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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