For He shall come in many a blinding shower
To dye thy sick leaves to a healthier hue,
Till the scant years of youth's once ample dower
Requicken with late fruitage rare to view;
Yea, He must shape thee by thine own heart's power,
And fashion all this ruined life anew.
(402)
CHRIST THE LAMB
The figure of a lamb slain dominates the whole aspect of the religion of redemption. Nature and grace seem to blend in harmonious echoes of this ideal presentation.
High up on the old German church of
Werden is carved the image of a lamb, concerning
which the villagers tell this story.
Many years ago, a mason was at work on
the portion of wall where now this figure
stands, when the cord by which his plank
seat was suspended snapt, and he was
hurled down to what seemed instant death,
for masses of rough stone lay thick on the
ground below, the building being under repair.
He arose unhurt, for there among the
stone-heaps a little lamb had been nibbling
at scanty tufts of herbage, and on this
animal he had fallen safe and softly, while
the lamb lay crusht to death. The man so
strangely saved had the monument erected
in grateful, lasting memory of his deliverance
from a cruel death, and of the innocent
creature to whom he owed it. (Text.)
(403)
CHRIST THE LEADER
Mrs. A. E. Hawkins sings of "The March of Life" in these lines:
Sometimes the order comes to "Forward march!"
And falling into line my step I keep
Beside my comrades, o'er the toilsome road,
Nor think of rest or sleep.
Then suddenly the order comes to "Halt!"
And steadily I plant my feet and stand,
I know not why or wherefore—I can trust
The Captain in command.
But suddenly the bugle sounds, "To arms!"
I gird my armor on, and join the fray,
Following my Leader through the battle-smoke
Until we win the day.
For well I know that, march and battle o'er,
Will come the great Commander's grand review,
And then the lights of home, and the reunion
Of loyal hearts and true.
(404)
CHRIST THE LIGHT
In the life story of Helen Keller, a picture
of the governess and her famous pupil is
shown with the blind girl leaning her head
on her teacher's shoulder. This is a fair
representation of the way in which life with
its deeper and hidden meaning unfolded itself
to the child. She drew so near to her
teacher that her hand could touch eye, ear
and lip. Before her teacher came to her,
existence seemed like a dense fog and a
great darkness, while her very soul cried
out, Light, light! But when her education
began, the way grew clearer and the truth
plain as the "light of the teacher's love
shone upon her."
There are men who are spiritually blind. They are shipwrecked mariners at sea in a dense fog. They are without compass and have nothing stable from which they can take their bearings. But when Christ comes into their lives their heart-cry for light is answered. (Text.)
(405)
CHRIST, THE REJECTED
At the exhibition of the Royal Academy, in London, the great canvas by Sigismund Goetze, entitled "Despised and Rejected of Men," has created an artistic sensation. It is declared to be a "powerful and terribly realistic presentment of Christ" in a modern setting, and is described by a writer in The Christian Commonwealth (London), as follows:
In the center of the canvas is the Christ,
standing on a pedestal, bound with ropes,
while on either side passes the heedless
crowd. A prominent figure is a richly vested
priest, proudly conscious of the perfection
of the ritual with which he is starving his
higher life. Over the shoulder of the priest
looks a stern-faced divine of a very different
type. Bible in hand, he turns to look at the
divine figure, but the onlooker is conscious
that this stern preacher of the letter of the
gospel has missed its spirit, and is as far
astray as the priest whose ceremonial is to
him anathema. The startled look on the face
of the hospital nurse in the foreground is
