Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-01-28
GOD AMONG THE STONES.
Dir. Tslmage Continues His Ser
mons on God Everywhere"
Ehe Precious Stones In the Foundation OF
tho Walls al HeRven-st. Johns Do
-scriptIon and What It sIgniilcs-
Inside the Walls.
In continuing his sermons at Brook

ing his text from Revelation, xxi. 10:
THE foundations of the wall of the
city were garnished with all manner OF
precious stones" DIR. Talmage said:
Shall be frank and tell you what
arc my designs on you to-day? They
are TO make you homesick for Heavens;
10 console You concerning your depart
ed Christian friends by giving you some
idea of the brilliancy of the scenes in
which they now commingle; to give all
who love the Lord n more elevated idea
as to where they are going 10 pass the
most of the years of their existence, and
10 set all the indifferent and neglectful
to quick and immediate preparation
that they may have it likewise.
My text stands us in the presence OF
the most stupendous splendor of the
universe and that is the wall of Heaven,
and says of its foundations that they
are garnished with all manner of
precious stones. All the ancient cities
had walls for safety, and Heaven has
wall for everlasting safety You may
say that a wall made up of all manner
of precious stones is figurative, but you
cannot understand the force and sig
nificancc of the figure unless you know
something about the real structure and
color and value Of the precious stones
mentioned. Now, propose this MORN
ing, so FAR as the Lord may help me, to
attempt to climb, not the wall of Heav-
en- but the foundations of the wall, and
ask you to join me in the attempt to
scale some of the heights
The first layer of the foundation,
reaching all around the city for fifteen
hundred miles, is Il layer of jasper. In
deed there is more of jasper in the wall
of Heaven than of any other brilliant,
because it not only composes part of
the foundation, but makes up the chief
part of the supcrstructure. The jasper
Is congregation of many colors. 1t is
brown, it is yellow, it is green, 1t is
vermillioa, 1t is red, it is purple, it is
black, and is so striped with colors
that much of il is called ribbon-j Jasper.
1t is found in Siberia and Egypt, but is
rare in most lands and of great value.
for it is so hard the ordinary processes
can not break it off from the places
WUCIC ~ UCCu uGDOStbctl' nc
-xvorkmen bore holes into the rock of
jasper, then drive into these holes
sticks of dry birch wood, and then sat
uratc the sticks and keep them satur-
rated until they swell enough to split
the rock, and the fragments are
brought out and polished and trans
ported and cut into canoes and
1al,;t,H fl,n rr1ncc 1nArc 81
ums. The portraits of Roman emperors
were cut into Il. 1t suggests to me that
Heaven is place of all colors-colors
OF opinion. colors OF creed colors OF
skin, colors Of taste.
But we must pass up in this inspec-
I 2iop of the foundations Of the great
vam of Heaven, and after reaching the
Jasper the next precious stone reached
is sapphire, and it sweeps around the
city fifteen hundred miles. All lapida-
RIGS agree in saying that the sapphire of
the Bible is what we now call lapis
lazuli. Job speaks with emotion of
..@:eThe Place of Sapphires," and God
'Ehought so much of this precious stone
that He put it in the breastpiece of the
high priest, commanding, THE second
row shall be an emerald, sapphire
;unii diamond" The sapphire is blue,
but varies from faintest hue to deepest
alltrumarine. 1t is found n pebble in
.4ne rivers of Ceylon. 1t is elsewhere in
compact masses. Persia and Thibet
and Burmah and New South Wales and
North Carolina yield exquisite speci-
,lnens. Its blue eye is seen in the val
fey of the Rhine. After burial of
thousands OF years it has been brought
to sight in Egyptian monuments and
Assyrian cylinders.
Sapphire based oD jasper; a blue sky
over fiery sunset St John points to
nc in Revelation, and says: 1.-THE
second, sapphire;" and this suggests to
me that though our earth and oil its
furniture of mountains and seas and
atmospheres is to collapse and vanish,
we will throughout all eternity have in
some way kept the most beautiful of
earthly appearances, whether you take
the sapphire of the second layer as
litoral or fgurative. The deep blue of
our skies and the deep blue of our seas
must not will not, be forgotten. II a
thousand years after the world has
gone to ashes, you or want to recall
how the earthly skies looked in sum-
uncr noon, or the mid-ocean in calm,
we will have only to look ut the second
row of tho foundation of the wall OF
Heaven.
A step higher and you come to chal-
.-edony, another layer in the foundation
vail and running fifteen hundred miles
around the heavenly city. Chalcedony!
Translucent A divine mixture OF
araGss and opals and comedians
Striped with white and gray. Dashed
Of uaIIor blushing into red and darken-
Eng into purple. Iceland and the Heb.