The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1894-02-22

80 tho gems brought from among the
gravel of Csylou aud New South Wales,
but there is only Que genuine ruby, and
| that comes from the mine Of Burmah.
Aud there is only one Christ, and he
| comes from heaven. One Redeemer, one
Ransom, one Son OF Grd, only zone
namo given under heaven among men
by which wo can be saved"
Ten thousand times ten thousand
beautiful limitations of that ruby, but
only one ruby. Christ had no descend
ant. ChIls, had no counterpart. In
the ligted up grandeur and glory and
love and sympathy OF his character he
is the Incompatible, the Infrite One
the only wise God, our Saviour"
Let all hearts, all homes, all times. all
eternities bow low before himl Let his
banner be lifted in ali our soulsl
ln olden times Scotland was disturb.
ed by free5ooters and nil ates. To rid
the seas and ports of these desperadoes
the hero William Wallace fitted out q
merchant vessel, but filled 1t 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 merchantmaD, when the arm.
ed men of Wallace boarded the craft of
Inc pirates and put them in chaips and
men sailed for port under the Scotch
nag llylng. Aud so our souls, assailed
OF SIN and death and hell, through
Gnrist are rescued, and the black flag
Oh sin torn down, and the stripped flag
OF the cross Is hoiSted. Blessed be God
for any siyu, for any signal, for any
preclou s'one that briggs to mind the
price paid for such rescue!
ike the coral, for it seems the solid
inen foam of breakers, and l like the
Jasper, for it gathers II coloTs iuto It's
bosom, and like the jet, fur 1T com.
presses the shadows of many mid.
nights, and l like the chrysoprase be.
cause its purple is illunined with
small heaven of stars, ard l like the
chlysolote for its waves OF color, which
seem on fire. But this morning moth.
ing so impresses ms as the ruby, for it
Depicts. 1t typ'nes, 1t 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, "Wisdom is better than rubins."
10 bring out a contrast that will H.
| luStrate my text put before you two
last earthly scenes. The one is in q
| room with rubies, but no religion, and
the other In room with religion, but
no rubies. You enter the first room
| where an atl and worldly man is
about to quit this life. There Is ruby
on the mantel, possibly among the va
ses. There is a ruby in the headdress
Of the qeenly 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
talns are from foreign looms. The
rugs are from Damascus or Cairo. The
Sofas are Stuffed with ease and Uuie
tudo. The rOckiog chairs roll back
ward and forward on lullabes. The
PILLOWS are exquisitely embroidered
All Inc appointments OF the room art
APPROPRIATION TO a successful CONNER
clal or professional life. But the MAJ
mas no religion, never has had and nev
er protested to have. There Is not q
blole or one religious book in tn,
room.
The departing man feels that hi
, earthiy career is ended and nothing
opens bevnnd. Where he will lar:
stepping off from this life is q mystery
: or whether he will land at all, for /
may De annfhilation. He has no pray
er 10 offer, and he does not know hoW "
TO pray. No hope Of meeting again IN
auother state OF existence. He is
through with this life and is sure of no
| oLher. The ruby on the mantel and
! the ruby Oh the wasted finger of the
| derarttug one say noLhing of the ran.
somlng blood which they so nightly
tyPlty: SO far as giving solace or illu
mlnatlon to departing spirit they are
a dead failure. Midnight Of utter
| hopeiessness drops on all the scene.
Another room Of mortal exit. Reli-
glon and no rubies, She never had
money enough 10 buy one of these ex-
qulsltcS. 5 'lHetimes she stopped at Il
jewelers. show window and saw a low
OF them incarnadining the velvet. She
had Keen taste enough to appreciate
those gems, but she never Wned one
OF them. She was not jealous or un-
| happy because others had rutleS while
she had none. But she had richer
| treasure aud that was the grace Of God
| that had conforted her along the way
| amid bereaVements and temptations
and prosecutions and sickness aud pri-
! VationS and trials of all sorts. Now
| she Is going out of life.
| The room Is bright-not with pict-
ures or statutes, not with upholstery,
not with lny of the gems Of mountain
or OF sea, but there Is a strange and
vivid glow In the room-not the light
or chandelier, or star, or MONDAY sun,
put something that outshlnes all of
them. 1t must be the presence of su-
pernaturals. From her illumined face
think she must hear sweet voices
| Yea, she does hear sweet voices
voices of departed kindred, voices
apostolic and prophetic and evangelic
put all of them overpowered by the
voice of Christ, saying, Come, ye bless,
Ell Of my father, inherit the Kingdom. u
| From her illumined face I think she
| must hear Iapturous music. Yea, she
does hear rapturous music, now soft as
solos, now thunderous as orchestras
now sanity voice alone, now the
hundred and forty and four thousand
In concert. From her illumnined face
think she must breathe redolence
Yea,she does 1nhale aroma from off the
gardens whose flowers never wither
from the blossoms of orchards
every tree of which bears twelve
manner of fruit. From her
illumined face think she
must see glorious sight. Yes, she
sees the wall that has jasper at the
base, and amethyst at the top, and blood