The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 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-
lgion Depends.

lyQ, hev. i. lie VIII ldlndge tOOh LOT
his subject: "Rubies Surpassed. His
text was from Proverbs, viii. IL: Evils
don is better than rubies" DIR. 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
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 a
careful governmental guard are these
valuable mines of ruby kept. Rarely
has any foreigner visited them When
a ruby of large value was discovered it
was brought forth with elaborate cere-
! mony, a procession was formed. and
with all 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
jewellers 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
diamond of equal weight" 1t was a
disaster when Charles the Bold lost the
ruby he was wearing at the battle of
Grandson 1t was a great affiuence
when Rudolph H., of Austria, inherited
a 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
I'LL 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
I text 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. 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 a ruby that made the night
as bright as the day. The probability
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
night of trouble, and he cries out:
Wisdom is better than rubies."
Oh. yes, it is a good thing to have
religion while the sun of prosperity
rides high and everything is brilliant
in fortune, in health, in worldly favor.
Yet you can at such time hardly tell
how much of it is natural exuberance
and how much of it 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 ex-
haustion fill the soul, and fill the
house, and fill 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 passeth all understanding APP
pears. You never fully appreciated
their power until in the deep n ght of
trouble the divine lamp revealed their
exquisiteness Pearls and amethysts
for the day. but rubies for the night.
All of the books of the Bible attempt
in some way the assuagement of mis-
fortune. OF the $50 Psalms of David at
least ninety allude to trouble. There
are sighings in every wind, and tears
in every brook, and pangs in every
heart. 1t was originally proposed
to call the presidents residence
at Washington The Palace" or
1.-THE Executive Mansion" but
after it was destroyed, in the war of
1912, and rebuilt. it was painted white
to cover up the marks of the smoke and
fire that had blackened the stone
walls. Hence it was called 1.-THE
White House" Most of the things
now white with attractiveness were
once black with disaster. What the
world most needs is the consolatory,
and here it comes, our holy religion,
with both hands full of anodynes,
and sedatives, and balsams, as
in Daniels time, to stop mouths leonine;
and in Shadrach's time to cool blast
furnaces; as in Ezekiefs time to con-
sole captivity; as in st. Johns time to
enroll an apocalypse over rocky desc
lations. Hear its soothing voice as it
declares: Weeping may endure for
night, but JOY cometh in the morning"
THE mountains shall depart and the
hill be removed, but my low
ing kindness shall not depart from
you:" Whom the Lord loveth He
chasteueth;" They shall hunger
no more, neither thirst any more,
neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat; for the Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall lead them
to the living fountains of water, and
God shall wipe away the tears from all
their eyes" The most wholesome
thing on earth i S trouble if met in
Christian spirit To make Paul W hat