Woodruff County news., 1901-10-12


 The providence that seemed dark before becomes pellucid. Now you find God is not trying to put you down. Now you understand why you lost that child and why you lost your property. It was to prepare you for eternal treasures. And why sickness came, it being the precursor of inn mortal juvenescence. And now you understand why they lied about you and tried to drive you hither and thither. It was to put you in the glorious company of such men as Ig- natius, who, when he went out to be destroyed by the lions, said: "I am the wheat, and the teeth of the wild beasts must first grind me before I can become pure bread for Jesus Christ" Or the company of such men as "that ancient Christian martyr" who, when standing in the midst of the amphitheater waiting for the lions to come out of their cave and destroy him and the people in the galleries jeering and shouting: "The lions!" replied: "Let them come on!" and then, stopping down toward the cave where the wild beasts were roar ing to get out, again cried: "Let them come on!" An, yes, it is perse- cution to put you in glorious com pany, and while there are many thirgs that you will have to postpone to the future world for explanation, I tell you that it is the whole tend ency of your religion to unravel and explain and interpret and illumine and irradiate. Job was right. It is a glorious transparency. "The crys- tai cannot equal it."
 I remark again that religion sur passes the crystal in it's beauty. The lump of crystal is put under the mag nifying' glass of the crystallograph- CT and he sees in it indescribable ex- siteness-snowdrift and splinters of hoar frost and corals and wreaths and stars and crowns and constella- tions of conspicuous beauty. The fact is that crystal is so beautiful that can think of but one thing in all the universe that is as beautiful, and wonder this Bible represents that re- ligion as the daybreak, as the apple blossoms, as the glitter of kings banquet. It is the joy of the whole earth.
 People talk too much about their cross and not enough about their crowns. Do you know that the Bible mentions a cross but 27 times, while it mentions a crown so times? Ask that old man what he thinks of re- ligion. He has been a close observer. He has been cultivating an esthetic taste. He has seen the sunrises of half century. He has been an early riser. He has been an admirer of l cameos and corals and all kinds of beautiful things. Ask him what he thinks of religion, and he will tell you: "It is the most beautiful thing ever saw. The crystal cannot equal it."
 Again, religion is superior to the crystal in it's transformations. The diamond is only specialization. Car bonate of lime rises till it becomes cal cite or aragonite. Red oxide of copper crystallizes into cubes and octahed- J | persons and our homes and our mu- seums have only been resurrected from forms that were far from lustrous. Scientists for ages have been examin- ing these wonderful transforma tions. But l tell you in the Gospel of the Son of God there is a more wonderful trans formation. Over souls by reason of sin black as coal and hard as iron God, by His comforting grace, stoops and says: "They shall be mine in the day when I make up my jewels.'
 "What!" say you. ''Will God wear Jewelry?" If He wanted it, He could make the stars of the heaven His belt and have the evening cloud for the sandals of His feet, but He does not want that adornment. He will not have that jewelry. When God wants jewelry He comes down and digs it out of the depths and dark ness of sin. These souls are all crys- affiliations of mercy. He puts them on, and He wears them in the pres ence of the whole universe. He wears them on the hand that was nailed, over the heart that was pierced, on the temples that were stung. "They shall be mine," saith the Lord, ''in the day when I make up my jewels" Wonderful transformation! Where sin abounded grace shall much more abound. The carbon becomes the sol itaire. "The crystal cannot equal it."
 Now, I have no liking for those peo- pie who are always enlarging in Christian meetings about their early dissipation. Do not go into the par ticulaIs, my brother. Simply say you were sick, but make no display