The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-20


as it crumbled into ashes, It eXhaled an odOr
that hung in every curtain AMI filed the
ancient tabernac e, and its sweet smoke es-
capped from the sacred precincts and
saturated the outside air. Perfumel That
is what religion Is. But, instead OF that.
some make it a malodor. They serve God
in a rough and aceTb way. They box their
. child's ears because he does not properly
keep Sunday, instead of making Sunday 80
. attractive the child could not help but keep
il. They make him learn by heart
a difficult chapter in the book Of
/ Exodus, with all the hard names,
[ because be has been naughty.
4 How many disagreeable good people there
I are. No one doubts their piety, and they
viii reach heaven, but they will have to get
/ fixed up before they 60 there, or they will
make trouble BIZ calling out to US, Keep Off
that grass. I" what do mean by plus liking
! that howerM ''Show your Jicketsp o!
how many Christian people need TO obey my
text, aud take into their worship and their
behavior and taeir conscientious and pres
byteries ana general assemblies and confer
ences more onycla. l have sometimes gone
in very gale of spirit into the presence Of
some disagreeable Christians aud in five
minutes felt wretched. and at some other
time have gone depressed into the company
of suave and genial souls and in few mo-
ments l felt exhilarant What was the
diHerencei II was the difference in what
they burnt on their censers. The one burnt
onycha, the other burnt asafetide.
In this genealogical study of the Bible,
also notice that the mOliusks or shelled ami
mails furnish the purple that you see richly
dsrkening 50 many scripture chapters. The
purple stuff in the ancient tabernacle, the
purple gIrdle Of the priests, the purple man.
tie Of Roman emperors, the apparel of Dives
In purple and fine linen, aye, the purple
robe, which in nockery, was thrown upon
Christ, were colored by the purple of the
shells on the shores Of tine Mediterranean.
IL was discovered by a shepherds dog hav-
ing stained bis mouth by breaking one OF
the shells, and the purple aroused admira-
ton. Costly purple! Six pounds of tie
purple liquor extracted from the she'll fishes
was 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 national libraries OF Europe. Plutarch
speaks OF some purple which kept its beauty
for one hundred and ninety years. But
after awhile, the purple became easier TO
get, and that which had beer q sign Of i'm
perlal authority when worn in robes, was
adopted by many people, and so an en-
peror, Jealous of this appropriation of the
purple made law that any one except roy-
atty wearing purple should be put to death
Then, as II to punish the world for that out
rage of exclusiveness, God obliterAted the
color from tho earth, as much as to say:
If all caUnot have it, none shall have it,
But, though God has deprived the race OF that
shell-tsh which afforded the purple there
are shells enough left to make us glad and
worshipIul. ., the enhancement of hue
and shape still left all up and down
the beaches of all the cOntinentsl These
creatures Of the SEA have what roofs of
enamelled porcelain! They dwell under
what pavilions, blue as the sky aud fiery as
a sunset and mysterious as an aurora And
am | not right in leading you, for few
moments, through this mighty realm Of
God SO neglected by human eye and human
footsteD3 it is said that the harp and Lutte
were Invented from the fact that in Egypt
the Nile overtlowed its banks, and when the
waters re,TeaJed, tOrtoises were left by the
million on all the lands, and these tortoises
died, aud soon nothing was left but the
cartllages and gristle of these creatures,
which frightened under the heat into musical
strings that, when touched by the wind or
the foot OF man. vihrated, 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 a harp, from which TO
thrum the jubilant praises of the Lord and
the pathetic strains of human oondolence2
But End the climax of this conchology
of the Bible in the pearl, which has this
quires no human hand TO bring out its
beauties. Job speaks of it and its sheen is
in Christ's sermon, and the Bible, which
opens with the onycha Of nay text closes
with the pearl. OF such value Is this
crustaceous product. l do not wonder that,
for the exclusive right of fishing for it on
the shores OF Ceylon, man paid to the
English government six hundred thousand
dollars for one season. So exquisite is the
pearl | do not wonder that Pliny thought
1t was made out drop OF dew, the creature
rising 20 the surface to take it and the
chemistry OF nature turning the liquid into
a solid. You will see why the Bible makes
90 much OF che pearl in its similitudes If
YOU know how much it costs to get
1t. Boats with divers sail out from
the island of Ceylon, ten divers
to each boat. Thirteen men guide and
manage the boat. Down into the danger
GUS depths, amid sharks that swirl around
them, plunge the divers. while sixty thou
sand 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 tiinging his pearly treasure on the sand
falls into Inconsistencies. o, it is an awful
exposure and strain and peril to fish for
pearls, and yet they do so, aud Is it not a
wonder that TO get that which the Bible
calls the pearl of great price, worth more
should be go little anxiety, so little sLrug-
gle, so little enthusiasm. Would God that
we were all as wise as the merchantmen
Christ commended, who, when he had
found one pearl Of great price, went and
sold all that he had and bought i'm
But what thrills me with suggestiveness
is the material out Of which all pearls are
made They are fashioned from the wound
of the shell-fish. The emulation from that
wound is fixed and hardened and enlarged
into pearl The ruptured vessels of the
water animal fashioned the gem that now
adorns finger or earring or sword hilt or
kings crown. So, out OF the wounds OF earth
will come the pearls of heaven. Out of the
wound of conviction the pearl of pardon.
Out Of the wound of bereavement the pearl
of solace. Out OF the wound OF loss the
pearl of gain. Out of the deep wound Of
the grave the pearl of resurrection JOY.
Out of the wounds of Savior's life and a
Savior's death, the rich, the radiant, the
everlasting pearl OF heavenly gladness.
And the twelve gates we're twelve pearls"
Take the consolation. all ye who have been
hurt, whether hurt in body, or hurt In
mind, or hurt in soul. Get your troubles
sacrificed. If you suffer with Christ on
earth. you will reign with him in glory.
The tears Of earth are the crystals of heaven.
Every several gate was Of one pearl"
A PECULIAR PROPOSITION
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