Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-02-17
RUBIES SURPASSED.
AN ELOQUENT SERMON BY REV. r.
DE WITT TALMAGE.

DE WITT TALMAGE.
A Comparison of Wisdom With tho Most
Precious stone-The Value of Religion.
Words OF Soiomon-C Contrasts Brought
Out by the Text.
BROOKLYN, Feb. lin the Tabernacle
this forenoon Rev DR.. Talmage preached
TO a crowded audience that filed the
great building to oyerhowing, the sub
ject of his sermon being 'sRubies Sur
passed. aud the text Proverbs viii, IL,
Wisdom is better than rubies.'
You have all seen the precious store
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 breastplate. Under another
name it stood in the wall of heaven.
Jeremiah compares the rudy cheek of
the Nazarites to the ruby. Ezekiel point:
it ont in the robes of the king of Tyre.
Four times does Solomon use itas sym.
boil 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
lho precious stones were formed. The
ancients thought that amber was made
of drops of perspiration of the goddess
&c. The Thunderstorm was supposed to
have dropped from q stormcloud. The
emerald was said TO have been made OF
the iirefy. The lapis lazuli was thought
to have been born Of the cry of an Indian
giant. And modern mineralogists say
that the precious stones We're made of
gases and liquids. To Inc the ruby seems
like spark from the anvil of the setting
sun.
The home of tho genuine ruby is Bar
nah, and GO miles fromits capital, where
lives and reigns the ruler, called Lord
CT the Rubies." Under a careful gov
ornamental 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,
a procession was formed and, with all
hammered pomp, military guard ana
princely attendants, the gem was brought
20 the kings palace.
OF great value is the ruby. much more
80 than diamond, as lapidaries and jew
olers viii 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 rs diamond
of equal weight" 1t was u disaster when
Charles the Bold lost the ruby he was
wearing at the battle of Grandson. Ii
was a great affiuenCe when Rudolph II
of Austria inherited ruby from his SIS
ter, the queen 3owager. 1t was thought &c
have had much 10 do with the victory Of
Henry V, as no wore it into the battle
of Agincourt.
II is the pride Of the Russian court tc
own the largest raby Of all the world,
presented by GUstayus III to the Rus
sian empress. Wondrous ruby! IL has
electric characteristics. and there are
ighnings compressed in It's doable six
sided prisms. What shall | call it? 1t
is frozen fire, It IS petrifed blood! 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 well as of differ
encc. am glad there is nothing lacl.iug
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 glcw AMI burn
and fash as the lights lift the darkness
Catherine Of ATagou had on her finger
ruby that fairly lanternel the night.
Sir John Vaudeville, the celebrated
traveller Of 400 Years ago said that the
emperor Of China la ! a 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 iy
night, noticed the peculiar glow Of the
ruby as it looked in the hilt Of Il 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 excel!ency Of our holy religion as
chiefly seen il the night of trouble. and
he cries out, wisdom is better than ru-
bies."
WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS
Oh, yes, it 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 it is natural eXuberance ana
how much Of it is the graceof God. Bat
let the sun set, and the shadows ava
lanche the plain, and the thick darkness
Of sickness or poverty or persecution or
mental exhaustion ill the soul and fiji the
house and fill the world; then you sit
down by the lampo Gods word, and I'M
der its light the 2onsolationso Of Tie gospel
come out; the peace Of God which passeth
ell understanding appears. You never
fully appreciated their power until in the
deep night OF trouble the Divine Lamp
revealed their eSquisitcuess. Pearls ana
amcthysts f3r the day, bat lubjes for the
night
All OF the books Of the Bible attempt
in some way the Arrangement Of misfOr-
tune. Of tire 100 psalms Of David at
least 90 alludc to trouble There are
sighings in every wind, and tears in cy-
cry brook, and panEs in every heart. II
was originally proposed to call the pres
dents residence at Washington The
Palace or 1.-The Executive Mansion"
but after it was destroyed in the war Of
1914 and rebuilt it was painted white
to cover up the marks Of the smoke aud