Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-09
HANDS OF NAzARENE
DEPICT HIS MINISTRY
STUDY OF THEM GIVES ACCESS
TO HIS MISSION
Rev. A. C. smither breaches Of Char
acterlstic Features Of Messiah'a
Accomplishment While He
TolIed Among Men

At the First Christian church yester-
day morning the pastor, Rev. A. g.
Smither, preached upon 1.-THE Hands OF
Jesus" He said in part:
1.-THE face Of Jesus interpreted to the
world his soul; his hand embodied the
great purpose of his public ministry.
Jesus hands were laboring hands.
He was the son of a humble home.
He was used to toiling with his hands.
He was a carpenter and moved among
the humblest toilers of his generation.
He followed creations edict that he
must eat bread by the sweat of his
brow.
"He honored honest toll. He has
uplifted the toiler. He has liberated
him from the shackles of slavery. He has
given new meaning to his life. He has
Widened his vision, enlarged his hori-
zan. He has taught him that life's
most precious attainment was charac-
ter and not gold. Wherever Christ is
honored and the church has power
there the laborer is an inheritor of the
greatest blessings ever bestowed upon
the race.
Jesus hands were suffering hands.
into their quivering flesh were driven
the cruel nails, while into his heart was
driven the consciousness that he was
the rejected messenger 'of God. His
was q life of pain. In the crucible of
suffering he was made perfect as the
great High Priest of the race. He has
taught humanity the mission of suffer-
ing. 1t is a warning voice from God
against the abuse of the laws of ma
ture It serves a disciplinary agency
In the development of character. 1t
often clarifies the vision of the child
of God that he may see beyond the
limits of day to the wider horizons OF
the eternal world.
Hands Are Healing Ones
"Jesus' hands were healing hands.
He was the worlds greatest sufferer;
brought to others freedom from pain.
He went about among his fellowmen
doing good, alleviating human suffering
and bringing gladness to human hearts.
In his ministry to the spiritual nature
he rendered q service to the body.
ITO him the leper came for healing.
The tragedy of blindness appealed to
his magic touch. The palsied hand no
longer trenbled; he impaired new vigor
to it. Deaf ears were unstopped and
to the lame he gave new life. His
touch gave immediate relief. No cases
baffied his skill He recognized the
reality of pain and suffering and
brought healing and hope to the unfor-
tunates of his generation. His healing
of the body was but faint type of his
ministry to the SOUL
Jesus hands were powerful hands.
Healing was but one of many mani
festations of this great power. He
blighted the fruitless trees, that sym
boil of the blight of fruitless life. He
stilled the raging Sea of Galilee,, that
picture of the great peace his power
brings to the human soul. He walked
upon the water, evincing his mastery
over the law and forces of the physical
world. He touched the mystic gate
that swings between the seen and the
unseen that men have called death and
it's victims came forth with the gleam-
ing torch of Immortality in their hands.
Thus the greatest enemy of the race
succumbed to his imperial power, recog-
nizing his majesty and dominion"