Democratic messenger., 1893-01-28

Oh. ! am SO glad that St John told us
ahoutit. The second. sapphire" While
we are living in sight of that wall spirits
who have come from other worlds and
who never saw our earth will visit us,
and we will visit them, and some time we
will be in converse about this earth when
it was yet ahoat and aswing. and we
shall want to tell them about how il
looked ut certain times. and then ii will
be Il 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. 1T looked like that stratum
of foundation next to the lowest"
John, twentv-first chapter and nine
tcenth verse. The second. sapphire"
CHALcEDoHY AND EMERALD.
4 step higher and you come TO chal-
cedony. another LAYER in the foundation
of the wall and running 300 milc;
around the heavenly city. Chalccdony.
Translucent \ divine mixture of agatcS
and opals and comedians Striped with
white and gray Dashed of pallor blush
ing into rel and G!rkening in:o purple.
Iceland and the Hcbridcs hold forth
beautiful specimens of chalcedony.
But now we must make swift ascent
to the top of the foundation wall, for we
cannot infinitely examine all the LAYERS.
and SO. putting one foot on the chalce
dony of which we have been speaking.
we spring 10 the emerald. and we are
one-third of the way to the top of the
foundation. for the fourth row is cincr-
aid. That. would judge. is Gods favor
ite among gems. because it holds what
seems evident is his favorite color on
earth. the green. since that is the color
most widely diffused across all the earth's
coniincnt,-thc grass. the foliage. the
everyday dress of nature. The emerald.
Kings used it as Il seal to stamp pronun-
ciamcntos. The rainbow around the
throne of Cod is by St. John compared
10 it.
ConquerorS have considered it the
greatest prize To capture. What ruth
lessneSs when the soldiers of Pizarro
pounded it with their hammers. Emer-
aids have had much to do with the des-
tiny of Mexico. Five of them We're pre-
sentcd by Cortcz to his bride. one of
them cut int" the shape of Il rose. anoth-
or into the shape of Il 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
those eincralds. for i'll a shipwreck they
went down oil the coast of Barbary.
Napoleon wore an emerald at AusterlitZ
In the Krelnlin museum at Moscow
there are crowns and scepters and out
spread miracles of emerald Ireland is
called the Emerald Isle not because of
its verdure. but because II was presented
to Henry ii of England with an emerald
ring. Nero had magnifying glass of
emerald through which he looked ut the
gladiatorial contests at Rome. But here
are 800 miles of emerald sweeping
around the heavenly city in one layer.
sARDoNyx AND sARDIUs.
But upward still and you put your
foot on stratum of sardonyx, white and
red. Il seeming commingling of snow and
fire. the snow cooling the fire. the fire
melting the SNOW.
Another climb and you reach the sar-
dius. named after the city of Sardius.
Another climb and You reach the chryso-
lite. y specimen of this, belonging 10
Epiphanus. in the Fourth century. was
said To be so brilliant that whatever was
put over to conceal il was shone through,
and the emperor of China has n specimen
that is described as having such pene-
- 10
as bright rs 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. II glows in the imperial crown of
Great Britain. Luther Thought the beryl
of the heavenly wall was turquoise.
kalisch thought it was chrysolite. Jose
phus thought il golden colored jewel.
The wheels of EZekiel's vision famed
with bcryl and We're a revolving fire.
The beryl appears in six sided prisms,
and is set i'll seals and intaglios. i'll neck
laces and coronets. 1t was the joy of
ancient icwelry. 1t ornamented the af-
fluent with cardrops. Charlemagne pre-
sentcd it to his favorites. Beautiful
beryl. Exquisitely shaped beryl. Di-
vincly colorcd beryl. 1t seems like con-
Iealed color 1t looks like frozen fire.
But stop not here. Climb higher and
you come to topaz. bewilderment of
beanty and named after an island of the
Red sea.
Climb higher and you come to chrysop-
ras,ls. of greenish golden hue and hard
rs flint.
Climb higher and you reach the iacinth.
named after the flower hyacinth and of
reddish blue
THE FABLE OF THE AMETHYST
Take one more step and you reach the
:op. not of the wall. but the top of the
foundations of the wall. and ST. John
,ries out. The twelfth an amethyst"
This precious stone when found in Aus
tralia or India or Europe stands in col
umns and pyramids. For color it is a
violet blooming i'll stone. For its play
Of light. for its deep mysteries of color.
for ITS uses IN Egyptian, III Etruscan. i'll
Roman art it has been honored. The
Greeks thought this stone preventive
IF drunkenness The Hebrews thought
it a source of pleasant dreams.
For all lovers of gems it is "a subject
If admiration and suggestiveness Yes.
the word amethyst means a prevention
Of drunkenness. Long before the New
Testament made reference To the anne
lIyst il t,l" wall of heaven the Pcrsians
thought tha; cups made ont of amethyst
would hinder any kind Of liquor CON
tanned therein from becoming intoxicat-
ing. But of all the amcthystine cups
from which the ancicnts drank not one
had any such result Of prevention.
For thousands of years the world has
been looking in vain for such a prevent
i've amcthystine cup. Staggering Noah
could not iinl it. Convivial Ahasucrus
driving Nashti from the gates could not
find il. Nabal breaking the heart of
4. Il Z 4 :. D.f