The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1900-02-03

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 il
in the fire of the stake and without
fiincning said: "Forasmuch as my
hand offended in writing contrary tt
my heart, my hand shall therefore be
the first punished. 1t shall be the first
burned. This was the hand that wrote
it,"
There is in an honest and Christian
handshake a thrill of Gospel electrici
ty. You take part of his trouble and
he takes part of your jubilance. Ii
that way you divide up anxleties anc
congratulations. The main trunk line
of that hanGshake has branches OF
blessed telegraphy right down to botf
hearts and up to both heads, and you
both get the message the same in
slant. Take off the glove when you
shake hands, for that glove puts the
hide of kid between the palm of your
hand and the palm of his hand, and
that animals hide is nonconductor oil
this Gospel electricity. Do not grip the
bone of the forefinger and the bone oil
the little finger with a crushing power
that puts one into severe suffering
which many of us have experienced
from those who are more brutes than
men. Take the hand gently, reason
ably, heartily and know that God or
dered that form of salutation. That is
one important thing that the hand was
made for. You can see the indications
in its shape and equipment-the four
fingers to take your neighbours hand
on one side, and the thumb to take il
on the other, and the forearm SC
swung that you can easily draw it to-
ward you.
OF course there is a wicked shak-
ing of hands, and Solomon refers to il
when he says: Though hand join in
hand, the wicked shall not be unpun-
ished." Shake hands in conspiracy tn
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 1 will see that when / 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 holy rite; that is sac
rilege against Divine arrangement;
that is gripping your own 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 save from mas
sacre. Shake hands as David Brainerd
did with the American Indians whom
he 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
sentinel. Shake hands as during the
civil war Anna Ross shook hands with
the wounded soldier in Cooper Shop
hospital, Philadelphia. Shake hands az
Van Meter, the city evangelist, shook
hands with the wait Of the street COM
ing penitent into the midnight mis-
sion. Shake hands as heaven shook
hands with earth that night when q
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 alb such uses, it would
be a volume of bereavements. 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
handshaking, though our hand was
strong and their hand was weak, and
wewill need grace for the coming good
bys, and that grace we had better seek
while amid the felicities 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 as
ministers of the gospel, but there are
kinds of benediction that you may all
pronounce without especial permission
from presbytery or conference or con-
vention. You have right to spread
abroad both right and left hand in be-
slowing blessing of kindness and
good will upon all YOU meet. With
both hands bless the children. Take
them in your arms and kiss their fair
cheek. Take with them round of
merriment ia the room before you
leave it, and by prayer put them in the
arms of the Christ, to go to whom in
olden time they struggled to get out of
the arms of their mothers. God bless
the cradles and high chairs and nurser"
les all around the world.
Extend your hands in benediction for
the aged. Take their counsel and ask
their prayers, and smooth the path
down the declivities. By neglect and
unfilial demeanor add no wrinkles to
their brow, no more stoop to their
shoulders. They have their hand on
the latch of the door through which
they will soon go out of sight of your