The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1900-03-31
TALMAGE
SERMON.

Subject: The Wonders of tho Human
Hand-Our PHYSICAL Structure Proof
of Divine wisdom-The Extended
Hand the Symbol of In finite Mercy.
tcopyright. Louis Klopsch. 1901
WASHINGTON, D. C.-The discourse OF DR..
ralmage Is lesson OF gratitude for that
which none OF US fully appreciate and
shows the Divine meaning in our physical
structure; text. Corinthians Kill, q, "The
eye cannot say unto the hand, have no
need of thee"
These words suggest that some time two
yeryimportant parts Of the human body got
Into controversy, and the eye became inso-
lent and full of braggadocio and said: ''i
am IN independent part of the human sys-
tenn. How far I can see, taking In spring
morning and midnight auroral Compared
with myself what an Insignificant thing is
the human bandl look down upon 1t.
There 1t hangs, swinging at the side,
clump Of muscles and nerves, and 1t can
not see an inch either way. 1t has no lus-
ter compared with that which I beam
forth" "What senseless talk" responds
the hand. "You, the eye, would have been
put out long ago but for me. Without the
food have earned you would have been
sightIess and starved to death years ago.
You cannot do without me any better than
I can do without you" At this part OF the
disputation Paul of my text breaks In and
ends the controversy by declaring, "The
eye cannot say unto the hand, have no
need Of thee"
Fourteen hundred and thirty-three
times, as nearly as ! can count by aid OF
concordance, does the Bible speak OIL the
human hand. We are all familiar with the
hand. but the man has yet to be born WHO
can fully understand this wondrous instru-
ment. Sir Charles Bell, the English sur.
geon, came home from the battlefield OF
Waterloo, where he had been amputattng
limbs and binding up gunshot fractures,
and wrote book entitled 1.-The Hand: Its
Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evil
dencing Design" But 1t is so profound
book that only scientist who Is familiar
with the technicalities OF anatomy and
physiology can understand it,
So we are all going on opening and shut
ting this diyinely constructed instrument,
the hand, ignorant Of much OF the revela-
ton 1t was intended to mako Of the wis
dom and goodness OF God. You can see cy
their structure that shoulder and elbow
and forearm are getting ready for the cul-
mination In the hand. There Is your
| wrist, with its eight bones and their liga-
ments In two rows. That wrist, with Its
| bands of fbres and its hinged joint and
turning on two axes-on the larger axis
moving backward and forward and on the
| smaller axis turning nearly around. Anc
| there is the palm OF your hand, with 1t:
| five bones, each having shaft and I'VE
| examinations. There are the fingers o
that hand, with fourteen bones, each fin
| ger with its curiously wrought tendons
| five OF tho bones with ending rougheneC
| for the Judgment OF the nails. There Il
| the thumb, coming from opposite direc
| ton to meet the fingers, so that In con
| junction they may clasp and hold fast tina
al, loci n
the long nerves running from the
armpit to the forty-six muscles
so that all are under mastery
The whole anatomy OF your hand
complex, as Intricate, rs symmetrical, a
useful, as God could make 1t. What can
not do2 1t can climb. 1t can lift, it ca
push, it can repel, 1t can menace, 1t ca
cluch, 1t can deny, it can affirm, 1t can eA
tend, 1t can weave. it can bathe, 1t ca
smite, 1t can humble, 1t can exalt, It ca
soothe, it can throw, 1t can defy, 1t ca
| wave, it can imprecate, 1t can pray.
A skeleton Of tile hand traced on black
board or unrolled IN diagram or hung /
medical museum is nightly Illustrative {
the Divine wisdom and goodness, but ho'
much more pleasing when In living actio
all its nerves and muscles and bones an
tendons and tissues and phalanges displa
what God invented when He invented tt
human hand! Two specimens OF 1t "
carry at our side from the time when
infancy we open them to take toy till
. the last hour OF n long life we extend the
In bitter farewell.
/ With the Divine help shall speak OF tt
. hand as the chief executive officer OF IL
soul, whether lifted for defense, or e:
/ tended for help, or busted in the arts.
: | offered In salutation, or wrung In despni
| or spread abroad In bsnediction. God CIV
, | IDENTITY intended all the lower order CT IL
z ing beings should have weapons OF deiens
and hence the elephants tusk, and Il
Ihorse's hoof, and the cows horn, and II
: lions tooth, and the Insects sting. Havii
! | given weapons OF defense to the low
: orders OF living beings, OF course He uonl
/, not leave man, the highest order OF ltyil
| beings on earth, defenseless and at t.
| mercy OF brutal or rufifan attack. i
. right-yea, the duty-of self defense Is
evident 1t needs no argu mentation. II
!. hand is the Divinely fashioned weapon
! defense. We may seldom have to use
: for such purposes, but the fact that we a
!. equipped insures safety. The hand is
+, WEAPON sooner loaded than any gu
sooner drawn than any sword. Its fnge
0 bent into the palm, it becomes bolt
demolition.
a What defense it Is against accidel
o There have been times in all our expe
: ences when we have with the hand ward
off something that would have extingutsh
r our eyesight or broken the skull or crippl
q us for lifetime. While the eye has d
. covered the approaching peril the ha
~ has beaten 1t back CT struck 1t down
- disarmed 1t. Every day thank God
@ your right hand, and K you want to h.
its eulogy ask him who In swift revoluti
of machinery hab had 1t crushed or
}; Chapultepec or South Mountain or
y Juan Hill or Sedan toss 1t.
Al And in passing let me say that he
!. has the weapon OF the hand uninjured a
!, in full use needs no other. You cowal
ID who walk with sword cane or carry !
/" toll In your hip pocket had better lay as
:. YOUR deadly weapon. At the frontier OF
barbarous lands or as an officer o34Iie
% about to make an arrest such armfBTn
q be necessary, but no citizen moving
of these civilized regions needs sucl. re
:. forcement. II you are afraid to go dc
these streets or along these country ro
'K without dagger or firearms, better
le your grandmother to 90 with you arm
IA with scissors and knitting needle. w
"a towards, IL not what intended murders
81 uselessly to carry weapons OF death!
le our two hands God gave us all the weap
er we need to carry.
Again. the hand Is the chief executive
fcer OF the soul for affording help. J
~ see how that hand is constructed /
l. | easily you can lower it to raise the fal
mr. How easily it Is extended to feel the
:. yalid's pulse, or gently wipe away the
40 of orphanage, or contribute aims,
a. smooth the excited brow, or beckon
n. safetyl Oh, the helping hands: There
- | hundreds OF thousands OF them, and
-, world wants at least ], 600 600, 900 OF th
Tx Hands to bless others, hands to res
er others, hands to save others. What
O all these schools and churches and asyi