Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-02-14
RUBIES SURPASSED.
AN ELOQUENT SERMON BY REV. T
De WITT TALMAGE.

Words Of solomon--COntrasts Brought
out by the Text.
BROOKLYN, Feb. lin the Tabernacle
this forenoon Rev. DR.. Talmage preached
Z, a crowded audience that filled the
great building to overfowing, the sub
iect 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. It 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
II out in the robes of the king of Tyre.
Four times does Solomon use it as 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 a stormcloud. The
emerald was said to have been made of
the FREELY. The lapis lazuli was thought
to 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 go miles from its capital, where
lives and reigns the ruler called "Lord
of the Rubies." Under q 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
elors 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" 1t was disaster when
Charles the Bold lost the ruby he was
wearing at the battle of Grandson. It
was great affluence 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 rubyl 1t has
electric characteristics, and there are
lightnings compressed in it's double six
sided prisms. What shall l call it? 1t
is frozen firel 1t is petrifed 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
and flash as the lights lift the darkness!
Catherine of Aragon had on her finger
a 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 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 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 and
how much of it is the grace of 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 the lamp of Gods word, and un-
der it's light the consultations of the gospel |
come out; the peace of God which passeth |
all understanding appears. You never |
fully appreciated their power until inthe |
deep night 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 misfor-
tune. OF the $50 psalms Of David at
least 80 allude to trouble. There are
sighings in every wind, and tears in ev-
cry brook, and pangs in every heart. 1t
was originally proposed to call the pres
ident's residence at Washington The
Palace" OF "the Executive Mansion"