Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-02-16


affairs of the temple, and he knew the
meaning of sacrificial blood and what
other precious stone could he SO well
use to symbolic it as the ruby? Red,
intensely red, red as the blood of the
greatest martyr of all time-Jesus of
the centuries! Drive the story of the
crucifxion out. 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 blood? What great bridge
ever sprung it's 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 unites these
two cities, cost the life of the first ar
chitect Ask the shipyards of Glasgow
and New York how many carpenters
went down under accidents before the
steamer was launched; ask the three
great trans-continental railroads how
many in their construction were buried
under crumbling embankments, or
crushed under timbers, or destroyed
by the powder blast Tabulate the
statistics of how 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 sup
port their households. Tell me how
many men in England in France in
Germany, in Italy, in the United States
have died for their country. Vicarious
suffering is as old MS the world, but
the most thrilling, the most startling,
the most stupendous sacrifice of all
| time and eternity, was on a bluff back
of Jerusalem when one being took
upon himself the sins, the agonies, the
perdition of n great multitude that no
man can number, between l2 o'clock
of darkened noon and o'clock in the
afternoon, purchasing the ransom of a
ruined world. Dive in all the seas; ex-
| plore all the mines; crowbar all the
mountains; view all the crowned jewels
of all the emperors, and find me
any gem that can so overwhelmingly
! symbolic that martyrdom as the ruby.
Mark you, there are many gems
that are somewhat like the ruby. So
is the comedian; so is the garnet so is
the spinel; 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.
And there is only one Christ, and he
comes from heaven. One. Redeemer,
one Ransom ,one SON of God; only 'one
name given under heaven among men
| by which we can be saved" Ten
thousand times ten thousand beauti-
full limitations of that ruby, but only
one ruby. Christ had no descendant.
Christ had no counterpart. In the
lifted-up grandeur, and glory, and
love, and sympathy of his character he
is the Incompatible, the Infinite One!
THE Only Wise God, our Savior" Let
all hearts. all homes, all times, all
eternities bow low before him! Let
his banner be lifted in all our souls.
In olden times, Scotland was dis
rid the seas and ports of these despera-
does the hero, William Wallace, fitted
out merchant vessel, but filed u
with armed men, and put out to sea
The pirates, with their flag inscribed
OF Il deaths head, thinking they would
get an easy prize, bore down upon the
scottish merchantmen, 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 so our
souls assailed of sin and death and
hell through Christ are rescued, and
the black flag of sin is torn down nd
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 tho price paid for such
a rescue
like the coral, for it seems the soil
difed foam of breakers; and like the
jasper, for it gathers seventeen colors
into its bosom; and / like the Jet, for
it congresses tho shadows of many
midnights; and like the chrysoprase,
because its purple is illumined with
small heaven OF stars; and ] like the
chrysoiite, for its waves of color which
seem on fire. But this morning nothing
so impresses me as the ruby, for it de-
picts, it typifies, it suggests, The
blood Of Jesus Christ that cleanseth
from all SIM" Without tho shedding
of blood there is no remission" Yea,
Solomon was right when in my text
he said; Wisdom is better than ru-
bies."
To bring out contrast that will il
lustrate my text, put before you two
last earthly scenes. Tho 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 aflluent and worldly man is
about to quit this life. There is a
ruby on the mattel, possibly among
the vases There is n ruby in the
head dress of the queenly wife On
the finger Of the dying man there is a
ruby. The presence of these rubies
implies opulence of all kinds. The
pictures on the walls are heir-looms,