Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-02-20

| say: "If all cannot have IL, none shall
have it," But, though God has de-
prived the race Of that shell-ish which
afforded the purple, there are shells
enough left TO make us glad aud wor-
shipful. Oh, tina 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
enamelled porcelain! They dwell under
what pavilions, blue as the sky and fiery
as a sunset and mysterious as an aurora.
AND AM NOT RIGHT
In leading you, for 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 oyeraowS its banks,
and when the water retreated, tortoiSes
were left by the million on all the lands,
and these tortoises died, and soon moth
ing was left but the carriages and
griste OF these creatures, which tight
ened under the heat into musical
strings that, when touched by the wind
or the foot of man, vibrated, 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 shells, and lifting them as harp,
from which 10 thrum the jubllant
praises OF the Lord and the pathetic
strains Of human coincidence?
But ! find the climax Of this conchol-
ogy OF the Bible in the Pearl, which has
this distinction above all other gems
A. ho -, briV
out its beauties. Job speaks Of it, ana
its sheen is in ChristS sermon, and the
Bible, which opens with the onycha Of
my text, closes with the pearl. or such
value is this crustaceous product, do
not wonder that, for the exclusive right
of fishing for il on the shores OF Ceylon,
a man paid TO the English government
six hundred thousand dollars for one
season. So exquisite is the pearl, l do
not wonder that Piiny thought it
was made out OF a drop Of dew, the
creature rising TO the surface TO take IL,
and the chemistry OF nature turning
the LIQUID into solid. You will see why
the Bible makes so much OF the pearl In
its SimilitudeS if you know how much it
costs to get it. Boats with divers sail
out from the island of Ceylon, ten divers
to eacn boat. Thirteen men guide and
manage the boat. Down into the Ian
gerous depts, amid sharks that swirl
around them, plunge the divers, while
sixty thousand people anxiously gaze
on.
AFTER THREE OR FOUR MINUTES
absence from the air, diver ascends,
nine-tenths strangulated and blood
rushing from ears and nostrilS, and
flinging his pearly treasure on the sand,
falls into Inconsistencies, Oh, il is an
awful exposure and strain and peril 20
fish for pearls, and yet they do so, and
is it not a wonder that to get that which
the Bible calls the Pearl OF Great Price,
worth more than all other pearls put
together, there should be so little anx-
iety, so littlc struggle, so little euthuSi-
asm? Would God that we were all as
wise as the merchantmen Christ COM
merded, "who, when he had found one
Pearl OF Great Price, went and sold all
that he had and bought It,"
Rut what thrills me with suggestive
ness is the material ont Of which all
pearls are made. They are fashioned
from the wound or the ShCil-hsh. The
emulation from that wound is fixed and
hardened and enlarged into pearl.
The ruptured vessels OF the water AMI
NAL fashioned the gem that now adorns
finger or earring or sword hllt 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 be-
reavement 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 a Saviour's life
and a Saviour'S death, the rich, the radi-
ant. the everlasting peal Of heavenly
gladness. "And the twelve gates we're
twelve pearls" Take the consolation,
all We who have been hurt, whether hurt
in body, or hurt in mind, or hurt in soul.
Get your troubles sanctiiied. II 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. ="