The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-02-16

before himl Let his banner be lifted in
all our soulsl
PRICE OF THE GOSPEL.
In olden times Scotland was disturbed
by freebooters and pirates. 70 rid the
seas and ports of these desperadoes, the
hero William Wallace fitted out a mer-
chant vessel, but filled it with armed
men and put out to sea. The pirates,
with their flag inscribed of q deaths
head, thinking they would get an easy
prize, bore down upon the Scottish mer-
chairman, when the armed men Of Wal
lace boarded the craft of the pirates and
put them in chains and then sailed for
port under the Scotch flag flying. And
so our souls, assailed Of sin and death and
hell, through Christ are rescued, and the
black flag Of sin is torn down, and the
striped flag Of thecros is hoisted. Bless
sed be God for any sign, for any signal,
for any precious stone, that brings to
mind the price paid for such rescue!
like the coral, for 1t seems the solidi-
fed foam Of breakers, and / like the jas
per, for it gathers II colors into it's bosom,
and ! like the jet, for 1t congresses the
shadows Of many midnights, and l like
the chrysoprase because its purple is
illumined with small heaven Of stars,
and like the chrysolite for its waves of
color which seem on fire. But this morn
ing nothing SO impresses me as the ruby,
for it depicts, ittypifes, it suggests THE
blood of Jesus Christ that cleanseth from
all SIM" Without the shedding of blood
there is no remission" Yea, Solomon
was right when in my text he said, Evils
dom is better than rubies."
To bring out a contrast that will illus
trate my text, put before you two last
earthly scenes. The one is in room with
rubies, but no religion, and the other i'll
room with religion, but norubies You
enter the first room, where an affluent
and worldly man is about to quit this
life. There is ruby on the mantel, pos
sibly among the vases. There is a ruby
in the headdress of the queenly wife.
On the finger of the dying man there
is ruby. The presence of these rubies
implies opulence of all kinds. The pic
lures on the walls are heirlooms or the
trophies of European travel. The cur
tains are from foreign looms. The rugs
are from Damascus or Cairo. The sofas
are stuffed with ease and quietude. The
rocking chairs roll backward and for
ward on lullabies. The pillows are ex-
quisitely embroidered. All the appoint
inents Of the room are peroration to a
successful commercial or professional
life. But the man has no religion, never
has had and never professed to have,
There is not Bible or one religious book
In the room.
The departing man feels that his earth
ly career Is ended; and nothing opens be-
You'd. Where he will land stepping off
from this life is a mystery, or whether
he will land at all, for it may be annihi-
lation. He has no prayer to offer, and
he does not know how to pray. No hope
Of meeting again in another state of ex-
istence. He is through with this life
and is sure Of no other. The ruby on the
mantel and the ruby on the wasted fin
ger of the departing one say nothing of
the ransoming blood which they SO
nightly typify. So far as giving solace
or illumination to departing spirit,
they are dead failure. Midnight of
utter hopelessness drops on all the scene.
BETTER THAN RUBIEs.
Another room Of mortal exit Religion
and no rubies. She never had money
enough to buy one Of these exqnisites.
Sometimes she stopped at al 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 9th
ers 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 bereavements and
foundations and prosecutions and sick
nesses 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 il
the room. Not the light of chandelier
or star or MONDAY sun, but something
that outshines all of them. It must b.
the presence of supernaturals. From
her illumined face think she must heal
sweet voices. Yea, she does hear swee
voices-voices Of departed kindred
voices apostolic and prophetic and evan
gelic, but all of them overpowered b.
the voice of Christ, saying, Come, y
blessed of my Father, inherit the king
DOM"
From her illumined face, think sh
must hear rapturous music. Yea, sh
does hear rapturous music, now soft a
solos, now thunderous as orchestras
now sanity voice alone, now the hun
dred and forty and four thousand in con
cert. From her illumined face, I thin
she must breathe redolence. Yea, sh
does inhale aroma from off the garden
whose flowers never wither and from tn
blossoms of orchards, every tree of whic1
bears 10 manner of fruit. From he
illumined face, think she must see
glorious sight. Yes, she sees the wall tina
has jasper at the base and amethyst a
the top and blood red rubies between
Goodby, sweet soul! Why should yo
longer stay? Your work all done, you
burdens all carried, your tears all wept
Forward into the light Up into tn
joyl Out into the grandeurs! An
after you have saluted Christ and you
kindred, search out him of the palace
of Lebanon cedar and tell him that 20
have found to be gloriously true wha
thousands of years ago he asserted i
this mornings text, Wisdom is bette
than rubies."
In those FURNISHED palaces of our Go
may we all meet. For confess to yo
that my chief desire for heaven is not til
radiance, or, to take the suggestion of tn
sext, not the rubescence d the seen,
lily one idea Of heaven is the place t
meet old friends, God, our best FRIEND
and our earthly friends already tram
ported. Aye, to meet the millions whol
i have never seen, but to whom hav
administered in the gospel weeA by wee
through journalism on both sides Of til
sea, and throughout Christendom, an
through many lands yet semibarbaric.
A MIGHTY AUDIENCE.
/ L. L. - IL