There are sometimes rare and beautiful wares brought into the market that are invoiced at almost fabulous rates.  Ignorant people wonder why they are priced so high.  The simple reason is that they cost so much to procure.  That luxurious article labeled 200 pounds was procured by the adventurous hunter, who, at the hazard of his neck, brought down the wild mountain goat, out of whose glossy hair the fabric was wrought.  Yonder pearl that flashes on the brow of the bride is precious, because it was rescued from the great deep at the risk of the pearl-fisher's life, as he was lifted into the boat half dead, with the blood gushing from his nostrils.  Yonder ermine, flung so carelessly over the proud beauty's shoulder, cost terrible battles with polar ice and hurricane.  All choicest things are reckoned the dearest.  So is it, too, in heaven's inventories.  The universe of God has never witnessed aught to be reckoned in comparison with the redemption of a guilty world.  That mighty ransom no such contemptible things as silver and gold could procure.  Only by one price could the Church of God be redeemed from hell, and that the precious blood of the Lamb—the Lamb without blemish or spot—the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
                                                                                                                                                  T. Cuyler