The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-02-03

which will never again occur and con.
science in its wrath bouncing upon aae
soul and all the past a horror, only -
be surpassed by the approaching ho--
ror. So a man wrings his hands ove-
the casket of a dead wife whom he has
cruelty treated. So a man wrings his
hands at the fate of sons and daughters
whose prospects have been ruined by
his inebriety and neglect and depravity.
So the sinner wrung his hands when
after a life full of offers of pardon and
peace and heaven he dies without hope.
When there are sorrows TOO poignant
for Ian entation on the lip and too hot
for the tear glands to write in letters
of crystal on the cheek. the hand re-
cites the tragedy with more emphasis
than anything in Macbeth" and king
Lear"
Worse than the wringing Of the
hands was the punishment that Gran
mer gave his right hand when he put II
in the fire of the stake and without
finching said: "Forasmuch as my
hand offended in writing contrary to
my heart, my hand shall therefore be
the first punished. 1t shall be the first
burned. This was the hand that wrote
it,"
OF course there is a wicked shak-
ing of hands. and Solomon refers to 1t
when he says: Though hand join IL
hand, the wicked shall not be unpun-
ished." Shake hands in conspiracy to
damage individual or community or ma
ton, shake hands to defraud, shake
hands to stand by each other in wrong
doing. You help me stuff this bal
lot box, and l will see that when l am
in power you shall have promotion.
You help me in my infamy, and l will
help you in your infamy. oh. that is
| PROCLAMATION of a holy rite; that is sac
rilege against a Divine arrangement;
that is gripping your W destruction.
PLATE and Herod, though antagonists
before, shook hands over Christ's pro-
| jected assassination.
But shake hands the way William
Penn shook hands with the Indians
for their civilization. Shake hands the
way Missionary Carey shook hands
with the Hindoos, for whose salvation
he became a lifetime exile. Shake
hands the way Havelock shook hands
with besieged women at Lucknow
whom he had come to ave from mas
sacre. Shake hands as David Brainerd
did with the American Indians whom
be offered a glorious Heaven through
the Gospel. Shake hands as Lincoln
shook hands with the agitated mother
to whom he gave back the boy who
had fallen asleep from overfatigue as
a sentinel. Shake hands as during the
civil war Anna Ross shook hands with
the wounded soldier in Cooper Shop
hospital, Philadelphia. Shake hands as
Van Meter. the city evangelist, shook
hands with the waif Of the street com
ing penitent into the midnight mis-
sion. Shake hands as heaven shook
hands with earth that night when a
doxology in the gallery of clouds woke
the Bethlehem shepherds.
But it is not always in such glad
greeting that we can employ our right
hand. Ais, that so often we have to
employ the hand in farewell saluta-
ton. If your right hand retained
some impress of all such uses, it would
be a Volume of b~ereavements. Oh. the
good-bys in which your right hand has
participated! Good-by at the steam
BOAT wharf. Good-by at the rail train
window. Good-by before the opening
of the battle. Good-by at the dying
pillow. We all needed grace for such
handwriting, though u hand was
strong and their hand was weak. and
we will need grace for the coming good
bys, and that grace we had better seek
while amid the felicitics of health and
homes unbroken. Thank God, there
will be no good-by in Heaven.
Again, the hand is the chief executive
of the soul when employed in benedic-
ton. No gesture of the human hand
means more than the outstretched ges-
ture. In many of our religious denom-
nations we are not permitted to pro-
nounce an apostolic benediction until
we have been regularly ordained al
ministers of the gospel, but there ars
kinds of benediction that you may AL
pronounce without especial permission
, from presbytery or conference or COZ
. vention. You have a right to spread
! abroad both right and left hand in be
: slowing a blessing of kindness and
, good will upon all you meet. With
), both hands bless the children. Take
them in your arms and kiss their fail
cheek. Take with them a round o
: merriment in the room before YOU
4 leave it, and by prayer put them ip thu
: arms of the Christ, to go to whom II
: olden time thsy struggled to get out O.
the arms of their mothers. God bless
the cradles and high chairs and nurser
= les all around the world.
. Extend your hands in benediction fol
the aged. Take their counsel and asl
4 their prayers, and smooth the patti
down the declivities. By neglect ant
4 %unflial demeanor add no wrinkles u
their brow. no more stoop to thei
/ shoulders. They have their hand o.
the latch of the door through whicl
q they will o o go out Of sight of you
homes and churches. May the mantle