Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-06-25

vid prayed, 20 Lord. heal me: for my
bones are vexed." The preservation of
the righteous is thus expressed: He
telleth all his bones: not one of them is
broken These are figures of speech.
certainly, but they can be fully ex-
planned only by taking into account the
influence of the old belief that the soul
resided in the bones.
The belief also furnished rhetorical ex
preston of close intimacy, such as mar
rage and long continued friendship.
And Adam said. This (Eve) is now bone
Of my bone and flesh Of my fiesh. refer
ring not necessarily to her being made OF
a rib. but to her equality with himself In
nature, similarity in personality and their
consequent community of life and identity
of interests. After the marriage Of the
daughter of Laban to Jacob, Laban Said
to him. Surely thou art bone of my bone. :
And Paul, familiar with this figure OF
speech. in writing about the unity between
Christ and the Christian, says, I'VE are
members of His body, of His flesh and
of His bones.
In the light Of this long-enduring belief
many other things in the Bible become
plain. II furnishes at least partial eX-
PLANTATION of Ezekiels vision Of the valley
Of dry bones, giving point to the question,
"Son Of Man, can these dry bones I'VE!
1t also explains the origin. not always
willingly recognized, of the belief in the
miracle-working powers OF the bones OF
a saint, biblical instance of which Is
the story of the burial of a young man
in the grave of the prophet Elisha and
his instantaneous resuscitation when his
body touched the bones Of the buried
saint. 1t is not mere veneration for a
saints bones-tt is the tenacious vitality
of beliefs many centuries old, which
urderies the faith that such bones have
healing power. Nothing in the history OF
religion is more certain than that this
belief ..as Influenced veneraton for the
bones Of the holy dead. the care OF graves
| ,,sl,. hot
allowed to rest undisturbed-a wish some
times expressed on tombstones after the
manner of Shakespeare's epitaph which
so curiously combines pagan'sm and
Christian appeal:
Good friend for Jesus sake forbear
To dig the dust inclosed here
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
Milton's reply to this epitaph was more
in keeping with the Christian faith,
though 1t was tribute to the poet
fame:
What needs my Shakespeare for his honored
The labor of an age in piled stones?
Or that his hallowed relics should be hid
Under a starry-pointed pyramid:
Once man based his hope of immortality
on the durability of his bones If our
Christian belief has no better foundation
than any mans dead bones, ChristS or
our own that hope is valueless super
stition, At only for the theological rag
bag, or the graveyard Of defunct con-
victions. But the Christians hope OF
resurrection and Immortality rests not in
bones, however sacred, but in the i'm
perishable personality and undminished
vitality of the risen Lord. 1t was for an
entirely different purpose than to confirm
| this ancient superstition that after His
resurrection Jesus said to His bewldered
and frightened disciples, Behold my
] hands and my feet, that it is l myself: for
a spirit hath not flesh and bones such as
We see me have" He was neither phan-
| tom. ghost. nor angel. but His living self,
risen and immortal
| With these interesting facts before US.
we have a pathetic because superstitous
| form of some of the oldest beliefs of
humanity. beliefs more or less common
| to all religions, bone Of their bone"