Hand of Jesus—Missing the.
After one of Gipsy Smith’s meetings a mother brought her little boy to shake hands with him. The boy held out his left hand.
“Anything the matter with your right hand, sonny?”
“No, sir.”
“Then put out your right hand.”
Still the boy kept his hand behind him. He had three marbles clasped in it.
(Many a man misses the hand of Jesus, not because of anything wicked, but because of his playthings).
Hand—the Nail-Pierced.
A Christian gentleman was being shown over some big engineering works by the manager. On saying farewell he took the manager’s hand to thank him. It was soft, limp and flabby, so the visitor dropped it. The manager said: “You must excuse my hand. In my apprentice days I had a nail accidentally driven through my hand, and I have never been able to close it since.” Shaking hands again the visitor said: “2,000 years ago One came down from heaven to save sinful men. They put Him on a cross with nails through His hands. He has never closed His hands since. His hands are ever open to every sinner who comes to Him: open to receive them, and bestow the best blessings of heaven.”
A. LINDSAY GLEGG
Hands without Heart—Repair of.
A negro took the hands of a clock to be repaired. He was asked: “Where’s the clock?” “Nothing the matter with it; only the hands.”
“I must have the clock!” “You only want to run up a big bill,” replied the negro, “give me back the hands.” God cannot repair hands without the heart. Are we afraid of the price?
Harm—Is there any?
A young woman once asked me if there was really any harm in going to a concert. In reply, I said: “Supposing your mother died, and the day after her funeral someone asked you to go to a concert, what would you think?” “Oh!” she said, “I should be horrified.” I said, “Why?” “Because the shadow of my mother’s death had not left the home.” Then I said, “Do you know that God has not yet lifted up the shadow of the death of Christ from this world!”
Harmony—Spiritual.
Sir Michael Costa, the celebrated conductor, was holding a rehearsal. As the mighty chorus rang out, accompanied by hundreds of instruments, the piccolo player ceased playing, thinking perhaps that his contribution would not be missed amid so much music. Suddenly the great leader stopped and cried out: “Where is the piccolo?” The sound of that one small instrument was necessary to the harmony, and his ear had missed it.
Scripture Truth
Hearer—Kinds of.
There are four kinds of hearer, like:
(1) A sponge, which sucks all up, but lets it run out again;
(2) A sandglass, those who receive at one ear, and let it out at the other;
(3) A strainer, which lets out the good and retains the bad; and
(4) A sieve, which lets go the chaff and retains the wheat.
Heaven—Language of.
We are informed that Julius Streicher, the German war criminal, spent his last days studying the English language. This seemed rather strange to be busy studying another language just before his execution.
So one of the guards at the trial asked Streicher why he was studying English.
“Why, this is obviously the language we will speak in heaven,” replied Streicher.
So evidently this bloodthirsty criminal who is credited with butchering a multitude of people inside Germany, fully expects to go to heaven. But we need not be surprised at this. For practically everybody expects to be in heaven some day; the rich and the poor, the good and the bad, the oppressor and the oppressed, the murderer and the murdered—all expect to turn up safely in heaven at last.
Not only do they expect to get to heaven, but they say they don’t believe there is a place called hell, anyway. “Well, where did you get the idea there was a place called heaven?” we ask them.
“Why, it is in the Bible, of course,” they reply.
“You are right. But remember this: the Lord Jesus had about ten times as much to say about hell as He did about heaven. So if you don’t believe what He told us about hell, then why do you believe what He said about heaven?”
It is really amazing that people can be so inconsistent. They would know nothing about Heaven but for the Bible; but when Jesus uncovers the pit of hell and warns them about it time after time; oh; no! they don’t believe that. And sad to say, the reason they don’t believe it is because they themselves are on their way to that fearful place. “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment,” said the Lord Jesus Himself (Matt. 25:4646And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Matthew 25:46)).
Heaven Rejected.
In India the swan is considered a sacred bird. They have a legend there that one day an old crane was out on the beach looking for snails, and down came a big white swan. The crane stretched out its great long neck, and said to the swan, “Where do you come from?”
The swan said: “From heaven.”
“Heaven?” said the crane, “I never heard of that place. Is it far away?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Is it a good country?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Is it better than this?”
“Oh, far better,” and the swan went on exclaiming about heaven, about its lakes and its rivers, and its fountains and its climate.
The old crane stood there listening, and when the swan was through, said: “Have you any snails there?”
The swan drew itself up and said: “No, vile things! They wouldn’t have them in heaven.”
