Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1893-02-23
tons from only two perso2s-God and

shades OF all cOiOIS lIouI oeePeot oiieA
to whitest light, just called out on the
shells with no more order than mother
premeditates or calculates how many
Kisses and hugs she shall give her babe
waking up in the morning sunlight.
Yes, my God is an emotional GOD,
and he says, I'VE must have colors and
let the sun paint all Of them onShe scroll
of that shell. and we must have music,
and here is carol for the robin, and a
psalm for man, and doxology. for the
seraphim, and resurrection call for the
archangel." Aye, he showed himself a
God Of sublime emotion when he flung
himself on this world in the personality
of Christ to save it, without regard to
the tears it would take, or the blood II
would exhaust. or the agonies 1t would
crush out.
When see the Louvres and the Lux
embourgs and the Vaticans of Divine
painting strewn along the 5000 miles OF
coast. and hear in forest on summer
morning musical academies and Han
del's societies of full orchestras, say
God is God of emotion. and if he OBJ
serves mathematics it is mathematics
set to music, and his figures are written
not in white chalk on blackboards, but
written by finger Of sunlight on walls
of jasmine and trumpet creeper-
wEHAvE A CLEAN RELIGION.
IN my study of the conchology of the
Bible this onycha of the text also I'M
presses me with the fact that religion is
perfumed. What else could God have
meant when he said to Moses, "IaSe
unto thee sweet spices. stacte and ony
chas" Moses took that shell of the ony-
cha, put it over the fire. and as it crum-
bled into ashes it exhaled an odor that
hung in every curtain and filled the an
cient tabernacle. and its sweet smoke es
capped from the sacred precincts and sat
urated the outside air.
Perfume That is what religion Is
But instead of that some make it NAL
odor. They serve God in a rough and
acerb way They box their child's ears
because he does not properly keep Sun
day instead of 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 al
the hard names, because he has been
naughty. How many disagreeable good
people there are. No one doubts their
piety. and they will reach heaven. but
they will have to get fixed up before
they go there or they will make trouble
by calling out to us: Keep of 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 CT some disagree
able 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 Il fe : mo-
ments | felt exhilarant. What WAS the
difference? 1t was the difference IN what
they burned on their censers. The one
burned onycha; the other burned ASA
setida
TIlr; ROYAL PURPLE.
In this Genealogical study of the Bi-
bic | also notice that the mollusks or
shelled ANIMALS furnish the purple that
you see richly darkenins so many Scrip
ture chapters. The purple stuff IN the
ancient tabernacle, the purple SirGle OF
the priests. the purple mantle of Roman
emperors. The apparel of Dives in purple
and fine hnen-aye, the purple robe
which in mockery was thrown upon
Christ-were colored by the purpleof the
shells on the shores of the Mediterra-
mean. 1t 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 the pur-
pie 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 ap-
peared in purple vellum. which may still
be found in some of the nai;onal libraries
Of Europe Plutarch sieass of some pur-
pie which kept its beauty for 1870 years.
But after awhile the purple became
easier to set, ana that whica had been a
sign of imperial authority when worn in
robes was adopted by many people, and
so an emperor, jealous of this appropria-
ton of the purple, made law that NY
one except royalty wearing purple should
be put to death
Then, as if TO punish the world for
that outrage of exclusiveness. God OBJ
liberated the color from the earth, as
much as 20 say. IF all cannot have it.
none shall have it. But though God
has deprived the race of that shelliish
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
enameled porcelain! They dwell under
what pavilions blue rs the sky and fiery
as sunset and mysterious as an aurora.
And am not right in leading you fer a
few moments through this mighty realm
of God so neglected by human eye and
human footstep:
1t is said that the harp and lutte were
invented from the fact that in Egypt
the Nile ovectlowed its banks. and when
the waters retreated tortoises We're left
by the million on all the lands. and these
tortoises died, and soon nothing WIS LETT
but the cartilages and gristle of these
creatures. which tightened under the
heat into musical strings that when
touched by the wind or foot Of man vi
brated. making sweet sounds, and so the
world took the hint and fashioned the
harp, and am l not right in trying to
make music out of the she::, and lifting
them as a harp. from which to thrum
the jubilant praises of the Lord and the
pathetic strains of human coincidence!
THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
But find the climax of TINS coAchol-
ogy of the Bible in the pearl. which has
this distinction above all other gems
that it REQUIRES 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
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 Ceylon
a man paid to the English government
5000 COO for one season