Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-02-02
FASHIONED BY GOD.
Or. TALMAeE ExTolS The WONDERS
or THE HUMAN HAND.
Our Physfcai Structure Proof az d.
vine Wisdom-The Extended Hand
the SYMBOL OF InGnite Mercy and
Love.

the symbol OF InGnite Mercy and
Love.
tcopyrlgbt. Louis Klopsch. 1901
WASHINGTON. Jan. 2S-The discourse
OF DR.. Talmage is a lesson OF gratitude
for that which none OF us fully appre-
ciate and shows the divine meaning In
our physical structure; text, l Corin-
thlans xii. 81. "The eye cannot say
unto the hand, have no need of thee"
These words suggest that some time
two very important parts of the human
body got into controversy, and the eye
became insolent and full or braggado-
clio and said: II am an independent
part of the human system. How far l
can see, taking In spring morning and
midnight auroral Compared with my
self what an Insignificant thing is the
human hand, look down upon IL.
There IL hangs, swinging ut the side, a
clump OF muscles and nerves. and II
cannot see an inch either way. Ii has
no luster compared with that which l
beam FORTH what senseless talk"
responds the hand. You. the eye.
would have been put out long ago but
for me. Without the food l have earn
ed you would have been sightless and
starved TO death years ago. You can
not do without me any better than l
can do without you" At this part of
the disputation Paul of my text breaks
in and ends the controversy by declar-
Ing, "The eye cannot say unto the
hand, / have no need of thee"
Fourteen hundred and thirty-three
times, as nearly as l can count 10y aid
OF concordan nee. does the Bible speak of
the human hand. We are all familiar
with the hand, but the man has yet to
be born who can fully understand this
wondrous instrument. Sir Charles
Bell. the English surgeon. came home
from the battlefield of Waterloo, where
he had been amputating limbs and
binding up gunshot fractures, and
wrote a book entitled ''The Hand: Its
Mechanism and Vital Endowments as
Evidenclng Design" But IL is so pro-
found n book that only scientist who
is familiar with the techuicalities of
anatomy and physiology can under
stand II.
So we are all going on opening and
shutting this divinely constructed In
strument. the hand. ignorant of much
OF the revelation II was intended TO
make OF the wisdom and goodness OF
God. You can see by their structure
That shoulder and elbow and forearm
are getting ready for the elimination
In the hand. There Is your wrist, with
its eight bones and their ligaments IN
two rows. That wrist, with It's bands
Of fbers and its hinged joint and turn
Ing on two axes-on the larger axis
moving backward and forward and Oh
the smaller axis turning nearly round.
And there is the palm OF your hand.
with It's Eve bones. each having n shaft
mud two Examinations. There are the
fingers OF that hand. with Ii bones,
each finger with Its curioIsly wrought
tendons. five Of the bones with ending
roughcncd for the Judgment OF the
nails. There Is the thumb. coming
from opposite direction TO meet the
fingers. so that In conjunction they
may clasp and hold fast that which
you desire 20 take. There are the long
nerves running from the armpit 10 the
90 muscles. so that all are under mas
terry. The whole anatomy OF your
hand as complex. as intricate. as sym.
metricol, as useful. as God could make
IL. What can IL not do? IL can climb.
IL can lift, IL can push. II can repel Il
can menace. IL can clutch. II can deny,
10 can affirm, II can extend. IL can
weave. II can tathe, IL can smlte. IL can
humble. II can exalt. IL can soothe. Il
can throw. 1t can defy. II can wave, II
can imprecate, IL can pray.
illustrates Divine Wisdom.
cl- lot - al.
blackboard or unrolled In diagram or
hung In medical museum Is nightly H.
Illustrative OF the divine wisdom and
goodness. but how much more pleasing
when In living action all Its nerves and
muscles and bones and tendons and
tissues and phalanges display what
God Invented when he invented the
human hand! Two specimens OF IL we
carry Mt our side from the time when
In Infancy we open them 10 take n toy
Till In the last hour OF n long life we
extend them In bitter farewell.
With the divine help shall speak OF
the hand as tho chief executive officer
or the soul. whether lifted for defense.
or extended for help. or busted in the
nrts. or offered I'm salutation, or wrung
In despair. or spread abroad In bene-
diction. God evidently Intended all
the lower orders OF living beings
should have weapons OF defense. and
hence the elephants tusk. and the
horses hoof. and the cows horn. and
the Hons tooth, and the insects sting.
Having given weapons OF defense TO
the lower orders OF living beings, OF
course he would not leave man, the
highest order OF living beings on earth.
defenseless and ut the mercy OF brutal
or ruifian attack. The right-yea, the
duty-of self defense is 80 evident II
needs no augmentation. The hand Is
the divineiy fashioned weapon OF de-
tense. We may seldom have to use II
Tor such purposes. but the fact that
we are equipped insures safety. The
hand is weapon sooner loaded than
any gun. sooner drawn than any
sword. Its tingers bent into the palm.
IL becomes bolt OF demolition
What defense IL Is against acci-
dent! There have been times In all
our experiences when we have with
the hand warded Off something that
would have extinguished our eyesigbt
or broken the skull or crippled us for
hietime While the eye has discovered
the approaching peril the hand has
beaten II back or struck II down or dis
armed II. Every day thank God for
your right hand. and IL you want to
hear It's eulogy ask him who In swift
revolution Of machinery has had 1t
crushed or at Chapultepec or South
Mountain or San Juan Hill or Sedan
lost 1t.
And In passing let me say that he
VINO has the weapon OF the hand unin-
1ured aud in full use needs no other.
You towards who walk with sword
cane or carry pistol In your hip pock-
CT mad better lay aside your deadly
weapon. At the frontier or In barbar-
Gus lands or as an officer of the law