Democratic messenger., 1894-02-17
RUBIES SURPASSED.
AN ELOQUENT SERMON BY REV. T.
ne WITT TALMAGe.

Precious stone-Thc Value of Religion.
Out by the Text.
BROOKLYN. Feb lin the Tabernacle
this forenoon Rev. DIR. Talmage preached
to crowded audience that filled the
great building to overtlowing. the sub
ject of his sermon being "Rubies Sur
passed" and tho text Proverbs viii, II,
Wisdom is better than rubies'
You have NIL seen the precious stone
commonly called the ruby. IL is Of deep
red color The Bible makes much of it.
II glowed in the first row of the high
priests breastplate. Under another
name it stood in the wall Of heaven.
Jeremiah compares the ruddy cheek of
the Nazarites to the ruby. Ezekiel points
it ont in the robes of the king of Tyre
Four times does Solomon use il as svm-
bol by which to extol wisdom or rcli-
gion. always setting its value as better
than rubies.
QUALITIES OF THE RTBY.
The world 0oes not agree as to how
the precious stones were formed. The
ancients thought that amber was made
of drops of perspiration of the goddess
Ge. The Thunderstorm was supposed to
have dropped from n stormcloud. The
emerald was said To have been made Of
the firefy. Tho lapis lazuli was thought
10 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 mo the ruby seems
like spark from the anvil of the setting
sun.
The home of the genuine ruby is Bur
NAH. and 60 miles from its capital. where
lives and reigns the ruler. called Lord
of the Rubies." Under careful gov
ernmental guard are these valuable
mines of ruby kept. Rarely has any for
eigner visited them. When q ruby Of
large value was discovered. it was
brought forth with elaborate ceremony.
procession was formed. and. with all
hammered pomp. military guard AMI
princely attendants. the gem was brought
to the kings palace.
OF great value is the ruby. much more
so than diamond. as lapidaries and Jew
elers will tell you. An expert on this
subject writes. "A ruby Of perfect color
weighing five carats is worth at the pres
ent day ten times as much as diamond
of equal weight" II was disaster when
Charles the Bold lost the ruby he was
wearing at the battle of Grandson. Il
was great affiuence when Rudolph II
Of Austria inherited a ruby from his sis
ter, the queen dowager. Ii was Thought to
have had much to do with the victory of
Henry V, IA he wore it into the battle
of Agincourt.
1t is the pride Of the Russian court to
ewn the largest ruby Of all the world.
presented by Gustavus III to the Rus
sian empress. Wondrous ruby. 1t has
electric characteristics. and there are
ligh,nings compressed in its double SIX
sided prisms. What shall | call it? 1t
is frozen fire. II is petriiied blood. In
all the world there is only one thing
more valuable. and my text makes tho
comparison. Wisdom is better than ru-
bies."
But il 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 lacking
here. The ruby is more beautiful in the
night and under the lamplight than bv
day II is preferred for evening adorn-
ment. How the rubies glow and burn
and fash as the lights lift the darkness,
Catherine of Aragon had on her finger
ruby that fairly lanterned the night.
Sir John Vaudeville. the celebrated
traveller of 400 years ago. said that the
emperor of China hal a ruby that made
the night as bright as day. The proba-
bility is that Solomon. under some of the
lamps that illumiRel his cedar palace bv
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 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 ont. Wisdom is better than ru-
bies
WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS.
Oh, yes. il is n good thing To have re-.
ligion while the sun Of prosperity ride.
high and everything is brilliant in for
tune. in health. in worldly favor. Yet
you can at such time hardly tell how
much of il is natural exuberance and
how much of it is the graceof God But
let the sun set. and the shadows ava
lanche the plain. and the thick darkness
Of sickness or poverty or persecution or
mental exhaustion fill the soul and fill the
house and fill the world: then you sit
down by tho lamp Of Gods word. and nm
der its light the consultations of thegospel
come ont; the peace Of God which passejh
all understanding appears. You never
fully appreciated their power until in the
deep night Of trouble the Divine Lamp
revealed their exquisiteness. Pearls and
amethysts for the day. but rubies for the
night.
All of tho books of the Bible attempt
in some way tho assuagcment Of msfor-
tune. OF the 80 psalms "f David at
least 90 allude to trouble. There are
tighings in every wind. and tears in ev-
cry brook. and pangs in every heart 1t
was originally proposed IL call the pres
idcnt's residence at. Washington The
Ididct Ut the IsNPtUtlNt Adnslbl.
but after it was destroyed in the war If
1914 and rebuilt il was painted white
TO cover up the marks of the smoke aud
fire that had hlackenrl the stone walls
Hence it was called The White House :"
Most Of the things now white with at
tractiveneSs were once black with dis
asier.
What the world most needs is the con
solatory. and here it comes, our holy re-
ligion. with both hands full of anodyncs
and sedatives AMI bals;Ims. a. in Daniels
time to stop months l"oninc: rs in Snad
rach's time Ia cool blast furnaces. rs in
Ezeklel's time To- console captivity: as III
81 Johns time 10 unroll I'M apocalypse
over rocky desnlaiions Hear its Sonfh-
q Quarter Century Test
For u quarter ot a century Dr. Kin.