Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/108

 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.

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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.)

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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.

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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.)

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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