The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-12


he said, Wisdom is better than rubies."
To bring out a contrast that will illus
trate my text, I put before you two last
earthly scenes. The one is in a room with
rubies, but no religion; and the other in
room with religion but no rubies You
enter the first room, where an aftiuent
and worldly man is about TO quit this life.
There is a ruby on the mantel, possibly
among the vases. There is a ruby in the
head-dress of the queenly wife. On the
finger Of the dying man there is ruby.
The presence Of these rubies implies opu-
lence of all kinds. The pictures on the
walls are heir-lOOmS. or the trophies of
European travel The curtains are from
foreign looms. The rugs are from Damas-
Gus or Cairo. The sofas are stuffed with
ease and quietude. The rocking-chairs
roll backward and forward
on lullabys. The pillows are
exquisitely embroidered. All the
appointments of the room are a perora-
/ ton JO~s successful commercial or profess
sional life But the man has no religion
never has had, and never protested to
| have. There is not a Bible or one re-
| ligious book in the room. The departing
man feels that his earthly career is
ended, and nothing opens beyond. Where
he will land stepping OFF from this life is
mystery, or whether he will land at all,
| for it may be humiliation. He has no
prayer 10 offer, and he does not know how
| TO pray. No hope OF meeting again in an
other state of existence. He is through
with this life, and is sure of no other.
The ruby on the mantel and the ruby on
the wasted finger of the departing one
say nothing of the ransoming blood which
! they so nightly typify So far as giving
sOlace or illumination to a departing
spirit, they are dead failure. Midnight
of utter hopelessness drops on . all the
scene.
Another room of mortal exit. Religion
aud no rubies. She never had money
enough to buy one of these exquisites.
Sometimes she stopped at a jewelers.
show window and saw row of them in
carnadining the velvet She had keen
taste enough TO appreciate those gems,
but she never owned one of them. She
was not jealous or unhappy because
others had rubies while she had none.
But she had richer treasure, and that
was the Grace of God that had comforted
her along the way amid hereavements,
and temptations, and prosecutions, and
sickness. and privatiOns, and trials of all
sorts. Now she is going out of life The
room is bright, not with pictures or statues,
not with upholstery, not with any of the
gems of mountain or of sea, but there is
strange and vivid glow in the room; not
the light of chandelier, or star, or noon
day sun, but something that outshiues all
naturals. From her illuminated face l
think she must hear sweet voices. Yea,
she does hear sweet voices-voices of de-
parted kindred; voices apostolic
and prophetic, and evangelic, but
all of them overpowered by
the voice of Christ, saying,
Come, We blessed of nv father, inherit
the kingdom" From her lllumined face,
| think she must hear rapturous music.
Yea, she does hear rapturous music, now
soft as solos, now thunderous as orches-
tras; now a sanity voice alone, now the
hundred and forty and four thousand in
concert. From her illumined face | think
she must breathe redolence. ga, she
does inhale aroma from off the gardens
whose flowers never wither, and from
the blossoms of orchards, every tree of
which bears twelve manner of fruit.
From her illumined face | think she must
see a glorious sight. Yes she sees the
wall that has jasper at the base, and am
ethyst at the top, and blood-red rubies
between. Good-by, sweet soul! Why
should you longer stay2 Your work all
done; your burdens all carried your
tears all wept} Forward into the light!
Up into the joy! Out into the grandeurs?
And after you have saluted Christ, and
your kindred search out him of the
palaces of Lebanon cedar, and
tell him that you have found to
be gloriously true what thousands of years
ago he asserted in this mornings text:
Wisdom is better than rubies" In
those Furnished palaces of our God may
we all meet For l confess to you that
my chief desire for heaven is not the
radiance, or to take the suggestion of the
text, not the rubescence of the scene. My
one idea of heaven is the place TO meet
| old friends, God our best friend, and our
earthly friends already transported.
Aye! to meet the millions whom l have
never seen, but to whom l have admins
tered in the gospel week by week through
| journalism on both sides of the sea, and
throughout Christendom, and through
many lands yet semi-barbaric. For the
| last twenty three years every blast of in
| justice against me has multiplied my read
| ers all the world over, and the present ma
! lignancy printed and uttered because our
| church is in financial struggle after hav-
! ing two great structures destroyed by fire,
! and we compelled to build three large
! churches say the present outrageous
| in uStlCe in some quarters, Will multiply
my audience in all lands if | can keep in
! good humor and not fight back A gentle
| man tapped me on the shoulder summer
| before last on a street of Edinburgh,
! Scotland, and said Il live in the Shet-
/ land Islands, North Scotland, and | read
| your sermons every sabbath to an au-
| dience of neighbors, and my brother lives
! In CaperOWn, south Africa, ana he reads
them every Sabbath to an audience
of his neighbors" And | here and
now say to the forty millions of the earth
to whose eyes these words will come, that
one of my dearest anticipations is to meet
them in heaven All ! that will be better
than rubies. Ginning up from different
continents, froE different hemispheres,
from opposite sides of the earth to greet
each other in holy love in the
presence of the glorious Christ who made
it possible for us to get there. Our
sins all pardoned, our sorrows all
banished, never TO weep, never to part,
never to die! | tell you that will be
better than rubies. Others may have the
crowns and the thrones and the scep-
tres; give us our old friends back again,
Christ, 1.-THE friend who suicketh closer
than a brother ana all the kindred who
have gone up from our bereft households,
and all our friends whom we have never
vet seen, and you may have all the rubies,
for that wi be better than rubies.
Instead of the dying kiss when they
looked so pale and wan and sick, it will
be the kiss of welcome on lips jubilant
with song, while standing on floors paved
with what eXquisiteness, under ceilings
hung with what glory, bounded by walls
facing us with what splendor, amid glad
ness rolling over us with what Doxology.
Far better, infinitely better, everlast-
lngly better than ruOIes.