Democratic messenger., 1893-02-25


hundred ever was strong enough To stand
a large estate by inheritance dropped ON
him ina chunk Have great cxpecta-
tions from only two persons God and
yourself. Let the oaycha Of my text be
come yonr prcceptor.
But the more examine the shells the
more am impressed that God is God
of emotion MANY scuff 1T emotion and
seem 10 think tina; God is Il God of cold
geometry and iron laws and eternal
apathy and enthroned stoicism No,
No. The shells with overpowcring en-
phasis deny it While law and order
reign in the universe. you have but To
see the laviShncss of color on the crus-
tacca all shades Of crimson from faint
est blush Ia blood of battlefield. all
shades Of blue. all shades of green, all
shades of all colors from deepest black
10 whitest light. just called ont on the
shells with no more order than a mother
premcditatcs or calculates hesv many
kisses and hugs she shall give@her babe
waking up i'll the morning sunlight.
Yes. my God IS an emotional God.
and he SAYS. We must have colors AMI
lei the sun paint all of them ON the scroll
Of that shell. and we must have music,
and here is Il carol for the robin, and n
psalm for man. and Il doxolo.y for the
seraphim. and Il resurrection call for the
archan..l Aye he showed himself
God of sublime emotion when he flung
himself ON this world in the personality
of Christ To save il. without regard 10
the tears il would take. or the blood il
would exhaust or the agonies il would
crush ont
When see the Louvrcs and the Lux
emhourgs and the Natic;ins of Divine
painting strewn along the 5000 miles OF
+ coast and hear III Il forest ON a summer
morning musical academies and Han
/ iels societies of full orchcstrls, say
God is Il God of emotion. and if he oh
+ serves mathematics il is mathematics
set To music. and his figures are written
not in white chalk on blackboards, but
written 10y finger of sunlight ON walls
of jasmine and trumpet creepcr.
WE HAVE a CLEAN RELIGION.
In my study Of the conchology of the
Bible this onycha of the text also inn
presses me with the fact that religion is
perlumcd What else could God have
meant when he said to Moses. Take
unto thee sweet spices. stacte and ony
cha:' Moses took that shell of the ony
cha. put it over the fire. and as it crum
bled into ashes il exhaled an odor that
hung il every curtain and filled the an
cient tabernacle. and its sweet smoke cs
capped from the sacred precincts and sat
urated the outside air
Perfume. That is what religion i
But instead of that some make ii q NAL
odor. They serve God i'll Il rough and
acerb way. They box their child's ears
because he does not properly keep sun
day instead # making Sunday SO attract
i've the child could not help but keep it
They make him learn by heart difficult
chapter in the book of Exodus. with all
the hard names. because he has been
naughty. How many disagreeable good
people there are. No one doubts their
picty. and they will reach heaven, but
they Will have 10 get fixed up before
they 70 there or they will make trouble
by calling ont to rs: Keep off that
grass" What do you mean by pluck
ing that flower" SHOW your tickets"
Oh. how many Christian people need
to obey my text and take into their wor
ship and their behavior and their conso-
Citations and preSbyteries and general as
semblies and conferences more onycha.
| have sometimes gone in very gala of
spirit into the presence of some disagree
able Christians and in five minutes felt
wrctched. and at some other time have
gone depressed into the company of
suave and genial souls. and in few mo-
mcnts felt exhilarant. What was the
difference: II was the difference in what
they burned on their ccnscrs. The one
burned onycha. the other burned asa
fctda
::iE ROYAL .u:..i-c.
In this Genealogical study IF Tie III
20 also notice that the mullusks or
,neiled animals furnish the purple that
you see richly darkcning so many Scrip |
ture chapters. The purple stuff in the
ancient tabernacle. the purple girllc OF
the priests. the purple mantle Of Roman
emperors. the apparel of Dives in purple /
and fine linen the purple robe /
which in mockcrv was thrown upon
Christ-were colored by the purple of the |
shells ON the shorcS of the Mcditerra-
mean. II was discovered by shepherds
dog having stained his mouth by break
ing one Of the shells. and the purple
aroused admiration.
Costly purple. Six pounds Of 'he pur-
pie liquor extracted from the shclltishcs
We're used TO prepare one pound of wool
Purple was also used on the pages Of I
books. Bibles and prayer books ap-
peare,l in purple vellum. which may still +
be found IN some Of the national libraries T
of Europe. Plutarch speaks of some pur
PIE which kept its beauty for 1870 years 7
But after awhile the purple became +
easier to get and that which had been Il /
sign Of imperial authority when Worn in /
robes was adopted bv mary people. and I
SO an emperor. jealous of this appropria-
tion Of the purple. made II law that any +
one except ROYALTY wearing purple should .
be put To death.
Then. rs ii to punish the world for I
that outrage OF cXclusivencss. God Oh I
liberated the color from the earth. rs
much as to say. IF all cannot have it.
none shall have it," Bnt though ..od /
has deprived the race Of that shclltish
which afforded the purple there are
shells enough left to make us glad and .
worshipful Oh the enhancement of
hue and shape still left all up and down
the beaches of all the continents. These
creatures of the sea have what roofs Of
enamelcd porcelain, They dwell under
-i,.,s
rs Il sunset and mysterious rs an aurora.
And am net right III leading yen for a
few moments through this mighty realm
of God 50 neglected by human eye and
human footstel:
1t is said that the harp and lutte Were
invented from the fact that in Egypt
the Nile ovcrf,owcd its banks. and when
the waters retr"ated tortoiscs were left
by the million on all the lands, and these
tortoiscs died. and soon nothin. was left