The Globe-republican., 1894-02-16
BETTER THAN RUBIES.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on the
Happiness Of Religion.
The World With All Its Emoluments Can.
not Satisfy the Soul-Sacrifice on
Which the System of Re-
ligiOn Depends

text was from Proverbs, viii IL: wis
don is better than rubies" DR.. Tai
mage said:
You have all seen the precious stone
commonly called the ruby. 1t is of
deep red color. The Bible makes much
of it. 1t 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 Solo
mon use it as symbol by which to ex-
toll wisdom, or religion, always setting
its value as better than rubies-
The home of the genuine ruby is
Burmah, and sixty miles from its capt.
tai, where lives and reigns its 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 discovered it
was brought forth with ella borate cere-
with ali hammered pomp, military
guard and princely attendants, the
gem was brought to the kings palace.
Of great value is the ruby. much more
SO than the diamond, as lapidaries and
jewelers. will tell you. An expert on
this subject writes: "A ruby of per-
feet color weighing five carets is worth
at the present day ten times as much as
a diamond of equal weight" 1t was a
Il - H. Dx~lI L. h.
ruby he was wearing at the battle of
Grandson 1t was a great afiuence
when Rudolph H., of Austria, inherited
ruby from his sister, the queen dow
ager. 1t was thought to have had much
to do with the victory of Henry
", as he wore it into the battle of
Agincourt. 1t is the pride of the Rus
sian court to own the largest ruby of
all the world, presented by Gustavus
III. to the Russian empress Wondrous
ruby! 1t has electric characteristics,
and there are lightnings compressed in
its double six-sided prisms. What shall
/ call it? 1t is frozen fire! 1t is petri-
fed blood. In all the world there is
only one thing more valuable, and my
te xt makes the comparison: Wisdom
is better than rubies-'
But it is impossible to compare two
things together unless there are some
points of similarity as well as of differ |
ence. l am glad there is nothing lack
ing here. The ruby is more beautiful |
in the night and under the lamplight |
than by day. 1t is preferred for even |
ing adornment. How the rubies glow, |
and burn, and flash as the lights lift |
the darkness, Catherine of Arragon |
had on her finger ruby that fairly |
lanterned the night. Sir John Mande
vile, the celebrated traveller of |
400 years ago, said that the emperor of |
China had ruby that made the n light |
as bright as the day. The proba bility
is that Solomon under some of the
lamps that illumined his cedar palace
by night. noticed the peculiar glow of
the ruby as it looked in the hilt of a
sword. or hung in some fold of the up
holstery, or beautified the lip of some
chalice, while he was thinking at the |
same time of the eXcellency of our
holy religion as chiefly seen in the
night OF trouble. and he cries out:
w lSuDUi Is DeltSr TuDlSS.
Oh. yes. it is good thing to have
religion while the sun of prosperity |
rides high and everything is brilliant
N fortune. IN health, in worldly favor.
Yet you can at such time hardly tell
low much of it is natural eXuberance
md how much of it is the grace OF God.
But let the sunset, and the shadows
\ In mo- a nj Ia NJ /
thick darkness of sickness. or
poverty, or persecution. or mental ex-
fill the soul, and fill the
house, and fill the world; then YOU sit
iown by the lamp of Gods Word and
lnder its light the consultations of the
gospel come out: the peace of God
which passeth all understanding APP
Years. You never fully appreciated
heir power until in the deep n ght of
rouble :he divine lamp revealed their
Pearls and amethvSos
or the day, but rubies for the night.
All of the books of the Bible attempt
n some way the assuagement of mis-
fortune. OF the $50 Psalms OF David at
east ninety allude to trouble. There
ire sighings in every wind, and tears
n every brook. and pangs in every
,eart 1t was originally proposed
o call the presidents residence
It Washington The Palace or
The Executive Mansion" but .
Ifter it was destroyed, in the war of /:
sI2. and rebuilt, it was painted white
% cover up the marks of the smoke and i
ire that had blackened the stone
walls Hence it was called '.The 4
White House" Most of the things !
low white with attractiveness were
,nce black with disaster. What the
world most needs is the consolatory,
md here it comes, our holy religion, ,
With both hands full of anodynes. ,
md sedatives, and balsams. as ,
n Daniels time. to stop mouths leouine; !
md in Shadrach's time to cool blast ,
furnaces: as in Ezekiels time to con- /;
ole captivity: as in ST. Johns time to ,
enroll an apocalypse over rocky desc
atoms Hear its soothing voice as it ,
declares: Weeping may endure for a ,