en?' Are they hands that help wherever and whenever they can?
_Think about it! Are they?_

"Or, are they hands that clench in anger? Are they hands that crush
heartlessly? Are they hands that drag downward? Are they hands that
pull backward? Are they hands that strike in cruelty? Are they hands
that slap insultingly? Are they hands that tear pitilessly? Are they
hands that grope into the dark places and do more harm than good?
_Think about it! Are they?_

"Or, are they hands that drop lazily? Are they hands that lie idly and
fold indolently? _Think about it! Are they?_

"In God's word, we find the hand mentioned more than a hundred
times. It appears constantly as an index of character. So, you see,
there is more than one way to determine character than by the
'reading' of the hand. Of the industrious, busy hand, Solomon says,
'The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be
under tribute.' And again of the lazy hand, he says, 'How long wilt
thou sleep? When wilt thou rise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep,
a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.' What a
picture of laziness!

"But in no other place in the Bible do we find such striking
references to the hand as in the words of the Psalmist. [Insert the
letter "S" in Palmist, changing it to Psalmist.] Here is what the
Psalmist says: 'He that hath clean hands and a pure heart shall
receive the blessing of the Lord. Let the beauty of the Lord our God
be upon us and establish the work of our hands; yea, the work of our
hands, establish thou it." [Add the words, "The Work of Our Hands,
Establish Thou It."]

[Illustration: Fig. 123]

"This is a splendid prayer for all of us. To our visitors today, we
extend a warm hand, because you are as welcome as the flowers in
May. Ours is the 'right hand of fellowship,' as Paul calls it. Here we
have a plenty of work for many more hands to do--willing hands, busy
hands, loving hands. If yours are not busy doing a work of uplift and
helpfulness somewhere else, remember that we shall be glad to enlist
them in service here. The lines of E. A. Houseman, in his poem, 'A
Shropshire Lad' show most beautifully the thought which we should give
the work of our hands as the days bring new problems and
opportunities:

"'Hand,' said I, 'since now we part
From fields and men we know by heart,
For strangers' faces, strangers' lands,
Hand, you have held true fellows' hands;