The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-02-16
RUBIES SURPASSED.
AN ELOQUENT SERMON BY REV. r.
DE WITT TALMAGE.

BROOKLYN, Feb lin the Tabernacle
This forenoon Rev. DR.. Talmage preached
to crowded audience that filed tn
great building to overlooking, the sub
Ject of his sermon being "Rubies Sur
passed" and the text Proverbs viii, II
Wisdom is better than rubies."
You have all seen the precious stone
commonly called the ruby. 1t is of deer
red color. The Bible makes much of it
1t glowed in the first row of the high
priests breastplax. Under another
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 a sym.
Dol by which to extol wisdom or reli.
gion, always setting its value as better
than rubies.
QUALITIES OF THE RUBY.
The world does 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 stormcloud. The
emerald was said to have been made of
ihe FREELY. The 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 me 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 a careful gov
ernmental guard are these valuable
mines of ruby kept. Rarely has any for
eigner visited them. When a ruby of
large value was discovered, it was
brought forth with elaborate ceremony,
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 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
emit day ten times as much as diamond
of equal weight" 1t was disaster when
Charles the Bold lost the ruby he was
wearing at the battle of Grandson. It
was a great aff1uence when Rudolph II
of Austria inherited a ruby from his sis
ter, the queen dowager. 1t was thought to
have had much to do with the victory of
Henry V, as he wore it into the battle
of Agincourt.
1t is the pride of the Russian court to
own 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 |
lightnings compressed in its double six
sided prisIns. What shall call itY~e 1t |
is frozen fire! 1t is petrified bloodl In |
all the world there is only one thing |
more valuable, and my text makes the |
comparison, Wisdom is better than ru- |
bies."
But it is impossible to compare two |
things together unless there are some
points of similarity as we'll as Of differ
ence. ! am glad there is nothing lacking
here. The ruby is more beautiful in the
night and under the lamplight than by
day. 1t is preferred for evening adorn-
ment How the rubies glow and burn
apd 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 had ruby that made
the night as bright as 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 upholstery,
or beautifed 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, "Wisdom is better than ru-
bies."
WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS
Oh, yes, it is a 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 it is natural exuberance and
how much of it is the grace of God But
let the sun set, and the shadows ava
anche the plain, and the thick darkness
IF sickness or poverty or persecution or
mental exhaustion fill the soul and fill the 9
house and fill the world; then you sit I
Town by the lamp of Gods word, and I'M =
Ter its light the consultations of the gospel
,ome out; the peace of God which passeth 1
III understanding appears. You never
ully appreciated their power until in the L
ieep night of trouble the Divine Lamp 4
evealed their exquisiteness. Pearls and I
Imethysts for the day, but rubies for the D
hight. u
All of the books of the Bible attempt t.
n some way the Arrangement of misfor-
une. OF the $50 psalms of David at
east 90 allude to trouble. There are C
ighings in every wind, and tears in ev- 81
ny brook, and pangs in every heart. 1t r.
vas originally proposed to call the pres s.
dents residence at Washington "The Il
'alace" or "the Executive Mansion" 81
nut after it was destroyed in the war of N
sl4 and rebuilt it was painted white h