Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-02-17

Toying kindness shall not depart from
YOU" ''Whom the Lord loveth he chas-
teneth." ''They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more, neither shall the
sun light ON them, nor any heat, for the
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall lead them to living fountains Of
water, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes"
The most wholesome thing on earth is
trouble, if met in Christian spirit. To
make Paul what he was it took ship
wreck and whipping on the bare back.
and penitentiary, and pursuit of wild
mobs. and the sword of decapitation. To
make David what he was it took ell that
Ahitiophel and Saul and Absalon aud
Goliath and all the Philistine hosts could
do against him. 1t took Robert Cham
bers malformation of feet to make him
the literary conqueror.
1t was bereavement that brought Will
liam Haworth of Wesley's time from
wiekedness to an evangelism that won
many thousands for heaven. The world
would never have known what heroic
stuff Ridley was made of had not the
fires been kindled around his feet, and
not liking their slow work he cried: Il
cannot burn. Let the fire come to me.
cannot burn." Thank God that there
are gems that unfold their best glories
under the lamplightl Thank God for
the ruby!
SOLOMON WAS RIGHT.
Moreover, am sure that Solomon was
right in saying that religion or wisdom
is better than rubies, from the fact that
a thing is worth what it will fetch. Re
ligion will fetch solid happiness, and the
ruby will not. In all your observation
did you ever find person thoroughly fe-
dictated by an incrustment of jewels:
As you know more OF yourself than any
one else, are yen happier now with
worldly adoTnments and successes than
before you won them? Does the picture
that cost YOU hundreds or thousands of
dollars on your wall bring you as much
satisfaction as the engraving that at the
expense of s. was hung upon the wall
when you first began to keep house?
Do all the cutlery and rare plate that
glitter on your extension dining table,
surrounded by iiattering guests, contain
more of real bliss than the plain ware Of
your first table, at which sat only two:
Does IA wardrobe crowded with costly
attire give you more satisfaction than
your first clothes closet with its four or
five pegs? Did not the plain ring set ON
the third finger Of your left hand on the
day of your betrothal give more gladnesa
than the ruby that is now cnthroned on
the third finger of your right hand?
If in this journey of life we have learn
ed anything, we have learned that this
world neither with its emoluments nor
gains can satisfy the soul. Why, here
come as many witnesses as wish to call
to the stand to testify that before high
heaven and the world, in companionship
with Jesus Christ and a good hope of
heaven, they feel Il joy that all the re-
sources of their vocabulary fail to ex-
press. Sometimes it evidences itself in
calculations of Eosanna; sometimes in
doxOlogy; sometimes in teagF. 4 CON
verted native Of India in Il letter said,
"How long for my bed, not that may
sleep-I lie awake often and long-but
to hold sweet communion with my God.
If so mighty is worldly JOY that Julius
IL, hearing his armies We're triumphant,
expired, and if Talya, hearing that the
Roman senate had decreed him m honor,
expired, and If Dionysius aud Sophocles,
overcome Of joy, expired, and if a ship
wrecked purser, waiting on the coast of
Guinea in want and starvation at the
sight of a vessel bringing relief. fell
dead from shock of delight, is it any sur,
prise to you that the joys of pardon and
heaven rolling over the soul should
sometimes be almost too much for the
Christian to endure and live? An aged
aunt said to me: DE Witt, three tunes |
have tainted dead away under too great
Christian joy. 1t was in all three CAGES
ct the holy communion"
An eminent Christian man willie in
prayer said; stop, Lord: cannot bear
any more Of this gladncss. 1t is too much
for mortal. Withhold withhold" We
have heard of poor workmen or workwo-
men getting letter suddenly telling them
that fortune had been left them and now
they were almost beside themselves with
glee, taking the first ship to claim the
estate But, oh, what it is to wake up
out Of the stupor of a sinful life, and
through pardoning grace find that all
our earthly existence will be divinely
managed for our best welfare, and that
then all heaven will roll in upon the
soull
Compared with that Z spring morning
is stupid, and an August sunset is inanc,
and an aurora has no pillared splendor,
and diamond has no flash, and pearl
no light, and beryi no aGuamariue, and
a ruby no ruddiness. Ny gracious Lord!
My glorious Godl Ny precious Christ!
Roll over on us few pillows of that
rapture. And now 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 Il jewelcd casaet? Was not Solo
mon right when lie said, Wisdom is bet
ter than rubies:'
MARTYRS 20 DUTY.
There is also something in the deep
Carmine of the ruby that suggests the
sacrifice on which cur whole system Of
religion depends While the emerald
suggests the meadows, and the sapphire
the skies, and the opal the sea. the ruby
suggests the blood Of sacrifice The
most emphatic and startling of all colors
hath the rnGy. Solomon, the author OF
my text, knew all about the sacrifice of
lamb and dove on the affairs Of the tenn
pie, and he knew the meaning Of sacri-
fetal blood, and what other precious
stone could he so well use to symbolic
it as the ruby? Red, intensely red, red
rs the blood of III greatest martyr Of al
t.me-Jesus-of the centuries! Drive
the story cf the cruciGxion out OF the
Bible and the doctrine Of tie atouemeHt
ont Of our religion, and there would be
nothing Of Christianity left for our wor-
slip or oar admiration.
Why should it be hard to adopt the
9iGle theory that our redemrtian WIS
------s.-