Democratic messenger., 1894-02-17


achieved its independence. what mighty
good was ever done 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 tho
shipyards of Glasgow and New York
how many carpenters went down under
accidents before the steamer was launch
ed; ask the three great transcontiuental
railroads how many in their conStruc-
tion were buried Under crnmblinS EN-
bankments 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 i'll 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 as
old as the world. but the most thrilling.
the most startling. tho most stupendous
sacrifice of all time and eternity was on
bluff back of Jerusalem when one Be
ing took upon himself the sins. the ago
MES, the per,liticn Of a great multitude
that no man can number between II
o'clock of "a darkened noon and 3 o'clock
in the afternoon. purchasing the ransom
of ruined world.
Dive in all the seas. explore all the
mines. crowbar all the mountains. view
all the crowned jewels of all the emper-
ors. and find me any gem that can so
overwhelmingly symbolic that martyr
dom az the ruby. Mark you, there are
many gems that are somewhat like the
ruby so is the cornelian. SO is the gar
net, So is the spnel. So is the balas, so
the gems brought from among the grav-
els of Ceylon and New South Wales. hut
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 Ran
som. one Son Of God. only "onc name
given under heaven among men by which
we can he saved
Ten thousand times 10000 beautiful
limitations of that ruby. but only one
ruby. Christ had no descendant. Christ
had no counterpart. In the lifted up
grandeur and glory and love and sympa-
thy of his character he is the lncompar-
able. the Infinite One. The only wise
God, our Saviour" Let all hearts. all
homes. all times, all eternities. bow low
before him. Let his banner he lifted in
all our souls.
rHiCE oF TIE GOSPEL.
In olien times Scotland was disturbed
by freebooters and pirates. To rid the
seas and ports of these desperadoes. the
hero William Wallace fitted ont mer-
chant vessel. but filled il 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 mer-
chairman. when the armed men of Wal
lace boarded the craft of the pirates 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. ami the
striped flag of the Is hoiStej. Bless
sed be God for any sign. for any signal.
for any precious stone. that brings to
mind the price paid for such a rescue!
like the coral. for il seems the solidi-
fled foam of breakers. AMI like the Jas
per. for il gathers |. colors into its bosom.
and like the jet. for it congresses the
shadows of many midnightS, and like
the chrysoprase because lis purple is
illumined with small heaven of stars.
and like the chrysolite for its waves Of
l, Sire Il,,tt
ing nothing 80 iinpresscs me as the ruby,
for il depicts. ittypiiies. il suggests The
blood of Jesus Christ that cleanScih from
all sim" Without the shedding Of blood
there is no remission" Yea. solomon
was right when i'll my text he said. Wis
dom is better than rubies.
To bring out contrast that will illus
trate my text. put before You two last
earthly scenes. The one is in 4 room with
rubies. but no religion. and the other iii
a room with religion. but norubies. Nou
enter the first room. where an aifuent
and worldly man is about 10 quit this
life. There is ruby on the manicl, pos
sibly among the vases. There is ruby
in the heatldress of the queenly wife.
On the finger of the dying man there
is ruby. The presence of these rubies
implies opuleuce of all kinds. The Pie
lures on the walls are heirlooms or the
trophies Of European travel. The cur
tains are from foreign looms The rugs
are from Damascus or Cairo. The sofas
are stuffed with case and quie;ude. Tia
rocking chairs roll backward and for
ward on lullabies. The pillows are cx-
guisitelv embroidered. All the appoint
ments of the room are a peroration to
successful commercial or professional
life But the man has noreligion. never
has had and never professcd to have,
There is not Bible or one religious book
in the room.
The departing man feels that his earth
IL career is ended. and nothing opens he
yond. Where he will land stepping off
from this life is a mystery. or whether
he will land at all. for it may be annihi-
lation. He has no prayer to Offer. and
he does not know how to pray. No hope
Of meeting again III another state of eN-
istence. He is through with this life
and is sure of no other. The ruby on the
mantel and the ruby on the wasted fin
ger of the departing one say nothing of
tho ransominS blood which they SO
nightly typify. So far as giving solace
or illumination to n departing spirit,
they are dead failure. Midnight Of
utter hopelessness drops on ali the scene.
BETTER THAN RJ-RTrS.
Another room of ,nortalexit. Religion
and no rubics. She never had money
enough to buy one Of these exqui>i;ss.
Sometimes she stopped al a jewelers.
show window and saw row of them in
carnadining the velvet. She had keen
taste enough to appreciate those gems,
but she never owned one of them. She
was not jealous or unhappy becauS" 9th
ers hal rubirs while she hid none. But
she had richer treasure. and that WAS
the grace Of Gnd that had comfurted her
along the way amid her"avcments and