The Washington weekly post., 1899-06-13

10 adorn their helmets and the hits of
swords. In many lands it has been used
as amulets. The Algerian reefs in one
year QS7s) had at Vcrk amid the coral 81
vessels, with $3.50 sailors, yielding in
profit 1855, 600 But the secular and world
ly value of the coral is nothing as COM
pared with the moral and religious, as
when, in my text, Job employs it in COM
parisOn. l do not know how any one can
examine a coral the size of the thumb
nail without bethinkrg himself of God
and worshiping Him. and feeling the Op-
pcsite of the great atheistic surgeon, lee
turing TO the medical students in the dis
secting-roOm upon human eye, which he
held in his hand. showing its wonders
Of architecture and adaptation. when the
idea of God flashed upon him so power
fully he cried cut to the students: Gentle
men, there IS a God; but l hate Him.
Picking up a coral l feel like crying out:
There is a God, and / adore Him
Nothing so impresses me with the fact
that our God loves the beautiful The
most beautiful coral OF the world never
comes TO human observation. SUnrises
and sunsets he hangs up for nations TO
iCok at; He may green the grass and
round the dew into the pearl, and set on
fire autumnal foliage to please mortal
sight, but those thousands of miles of
coral achievement | think He has had
built for his own delight. In those gal
leries He alone can walk. The music of
these keys, played on by the fingers of
the wave, He only can hear. The snow
OF that white and the bloom of that GRIM
son He alone can see. Having garnitur
ed this world TO please the human race,
and lifted "A glorious heaven 10 please the
angelic intclligenCeS. ! am glad that He
has planted these gardens of the deep
10 please Himself.
EverlaSting Blush of the Sea.
"But here and there God allows speci-
mems of submarine glory TO be brought
up and set before Us for sublime cOntem-
plation. While / speak these great
nations of zoophytes, meandrinas, and
madrepores, with tentacles for troweI,
are building just such coral as we find in
our text The diamond may be more
rare, the crystal may be more sparkling,
the chrysopTase may be more ablaze, hut
the coral is the long. deep, EVERLASTING
blush of the sea. Yet Job, who dnder-
stood all kinds Of precious stones. de
ClaTes that the beauty and value of jhe
coral are nothing compared with our holy
religion. and he picks up this coralline
formation and looks at ii, and filings ii
aside with all the other beautiful things
he has ever heard Of and cries ont in
ecstasy OF admiration for the superior
qualities OF our religion: No mention
shall be made of coral
Take my hand and we will walk
through this bower of the sea, while /
show you that even exquisite coral is
not worthy OF being compared with the
richer Jewels OF a Christian soul. The
81 -
the coral Is its lOng-continued accuInu-
lation. IL Is not turned up like CotopaNi
bnt il Is an Outputting and an OutbTInCh-
Ing OF ages. IN Polynesia there are rests
miles long. Who built these reefs. these
islands, The zJOphyJes. the corallines.
There were not sucn workers who built
the pyramids as were these masOns, these
creatures Of the sea. what small crea-
tiOus amounting 10 what vast agsregd-
tion2 Who can estimatc the ages between
the time when the madTepOres laid the
foundations Of the Islands and the time
when the madTcPoTes put on the Capsl0ne
Of a completed work. Ii puzzles all the
scientists 10 guess through how many
years the corallines were building the
Sandwich and Society Islands ana the
Marshall and Gilbert groups.
UpbulldInso OF the souI.
"But more slowly and wonderfully ac-
cumulative is grace IN the heart You
sometimes get discouraged because the
upbuilding by the soul does not go On
more rapidly. Why. you have all eternity
10 build IN, The little annoyauces OF lie
are z0Ophyte builders, and there will be
small layer on top Of small layer. and
fossllized grief on ton OF f0ssilized grief
Grace does not go up rapidly In your soul,
but, blessed be God. II goes mp Ten
thousand million AGES will not finish you.
You will never be finished On forever,
IN forever, Out OF the sea OF earthly
disquietUde will gradually rise the reefs,
the islands. the continents the hemis-
phere Of grandeur and glory. Men talk
a though In this life We only had time
70 build; but what We build in this life,