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Show PRECIOUS JEWELS SOUGHT BY A KING Diamonds of the First Water, Polished by the Divine Hand. The World of Mankind the Mini. Rough Diamond In th Miry Clay. Washed In Blood Moat Precious. Cut on tho Wheel of Diacip.Krva Polished Pol-ished by a Famous Lapidarlet :Re-fleoting :Re-fleoting and Refracting the Light f Truth Set In a Royal Diadem. t speech throughout the Scriptures r full of significance, said the PaBfcor When the Lord likens His faithful people to precious stones, It signifies that there Is an intrinsic value or beau ty that He appreciates, and it implies that such characters are rare, In com parlson to the world. Our text points to tho clow of the Age in which v,e live, and not only tells that the Lord will not gather nia jewels sooner, but that they are the only ones to be gathered then He comes to make up His jewels. We have here a contradiction of the ordi nary thought on this subject: (1) Thai He has been gathering His Jewels foi the past six thousand ycara; and (2; That everybody who is respectable 1? to bo gathered to the Lord and share in His Kingdom. Evidently this thought is erroneous. Jewels require to be searched after, and generally need to be washed from the mire before being prepared to re fract the light. So some of the Lord'8 jewels are found in the ordinary walki of life, nud some came from deep down in the mire of sin. By one class of His servants He lifts them out ol the horrible pit and the miry clay, washes them, cleanse them from 6ir through the merit of nis own precious Mood and through His Word. Then, through other servants and providences He polishes tbem with Divine skill. In order that they may reflect and re fract the light of the glory of the Dl vine character h-aiah G2 3. The Work of the Great Lapidnrist. The Pastor went on to explain thai as the diamond in Its rough ntate uncut, un-cut, unpolished has no more value than a common stone, so those whom the Lord is selecting and preparing as Ills Jewels are to derive their ultimate value from the cutting. Rhaping. polishing, pol-ishing, of their characters under Divine Di-vine providence. The hardness of the diamond would represent, character; ana we .ore to rememoer mat ennrac-ter ennrac-ter belongs to the individual, and that only in proportion as each has It can ho hcrpo to be accepted finally as a, jerwel; for those without character will not endure the tests. The crystallisation of the diamond corresponds to wUUngneas toward righteousness in the individual; and unless there be such willingness there is none of the Jewel .quality which the Lord Is now seeking. Those, therefore, there-fore, who are Jn the Jiflnds of the great Lapidarist and undergoing His polish ing process, must first have passed through the previous exper4nc of having been found of Divine (irsce found of our Lord Jesus must have been washed, and must have been accepted ac-cepted as baring wills desirous of liar mony with the Divine mind. Thesi may therefore take pleasure in ah tin trying exppriM es anil difficulties through which our Lord cn use's them to pass as parts of the polishing process necessary to their completion as Jeho va.h's jewel, to be made up by the close of the Gospel Age. Then they will be set In the gold of the Divine nature, to reflect the beauties of the Divine character forever. The Value of Triala and Testings. The speaker nrxt proceeded to show that this work of cutting a,ud polishing polish-ing is entrusted only to the skilled hands of our Lord Jesus Christ because He Himself has passed through similar experiences at the Father's bands, and therefore knows thos what is needed to perfect the jewels, that they may be pleasing and acceptable to the Father. A part of their lesson Is to have faith in the great Moster-Workuisn whom the Father has appointed to shape and polish them. Some may require nruch more trlip-mlng trlip-mlng on some sides oX their character than do others; and often the disposition disposi-tion Is to draw back, to be not fully submissive, to fear that the Lord has Abandoned them to trial. But Infinite Wl6dom assures ns that this Is not so, and that to draw back would leave one unfit for the Kingdom. With the Lord's jewels, the world has seen the wheel of discipline which has been cutting this class for centuries, centu-ries, but it has not understood the matter. mat-ter. It may have even caught a glimpse of the Jewels, although not so ns to be able to know the real merit mer-it of their characters or the value of the cutting and polishing process. But the groat Lapidarist knows and has explained it to the iewels; and thus being be-ing assured that all things are work ing together for their good, they can rejoice even in tribulation. oo |
