Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-02-17
Near B. & O. Freight Depot.

\
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 architect. Ask the
/ shipyards Of Glasgow and New Yorl;
( how many carpenters went down under
/ accidents before the steamer was launch
ed; ask the three great traGscontinental
railroads how many in their construc-
ton were buried under cIuiabling en-
1 banElnents or crushed under timbers or
destroyed By the powder blast.
1 Tabulate the statistics Of how many
mothers have been martyrs to the cradle
Ct sic, children. Tell Us how many men
sacrificed nerve and muscle and brain
and life in the effort TO support their
| households. Tell me how many men in
England, in France, III Germany, III
Italy, in the United States, have died for
/ their country. VicaIious suffering is as
old as the world, but the most thrilling,
| the most startling, the most stupendous
sacrifice OF al time and eternity was on
/ 2 bluff back Of Jerusalem when one Be
ing took upon himself the sins, the ago
/ ries, the pcrdition Of great multitude
/ that no man can number between 70
/ o'clock Of darkeEed noon and 3 o'clock
II the afternoon, purchasing the ransom
| Of a ruined world.
/ Dive in all the seas, explore all the
mines, crowbar all the mountains, view
all the crowned jewels Of al the enper-
/ org nu1 find mo ..,,y- C.e,, 4ho+ .as, so
overwhelmingly symbolize that martyr
dom as The ruby. Mark you, there are
many gems that are somewhat like the
ruby. 50 IS the ccrneian, so-is the gar
net, so is the spinel, SO is the bala.s, so
/ the gems brought from among the gray
/ els 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 Ran
som, one Son Of God, only zone name
given under heaven amongmen by which
We can be saved"
Ten thousand times 10000 beautiful
limitations c. that ruby, but only one
ruby. Christ had 10 descendant Christ
/
grandeur and glory and love and sympa-
thy of his character he is the Incompar-
able, the Infinite Gael The only wise
/ God, our Saviour" Let all hearts, all
homes, all times, all cternities, bow low
/ before him! Let his banner be lifted in
all our souls!
PRICE OE THE GOSPEL.
T., o1I.,, ii,,r, Ct,,+f.,,,,1
/ by freebooters and pirates. To rid the
( seas and ports Of these dasperadoes, the
hero William Wallace fitted out mer-
chant vessel, but filed it with armed
men and put out to sea. The pirates,
with their flag inscribed of a deaths
head, thinking they would get an easy
prize, bore down upon the Scottish mer-
chairman, when the armed iaen Of Wal
lace boarded the craft Of the pirates and
put them il chains and then sailed for
/ port under the Scotch flag flying. And
| SO our souls, assaiIcd Of sin and death and
hell, through Christ are rescued, and the
black flag of sin is torn down. and the
striped flag Of thecross is hoisted. Bless
sed be God for any sign, for any signal,
Tor any precious stone, that brings TO
mind the price paid for such u rescued
/ ike tine coral, for il seems tine sulidi-
fed foam OF breakers, and like tde ts-
per, forit gathers II colors intoits bosom,
and like the jet. fer it congresses the
shadows Of many lnidnights. and | like
the chrysoprase because its purple IS
:llumined with small heaven of stars.
and like the chrysolite for its waves of
color which seem en- fire. But this morn
ing nothing so i1upresses me as the ruby,
/ for it depicts, ittvpifos, it suggests The
blood Of Jesus Christ that cleauscth from
all sin" Without the shedding Of blood
there is no remission Yea. Solomon
was right when in my text he said, Wis
dom is better than rubies.'
To bring out Il contrast that viii illus
trate my text. put before you two last
earthly scenes. The one is in a room with
rubies. but no religion, and the other in
a room with religion, but nOrubies. You
enter the fist room, where an afflueut
and worldly man is about to quit this
life. There IS a ruby on the mautel, pos
/ sibly among the vases. There is Il rdby
/ in the headlress OF the Queeuly 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 case and quietude. The
rocking chairs roll backward and for
ward on lullabies. The pillows are ex-
/ quisitely embroidered. All the appoint
ments 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 a Bible or one religions book
! in the room.
| The departing man feels that his earth
/ ly career is ended, and nothing opens be
yond. Where he Will land stepping off
from this life is mystery. or whether
/ he will land at all, for IL 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
I and is sure Of no other. The ruby on the
mantel and the ruby on the wasted en-
/ 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 g dead failure. Midnight Of
utter hopelessness drops on all the scene.
I BETTER THAN RJsIEs
Another room Of mortal exit. Religion
and no rubies. She never had money
enough to buy one of these exquisites.
Sometimes sac stopped at a jewelers.
show window and saw q 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 a richer treasure, and that was
the grace of t1od that had comforted her
along the way amid bereayements and
temptations aud prosecutions and sick