The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1900-06-01

stored man held mp IN the presence OF
the skeptical Pharisee one Of Jehoyah's
masterpieces perfect hand. No won
der that story is put three times in the
Bible, so that il a sailor were cast away
on q barren island. or soldiers New
Testament got mutilated in battle and
whole pages are destroyed, the ship
wrecked OF wounded man in HOSPITAL
would probably have at least one of
those three radiant stories Of what
Christ thought of the human hand.
a pastor IN his sermon told how a
little child appreciated the value of
his hand when he was told that on
the morrow il must be amputated in or
der to save his life. Hearing that, lie
went TO quiet place and prayed that
God would spare his hand The sur
geon. coming the next day TO do his
work. found the hand SO much better
that amputation was postponed, and
the hand got well. The pastor, telling
of this in a sermon. concluded by hold
ing up his hand and saying: THAT is
the very hand that was spared in an
swer to prayer, and / hold it up, mon
ument Of Divine mercy"
Again, the hand is the chief execu-
tive officer of the soul when wrung in
agony. Tears of relief are sometimes
denied TO trouble. The eyelids at such
times are as hot and parched and burn
ing as the brow. At such time even
the voice is suppressed. and there is no
sob or outcry. Then the wringing Of
the hand tells the story. AT the close Of
life wasted in sin sometimes comes
that expression of the twisted fingers
the memory Of years that will never
return, of opportunities the like OF
which win never again occur and con-
science in its wrath pouncing upon the
soul and all the past a horror. only to
be surpassed by the approaching hor-
ror. So a man wrings his hands over
the casket Of a dead wife whom be has
cruelty treated. So a man wrings his
hands at the fate Of sons and daughters
whose prospects have been ruined by
his inebriety and neglect and depravity.
So the sinner Wrung his hands when
after a life full of offers of pardon and
peace and heaven he dies without hope.
When there are sorrows too poignant
for lameRtatiOn ON the lip and too hot
for the tear glands 90 write in letters
of crystal on the eheek, the hand re-
cites the tragedy with more emphasis
than anything in Macbeth and King
Lear
Worse than the wringing Of the
hands was the punishment that Gran
mer gave his right hand when he put il
in the fire of the stake and without
finching said: "Forasmuch as my
hand offended in writing contrary TO
my heart, my hand shall therefore be
the first punished. It shall be the first
burned. This was the hand that wrote
IT,"
OF course there is a wicked shak-
ing Of hands. aud Solomon refers 70 1t
wAgu be says, Though hand joan IN
hand. ne wieksd shall not be unpun-
ished.- Shake hands in conspiracy TO
damage individual or community or ma
ton. shake hands 10 defFaud, shake
hands 10 stand by each other in wrong
doing. You help me stun this bal
lot box. and / will see that when l am
IN power YOU shall have promotion.
You help me in my infamy, and viii
help you In your infamy. Oh, that is
PROCLAMATION Of a holy rite; that is sac
rilege against a Divine arrangement;
that is gripping your own destruction.
PLATE and Herod, though antagonists
before. shook hands over Christs pro-
iected assassination.
But shake hands the way William
Penn shook hands with the Indians
for their civilization. Shake hands the
way Missionary Carey shook hands
with the Hindoos, for whose salvation
he became a lifetime exile. Shake
hands the way Havelock shook hands
with besieged women at Lucknow
whom he had come TO save from mas
sacre. Shake hands as David Brainerd
did with the American Indians whom
he offered a glorious Heaven through
the Gospel Shake hands as Lincoln
shook hands with the agitated mother
10 whom he gave back the boy who
had fallen asleep from overfaugue as
n sentinel. Shake hands as during the
civil war Anna Ross shook bands with
the wounded soldier in Cooper shop
hospital. Philadelphia. Shake hands as
Van Meter, the city evangelist, shook
hands with the waif Of the street COM
ing penitent into the midnight mis-
sion. Shake hands as heaven shook
hands with earth that night when a
doxology in the gallery Of clouds woke
the Bethlehem shepherds
But IL Is not always in such glad
greeting that we can employ our right
hand. AIS. that so often we have TO
employ the hand in farewell saluta-
tion. If your right hand retained
some impress of all such uses, it would
be volume of bereavements. Oh, the
good-bys in which your right hand has
participated Good-by at the steam
boat wharf. Good-by at the rail train
window. Good-by before the opening
of the battle. Good-by at the dying
pillow. We all needed grace for such
handshaking, though our hand was
strong and their hand was weak and
wewill need grace for the coming good
bys. and that grace we had better seek
while amid the felicities of health and
homes unbroken Thank God, there
will be no good-by in Heaven.
Again. the hand is the chief executive
l ..I.... .r..rIn.nd In hnnfdi in.