Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-03-03

card TO the tears it would taka, or the blood
it would exhaust. or the agcnies 1t would
crush out
when I see the Louvres and the Luxan-
hor1rps and the Vaticans of Divine painting
strewn along thu 5000 miles OF coast, and
hear in forest summer morning mus
icaI academies AMI Handel societies Of full
orchestras | saw God Is a God OF emotion,
and If He observes mathematics It Is nath =
matics set to music, and His figures are writ
ten not in white chalk on blacxboaris, out
written by a finger OF sunlight on walls OF
jasmine and trumpet creeper.
In nv study of the conchology Of the Bible
this onvcha OF the text also impresses me
with the fact that religion IS perfumed.
What else couli God have meant when De
said to Moses Take unto thee sweet spices,
stacte and onycha| Moses took that shell
of the onycha put 1t over the fire. AMI as It
crumble<i into ashes it exhate1 an OdOr that
hung in every cnrtain AMI filled the ancient
tabernacle, and its sweet smoke escape
from the sacred precincts and saturated the
outside air
Perfumei That is what religion is. Bat
instead of that some make it a malodor.
They serve God in rough and acsro way.
They box their child's ears because he does
not properly keep Sunday instead OF making
Sunday SO attractive the child could not
hetp but keep 1t. They make MIN learn by
heart difficult chapter in thu book OF Exc
aus with all the hard names, because he mas
been naughty. How many disagreeab,e
good people there are! No one doubts their
piety, and they will reach heaven, but they
will have to get fixed up before they 60
there or they will make trouble by calling
out to us: keep off that grass" What
do you mean by plucking that fowerT'
''Show your tickets !"
Oh. how many Christian people need TO
obey my text and take into their worship
and their behavior and their CONSIDERATIONS
and presbyteries and general assemblies and
conferences more onycha! [ have some
times gone in very gala Of spirit into the
presence Of some disagreeable Christians
and in five minutes felt wretched, and at
some other time [ have gone depressed into
the company of suave and genial souls. and
in few moments l felt exhilarant. What
was the difference? It was the difference in
what they burned on their censers. The one
burned onycha; the other burned asafetlda.
In this genealogical study Of the Bible
also notice that the molusks or shelled ami
mails furnish the purple that you see richly
darkenlng so many Scripture chapters.
The purple stuff in the ancient tabernacle.
the purple girdle of the priests the purple
mantle of Roman Emperors, the apparel of
Dives in purple and fine linen-aye. the
purple robe which in mockery was thrown
upon Christ-were colored by the purple of
the shells on the shores Of the Mediterra-
mean. It was discovered by a shepherds
dog having stained his mouth by breaking
one OF the shells, and the purple aroused ad-
miration.
Costly purplei Six pounds of the purple
liquor extracted from the shellfishes were
used to prepare one pound of wool. Purple
was also used on the pages of books. Bibles
and prayer books appeared in purple vellum,
which may still be found in some of the ma
tonaI libraries of Eur ope. Piutarch speaks
OF the purple which kept his beauty for 100
years. But after awhile the purple became
easier to get, and that which had been
sign OF imperial authority when worn In
rooes was adopted by many people, and so
an emperor, jealous Of this appropriation OF
the purple, made law that any one except
royalty wearing purple should be put to
death.
Then, as if to punish the world for that
outrage of exclusiveness, God obliterated
the color from the earth, as much as to say.
IF all cannot have it., none shall have it."
But though God has deprived the race Of
that shellfsh which afforded the purple
there 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 roots of enameled por-
celainl They dwell under what pavilions
blue as the SKY and fiery a sunset and
mysterious as an auroral And am not
right IN leading you for a few moments
through this mighty realm Of God 50 neg
lected by human eye and human footstepP
It is said that the harp and lutte were in
vented from the fact that in Egypt the Nile
overhowed It's banks, and when the waters
retreated tOrtoiSes were left by the million
on all the lands, and these tortoiseS died,
and soon nothing was left but the cartilages
and gristie of these creatures, which tight
ened under the heat into musical strings
that when touched by the wind or foot Of
man vibrated, making sweet sounds, and SO
the world took the hint and fashioned the
harp, and am not right in trying to make
music out of the shells and lifting them as
harp, from which to thrum the jubllant
praises of the Lord and the pathetic strains
OF human coincidence?
But find the climax OF this conchology of
the Bible in the pearl, which has this distinc-
ton above all other gems-that it requires
no human hand to bring out its beauties.
Job speaks Of it, and its sheen is in Christs
sermon, and the Bible, which opens with the
onycha Of my text, closes with the pearl.
Of such value is this crustaceous product
do not wonder that for the exclusive right
Of fishing for it on the shores of CeyIon a
man paid to the English Government $780,
700 for one season.
So EXCLUSIVE is the pearl ] do not wonder
that Pliny thought it was made out Of a
drop Of dew, the creature rising to the sur
face to take it and the chemistry of nature
turning the liquid into a solid. You will
see why the Bible makes so much of the
pearl in it's similitudes if you know how
much it costs to get it. Boats with divers
sail out from the island of CeyIon, ten
divers to each boat. Thirteen men
guide and manage the boat. Down
into the dangerous depths, amid
sharks that whirl around them, plunge the
divers, while 6O,0JO people anxiously gaze
on. After three or four minutes absence
from the air the diver ascends, nine-tenths
strangulated and blood rushing from ears
and nostrils, and 1inging his pearly treasure
on the sand falls into Inconsistencies.
- FL ~IefT.o rw,1