“Well, then,” said the crane, “you can have your heaven. I don’t want it. I want snails.”
Help—Timely.
At Crecy, where Edward, the Black Prince, led the army, the King (his father) drew up a strong party on a hill, and there witnessed the battle. The Prince, being sharply charged, sent to the King for help. The King delayed to send it, and another messenger was sent, urgently craving assistance. The King replied: “Go, tell my son I am not so inexperienced a commander as not to know when help is needed, nor so careless a father as not to send it. Let the young man win his spurs.” He intended the honor of the day should be his son’s.
Current Anecdotes
Hindrances Removed.
An artesian well doubled its outflow after an earthquake, because the things that hindered were broken up!
Home—Lights of.
During a fierce storm on one of the great lakes of North America, a steam tug, towing a barge, began to sink. The captain and crew took to a small boat. All the night they tossed up and down, in peril of their lives. In the morning they were rescued by a passing ship. The captain afterward said that all the long night there was one thing that nerved their arms and kept their hearts from sinking in despair. Shining through the darkness and the storm, they saw the lights of home.
Home—Pull of.
We may be roused by a stirring word, but incentives of this kind do not give power for endurance. They are like the crack of the whip, which makes the old horse mend his pace for a few yards, but he is soon back at his old jog trot. But turn his head towards home, and see how he will go.
C. A. COATES
Homeward Bound.
Mark Guy Pearse in his visiting brought cheer to many a suffering saint. Sometimes the one visited could not bear to listen to much talk. Mr. Pearse would draw from his pocket a sheet of white paper, and draw a distant landscape on one side. Then as the invalid closely watched, a sketch of the homeland was drawn on the other, with a wide stretch of sea between. Then a bird, tired of wing, but heading steadily towards the home side. Only two words need to make the meaning clear: “Homeward bound.” Mr. Pearse departed leaving the glowing thought of the heavenly home before the dimming eyes of the weary saint.
Honor.
During the American Civil War, certain changes were made in the commands, and General Howard was placed at the head of a special division. After the war, a grand review was to be held. Commander-in-Chief Sherman said to General Howard: “The political friends of the officer you succeeded are determined that he shall ride at the head of the division, and I want you to help me out.”
“It is my command,” said Howard, “and I am entitled to ride at its head.”
“Of course; but, Howard, you are a man that can stand a disappointment.”
“If you put it on that ground, there is but one answer. Let him have the honor.”
“And you will ride by my side at the head of the whole army!”
Humanity of Christ.
A Buddhist, studying Christianity, said: “I cannot believe the supreme God would degrade Himself to become man.” He noticed an ant-hill, and thought: “I would like to be able to make those ants understand that I would not hurt them, but am interested in, and even love them.” He thought if he could only become an ant, while retaining the mind of a man, he would be able to communicate with them. It flashed on him that that is what God had done.
Humility—Path to.
This story concerns a Persian shepherd, Ayaz, who by his devotion and faithfulness to his king, Mahmoud, came into prominence and ultimately was appointed Prime Minister. This appointment was the cause of sore distress to the other ministers over whom he had been placed, and they decided to send a deputation to His Majesty, their king, to point out how unfair it was that this man, a peasant, a shepherd, one who was not of high rank or birth, should be exalted above them and made Prime Minister. They told His Majesty their feelings. He listened and replied: “He is my most faithful and trustworthy servant, and I have every confidence in the Prime Minister. But in order to satisfy your minds you may watch his ways, and if there is anything that is not right and you think it should be brought to my notice, you are free to do so.” After watching for some time they noted that once a week he went into a room, the door of which was always kept locked, and usually spent about an hour in it, then came out and locked the door again. Ah, they thought, we have come across something here. We are quite sure this man is taking advantage of the king. We are sure he is hiding some of the king’s treasure or doing something he ought not to do. We think we had better tell the king this, and off they went and told him. He did not believe their story, but he gave them permission to burst open the door of that room when the Prime Minister was not there, and make a search. This they did, and to their astonishment, all they could find was a parcel, and in it an old dress as worn by the peasants of the country, and a pair of old shoes. This puzzled them immensely and they could not understand it, but that was all they could find. However, they sent their report to the king. He sent for the Prime Minister and presented the parcel to him, saying, “Tell me, Ayaz, what this means.” And this was his reply: “Those are the shoes and that is the dress I used to wear when I was a shepherd. I open them out and look at them once a week lest I should forget what I once was and how unworthy I am of all the kindness and honor your Majesty has best owed upon me.”