Milford chronicle., 1893-02-24

e e light on walls Of jasmine and trumpe
n creeper.
e THE SWEETNESS OF RELIGION.
"a In my study of the conehology Of th
y Bible, this onycha of the text also npresse
q me with the fact that religion is perfllmed
d What else could God have meant when b
ie said to Moses, Take unto thee swss
le spices, stacte and onychai" Moses tool
e that shell Of the onycha, put it over thl
: hre, and as it crumbled into ashes it ex
n hailed an odor that hung in every curtain
n and filed the ancient tabernacle. and it,
: sweet smoke escaped from the sacred pre-
y einets and saturated the outside air.
Z Perfumel That is what religion is. But
instead of that some make it a malodor
They serve God in a rough and acerb way.
/ They box their child's ears because he does
not properly keep Sunday, instead Of max
/ ing Sunday SO attractive the child could
9 not help but keep it, They make him learn
I by heart difficult chapter in the book OF
1 Exodus, with all the hard names, because
he has been naughty. How many disagree
3 able good people there arel No one doubts
their piety, and they viii reach heaven but
they will have to get fixed up before they
! go there, or they will lake trouble by call
ing gout to us: Keep of that grassp' 'What
do you mean by plucking that howerfn
SHOW your tickets"
Oh, how many Christian people need to
obey my text and take into their worship
and their behavior and their consociations
and presbyteries and general assemblies
and conferences more onychal 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 ! felt exhilarant. What
was the difference9 1t was tho difference
in what they burned in their censers. The
one burned Onycha; the other burned ASA
fetida.
ANCIENT SKILL AND GODS DESIGNS.
In this Genealogical study Of the Bible
1 also notice that the mOllusks or shelled
animals furnish the purple that you see
richly darkening SO many Scripture chap
ters. The purplestuff in the ancient taber-
nacle, the purple girdle of the priests, the
| purple mantle Of Roman emperOrs, the ap-
parel Of Dives in purple and 6ne 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 |
Mediterranean. It was discovered by a /
shepherds dog having stained his mouth |
by breaking one of the shells, and the pur- /
pie aroused admiration.
Costly purple! 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 vel
lum, which may still be found in some of
the national libraries of Europe. Plutarch
speaks of some purple which kept its beauty
for 100 years. But after awhile the purple
became easier to get and that which had
been a sign Of imperial authority when
worn in robes was adopted by many peo-
pie, and so an emperor, jealous of this ap-
preparation Of the purple, made law that
any one except royalty wearing purple
should be put to death.
Then, as il 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 shelldsh which afforded the purple,
there are shells enough left to make us glad
and worshipful. Oh, the entrancement of
hue and shape still left ell up and down the
beaches of all the cOntinents These crea-
lures of the sea have what roofs of enam-
eled porcelainl They dwell under what
pavilions, blue as the sky and fiery as a
sunset and mysterious as an auroral And
Am l not right in leading you for a few .
through this mighty realm of
Sod so neglected by human eye and human
OOtstep?
It is said that the harp and lutte were in
rented from the fact that in Egypt the 3
Vile overflowed its banks and when the /
waters retreated tortoises were left by the
million on all the lands, and these tortoises
lied, and soon nothing was left but the car : :
ilages and gristle Of these creatures, which
ightened under the heat into musical
trings that when touched by the wind or Y
he foot of man vibrated, making sweet
ounds, and so the world took the hint and Z
ashioned the harp. And am not right in
rying to make music out of the shells and
fting them as u harp from which to thrum "
he jubilant praises Of the Lord and the pa =
hetic s5rains of human coincidence? =
WIsDOM's CHOICE OF PEARLS. .
But find the climax of this conchology ~
the Bible in the pearl, which has this "
above all other gems-that it O'
squires no human hand to bring out its
eauties. job speaks of it, and its sheen %
in Christ's sermon, and the Bible, which w
pens with the onycha of my text closes
ith the pearl. OF such values is this crus- 10
lceOus product / do not wonder that for
le exclusive right Of fishing for it on the CO
lores Of Ceylon a man paid to the English
1vernment $6O0, 900 for one season. co
So exquisite is the pearl do not wonder !"
at Pliny thought it was made out Of a
'op Of dew, the creature rising to the sur sei
oe to take it and the chemistry Of nature "
rning the liquid into solid. You will
Q why the Bible makes so much Of the "
arl in its similitudes if you know how cei
ueh it costs to get it. Boats with divers
i out from the island Of Ceylon, 10 divers ~ ~
each boat. Thirteen men guide and man ha
c the bout Down into the dangerous an
pths amid sharks that swirl around them ioo
lnge the divers, while C000O people anx- Jes
lsly gaze on. After three or four minutes y, eoi
sence from the air the diver ascends. .n4 m
strangulated and blood rushing ~ =
,m ears and nostrils, and finging his ;;n
arly treasure on the sand falls into un- %,
Oh, it Is an awful exposure and strain
d peril to fish for pearls, and yet they do I
And is it not a wonder that to get that goi
lich the Bible calls the pearl of great ing
Ice, worth more than all other pearls put for
yether, there should be so little anxiety, mu
little struggle, so little enthusiasm? war
ould God that we were all as wise as the mat
,rchantman Christ commended, who, diti
zen he had found one pearl Of great use
ce, went and sold all that he had and Sal,
1ght it," 8-yvl
But what thrills me with suggestivencss any
he material out Of which all pearls are anls
de. They are fashioned from the wound offe
the shcllGsh The exudation of that stoy
und is fixed and hardened and enlarged for.
o pearl. The rupturcd vessels of the som
ter animal fashioned the gem that now TOYS
,rns finger or earring or sword hilt or wha
g's crown. or a
% out Of the wounds Of earth viii come ful ,
pearls of heaven. Out of the wound Of arc
yiction the pearl Of pardon Out Of the Pre-.
und of bereavement the pearl of solace
t Of the wound Of loss the pearl Of gain.
t of the deep wound Of the grave the II
ri of resurrection joy. Out Of the wounds the
Saviours life and aSaviour's death the er hi
j, the radiant, the everlasting pearl oe sees
venly gladness. turn
And the Il gates were f9 pearls" Take chec
consolation, all ye who have been hurt, ava
ether hurt in body, or hurt in mind. or 10
t in soul. Get your troubles sanctified.
on suffer with Christ on Garth, you will