The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1894-03-29

parsons, Is not such Joy as that
worth more than anything one can
have in jeweled caskct2 Was not
Solomon right when he said: "Wisdom
Is better than rubies?'
There is also something in tKe deep
carmins 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 mean
ing of sacrificial blood, and what other
precious stone could he so we'll use TO
symbolic 1t as the ruby? Red. in
tensely red. red as the blood
of the greatest martyr of all
time-Jcsus Of the centuries Drive
the story of the crucifxion 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 our redemption was
purchased by blood? What great
bridge ever sprung it's arches; what
temples ever reared its towers; what
nation ever achieved it's independence;
what mighty good was ever done with
out 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 Glas-
gov and New York how many carpen-
ters went down under accidents before
the steamer was launched; ask the three
great transcontinental railroads how
many in their construction were buried
under crumbling embanliments, or
crushed under timbers. or destroyed by
the powder blast
Tabulate the statistics of how many
mothers have 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 sup
port their households Tell us how
many men in England, in France, in
Germany, in Italy, in the United States
have died for their country. Vicarious
suffering is as old as the world, but
the most thrilling, the most startling,
the most stupcndous sacrifice of all
time and eternity was on 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 IL o'clock of
darkencd noon and 5 o'clock in the
afternoon, purchasing the ransom of an
ruined world. Dive in all the seas
explore all the mines, crowbar all the 4
mountains, view all the crowned jewels
of all the empcrorS, and find me any
gem that can SO overwhelmingly SYM
bolize the martyrdom as the ruby.
Mark you, there are many gems that
are somewhat like the ruby. So is the
cornelian; so is the garnet; SO is the
spinel; so is the balas; so the gems
brought from among the gravels of
Ccylon 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 Ransom, one Son Of God; only ''one
Name given under Heaven among men
by which we can 0e saved" Ten thou
sand times ten thousand beautiful imi-
tations of that ruby, but only one ruby.
Christ had no descendant. Christ had
no counterpart. In the liftcd.up gran
deur and glory, and love, and sympa-
thy of His character He is the Incom-
parable, the Infinite One! The Only
Wise God, our Saviour" Let all hearts,
all homes, all times, all etcrnities bow
low before Him! Let His banner be
lifted in all our souls.
In olden times Scotland was dis
turbed by freebooters and pirates To
rid the seas and ports of these des-
peradocs, the hero, VIM. Wallace, fitted
out merchant vessel, but filed it with
armed men, and put out TO sea. The
pirates, with their flag inscribed of
deaths head, thinking they would get
an easy prize, bore down upon the
Scottish merchantmen, whenthe armed
men Of Wallace boarded the craft of
pirate and put them in chains and
then sailed for port under the Scotch
flag flying. And so our souls assailed
of sin and death and hell through
Christ are rescued, and the black flag
of sin is torn down and the striped flag
of the Cross is hoisted. Blessed he God
for any sign, for any signal, for any
precious stone that brings TO mind the
price paid for such a rescued
like the coral, for it seems the solid
flied foam Of breakers; and like the
jasper, for il gathers seventeen colors
into its bosom; and l like the jet, for