Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-01-29
FASHIONED BY GOD.
DR.. TALMAGE ExTOLS THE WONDERS
OF THE HUMAN HAND.
Dur Physical Structure Proof of d.
vine Wisdom-Thc Extended Hand
the symbol of Infinite Mercy and

vine Wisdom-Thc Extended Hand
the symbol of Infinite Mercy and
Love.
copyright. Louis Slopsch. 1901
WAsuISGToy, Jan. 2S.--The discourse
of DR.. Talmage is lesson Of gratitude
for that which none of us fully appre-
ciate and shows the divine meaning In
our physical structure; text, | CORN.
thians xii, 21, "The eye cannot say
unto the hand. l 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 of braggado.
clio and said: ~ am an independent
part of the human system. How far |
can see, taking In spring morning and
midnight aurora! Compared with my
self what IN Insignificant thing is the
human hand. ! look down upon 1t.
There 1t hangs, swinging Mt the side. a
clump of muscles and nerves. and 1t
cannot see an inch either way. 1t has
no luster compared with that which |
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 earn.
ed you would have been sightless and
starved to death yenrs ago. You can.
not do without me any better than !
can do without YOU" At this part of
the disputaton Paul of my text breaEs
In and ends the controversy by declar-
ing "The eye cannot say unto the
hand. ! have no need of thee"
Fourteen hundred and thirty-thrcc
times. as nearly MS can count by aid
of concordance. does the Bible speak OF
the human hand. We are all familiar
with the band, but the man has yet TO
be born who can full, understand this
wondrous instrument. Sir Charles
Bell. the English surgeon. came home
from the battlefield OF Waterloo. where
he had been nmputating limbs and
binding up gunshot fractures, and
wrote bool; entitled "The Hand Its
Mechanism and Vital Endowments as
Evidencing Design" But It Is so pro-
found book that only scientist who
is familiar with the technlcaiities 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 It was intended 10
make Of the wisdom and goodness of
God. You can see by their structure
that shoulder aud elbow and forearm
are getting ready for the elimination
In the hand. There is your wrist. with
It's eight bones and their ligaments In
two rows. That wrist, with Its bands
Of flbers and It's hinged Joint and turn.
Ing on two axes--Ou the larger axis
moving backward and forward and on
the smaller axis turning nearly round.
And there is the palm OF your hand.
with Its five bones. each having shaft
and two termlnations. There are the
fingers Of that hand. with II bones.
each finger with Its curlously wrought
tendons. five Of the bones with ending
roughened for the lodgment Of the
nails. There Is the thumb. coming
from opposite direction to meet the
hhRVto' oo tilut III tntN
may clasp and hold fast that which
you desire to take. There are the long
nerves running from the armpit to the
40 muscles. 80 that all are under mas.
terry. The whole anatomy OF your
hand as complex. as Intricate. nc sym.
metrlcal. as useful. as God could make
II. What can II not do? II can climb,
1t can lift. 1t can push. 1t can repcl. It
can menace. It can clutch, II can deny.
It can affirm. It can extend. 1t can
weave, 1t can hathe. 1t can smlte. 1t can
humble, 1t can exalt, II can soothe. It
can throw. It can defy. 1t can wave. 1t
can imprecatc. 1t can pray.
illustrates Divine Wisdom.
A skeleton Of the hand traced on
blackboard or unrolled In diagram or
hung In medical museum is nightly II.
Illustrative of the divine wisdom and
goodness, but how much more pleasing
when In living action all Its nerves and
muscles and bones md tendons and
tissues and phnlanges display what
God invented when he invented the
human hand! Two specimens of II we
carry at our side from the time when
In Infancy we open them TO take toy
till In the last hour of II long life we
extend them in bitter farewell.
with the divine help shall speak of
the hand ms the chief executive officer
OF the soul. whether lifted for defense.
or extended for help, or busled In the
arts. or offered In salutatlon, or wrung
In despair, or spread abroad In bene-
dlction, God evidently intended all
the lower orders Of living beings
should have weapons OF defense. aud
hence the elephants tusk. and the
horses hoot. and the cows horn, and
the lions tooth, aud the insect's 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,
defenscless and at the mercy OF brutal
or rutiian attack. The right-yea. the
duty-of self defense Is SO evident II
needs no augmentation. The hand is
the divinely fashioned weapon Of de,
fense. We may seldom have to use II
for such purposes. but the fact that
we are equipped lnsures snfcty. The
hand Is weapon sooner loaded than
any gun, sooner drawn thau any
sword. Its fingers bent into the palm
II becomes n bolt Of demolition
What a defense II IL against acci
dent! There have been times In all
our experiences when We have with