The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-02-16

HreS Deen klnuleu around MS Iect, ana
not liking theit slow work he cried: 81
cannot burn. Let the fire tcne to me-
cannot burn" Thank God that there
are gems that unfold their best glories
under the lamplightl Thank God for
the rubyl
SOLOMON WAS RIGHT.
| :, Moreover, / am sure that Solomon was
fight in saying that religion or wisdom
is better than rubies, FROM the fact that
a thing is worth what it will fetch. Re
ligion will fetch solid happiness, and the
ruby will not. In all your Observable.
did you ever find person thoroughly fe-
dictated 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 themY 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 S. 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 Aattering guests, contain
more of real bliss than the plain Ware of
your first table, at which sat only two?
Does wardrobe crowded with costly
attire give you more satisfaction than
your first clothes closet with its four or
five pegs 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 hand?
If in this journey of life we have learn
ed anything, we have learned that this
world neither with its enioluments nor
gains can satisfy the soul. Why, here
come as many witnesses as wish to call
to the stand 10 testify that before high
heaven and the world, in companionship
with Jesus Christ and a good hope of
heaven, they feel joy that all the re-
sources Of their vocabulary fail to ex-
press. Sometimes it evidences itself in
! calculations of hosanna; sometimes in
doxology; sometimes in tears. A con-
verified native of India In letter said,
"How long for my bed, not that may
sleep-I lie awake often and lonS-but
| to hold sweet communion with my God.
If so mighty is worldly JOY that Julius
H. 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 a ship
wrecked purser, waiting on the coast of
| Guinea in want and starvation at the
sight of a vessel bringing relief, fell
dead from shock Of delight, is 1t 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 live? An aged
aunt said to me: ode Witt, three times l
have tainted dead away under too great
Christian joy. 1t 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 gladness. 1t is too much
for mortal Withhold! withholdr' We
have heard of poor workmen or workwo-
men getting letter suddenly telling them
chat fortune had been left them land how
4 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
soul!
4 Compared with that spring morning
is stupid, and an August sunset is inape,
and an aurora has no pillared splendor,
i and diamond has no flash, and pearl
no light, and beryl no aquamarine, and
a ruby no ruddiness. My gracious Lord!
My glorious Godl My precious Christ!
Roll over on us few pillows of that
rapture. And 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 jeweled casketp Was not Solo
mon right when he said, Wisdom is bet
ter than rubles?"
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 affairs of the tenn
IL or1 ha 1ynaxxy tho o,,i, of
scial blood, and what other precious
stone could he SO well use to symbolic
1t as the ruby? Red, intensely red, red
as the blood of the greatest martyr of all
time Jesus-of the centuries! Drive
the story o. 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 blood? What great bridge
ever sprung its arches, what temple ever
reared its towers, what nation ever
achieved its independence. what mighty
good was ever done without sacrifice Of
lllo! uo RTcdb WOuucI VI blo WOllus bue
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 shree great transcontinental
railroads how many in their construc
ton were buried under crumbling EN-
J bankments or crushed under timbers OF
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 mer
sacrificed nerve and muscle and brair
and life in the effort to support theil
. households. Tell me how many men il
England, in France, in Germany, il
Italy, in the United States, have died fol
their country. Vicarious suffering is o.
old as the world, but the most thrilling
the most startling, the most stupendou
sacrifice of all time and eternity was OF
bluff back of Jerusalem when one Be
: ing took upon himself the sins, the ago
mics, the perdition Of great multitud