The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-07-13
POLISH THE PEBBLES.
Gather Into the Fold the Sin Encrusted
Souls We Meet.

When gold was discovered at Serro do
Frio, Brazil, nearly hundred years
ago. the miners found pebbles in the
auriferous veins. These pebbles being
Opaque and rough were thrown away.
But some of them having been taken to
Europe and examined, it was discov-
cred that they were diamonds encrust-
ed with sand. Many when cut and
polished proved to be gems "of purest
ray serene" and of great value. Since
this discovery the diamond mines of
Brazil have been as famous as those of
Golconda. A pebble is not rejected
now because its exterior is rough.
Within the sandy incrustation there
may be brilliant fit to adorn mon
arch's diadem.
| thought of those Brazilian pebbles
to-day when reading my newspaper.
There was an item in it telling about
''the roughs'' in a certain city. The re-
porter seemed to regard them as the
refuse of humanity, as worse than
worthless, as the material out of which
mobs are made, whose normal destiny
it is to I'll a prison and adorn scaffolds.
And this idea of 1.-The roughs' is not
confined to the reporters. They express
here as in other matters, the prevailing
sentiment. We are all tempted to re-
gard the vicious as hopeless.
Few of us have faith enough to see
the diamond in the pebble, and to Ia
Dor, like the lapidary, to remove the
incrustation and bring out the value of
the gem. But the Bible teaches that
the best of MS are jewels in the rough,
and that the worst are but little
rougher than the best. We are all
made in the image of God. Veal have
within us immortal spirits that may
shine as the sun in the armament We
all are fallen, and lie incrusted with
selfishness and sin: and the soul that
seems to be the most degraded and
hopeless may. if rescued and polished,
become the very Koh-i-noor of living
brilliants.
Everybody has read about that mob
in Jerusalem in the year IS of the
Christian era. There was man
named Stephen who was full of faith
and of the Holy Ghost. He did great
wonders and miracles among the peo-
pie. They were miracles of healing,
no doubt; miracles of love as we'll as
power. But the elders and scribes were
Jealous of this good man. They
charged him with hcrcsy. They brought
him before the council, and set up
false witnesses against him And then
they became so excited that they could
/ not wait even for the formal compile
ton of their mock trial. They ran
upon him with one accord, cast him
| out of the city and stoned him to
death. 1t was mob violence. 1t was
! lynch law. The leader of those roughs
| was young Pharisee named
Saul And he was thenceforth like a
tiger maddened by tasting blood. He
became "a cruel and relentless persecu.
tor of the best people in Jerusalem and
all the region round about. He breathed
! out threatenings and slaughter, says
| Luke, historian of those times. What
a specimen of reckless and hopeless de
pravity that prosecutor must hav,
seemed to the Christians of that day
Who of them would have had faith ant
courage enough to try to bring Saul o
Tarsus to the foot of the cross? Blu
God saw not as men see. He behelC
within that exterior roughness one o
the worlds brightest and sweetest spir
its. Not only to save noble soul anC
to secure great apostle to the Gen
tiles, but to give the church fol
all time priceless lesson. h,
met Saul on the way to Damas
Gus. He removed the exterior rough
ness and brought out the crystalline
forces that were to reflect His glory al
over the Roman empire. How can W
say that any case is hopeless when tina
chief of sinners" became the chiefes
of the apostles? And there has been
similar polishing of diamonds in all tn
ages since. There were few roughe
slave pirates than John Newton in hi
day. But the glance of God made hin
one of the most holy and useful minis
ters of the eighteenth century. Johl
Bunyan, the Bedford tinker, in early
manhood, was VIGOROUSLY absolute
ignorant, vulgar and profane-th
toughest of the roughs. But what
diamond was hidden in that pebble!
All the rough pebbles at Serro do Fri
are not diamonds. but all the selfish
vile and goddess men and women aroun
us have souls that We're created in til
image of God. and that may be purifie
and polished for the skies. The worl
is vast diamond mine. The slums {
our cities are full of priceless jewels
There is an angel in every stone. Their
are stars like the seven which job
held in his right hand on Patmos, a
the dives and dens from which the erin
inal classes are recruited. The gres
business of the church is not damon
hunting, but picking up and polishin
the diamonds in her path-the sin-el
crusted souls that she meets wherevt
she turns. and that she is tempted
despair of. il not to despise.
Before slavery was abolished in Br
, ! iii, when a digger in the mines found
! diamond of special value he was $