Connecticut western news., 1894-02-15


 under the lamplight! Thank God for the rubyl
 SOLOMON WAS RIGHT.
 Moreover, am sure that Solomon was right in saying that religion or wisdom is better than rubies, from the fact that 8 thing is worth what it will fetch. Re ligion will fetch solid happiness, and the ruby will not. In all your observation did you ever find person thoroughly fe- licitated by an incrustment of jewels? As you know more of yourself than any one else, are you happier now with worldly adornments and successes than before you won them? Does the picture that cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars on your wall bring you as much satisfaction as the engraving that at the expense of $5 was hung upon the wall when you first began to keep house?
 Do all the cutlery and rare plate that glitter on your extension dining table, surrounded by fattering guests, contain more of real bliss than the plain ware of your first table. at which sat only two? Does a wardrobe crowded with costly attire give you more satisfaction than
 
 five pegs2 Did not the plain ring set on the third finger of your left hand on the day of your betrothal give more gladness than the ruby that is now enthroned on the third finger of your right handf
 If in this journey of life we have learn ed anything, we have learned that 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 companionship with Jesus Christ and good hope of heaven, they feel joy that all the re- sources of their vocabulary fail to ex- press. Sometimes it evidences itself in ejaculations of hosanna; sometimes in doxology; sometimes in tears. A con- verted native of India in 8 letter said, "How long for my bed, not that may sleep-I lie awake often and long-but to hold sweet communion with my God. !"
 If so mighty is worldly Joy that Julius II, hearing his armies were triumphant, 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 if ship wrecked purser, waiting on the coast of Guinea in want and starvation at the sight of vessel bringing relief, fell dead from shock of delight, is it any sur prise to you that the joys of pardon and heaven rolling over the soul should sometimes be almost too much for the Christian to endure and hvep An aged aunt said to me: Dewitt, three times 1 have tainted dead away under too great Christian joy. It 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 gladnsss. It is too much for mortal Withholdi withholdr' We have heard of poor workmen or workwo- men getting letter suddenly telling them that afortune had been left them and how they were almost beside themselves with glee, taking the first ship to claim the estate. But, oh, what it is to wake up out of the stupor of sinful life, and through pardoning 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 soull
 Compared with that spring morning 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 8 beryl no aquamarine, and a ruby no ruddiness. My gracious Lordi My glorious Godi My precious Christi Roll over on us few pillows of that rapture. And now I 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 a jeweled casket? Was not Solo mon right when he said, 'Wisdom is bet ter than rubies"
 MARTYRS TO DUTY.
 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 sapphire 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 altars of the tenn
 
 fcial blood, and what other precious stone could he so we'll use to symbolize it as the ruby? Red, intensely red, red as the blood of the greatest martyr of all time-Jesus-of the centuriesi 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 wor- ship or our admiration.
 Why should it be hard to adopt the Bible theory that our redemption was purchased by blood2 What great bridge ! ever sprung it's arches, what temple ever reared it's towers, what nation ever | 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 the shipyards of Glasgow and New York how many carpenters went down under accidents before the steamer was launch ed; ask the three great transcontinental railroads how many in their construc- | ton were buried under crumbling em- bankments or crushed under timbers or destroyed by the powder blast. I 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 support their households. Tell me how many men in England, in France, in Germany, in Italy, in the United States. have died for l s-x old as the world, but the most thrilling the most startling. the 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 nies, the perdition of a great multitude that no man can number between 1s o'clock of darkened noon and o'clock in the afternoon, purchasing the ransom of ruined world.
 Dive in all the seas, explore all the