The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1894-02-17
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
Dr. TALMAGE breaches ON
WIGDOM'S WORTH.
wisdom Is Better Than Rubies"-Pro-
verbs 8 ii-Religion the Only True
Basis of Human Society---Dearth of
Truth Haunting the Death-Bed


tabernacle this forenoon ReT. DR..
Talmage preached to a crowded audi
encc that filled the great building to
overlooking, the subject of his sermon
being "Rubies Surpassed" and the
text: Proverbs s ii: "WisdOm is bet
ter than Rubies."
You have all seen the precious o5onc
commonly called the ruby 1t is OF
deep I'ad color. The Bible makes much
of it. It glowed in the first row OF the
high priests breast plate. Under an
other name it stood in the wall OF
heaven, jeremiah compares the ruddy
cheek of the Nazarites to the ruby. |
Ezekiel points it out in the robes OF |,
the king of Tyre. Four times does
Solomon use it as symbol by which !
to eXtol wisdom, or rehgionS always
setting its value as better than ruDleS'
The world does not agree as to how
the precious stones were formed. The
anccnts thought that amber was
made Of drops of perspiration OF the
goddess Ge. The Thunderstorm was
supposed to have droI ped from storm
cloud. The emerald was said to have
been made of the FREELY. The lapis
lazuli was thought to have been born
of the cry of an Indian giant And
modern mineralogists say that the
precious stones were made of gases and
liquids To me the ruby seems like a
spark from the anvil of the setting
sun.
The home of the genuine ruby Is
Burmah, and sixty miles from its cap
ital where lives and reigns the ruler,
called, Lord of the Rubies" Under
careful governmental guard are
these valuable mines of ruby kept
Rarely has any foreigner visited them.
When ruby of large value was DIS
covered it was brought forth with
elaborate ceremony, procession was
formed, and with all hammered pOmp,
military guard and princely atten-
dants, the gem was brought to- the
kings palace.
Of great value is the ruby, much
more so than diamond as lapidarieS
and jewelers. will tell Won. An expert
On this subject writes: "a ruby OF
perfect color weighing five carats Is
worth at the present day ten times as
much as diamond of equal weight
It WIS a disaster when Charles the
Bold lost the ruby he was wearing at
the Battle of Grandson. 1t was great
affluence when Rudolph the Second OF
Austria inherited a ruby from hE
sister, the Queen Dowager. 1t was
thought to have had much to do witt
the victory of Henry the Fifth, as hi
wore it into the Battle of Agincourt
1t is the pride of the Russian court t.
own the largest ruby of all the world
presented by GustavuS the third TO TN
Russian empress. Wondrous ruby! |
mas electric characteristics, and Their
are lightnings compressed in its doubl
,ix-sided prisms What shall | call it
It Is frozen fire! 1t is petritied blood
In all the world there is only on
thing more valuable and my text make
he comparison: Wisdom is bette
than rubies"
But it is impossible to compare tw
tbinps together unless there are som
points of similarity as well as differ
,nce am glad there is nothing lacb
NO here. The ruby is more beautltr
IN the night and under the lampllgh
han by day. 1t is preferred for ever
NO adornment How the rubles glo"
and burn, and flash as the lights III
The darkness! Catherine of Arrago
mad on her finger a ruby that talrl
Ianterned the night. Sir John Mand'
Vile, the celebrated traveller OF II
years ago, said that the emperor
China had a ruby that made the nlgf
IS bright as the day. The probabiit
s that Solomon, under some OF tt
lamps that illumined his cedar pala'
bv night, noticed the peculiar glow
he ruby as it looked in the hilt of
sword, or hung in some fold OF the Il
holstery. or beautifed the lip OF son
.halice, while he was thinking at u
same time of the excellency of O
holy religion as chiefly seen in tt
aight of trouble, and he cries OF
Wisdom is better than rubics."
Oh, yes, it is good thing to have
lipion while the sun of prosperity rid
high and everything is brilliant
fortune, in health, in worldly fave
Yet you can at such time hardly t
how much of it is natural eXuberan
and how much of it is t
grace of God But let the sun set, a
,he shadows avalanche the plain,
The thick darkness of sickness,
poverty, or persecution, or mental
aaustion fill the soul, and I'LL
house, and fill the world; then you
down by the lamp of Gods word a
ander its light the consultations OF
rospel come out; the peace OF [
which passeth all understanding
BEARS. You never fully apprecia
heir power until in the deep night
trouble the divine lamp revealed tt
"reminiscences Pearls and amethy
.or the day, but rubies for the nigh
All of the books of the Bible after
N some way the assuagement of /
fortune. Of the $50 Psalms of Da
1t least ninety ahude to trou
o.c -, aya,v, wind