The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-02-13


| the expense of IS was hung upon the wal,
| when Won first began to keep house! 10 all
| the cutlery and rare plate tnat Sittel vi
| your extension dining table surrounded py
1attering guests contain more Oh real pliss
, than the plain ware of your first table at
| which sat only two? Does Wardrope
| crowded with costly attire give you more
| satisfaction than your first CLONES closet
| with it's four or five pegs: Dld not the
| plain ring set the third flnger OF your
| left hand on the day f your betrothal give
| more gladness than the ruby that IS now
| enthroned on the third finger of your right
| hand? If in this journey of life we nave
i learned anything, have learned chat
| 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 companonship with Jesus
| Christ and good hope of heaven, they feel
! a jOy that all the resources of their Vocah
| ulary fail to express Sometimes it evidences
| itself in CALCULATIONS OF hosanna; some
times in doXology; sometimes in tears. a
| converted native of India in letter said,
| "How / long for my bed, not that | may
| sleep; / lie awake often and long, but to
hold sweet communion with my God" IL
so mighty is worldly joy that Julius the
| III hearing his armies were triumphant,
! expired; and if Talva, hearing that the
| Roman senate had decreed him honor,
| expired; and if Dionysius and Sophocles
| overcome of joy, expired. and if "a ship
| wrecked purser waiting the coast of
Guinea in want and starvation at the sight
| of a vessel bringing relief, fell dead from the
| shock of delight, is it any surprise to YOU
| that the joys of pardon and heaven rolling
the soul should sometimes be almost
| too much for the Christian to endure and
/ live? An aged aunt said to me. Dewitt.
| three times | have tainted dead away I'M
| der too great Christian joy. 1t was in all
| three cases at the holy communion" An
eminent Christian man while in prayer
| said, stop Lord ] cannot bear any more
| of this gladnoss; it is too much for mortal.
| Withhold! Withhold!' We have heard of
| poor workmen or worltwOmen getting a let
ter suddenly telling them that a fortune
| had been left them, and how they We're al
most beside themSelVe S with glee taking
| the first ship to claim the estate. But oh
what 1t is to wake up out of the Stllpor of
! sinful life and through pardonng 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
soul. Compared with THAI a eprine morn
| ing is stupid, and an August sunset is inane
and an aurora has no pillared splendor and
diamond has no flash, and pearl No
| light and Il beryl no aquamarine and
! ruby no ruddiness. Ny gracious Lord, Aiy
glorious God! My precious Christ! Rou
| over on us few pillows of that rapt1Ire
| Ana now ask you. as fair-minded men and
women accustomed to make comparisons
| is not such JOY that worth more than
| anything one can have in a ieweIed cas-
| ket was not Solomon right when he said
| Wisdom is better than rubies?"
Ihere IS also something in the deep car
| nce on watch our whole system OF reIIg-
| ION depe1 DIS. W nile the emerald suggests
| the meadows, ana the sapphire the e<Ipg
and tue opal the sea, the ruby suggests Ina
Diood OF Aacrlnce. The most emphatic and
ONION, the author OF my text knew all
ABOUT the sacrlnce of lamb and dove on
the affairs of the temple, and he knew t.e
a tIt.4
| other precious stone could ne so well use
TO Symbolic it as the ruby? Red, intense
~ red, red as the blood of the greatest
iiSai ~ OF an tlIne-JesuS of the centu-
RES; Drive the story OF the sacrihxion out
! " tIe bIple ana Inc doctrine OF the atone
ihent out OF our religion and there would
be nothing of Christianity lett for our wor-
snip or our admiration. Why should it ne
| nara TO adopt the Bible theory that ouc
redemption was purchased by blood? What
/ great bridge ever sprung its arches; what
| Temple ever reared Its towers; what nation
! ever achieved its indeuendence; what
mighty good was ever done without sacrI-
| flee of life? The great wonder of the world
the bridge that unites lhese two cities, cost
| the life OF the first architect Ask the
| shlpyards of Glasgow and New York how
many carpenters went down under accidents
before the steamer was launched; ask the
three great trans-continentaI railroads
how many III their construction were buried
under the crumbllnS embankments, or
crushed under timbers, or destroyed by
! of how many mothers have been martyrs
10 the cradle of sick children? Tell us how
| anu brain, and life in the effort to support
| their households? Tell me how many men
IN Enf IL be FranSe in Germany IN IN
their country? Nicarious 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 a
bluff back of Jerusalem when one Being
took upon himself the sins the agonies.
the perdition of great multitude that no
man can number, between u o'clock of
a darkened noon and , o'clock in the after
Ia of mi
| the mines: croWbar All the mountains: view
| all the crowned jewels of all the emperors,
wheImnely symbolic that martvrdom as
the ruby Mary you, there are many gems
that are somewhat like the ruby. So is the
comedian; so is the garnet so is TIE
spinel; so is the balas: so the gems brought
fro'n among the gravels of Ceylon and
New South Wales; but there in only one
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 thou
sand times ten thousand beautiful imita-
Christ had no descendant Christ
had no counterpart. In the lifted-up
grandeur. and glory, and love, and sympa-
variable, the Infinite One! THE Onl,, Wise
God. Our, Savior" Let all hearts. III
before HIM Let His banner be lifted in
| all our souls.
/ In Olden tunes, ScOtIanq was disturbed
| by freeboOters and pirates. lie rid the seas
and ports of these "cSperaGoes, he hero,
| William Wallace, fitted out Il merchant YES
| sci, but filled it vita armed men and pat
| out to sea. The pirates with their flag in
scribed of a deaths head thinking they
| would get an easy prize. bore down upon
| the Scottish merchantmen. when the arm
i ed 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 souls aSSailed of sin
and death and hell through Christ art
rescued and the black flag of sin is TORI
| down and the striped flag of the cross is
| hoisted Blessed be God for any sign, fOl
any signal for any precious stone thal
| brings TO mind the price paid for such
| reSCuet
like the coral. for it seems the solidifeC
| foam of breakers; and like the jasper fo
| IL gathers seventeen colOrS into its bosom
| and | like the jet for it congresses thf
| shadows of many mdnightS; and | like the
| chrySoprase because IT'S purple IS 1llumlne(
| with a small heaven of stars; and like
| the chrysolite, for it's waves of color which
seem on fire. But this morning nothing 81
! impresses me as the ruby, for 1t depicts
| it typifies, il suggests, The blood of Je
| sus Christ that cleanseth from all sin;
"Without the shedding of blood there is NJ
remission" Yea, Solomon right whcI
in my text he said, wisdom is better
than rubes."
To bring out contrast that will illus
trate my text, put before you two las