The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-03-02

will have to get fixed I'D before they go
there or thev will make trouble by calling
out to us: Keep off that grass" WhaI
do you mean nv plucking that HOVER
'Show your ticket: I"
Oh, how many Christian people need 10
obey nv text and take into Their worship
and their behavior and their CONSIDERATIONS
and 'presbyteries and general assemblies and
conferences more onychal l have some
times gone in a very gala OF spirit into the
presence of some disaer1eable Christians
and in five minutes felt wretched, ami at
some other time / have gone depressed INTO
the company of suave and GENIAL souls anl
in a few moments felt exhilaraut What
was the difference? 1t was the difference IN
what they burned on their censers. The one
burned onycha: the other burned asafetlda.
In this conchological study OF the Bible l
also notice that the molusks or shellei AMI
mails furnish the purple that you see rlchly
darkening so many Scripture chapters.
The purple stuff in the ancient tabernacie'
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 or
the shells on the shores of the Medlterra-
mean. 1t was discovered by a shepherds
dog having stained his mouth by breaking
one of the shells, and the purple aroused ad-
mlratiOn.
Costly purplel Six pounds of the purple
liquor extracted from the shellfshes were
used TO prepare one pound of wool. Purple
was also used on the pages OF books. Bibles
and prayer books appeared in purple vellunl,
which may still be found in some OF the ma
tional libraries OF Eur ope. Plutarch speaks
of the purple which kept his beauty for l9J
years. But after awhile the purple became
70 md which had hppn
sign of imperial authority when worn IN
robes was adopted by many people, aud so
an emperor, Jealous Of this appropriation OF
the purple, made a 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 obiterated
the color from the earth, as much as to say.
IF all cannot have ii, none shall have 1t"
But though God has deprived the race of
that shellfsh which afforded the purple
there are shells enough left to make us glat
and worshipful. Ga. 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 por-
celain They dwell under what pavilions
blue as the say and fiery as sunset and
mysterious as an aurora! And am not
right in leading you for a lew moments
through this mighty realm of Col SO neg
lected by human eye and human footstep?
1t is said that the harp and Lutte were in
vented from the fact that in Egypt the Nile
overfowed its banks, and when the waters
retreated tortoiseS were left by the million
on all the lands, and these tortoises died,
and soon nothing was lett but the cartridges
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
= bo IL l. ,o+ ODD foe I'D no
harp, and am not right in trying TO make
music out CT the shells and lifting them as
harp, from which to th-um the jubilant
praises of the Lord and the pathetic strains
of human confidence?
But find the climax of this concholoyy OF
the Bible in the pearl, which has this distlnc-
ton above al other gems-that 1t 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 excluslTa right
Of fishing for it on the shores of Ceylon
man paid to the English Government SoJO'
900 for one season.
So exclusive is the pearl L do not wonder
that Pliny thou ght it was made out OF
drop OF dew, the creature rising to the sur"
face to take it and the chemistry OF nature
turning the liquid into solid. You VIII
see why the Bible makes so much of the
pearl in its similitu.ies if you know how
much it costs to get it. 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 dangerous depths, anna
sharks that whirl around them, plunge the
divers, while 6o,0)0 people anxlously, gaze
on. After three or four minutes absence
from the air the diver ascends, nlne-tenthS
strangulated and blood rushing from ears
aud nostrils, aud finging his pearly treasure
ON the sand falls into Inconsistencies.
Oh, it is an awful exposure and strain and
peril 10 fish for pearls, and yet they do So
and is it not wonder that to get that which
the Bible calls the pearl OF greatprice. wortl
more than all other pearls put to5etner
there should be so little anxiety, so little
struggle, so little enthusiasm? Would Goa
.lat we were all as wise as the merchantman
Christ commended who, wnea he ha
found one pearl OF great price went ana
sold ali that he had ami bought IT,"
But what thrills me with suggestiveness
Is the material out OF which all pearls are
made They are fashioned from the wound
of the shelitish. The exu1atlon from that
wound is fixed and hardened and enlarged
into pearl. The rupGuret vessels OF the
water animals fashioned the gem that now
adorns finger or earring or sword hllt or
kings crown.
So out OF the wooGds Of earth will come
the pearls OF heaven. Dat OF the would 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 resur-
recton Joy. Dat OF the wounds OF a
Saviour's lie and a Saviour's death the rich,
the radiant, the everlasting pearl OF heaven
ly gladness.
And the II CAT es were II pearls" Take
the consolation, all We VINO nave been hurt,
whether hurt in body, or hurt in mind, or
hurt in snnI Get Your trnnnles Sanctiial