The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-26

darkened retina, and the only saiye he
ever made we read OF was z mfStur
Of dust and saliva and a pray e 18th
which he cured the eyes Of a IA nd
from his nativity. n value o. IN eye
shown as much by its cats as
by its healthful action. Ask ne .4an
who for twenty years has mo- SEN h
sun rise. Ask the man who IT r If
a century has not seer the f-ce G a
friend. Ask in the hospital %Ac vlc.m
Of ophthalmia. Ask the man whose
ask the BaTtimeus who never met a
Christ or the man born blind who is
TO die blind. Ask him.
JOHN MILLIONS SACRIFICE.
How IL adds to John Millions sublim-
ity Of character when we find him at
the call Of duty sacrificing his eye
sight. Through studying at late hours
and trying all kinds of m~edicament to
pres erve his sight he had for Il years
been coming toward blindness. and af-
to- while ere eye was entirely gone.
His physic. = warned him that il he
continued reading and writing he would
lose the other eye. But he kept on with
his work and said after sitting in total
darkness: THE choice lay before me
between dereliction of a supreme duty
and loss of eyesight. In such a case /
could not listen TO the physician, not if
Ae~sculapius himself had spoken from
his sanctuary. / could not but obey
that inward monitor. I know not VIII
spoke to me from heaven Who Of US
woul have grace enough to sacrifice
our eyes at the call of duty?
But, thank God, some have been ma
bled to see without very good eyes.
General Havelock, the son &C he -,0-a
famous General Havelock, too me this
concerning his father: In India, while
his father and himself, with the army,
were encamped one evening time after
a long march, General Havelock cal,..1
up his soldiers and addressed them,
saying in words as near as l can recoi
lect: Soldiers, there are two or three
hundred women, children and men at
CaWnpur ait the mercy of Mana Sdhlb
and his butchers. Those poor people
may any hour be sacrificed. How many
of you will go with me for the rescue
of those women and children? 1 know
you are all worn out, and SO am 1, but
all those who will march with me to
save those women and children hold
up your hand" Then Havelock said:
1T is almost dark, and my eyesight IS
very poor, and / cannot see your raised
hands, but 1 know they are all UP.
Forward to Cawnpur,." hat her.
eyes, though almost eNtinguished in The
service of God and his country, could
see across India and across the Ten
turtles. But let anybody who has n
good eye be thankful, and all who have
two good eyes be twice as thankful.
Take care of your eyes and thank God
every morning when you open them for
capacity to see the light. 1 90 not Won
der at the behavior of a poor man IN
France. He had been born blind, but
was a skillful groom in the stables.
A sugeon, riding up n evening,
gave his horses into the care of the
BLIND room Late at night the traV-
cling surgeon went to the stables n
found the groom still at work upon the
horses, and the grateful and sympa-
thetic surgeon resolved in the MORN
ing to reward the blind groom with
money. But in the night the surgeon
bethought himself that perhaps he
could give the groom something better
than money. In the morning he said
to the blind groom step out into the
sunshine! You are 40 years Of age. I
could surely have cured your blindness
if I had seen you sooner, but come to
Paris, n I will give you sight it you
do not die under e peration." Pay
ing the poor mans way to Paris, the
operation was successful. For the first
time the man saw his wife and chill
dren, and having taken a good look at
them he turned and said, Let me look
III lily 1TlGIlu llc SuIS6O III lldS
opened all this beautiful world to me
and shown me my loved ones" Was
not that glorious? Only those who
have been restored from utter blindness
can appreciate the omnipitent blessing
Of eyesight.
THE ALL SEEING EYE.
The. Earl of Bridgewater, in his last
will and testament, b~equeathed $40, 600
for essays to be written on the power
and wisdom and goodness of God as
manifested in creation, n Sir Charles
Bell, the British surgeon fresh from
Coruna and Waterloo, where he had
been tending the wounded and study
ing the formation Of the human body
amid the amputating horrors of the
battlefield, accepted the invitation to
write one of hose Brigewater treatises,
and he wrote his book OF the human
hand, a book that will live as long as
the world lives. Today I have only
limited ait the s~plendors, the glories, the
wonders, the divine revelations the
apocalypse, of the human eye, and I
stagger back from the awful ortals of
the physiological miracle which must
have taxed the ingenuity of a God to
cry out in your airs the words Of my
text, He that formed the eye, shall
he not seq" Shall Herschel not know
as much as his telescope? Shall
Fraunhofer not know as much as his
spectroscope? Shall Swammerdam not
know as much as his microscope? Shall
DR.. Hooke not know as much as his
micrometer? Shall the thing formed
know more than its maker? He that
formed the eye, shall he not seq"
The recoi, this question is tremen-
dous. We stand ait the center of a vast
circumference of observation. No priva
cy. On Us eyes of cherubim, eyes Of
seraphim, eyes Of archangel, eyes of
God. We may not be able to see the
inhabitants of other worlds, but per-
hapS they may be able to see US. We
have not optical instruments strong
enough to descry them. Perhaps they
a " optical instruments strong enough
to deScry us. The mole cannot see the
eagle in midair, but the eagle mid=kS
can see the mole midgraSs. We are
able to see mountains and caverns OF
another world, but perhaps the inhab-
itantS of other worlds al see the tow
ers Of our cities, the flash Of our cas-
the marching of our professions, the
white robes of our weddings, the black