Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-01-26
AT THE TABERNACLE.
Or. TALMAGE RESUMES HIS SERIES
ON GOD EVERYWHERE.
His Idea Of tile Twelve stones Mentioned
BY st. John ~ In the Foundation of the
wall OF tire New Jerusalem.

wall OF tire New Jerusalem.
BRooKLYY, Jan. Cdr Teln,age re-
turned from his southern tour of preaching
and lecturing for tel days in Kentucky.
Tennessee. Alabama. Georgia and South
Carolina, and resumed his course of SER
nous on God everywhere Having preached
~ THE Astronomy OF the Bible; or, God
pmong the Stars" '.The Chronology of the
Bible: or, God among the Centuries ''The
ORTHODOXY of the Bible; or, God Among
the Birds, he today speaks of THE Prec-
ions Stones of the Bible; or, God Among
the Amethysts." Subject, "The Wall of
Heaven" Text, Revelation xxi, 10, THE
foundations of the wall of the city were gar
nished with all manner OF precious stones"
Shall | be frank and tell you what are
nv designs ON you today? They are to
make you homesick for heaven; to console
YOU concerning your departed Christian
friends by giving you some idea Of the bril-
liancy of the scenes in which they row com
mingle; to give all who love the Lord
more elevated idea as to where they are go
ing TO pass the most of the years of their
existence, and to set all the indifferent ana
pegleetflll to quick and immediate prepar;,-
ton. that they may have it likewise
Yea. 1t il to induce many Of oar young
people 10 study volume Of God that few
ever open, but without some acquaintance
with which it is impossible 10 understand
the Bible-l mean the precious stones,
their crystallization, their powers Of re-
fraction. their cleavage, their fracture. their
ulster their phosphoresence, their trans
pareray. their inhnity Of color and shape.
and what they had TO do with the welfare
and doom OF families and the destiny Of
nations-aye, the positive revelation they
make Of God himself
MAnyELs OF THE UNIVERSE.
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
It's foundations that they are garnished
with all manner of precious stones. All the
qncient cities had walls for safety, aud
heaven has a wall for everlasting safety
You may say that a wall made up of all i
nannpr Of precious stones is iigurative, but
you cannot understand the force and sig |
nificance Of the figure unless you know |
something about the real structure and
color and value of the precious stones men
toned
Now propose this morning, so far as the |
Lord may help me, to attempt to climb not |
the wall of heaven, but the foundations Of |
the wall and | ask you to join me in the |
attempt to scale some of the heights. We |
shall only get part Of the way up, but bet
ter that than to stay down on the stupid |
level where most of us have all our lives
been standing. We begin clear down at the |
bottom and where the wall begins.
The first layer of the foundation, reach |
ing all around the city and for 800 miles,
+ layer of jasper. Indeed 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 superstructure. The jas
ger is n congregation of many colorS. 1t is
brown: il is yellow; it is green; it is ver-
million; il is red; it is purple; it is black,
and is 80 striped with colors that much OF
il Is called f.S5on jasper.
II is found in Siberia and Egypt. but 1t Is
rare in most lands and Of great value, Tor
st is so hard the ordinary processes cannot
break il off from the places where IL has
been deposited The workmen bore holes
into the rock of jasper, then drive into
these holes sticks Of dry brentwood, and
then saturate the sticks and keep them
saturated until they swell enough 10 split
the rock, and the fragments are brought
ont and polished and transported and cut
into canoes and put behind the glass doors
If museums
The portraits OF Roman emperors were
cut into it. The finest intaglio ever seen is
In the Vatican museum, the head of Miner
va in jasper BY divine arrangement Jas
per adorned the breastplate of the high
priest in the ancient temple. But its most
significant position is where it CLOVIS and
burns and darkens and brightens and
breaches from the lowest stratum of the wall
Of heaven. Glad am i that the very first
row of stones in the wall of heaven is
Jasper in many colors, and if you like pur-
pie it is purple, and if You like brown it is
brown, and if you like green it is green,
and If you like ocher yellow 1t is ocher yell
low, and il you like vernilion it is vermil-
ion, and if you like black it is black. 1t
suggests to me that heaven is place of all
oolors-colors of opinion, colors of creed,
eolors of skin, colors OF taste.
PRECIOUS STONES INDEED.
But we must pass up in this inspection of
the foundations of the great wall of heaven,
and after leaving the jasper the next pre-
uious stone reached is sapphire, audit sweeps
around the city 1900 miles. All lapidaries
agree in saying that the sapphire of the
Bible is what we now call lapis lazuli- job
speaks with emotion Of 1.-The place of SOP
phires, and God thought so much of this
precious stone that he put it in the breast
plate of the high priest, commanding, The
second row shall be an emerald, sapphire
and diamond
The sapphire is blue, but varies from
faintest hue to deepest ultramarine. 1t Is
found pebble in the rivers of Ceylon. 1t
is elsewhere in compact masses. Persia
ur.I III. Il. /
Wales and North Carolina yield exquisite
specimens Its blue is seen in the valley OF
the Rhine After a burial of thousands oil
Years it has been brought to sight in Egyp-
tan monuments and Assyrian cylinders
At Moscow and St Petersburg and Con- ]
stantinople have seen great masses of this
sapphire, commonly called lapis lazuli.
The closer you study its veins the more en-
chanting, and ! do not wonder that the
sapphire is called into the foundation OF
The wall of heaven 1t makes a strong