Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-02-02

have SO long kept thrust into pockets
through Incidence or folded ln indsfYer-
ence or employed I'm writing wrong
things or doing mean things or hea wing
up obstacles I'm the way OF righteous
progress might from this hour be con-
secrated TO helping others out and up
and on. they would be hands worth
being raised on the resurrection morn
and worth clappins In eternal gladness
over n world redeemed
The great artists OF the ages-Ra-
phael aud Leonardo ia vinci and
Quentin Matsys and Rembrandt and
Albert Durer and Titlan-have done
their best In picturing the face OF
Christ. but none except AIRY Scheffer
seems to have put much stress upon
the hand OF Christ. Indeed. the mercy
OF that hand. the gentleness of that
hand. Is beyond all artistic portrayal.
Some OF his miracles be performed by
word of mouth and without touching
the subject before him. but most of
them he performed through the hand
Was the dead damsel to be raised to
life? 'He took her 10y the hand" Was
the blind man to have optic nerve re-
stored? HE took him by the hand"
Was the demon TO be exercised from n
suffering man? He took him by the
hand" The people saw this and be
sought him to put his hand upon their
afflicted ones.
The Lords Sympathy.
His own hands free. see how the
Lord sympathized with the man who
had lost the use of his band. Ii was n
case OF atrophy, wasting away until
the arm and hand had been reduced In
size beyond any medical or surgical
restoration. Moreover, II was his right
hand. the most important OF the two
for the left side in all its parts is weak
er than the right side. aud we inyolun-
tarily in any exigency put out the right
hand because we know II Is the best
hand. So that poor man had lost more
than half of his physical armament
1t would not have been so bad il It
had been the left hand. But Christ
looked at that shriveled up right hand
dangling uselessly at the mans side
and then cried out with n voice that
had omnipotence In Il. "Stretch forth
thy hand" and the record is, 'He
stretched ii forth whole as the other"
The blood rushed through the shrunk-
en- veins, and the shortened muscles
heightened. and the dead nerves thrill
ed, and the lifeless fingers tingled with
resumed circulation, and the restored
man held up I'm the presence of the
skeptical pharisees one OF Jehovahs
masterpieces. n perfect hand. No Won
der that story Is put three times I'm the
Bible, so that II sailor were cast
away on a barren island or n soldiers
New Testament got mutilated In battle
and who'e pages are destroyed the
shipwreckej or wounded man In hos
pital would probably have at least one
OF those three radiant stories OF what
Christ thought of the human hand.
How often has the hand decided n
destinyl Mary, queen OF Scots, was
escaping from Imprisonment at Loeb
lever in the dress OF laundress and
had her face thickly yelled. When n
boatman attempted TO remove the veil.
she put up her hand 90 defend II and
SO revealed the white and fair hand of
queen. and SO the boatman took her
back 10 captivity. Again and again IL
has been demonstrated that the hand
hath n language rs certainly as the
mouth. Palmistry. or the science by
which character and destiny are read
In the lines OF the hand. Is yet crude
and uncertain and unsatisfactory. but
as astrology was the mother OF astron.
omy and alchemy was the mother OF
chemistry Il may be that palmistiy
will result In n science yet TO be born.
Again. as the chief executive officer
OF the soul. behold the hand busy In
the arts. What comparatively duh
place this world would be without pic.
lures. without statuary. without music.
without Architectural Have you ever
hallzed what 80 seeming miracles are
in the Eve minutes lingering OF piano
or harp or flute? Who but the eternal
God could make hand capable of that
swift sweep OF the keys or that quick
feeling OF the pulses OF flute or the
twirl OF the fingers amid the strings OF
the harp? All the composers OF music
who dreamed out the oratorios and the
cantatas OF the ages would have had
Their work dropped fat and useless but
for the translations OF the hand. I'm
der the deft fingers OF the performer
what cavalries gallop and what bat.
teries boom and what birds carol aud
what tempests march and what oceans
billowl Tie great architects OF the
earth might have thought out the Al.
hambras and the Parthenoas and the
81. Sophias and the Tai Mahals. but all
those visions would have vanished had
IL not been for the hand on hammer, on
plummet, on trowel. on wall. on arch.
on pillar, on stairs. ON dome.
The Triumphant Hand.
In two dlscourses, one concerning the
ear and the other concerning the eye. l
spoke from the potent text In the
Psalms. HE that planted the ear. shall
he not hearT' and HE that formed the
eye. shall he not seer" but what use In
the eye and what use In the ear II the
hand had not been strung with all It's
nerves and moved with all Its muscles
ana reuculated with all Its joints aud
strengthened with oil Its boues and
contrived with all Its lngenuiticsl The
hand hath forwarded nll the arts ana
tunneled the mountains through which
the rail- train thunders and launched
all the shipping and fought all the bat
ties and built all the temples and
swung all the cables under the sea as
well as lifted TO midalr the wire tracks
on which whole trains Of thought rush
across the continents and built all the
cities and hoisted the pyramids.
Do not eulogize the eye and ear at
the expense OF the hand, for the eye
may be blotted out, as In the case of
Milton, and yet his hand writes a
Paradise Lost" or Samson Ago
nistes;" as in the case OF William II.
Prescott. and yet his hand may write
the enchanting Conquest of Peru"
Or the ear may be sslenced forever, as
In the case of Beethoven, and yet his
hand may put into immortal cadences
the Ninth Symphony" Oh. the hand!
The God fashioned handl The trsum.
plant hand! 1t is an open Bible OF di-
vine revelation. and the FIVE fingers
N NSar n. a.