The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1894-03-29

In tho brooklyn tabernacle Sunday
afternoon Rev. DIR. Talmage preached
TO crowded audience that filled the
great building 70 overlooking, the sub
jcct of his sermon being "Rubies Sur
passed." and the text: Proverbs viii,
IL: Wisdom is better than Rubics."
You have all seen the precious stone
commonly called the ruby. II is of
deep rcd color The Bible makes much
of IL. IL glowed in the first row Of the
high priests brcastplate Under an
other name IL stood in the wall of
Heaven. jeremiah compares the rud-
dy check OF the Na2nrites TO the ruby.
Ezekiel points il out in the robes OF the
king OF Tyre. Four times does Solo
mon use it as q symbol by which to ex-
toll wisdom, or religion, always setting
its value as better than rubies.
The world does not agree as to how
the precious stones were formed. The
arcients thought that amber was made
of drops of pcrspiration Of the goddess
&c. The Thunderstorm was supposed
to have dropped from storm cloud.
The emerald was said to have been
made of the FREELY. The lapis lazu Ii
was thought to have been born of the
cry of an Indian giant. And modern
mincralogists say that the precious
stones were made of gases and liquids.
To me the ruby seems like spark from
the anvil of the setting sun.
The home of the genuine ruby is
Burmah, and so miles from its capital,
where lives and rcigns the ruler, Lord
of the Rubies." Under careful gov
ernmental guard are these valuable
mines of ruby kept Rarely has any
foreigner visited them. When ruby
of large value was discovered il was
brought forth with elaborate ceremony,
a procession was formed, and with all
hammered pomp, military guard and
princcly attendants, 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 you. An expert
on this subject writes: "A ruby of
perfect color weighing FIVE carats is
worth at the present day 10 times as
much as n diamond OF equal weight :"
1t was disaster when Charles the
Bold lost the ruby he was wearing at
the Battle of Grandson. 1t was great
nffiucnce when Rudolph the Second of
Austria inherited ruby from his sis
Ter, the Queen Dowager 1t was
thought to have had much to do with
the victory of Henry the Fifth, as he
wore il into the Battle of Agiucourt.
II is the pride of the Russian court to
own the largest ruby of all the world,
presented by GustavuS the Third to the
Russian empress Wondrous ruby! 1t
has electric characteristics, and there
are lightnings compressed in its double
six-sidcd prisms What shall | call itP
1t is frozen fire! 1t is petriiied blood!
In all the world there is only one thing
more valuable, and my text makes the
comparison: Wisdom is better than
rubics.
liut il is impossible to compare two
things together unless there are some
points of similarity as well rs of differ
cncc. | am glad there is nothing lacking
here. The ruby is more beautiful in
the night and under the lamplight
than by day. II is preferred for even
ing adornment How the rubies glow,
and burn and fash us the lights lift
the darkness, Catherine, of Aragon,
had on her finger ruby that fairly
lanterncd the night. Sir John Mande-
willie, the celebrated traveller of 400
years ago, said that the emperor of
China had a ruby that made the night
as bright as the day. The probability
is that Solomon under some OF the
lamps that illuminated his cedar pal
ace by night, noticed the peculiar glow
of the ruby as it looked in the hilt of
sword, or hung in some fold of the
upholstery, or benutitled the lip of some
chalicc, while he Was thinking at the
same time Of the excellency of our holy
religion rs chiefly seen in the night
OF trouble, and he cries out: Wisdom
Is better than rubieS"
Oh,yes, il is good thing TO have re-
ligion while the sun of prosperity rides
high and everything is brilliant in for
tune, in health, In worldly favor Yet
you can at such time hardly tell how
much of ii is natural cxuberance and
how much of II is the grace of God.
But let the sun set and the shadows
avalanche the plain, and the thick
darkness of sickness. or poverty, or
persecution, or mental exhaustion fill
the soul, and fill the house, and Gil the
world; then you sit down by the lamp
of Gods Word and under its light the
consultations of the Gospel come out;
the peace OF God which passcth all
understanding appears You never
fully appreciated their power until in
the deep night of trouble the Di-
vino Lamp revealed their equisito-
ness. Pearls and amcthysts for the day,