with twain h. covered the face" That
| means reverence Godward. Never so much
| irreTerencc abroad in the world as today.
You see it in the defaccd statuary, in tho
| cutting out Of figures from fine paintings,
| in the chipping of monuments for a me-
YncntO in the fact that military guard