The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-02-17

nc VA "iSh ou hAob 4" "~>B
house? Do all the cutlery and rare
plate that glitter on your extension
dining-table surrounded by fiattering
guests contain more real bliss than the
plain ware of your first table, at which
only two sat? Doe a wardrobe crowd
ed with costly attire give you more
satisfaction than your first clothes
closet with it's Jour or five pegs? Did
not the plain ring set on the third
finger of your left hand on h day of
your betrothal give more gladness than
the ruby hat is now enthroned on the
third finger of your right hand? If in
this journey of life we have learned
anything, we have learned that this
world neither with its e~moluments nor
gains can satisfy the soul. Why, here
come rs many witnesses as l wish to
call to the stand to testify hat before
high Heaven and the world, in COM
panionship with Jesus Christ IN a
good hope of Heaven, they feel "a joy
that all the resources of their vocabul-
larly fail to express A converted ma
tive of India in n letter said: How l
long for my bed, not that | may sleep:
| lie awake often and long, but to hold
sweet communion with my God" If
SO mighty is worldly joy that Julius
H.. hearing his armies were triumph
ant, expired; and if Talva hearing that
the Roman senate had decreed him an
honor, expired; and If Dionysius and
Sophocles overcome of joy, expired, and
il a shipwrecked purser waiting OF the
coast Of Guinea in want and starvation ut
tho ssnht IF IN pnScnI 1,,.in rtpr yaliaf fall
dead from the shock of delight, is it any
surprise to you that the joys of pardon
and Heaven rolling over the soul should
sometimes be almost too much for the
Christian t o endure and live?
There is also something in the deep
carmine OF the ruby that suggests the
sacrifice on which our whole system of
religion depends. While the emerald
suggests the meadows and the sap
phire the skies and the opal the sea,
the ruby suggests the blood of sacrifice.
The most emphatic and startling of all
colors hath the ruby. Solomon, the
author of my text, knew all about the
sacrifice of lamb and dove on the affairs
of the temple, and he knew the
meaning of sacrificial blood, and what
Juliet EcClouS otOhC Couio hC oo
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 execution 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 redemption was pur-
| chased by blood? What great bridge
ever sprung It's arches; what temple
even reard its towers; what nation ever
achieved its independence; what mighty
good was ever lone 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 York how many
carpenters went down under accidents
before the steamer was launched; ask
the three great transcontinental rail
roads how many in their construction
were buried under crumbling embank-
ments, or crushed under timbers. or
destroyed by the powder blast Tabu-
late the statistics of how many moth
ers nave been martyrs to the cradle of
sick 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, in Germany, in
Italy, in the United States have died
for their country. Vicarious suffering
is old as the world, but the most
thrilling. the most startling, the
most stupendous sacrifice of al
time and eternity, was on a bluff back
of Jerusalem when One being took up
on Himself the sins, the agonies, the
perdition Of q great multitude that nc
man a number, between IL O'Clock
of a darkened noon and 8 o'clock in the
afternoon, purchasing the ransom of
ruined world. Dive in all the seas; ex'
plore all the mines; crowbar all the
mountains; view all the crowned jew
els of the emperors, and find mi
any gem that can so overwhelming
ly symbolic that martyrdom Al
the ruby. Mark you. there are many
gems that are somewhat like the ruby
So is the COMEDIAN so is the garnet; 81
is the spinel; SO is the balas; SO is the
gems brought from among the gravel
of Ceylon and New South Wales; bu
there is only one genuine ruby, an
that comes from the mine of Burmah
And there is only one Christ. and h
comes from Heaven. One Redeemer
one Ransom, one Son of God; only ION
Name given under Heaven among me
nv which we can he saved"
To bring out a contrast that will II
lustrate my text, l put before you tw'
last earthly sceneA The one is in
with rubies, but no religion. ant
the other in a room with religion, bu
no rubies. You enter the first room
where an afauent and worldly man !
about to quit this life. There is a rub.
on the mantel, possibly among tn
vases. There is q ruby in the head
dress Of the queenly wife. On tn
finger of the dying man there is a ruby
The presence Of these rubies implie
opulence of all kinds. The pictures o.
the walls are heirlooms, or the trophie
of European travel. The curtains ar
from foreign looms. The rugs ar
from Damascus or Cairo. The sofa
are stuffed with ease and quietude
The rocking chairs roll backward an
, forward on lullabys The pillows ar
exquisitely embroidered. All the az
pointments of the room are
|, peroration to a successful CONNER
: cial or professional life. But tn
man has no religion; never has ha6
and never professed to have. There
l not a Bible or n religious book /
! the room. The departing man feel
that his earthly career is ended, an
nothing opens beyond. Where he wi
3 land stepping off from this life is
mystery, or whether he will land a
all, for it may be humiliation. He la
: no prayer to offer, and he Ices nc
. know how to pray. No hope Of meet
| ing again i'm another state of existence
, He is through with this life, and i
sure of no other.
| Another o of mortal exit. RI
ligion and no rubies. She never ha
money enough to buy Of these e,
!, quisites. Sometimes she stopped at
jewelers. show window and saw u ro'
of them incarnadining the velvet. Sh
! had keen taste enough to appreciat
those gems, but she neve owned one {
them. h was not Jealous or unhapp
because others had rubies while sh
had none. But She had a richer treasur,
. and that was the grace of God tha