Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-02-23

and starvation Ut tuo otSh' " 800
bringing relief, fell dead from shock Of de-
light, Is it any surprise to you that the Joys
Of pardon and heaven rolling over the soul
chonld sometimes be almost too much for
the christian TO endure and live? An aged
amt said 10 me "De Witt, three times |
have tainted dead away under too great
Christian joy. It was In all tnree o''9eS al
the holy communion. 80
an eminent Christian man while in prayer
said "Stop, Lord !; 1 cannot bear any more
of this gladness. 1t is too mucn Tor morta';
Withhold withhodT We have heard OF
moor workmen or workwomen getting let
Ter suddenly telling them that fortune had
been left them. and how they were almost
beside themselves with glee, taking the firss
ship to claim the estate. But, oh, what it is
10 wake up out OF the stupor OF sinful lie.
and through pardoniug grace find that all
our earthly existence will be diNnely man
aged for our best welfare, and that then all
heaven will roll in upon the soul
Compared with that spring morning is
stupid, and an August sunset is lnane, ana
aurora has no pillared splendor, and dia-
mond has no fash, and d pearl no light. AM
q berry no aquamatine, and ruby no ruddl-
ness. Ny gracious Lord My glorious
Col My precious Christ Roll over on us
a few pillows Of that rapture. AMI 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 jewelei casket? Was not
Solomon right when he said, "Wision is bet
ter than rubies?"
mere IS also something In the deep car
mine of the ruby that suggests the sacrifice
on which our whole system Of religion de-
ponds. While the emerald suggests the
fba OBJ md
the opal the sea, the ruby suggests the blood
of sacrifice. The most emphatic and start
ling Of all colors has the ru5y. Solomon, the
| author of my text, knew all about the sacri-
flee of lamb and dove on the affairs of the
| temple, and he knew the meaning of sacri-
| fetal blood and what other precious stone
| could he so well use to symbolic it as the
ruty2 Red, intensely red, red as the blood
I ofthe greatest martyr Of all time-Jesus-of
| the centuries Drive the story OF the cruel
| fxion 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 its
arches, what temple ever Feared its towers,
what Nation ever achieved its independence
what mighty good was ever done without
sacrifice Of lifeY The great wonder of the
world, the bridge that rnites 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 railroads how
many in their construction were buried I'M
der crumbling embellishments or crushed un-
| der timbefs or destroyed by the powder blast.
Tabulate thestatistics ofhow many mothers
have been martyrs to the cradle of sick chill
dren. Tell US how many men sacrificed nerve
and muscle and brain and life in the effort
to support their households. Tell us how
many men in England, in France, in Ger
many, in Italy, in the United States, have
died for tier country. Vicarious 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 ono Being took
| upon Himself the SINS the agonies the per-
dition of a great multitude that no man can
number between IL o'clock of a darkened
noon and o'clock in the afternoon, purchas-
| ing 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 emperors, and find
| me any gem that can so overwhelmingly
symbolic that maftyrdom as the ruby.
Mark you, there are many gems that are
! somewhat like the ruby. SO Is the comedian.
| so is the garnet, so is the spinel, so is the
balas. so the gems brought from among the
gravels of Ceylon 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 Zone name given Under
| heaven among men by which we can be
saved"
Ten thousand times 10, 900 beautiful imita-
tons of that ruby, but only one ruby. Christ
| had no descendant. Christ had no counter
| part. In the lifted up grandeur and glory
| and love and sympathy of His character He
is the Incompatible, 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 be lifted in all
| our souls -
In olden times Scotland was disturbed by
freebooters and pirates. To rid the seas
and ports of these desperadoes the hero
William Wallace fitted out merchant yes
sells. but filled it with armed men and put
out to sea. The pirates, with their flag in
scribed of deaths head, thinking they
would get an easy prize, bore down upon
| the Scottish merchantmen, when the armed
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 to our souls. assaied OF sin and death
and hell, through Christ are rescued, AMI
the black flag Of sin is torn down, and the
striped flag of the cross is hoisted. Blessed
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 it gems the solidiE el
foam of breakers. andI like the jasper, for
it gathers seventeen colors into its
bosom, and like the jet, for it congresses
the shadows of many midnights, and l like
| the chrysoprase because its purple is illu-
mir ed with small heaven Of stars AMI
! like the chrysolte for its waves of color
which seem on fire. But this morning moth
ing so impresses me as the ruby, for it de-
picts it typihes, it suggests "The bloo1 OF
| Jesus Christ that cleanseth from all sin. "
Without the shedding of blood there is no
remission" Yea. Solomon was right when
in my text he said, Wisdom is better than
rubies.
To bring out contrast that will illustrate
nv text. | put before you two last earthly
scenes The one is in room with rubies
but no religion, and the other in a room
with religion, but no rubies. You enter the
| first room, where an affluent and worldly
man is about to quit this life. There is a
ruby on the mantel, possibly among the
vases. There is ruby in the headdress OF
the queenly wife.
On the finger of the dying man there is q
ruby. The presence of these rubies implies
opulence of all kinds. The pictures on the
walls are heirlooms or the trophies OF Eu-
ropean travel. The curtains are from foreign
looms. The rugs are from Damascus OF
Cairo. The sofas are stuffed with ease and
uuietude. The rocking chairs roll back
ward and forward on ullabies. The pillows
are exqusitely embroidered. All the ap-
pointments of the room are peroration to n