Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-02-23

nearing his armies were triumphant ex-
plFedj and II Talva, hearing that the Roman
senate had decreed him an honor, expired,
anu II DIonysiis and Sophocies ora-.o,oo
OF JOY, expired and il a sbipwrecked mr.
ser, waiting on the coast of Guinea in want
ana starvation at the sight of a vessei
,'hSlnS relief, fell dead from shock of de-
liSi, E it any surprise to you that the jovs
ot pardon and heaven rolling over the soul
should sometimes be almost too much for
| me christian to endure and live? An aged
acnt said to me: "De Witt, three times
nave tainted dead away under too great
Christian joy. 1t was in all three cases at
the holy communion"
An eminent Christian man while in n-orar
said: "Stop, Lord cannot bear aDv more
| OF THIS gladneSS. 1t is too much for mortal
| Withhold! withhold - We have heard of
| poor Workmen or woFkwomen getting a let
yer suddenly telling them that a fortune had
been left them, and how they were almost
beside themselves with glee. taking the first
snip to claim che estate. E,at, oh, what it ID
! TO wake up nat Of the stupor Of sinful life
and through pardoniug grace find that ali
our earthly existence will be dvinely man
aged Tor our best welfare. and that then all
heaven will roll in upon the soul
Compared with that a spring morning ia
stupid, and an August sunset Is iDane and
aurora has no pilared splendor and a dia-
mond has no flash, and pearl no light, and
| berry no aquamarine, and ruby no ruddi-
ness My gracious Lord My glorious
God! My precious Christ Roll over on us
| lew bIllows Of that rapture. And nov,
ask you, as fair minded men and women,
! accustomed to make comparisons, is not
! such Joy as that worth more than anything
| one can have in jeweed casket! Was not
| solomon right when he said, ''Wisdom is bet
| ter than rubiesY'
| There Is also something ia the deep car
NINE OF the ruby that suggests the sacrifice
| on which our whole system of religion de-
| pends. While the emerald suggests the
| meadows, and the sapphire the skies. and
| the opal the sea, the ruby suggests the blood
| or sacrifice. The most emphatic and start
! ling of all colors has the ruby Solomon. the
! author OF my text, knew all about the sacri-
| f1ce OF lamb and dove on the affairs of the
| temple, and he knew the meaning of sacri-
| tclal blood, and what other precious stone
could he so well use to symbolic it as the
rubyE Red, intensely red. red as the blood
tine greatest martyr of all time-JesuS-Of
| the centuries Drive the story of the cruci-
fixtOn cut of the Bible and the doctrine of
the atonement out of our religion. and there
would be nothing of Christianity left for our
worship or our admiration.
Why should it be hard to adopt the Bible
theory that our redemption was purchased
by bloodr What great bridge ever sprung its
arches, what temple ever reared it's towers,
what Nation ever achieved its Independence
what mighty good was ever done without
sacrifice of life? The great wonder of the
world, the bridge that untes these two cities
cost the life of the first architect. Ask the
shipyards of Glasgow and New York how
many carpenters went down under accidents
before the steamer was launched ask the
three great tranScOntnental railroads how
many in their construction were buried un-
der crumbling embankmentS or crushed un-
der timbers or destroyed by the powder blast
Tabulate thestatistics Ofhow many mothers
have been martyrs to the cradle of sick chill
dren Tell us how many men sacrificed nerve
and muscle and brain and life in the effort
to support their households Tell US how
many men in England. in France, in Ger
many, in Italy, in the United States, have
died tor their country. VicariouS suffering
is as old as the world, but the most thrilling,
the most startling, the most stupendous
sacrifice of all time and eternity was on
bluff back of Jerusalem when one Being took
upon Himself the sins, the agOnies the per-
ditiOn of great multitude that no man can
number between IL O'Clock of darkened
noon and O'Clock in the afternoon, purchas-
ing the ransom of ruined world.
Dive in all the seas, explore all the mines.
crOwbar all the mountains, view all the
crowned jewels of ali the emperOrs, and find
me any gem that SO overwhelmingly
Symbolic that martyrdOm the ruby
Mark you, there are many gems that are
somewhat like the ruby So is the cornelian,
so is the garnet, so is the spineI, so is the
balaS. so the gems brought from among the
gravels Of CeylOn and New South Wales, but
there is only one genuine ruby, and that
comes from the mine of Burmah Andthere
is only one Christ, and He comes from
heaven. One Redeemer, one Ransom. one
Son OF God, only lone name given under
heaven among men by which we can be
saved"
Ten thousand times 10 900 beautiful imita-
tions of that ruby, but only one ruby. Christ
had no descendant. Christ had no counter
part. In the lifted up grandeur and glory
and love and sympathy of His character He
iG thn TnPn7o rah ho In ifa OpoI
only wise God, our Saviour Let all hearts,
all homes, all times, all eternities, bow low
before Him! Let His banner be lifted in ali
our souls
In olden times Scotland was disturbed by
freebooters and pirates. To rid the seas
and ports of these desperadoes the hero
William Wallace fitted out a merchant YES
sells, but filled it with armed men and put
out TO sea. The pirates, with their flag in
scrhed of deaths head thinking they
would get an easy prize, bore down upon
the Scottish merchantman, when the armed
men of Wallace boarded the craft of the
pirates and put them in chains and then
sailed for port under the Scotch flag flying
And to 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 the cross is hoisted. Blessed
be God for any sign, for any signal, for any
precious stone that brings to mind the price
paid for such a rescue.
1 like the coral, for it seems the solidi fed
foam of breakers, and like the jasper, for
it gathers seventeen colors into its
bosom, and l like the jet, for it congresses
the shadows OF many mIdnlghts, and L like
the chrysOprase because its purple is illu-
mir ed with a small! heaven of stars and |
like the ChrysOlite for its waves of color
which seem on fire. But this morning moth
ing so impresses me as the ruby, for it de-
picts, IT typties, it suggests The blood of
Jesus Christ that cleanseth from all SIM
hon fhaC CboII #
remission" Yea, Solomon was right when
in my text he said, ''Wisdom is better than
rubies.''
TO bring out a contrast that will illustrate
my text, put before you two last earthly
scenes. The one IS in q room with rubieS.
but no religion, and the other in a room
with religion. but no rubes. You enter the
first room, where an af1iuent and worldly
man is about to quit this life. There is Il
ruby on the manteI. possibly among the
vases. There is a ruby in the headdrass of
! the Queenly wife.
| On the finger OF the dying man there is
| ruby. The presence Of these rubies implies
| opuIence of all kinds. The pictures on the
| walls are heirlOOms or the trophies of Eu-
! ropean travel. The curtains are from foreign
| looms. The rugs are from Damascus or
| Cairo. The sofas are stuffed with ease and
| quietude. The rocking chairs roll back
| ward and forward on lullabies. The pillows
| are eXquisitely embroidered. All the ap-
| pOintmentS of the room are a perOratinn to Il
| successful commercial or professional life.
| But the man has no religion, never has hi
! and ne,er professed to have. There is not
! Il Bible one religious book in the rOOn.
| The departing man feels that his earthly
! career IS endeG, ana nothing opens beyond.
| Where he will land stepping off from this life
| is a mystery, or whether he will land at all,
! for it may be annihilation. He has no
| prayer to offer. and he does not know how to
| pray. No hope of meeting again in another
! state of existence. He is through with this
life and is sure of no other. The ruby on
| the mantel and the ruby or 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 illumina-
| tion to a departing spirit, they are dead
! failure. Midnight of utter hopelessness