The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-02-09

DuI -LOl kA1 ah1
hand. Under the deft fingers of the
performer, what cavalries gallop. and
what batteries boom, and what birds
carol. and what tempestS march, and
what oceans billow, The great arch
fleets of the earth might have thought
out the Alhambras and h Parthen-
ons and the St. Sophias and the Tai
MahaIs, but all those visions would
have vanished had IL not been for the
hand on hammer, On plumet on trowel.
on wall, on arch, on pillar, on stairs,
on dome.
On two discourses, n concerning
the ear and the other concerning the
y / spoke from the potent text in
the Psalms" He that planted the
ear, shall he not hear, and He that
formed the eye. shall he not see but
what use IN the eye and what use IN
the ear il the hand had not oeen strung
with all it's nerves, and IN )Ved with
all its muscles, and ~reticulated with
all il joints, and strengthened with
all its bones. and contrived with all
it's ingenuities. The hand hath for
warded all the arts, and the
mountains through which the rail train
thunders, and launched all h shtpp-
ing, and fought all the battles, and
built all the temples, n swung all
the cables under the sea, as well as
lifted to mid air the wire tracks OF
u "lOlc LIdlho VI oo5A "a
across the continents, and built all the
cities and hoisted the pyramids.
Do not eulogize the y and ear at
the expense of the hand, for the eye
may be blotted out, as in the case Of
Milton, and yet his hand writes a
Paradise Lost" or a "SamrH2 400
nistes," as in the case of William H.
Prescott, and yet his hand may write
the enchanting "Coquest of Peru" Or
the ear may be silenced forever, as in
the case of Beethoven, and yet his
hand may put into immortal cadences
the Ninth Symphony,"'O Oh, the hand!
The God fashioned hand. The tri-
umphant hand 1t is an open Bible Of
divine revelation, and the five fingers
are the Isaiah, and the Ezekiel, and the
David, and the Micah, and n Paul Of
that almighty inspiration.
VALUE OF THE HAND.
A pastor in his sermon told how little
child appreciated the value of his hand
when he was old that on the morrow
it must be amputated in order to save
his life. Hearing that, he went to a
quiet place and prayed that God would
spare his hand. The surgeon, coming
the next day to do his work, found the
hand so much better that amputatlon
was postponed, and the hand got well.
The pastor, telling of this in a sermon
concluded by holding up his hand and
saying, THAT is the very hand that
was spared in answer to prayer, and /
hold it up, a monument of divine mer-
cy."
Again, the hand is the chief execu-
tive officer of the soul when wrung in
gony. Tears Of relief are sometimes
denied to trouble. The eyelids at such
time are as hot and parched n burn
ing as the brow. At such time even
the voice is supposed, and there is
no sob of cutlery. Then the wringing
of the hand tells the story. At the
close of a life wasted in sin sometimes
comes that expression of the twisted
f1ngers-the memory of years that will
never return, of opportunities the like
of which will never again occur and
conscience in it's wrath bouncing upon
the soul and all the past a horror, only
to be surpassed by the approaching hor-
ror. So a man wringS his hands over
the casket of a dead wife whom>he has
cruelty treated. So a man wringS his
hands at the fate of sons and daugh-
tiers whose prospects have been ruined
by his inebriety and neglect and de-
pravity. So the SHINE wringS his
hands when after a life full of offers
of pardon and peace n heaven he
dies without hope. When there are
sorrows too poignant for lamentation
on the lip and too hot for the tear
glands to write in letters of crystal on
the cheek, the hand recites the tragedy
with more emphasis than anything in
Macbeth" and king Lear"
Worse than the wringing of the hands
was the punishment that Cranmer gave
his right hand when he put it in the
fire of the stake and without fiinching
said: "Forasmuch as my hand offend
ed in writing contrary to my heart my
hand shall therefore be the first pun
ished. 1t shall be the first burned.
This was the hand that wrote it."
Again, the hand is the chief eXecu-
tive officer of the soul in s~alutation. A
former president of the United States
said: 81 think handshaking is a great
nuisance. and it should be abolished.
1t not only makes the right arm sore,
but hooks the whole system and units
a man for writing or attending to other
duties. 1t demoraliZeS the entire ner-
vouS and muscular SYSTEM" But
while his EXCISE may be fatiguing,
it is also an opportunity. He who
knows how heartily to shake hands
has one of the mightiest arts for con-
veying happiness and good cheer n
life eternal. After you ave shaken
N with one, a line of communica-
ton is opened that was not open before
Two hands clasped in greeting are a
bridge on which all sympathies and
kindnesses and encouragements n
DlCSSluSS SIoSS ONCl. IL oil LII
with some persons does use more than
a good sermon-aye, it is a me
To shake hands with a good doctor
when we are sick is an anodyne, a
tonic, a febrifuge, before he feels the
pulse of writes the prescription. To
shake hands with a cheerful man
when we are discouraged fills us with
faith to try again what we have failed
in doing. To shake hands with some
consecrated man, clerical or lay, after
we have wandered away into sin, is
to feel the grasp of a father-God well
coming home the prodigal. Shake
hands. 0 we stolid and exclusive and
cold blooded and precise and
tional Christiansi Jehu cried out to
J~ehonadab: rs thine heart right? If
it be, give me thine hand"
THE CHRISTIAN HANDSHAKE.
There is in an honest and Christian
handshake a thrill of gospel electricity.
You take part of his trouble and he
takes part of you j~ubilance. In that
way o divide up anxieties and con-
CALCULATIONS. The main trunk line Of