The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-02-03

saw our earth, Will visit u.s. and we Will
visit them. and sometime we will be in
converse about this earthwhen itwas yet
afoat and aswing, and we shall want
to tell them about how it looked at
certain times, and then it will be a
great object lesson for all eternity, and
we will say to our visitor from some
other world, as we point toward the
wall of Heaven. eft looked like that
stratum of foundation next to the low
est" John, 81 xix: 1.-THE second, sap
phire.
A step higher and you come to chals
cedony, another layer In the founda-
ton wall and running one thousand
Eve hundred miles around the Heavenly
city. Chalcedony! Translucent. A
Divine mixture of agates and opals and
comedians Striped with white and
gray. Dashes of palor blushing into
red and darlxening into purple. lee
land and the Hebrides hold forth beau
tiful specimens of chalcedony.
But now we must make a swift ascent
to the top of the foundation wall, for we
can not infinitely examine all the lay
ers, and SO putting one foot on the
chalcedony, of which we have been
speaking, we spring to the emerald,
and we are one-third of the way to the
top of the foundation, for the fourth
row is emerald. That would judge
is God favorite among gems, because
Ii holds what seems evident is His fa-
vorite color on earth, the green, since
that is the color most widely diffused
across all the earth's continents-the
grass, the foliage, the everyday dress
of nature. The emerald Kings used
The rainbow around the throne of God
is by St John compared to it. Con-
querers have considered it the greatest
prize to capture. What ruthlessness
when the soldiers of Pizarro pounded
it with their hammers, Emera1s
have had much to do with the
destiny of Mexico. Five of
them were presented by Cortez
to his bride, one of them cut into the
shape of a rose, another into the shape
of trumpet, another into the shape Of
bell, with tongue of pearl, and this
presentation aroused the jealousy of
the throne and caused the consequent
downfall of Cortez. But the depths of
the sea were decorated with these en-
eralds, for in a shipwreck they went
down off the coast of Barbary. Napo-
leon wore an emerald at Austerlitz. In
the Kremlin museum at Moscow there
are crowns and scepters and outspread
miracles of emerald. Ireland in called
the Emerald Isle, not because of its
verdure, but because it was presented
to Henry III. of England with an en-
erald ring. Nero had a magnifying
glass of emerald through which he
looked at the gladiatorial contests Of
Rome. But here are ole Thousand five
hundred miles of emerald sweeping
around the Heavenly city in one layer
But upward still, and you put your
foot on stratum of sardonyx, white
and red, a seeming commingling of
snow and fire, the SHOW cooling the
fire, the Ere melting the SHOW.
Another climb and you reach the sar-
dius, named after the City of Sardius
Another climb and you reach the chrys-
olite. A specimen of this, belonging to
Epiphanus, in the fourth century, was
said TO be so brilliant that whatever
was put over to conceal it was shone
through, and the emperor of China had
such penetrating radiance that it makes
the night as bright as the day.
A higher climb, and you reach the
beryl. Two thousand years ago the
Greeks used this precious stone for en-
craving purposes. 1t was accounted
among the royal treasures of Tyre.
The hilt of Murat's sword was adorned
with it, 1t glows in the imperial crown
of Great Britain Luther thought the
bery1 of the Heavenly wall was tur-
quoise. Kalisch thought it was chrys-
olite. Josephus thought it golden
colored jewel. The wheels of Ezekiel's
vision famed with beryl, and were n
revolving fire. The beryl appears in
six-sided prisms, and is set in seals and
intaglios, in necklaces and coronets.
1t was the joy of ancient iewelry. 1t
ornamented the affi uent with ear drops.
Charlemagne presented it to his favor
ties. Beautiful beryl! Exquisitely
shaped beryl! Divinely colored beryl!
1t seems like CONCEALED color. 1t looks
like froRen fifr
But stop not here. Climb higher and
you come to topaz, a bewilderment of
beauty, and named after an island of
inc lieu sea-
Clint higher and you come to chryso-
prasus, of greenish-golden hue and
hard as flint.
Climb higher and you reach the ja-
cinth, named aftef the flower hyacinth
and of reddish-blue.
Take one more step and you reach
the top, not of the wall, hut the top of
the foundations of the wall, and St.
John cries Quit "The twelfth, an ans
ethyst" This precious stone, when
found in Australia or India or Europe,
stands in columns or pyramids. For
Color it is violet blooming in stone.
For Its play of light, for its deep fnys-
teries of color, for its uses in Egyptian,
in Etraseaii. in Roman art it has been
honored. The Greeks thought this
stone a preventative of drunkenness.
The Hebrews thought it source of
pleasant dreams. For ali lovers Of
gems it is a subject of admiration and
suggestiveness. Yes, the word anne
thyst means prevention Of drunken
ness. Long before the New Testament
made reference to the amethyst in the
wall of Heaven, the persiafis Thought
that cups made out of amethyst would
hinder any kind of liquor contained
therein from becoming Intoxicating.
But of all the amethystine cups from
which the ancients drank not one had