The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-09-08
THE VIRCLNIAN'S WEEKLY. SERMON
THE WITHERED RESTORED

Then saith He to the man. stretch
forth thine hand, And He stretched
1t forth, and II was restored whole,
like as the other" A thing withered
Is thing done with, SO We believe,
and we act on the belief,
While there's life there's hope,
but a thing withered is = thing dead
And We bury the dead as that whic n
cometh not again. A withered hand
ts said to be incurahle by any art
Of man Then saith He TO the man,
Stretch -taytA- tAlAa- hand Sc fieth
Christ challenge our impossibilgies.
And he stretched 1t forth" So is
Divine strength made perfect in hu-
man weakness.
II I accept tina word which says,
"All power Is given unto Me-" then
my netheruost need and direst dis
ability wait upon nothing less than
infinite wisdom and infinite love.
There = room enough here unto
all eternity. To hear the not OF au-
therity in that Voice, and to feel the
power that streams like light fnom
that pure Presence IS to know the
healing of the withered in those parts
OF life which are more vital than the
hands.
And here the whitening is more
general and disastrous. withered
hands are rare, but withered souls
are not rare.
Thera is an -Atrophy of thought,
feeling. and Will: there Is a decay of
faith. hope, and love: and to quicken
these from the dead, to make new
life Jingle. there Is a miraculous thing
indeed.
So we employ our poor qualifying
terms. In the presence of the mxs-
ter.ous. we cry, miraculousl Then we
remember how II Is written: "Ah,
Lord God Behold, Thou hast made
the heaven and the earth by Thy great
power and stretched out arm, and
there Ia nothing too hard fer Thee
Thou shewest loving kindness unto
thousands"
q the wfthsred soul the ALI com
passionate, all-powerfui Christ is say
ing, Stretch forth thine hand" and
He is not one who gives a command
or kindles a hope without impartsne
grace to fulfil.
Think of the sense OF witherine
which comes of wrong doing
The penalty of sin in all it's forms
lis loss of power. The decline Is gra-
dual. but in the end 1t Is terrible
enough. Said one, Il am breaking my
mothers heart. / am killing my faith
or. and l can't get free. 1t seems as II
q thousand devils were dragging ms
aowR TO he'll - 'a
This Is an extreme case. though
not, alas. uncommon; but the wither-
ing begins long before that desperate
stage IL reached.
1t begins with little insincerity
which becomes habitual deceit, until
at length, ones most urgent state
ments are not seriously accepted II
begins with an occasional indulgence
in something forbidden. until the in
diligence becomes a craving. and the
craving becomes tyrant.
IT begins with a little carelessness
little slackness Of thought and will
which brings boredom spreading like
desert, and nothing matters; or else
one Is obsessed by a morbid desire
for excitement, which leaves one ex-
posed TO any and every evil thing that
happens to be there.
1t begins with a little unwholesome
curiosity In to someone else's affairs
which grows into unlawful interior
ence. which liz apt to bring down the
house about ones ears. and leave hin
very crushed in the process.
1t begins with a little seIf1shness
which grows into great uncharitable.
ness. which breeds envy, jealousy
malice, leaving one wretched. love
less. and impossible.
All these things do their wtherins
work too we'll And the irony of 1
IL that II need not have been Tn.
sad things which we cannot help are
not the things that crush us most
The things that crush lie most anf
leave us Intellectual. are the thing.
that need not have been. ooh, tina
thou hadst hearkened to My com
mandpents; then had thy peace beer
as river and they Righteousness al
the waves of the sea-
Now there are two WAYS OF deal
ing with this matter, There is th'
way Of the satirist who finds in hu
man foibles and misdeeds a. fruitfu
opportunity for his caustic pen o.
tongue; and there Is the way OF
Christ who came TO redeem, 81
The satire is sometimes cleverly
done. and there " no doubt tina
II serves q purpose There is Away.
go. ssad ns.hsmg kh}s fihe rsessculs F3u
sweeping "a place clean is one thing
keeping II clean is another. Wher
you have exterminated an evil. yot
have not necessarily put some bet
ter thing In, it's place. When you
have described how a mans hant
rt'nrss to he witherea. you have no
healed the man
Ard Christ healed stretch forth
thine hand" he said And he gave
th1 poor fellow power to do ii
Now 70 what extent arc We ready
10 draw on that power--to take tn,
- mighty rJne ri Ills word That /.
the question
-Siretah- fasih thine hand =, ..Is ~
Lord, ii Is withered" Stretch fortf
thine hand" But Lord such Z