St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-03-03

is extended to feel the invalid's pulse,
CT gently wipe away the tear Of or
Phanage, or contribute aims. or
smooth the excited brow. or beckon
| into safety. o the helping hands.
There are hundreds Of thousands Of
them. end the world wants at least
Loco, 000. 900 of them. Hands to bless
others. kands~to rescue others, hands
to save others. What are all thee
schools and churches and asylnms OF
r1crc.S? Outstretched hands. What
are al those hands distributing tracts
and carrying medicines and trying 10
cure blind eyes and deaf ears and
broken bones and disordered intel
lects and maynard sons? Helping
hands. Let each one Of us add two
to that number if we have two. or. II
through casualty only one, add that
one. II these hands which We have
so long kept thrust into pockets
through Incidence or folded in indif
ference or employed in writing wrong
things or doing mean things or heav-
ing up obstacles in the way of right
eous progress might from this hour
be consecrated to helping others out
and up and on, they would he hands
worth being raised on the resurrec-
ton morn and worth clapping in cter-
nal gladness over world redeemed.
The great artists of the ages
Raphael and Leonardo da vinci and
Quentin Matsys and Rembrandt and
Albert Durer and Titan - have done
their best picturing the face of Christ,
but none except AIRY Scheffer seems TO
have put much stress upon the hand Of
Christ. Indeed. the mercy of that hand,
the gentleness of that hand. is beyond
all artistic portrayal. Some Of His mir
acles He performed by word of mouth
and without touching the subject be-
fore Him. but most of them He per-
formed through the hand. Was the
dead damsel to be raised to life? He
took her by the hand" Was the blind
man to have optic nerve restored? He
took him by the hand" Was the demon
to be exercised from a suffering man?
He took him by the hand" The peo-
pie saw this and besought Him to put
His hand on their afflicted ones.
His own hands free. see how the
Lord sympathised with the man who
had lost the use Of his hand. II was
case Of atropby. wasting away until
the arm and hand had been reduced in
size beyond any medical or surgical
restoration. Moreover. it was his right
hand. the more important of the two.
for the left side in all its parts is weak
er than the right side. and we involun-
tarily. in any exigency, put out the
right hand because we know it is the
best hand. So that poor man had lost
more than half Of his physical arma-
ment. 1t would not have been SO bad if
it had been the left hand. But Christ
looked at the shriveled up right hand
dangling uselessly at the mans side
and then cried out with a voice that had
omnipotence in it: Stretch forth thy
right hand." and the record is he
stretched it forth whole as the other"
The blood rushed through the shrunk-
en- veins. and the shortened muscles
heightened. and the dead nerves
thrilled, and the lifeless fingers tingled
with resumed circulation. and the re-
stored man held up in the presence Of
the skeptical Pharisee one of Jehovah's
masterpieces perfect hand. No won
der that story is put three times in the
Bible. SO that il sailor were cast away
on a barren island. or soldiers New
Testament got mutilated in battle and
whole pages are destroyed, the ship
wrecked or wounded man in hospital
would probably have at least one Of
those three radiant stories of what
Christ thought Of the human hand.
Do not eulogize the eye and ear at the
expense Of the hard. for the eye may be
blotted out, as in the case of Milton.
and vet his hand writes a paradise
Lost" or a samson Agonistes;" as in
the case Of William Fl. Prescott, and yet
his hand may write the enchanting
Conquest of Peru" Or the ear may be
silenced forever. rs in the case Of Bee
thoven, and yet his hand put into i'm
mortal cadeEces the ninth Sym
phony." Oh, the hand! The God-fash-
Toned hand! The triumphant 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 the Paul Of that almighty
inspiration.
A pastor il his sermon told how q
little child appreciated the value OF
his hand when he was told that on
the morrow it must be amputated in or
der to save his life. Hearing that. he
went to quiet place and prayed that
God would spare his hand. The sur
geon. coming the next day to do his
work. found the hand 50 much better
that amputation was postponed. and
the hand got well. The pastor. telling
Of this in sermon, concluded BY hold
ing up his hand and SAYING: THAT is
the very hand that was spared in an
swer to prayer. and hold it up, mon
ument of Divine mercy"
Again, the hand is the chief execu-
tive officer Of the soul when wrung in
agony. Tears of relief are sometimes
denied to trouble. The eyelids at such
e'.A1~S ~ HOe uHu p0iNHVu anu
ing as the brow. At such time even
the voice is suppressed. and there is no
sob or outcry. 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 fingers
the memory Of years that will never
return. Of opportunities the like Of
which will never again occur and con-
science in its wrath bouncing upon the
soul and all the past horror. only to
be surpassed by the approaching hor-
ror. So man wrings his hands over
the casket of dead wife whom he has
cruelty treated. So 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 life full of Offers OF pardon and
peace and heaven he dies without hope.
When there are sorrows too poignant
for lamentation on the lip and too hot
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