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IO THE PRESBYTERIA1
district and only a stone's throw from the Board of
Trade, with the confusion and chaos of the wheat pit.
"Instructive Evangelism'' is the new idea that James
M. Gray and I). B. Towner have taught to Chicago.
Studiously avoiding all methods and appeals that
might be construed as sensational emotionalism, the
evangelists, esteeming it thoir miccinn ^
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Word of God, endeavored to press home to the hearts
of men and women the principles of the Gospel and
inculcate in the lives of the people a love for the truth
as it is in Christ Jesus.
"Were there any conversions?" you ask.
"Yes." Personal work with inquirers was quietly
done at every meeting. When Dr. Towner sang "Ship,
Ahoy," all over the house people broke down and cried
as the words of the hymn struck a responsive chord
in broken and contrite hearts.
"Were iiot the results of the meetings lost if no cards
worn cinriKiel 0.1 ?1 !? 1 -
oim 11 me pcujjic were not urged to join
particular churches?"
"No."
Once the Word of God is implanted in the human
heart and ?iven the slightest encouragement to grow,
it will be watered and nourished by^ the Holy Spirit
and eventually will become manifest in the life.
Dr. Gray aimed deep. He struck at the great religious
currents coursing under the varied life of the
metropolis and tapped the source of life, happiness, and
religious aspiration?the Word of God.
Thus was the Word magnified in Chicago.
HIS HANDS.
By Rev. Thomas Harjoribanks, Callander.
"He stretched forth His hands."
In describing a visit to our Lord of his mother and
brethren, the different evangelists give different details
of the event, and of its effect upon our Lord. St.
Luke merely records his words; St. Mark speaks of
the look that accompanied them; St. Matthew tells
of the gesture by which they were enforced: "lie
stretched fortli his hands toward his disciples." The
effect of a speaker's words may be helped as much by
the motion of his hand as by the glance of his eye.
uemosthencs, when successively asked what were the
first, second, and third parts of oratory, replied in each
case, "Action." And not only as an illustration of his
words, but in many other ways, we may find the
working of our Lord's hands no less instructive for
us than his looks.
We may begin with the gesture referred to above.
Our Lord is smetimes spoken of as "stretching forth
his hand." In this instance it was done to enforce
his argument, and perhaps to indicate the men of whom
he was speaking. But the act usually denoted something
more; it meant help, rescue, succor. When St.
Peter began to sink in the water, Jesus "stretched out
his hand and caught him." When the apostles are met
together after Pentecost, they pray, "Grant unto thy
servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy
word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal." Ettsebius,
writing in the fourth century, shows how the
tradition of this very attitude had remained fixed in
in the memory of Christendom. He tells of a statue
of Christ, still extant in his day, representing the
U OF THE SOUTH. April 21, 1909. I
Savior standing erect, clad in a mantle, and stretching
out his hand to heal the woman who had touched his
garment. Whatever this tale be worth, it shows him
in a characteristic posture. The stretching out of the I
hand is the typical saving act. It is what we should I
naturally do to save a man from drowning or falling,
i; is what Goodwill, the porter, does to Christian at the
gate, to save him from the enemies that threaten his
life. And we best follow and help our Savior when
we stretch out the helping, saving hand.
Again, our Lord is often referred to as laying his
hand 011 some one, or touching him. He touches a
leper and says, "Be thou clean." He is bidden come
and lay his hand on the daughter of Jairus, that she
may live. He lays hands on sick tolk and heals them,
lie touches the eyes of the blind, the cars of the deaf,
the tongue of the dumb. At his touch one woman ?s
cured of fever, and another who was bowed down is
made straight. Nor was it only in healing that His
loving hands were laid on others. When the disciples
fell down in fear on hearing a voice from heaven,
Jesus touched them, and said, "Arise, and be not
afraid." When children were brought to him, he laid
his hands upon them. If the hand "stretched out" denoted
power to save, the hand "laid on" bespoke power
to soothe and heal, to encourtige and help. The "laying
on of hands" has heen associated in the Church
with peculiarly solemn acts, such as the ordination of
ministers, or the confirmation of the baptismal vow.
And though we do not possess his gifts in the same
lorm and measure, there is a great deal in the touch of
a Hand still. The medical science of our own generalion
has typified to what the pressure of the human
hand can do in relieving pain. The strongest hands
may be the gentlest hands too. Those are most like
Christ who have the gentle touch as well as the powerful
arm.
The man most man with tendcrest human hands,
Works best for man?as God in Nazareth.
Sometimes, again,, our Lord not only touched but
"took by the hand." He took the daughter of Jairus
by the hand and lifted her up. He took Simon's wife's
mother by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left
her. He took by the hand the young man from whom he
had cast out the evil spirit, and he arose. "Hand in
hand" is the symbol of concord and of friendship; and
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those he helped. But there was more than this in the
act. To take by the hand is to lead, to rouse, to encourage
towards effort, to help a man to help himself.
Thus it means more than the mere laying on of the
hand. The one act heals, comforts, soothes; the other
stimulates, rouses, incites to action. For many this
rousing hand is even better than the soothing one.
What they need most is moral support and encouragement.
We can not give help in a more Christ-like
way than this. When he took any one by the hand it is
always added that he "lifted him up," or, as we
should say, "set him 011 his feet again." The Epistle
to the Hebrews j^ives the same counsel to his followers:
"Lift, up the hands which hang down, and the
feeble knees."
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wne oinnr act 111 winch \vc find the hands of our
Savior employed is that of benediction. The very last
art of his earthly ministry is thus recorded by St.