The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-12
WISDOM THE GEMOF JEWELS
"RubieS SURPASSED" the Subject OF
Talmage'S Sermon.

Rubies'-Mythologic Stories of
the Formation of the Precious Stones.
The Value of the Ruby Greater Than
That of the Diamond
BROOKLYN. Feb. lin the tabernacle
this forenoon Rev. DR.. Talmage preached
to a crowded audience that filed the
great building TO overlooking, the subject
of his sermon being ''Rubies Surpassed, 3"
and the text: Proverbs s: II: Wisdom
is better than rubies"
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 high
priests breast plate. Under another name
1t stood in the wall of heaven. jeremiah
compares the rudy cheek of the Naza-
rites to the ruby. Ezekiel points it out in
the robes of the king OF Tyre. Four times
does Solomon use it as a symbol by which
TO extol wisdom, or religion, always set
ting its value as better than rubies.
The world does not agree as TO how the
precious stones were formed. The an
clients thought that amber was made of
drops Of perspiratiOn of the goddess
&c. The Thunderstorm was supposed TO
have dropped from storm cloud. The
the freely. The lapis lazuli was thought
TO have been born of the cry of an In
dian giant, and modern mineralOgists say
that the precious stones were made of
gases and liquids. To me the ruby seems
like a spark from the anvil of the set
ting sun.
The home of the genuine ruby is Sur
nah, and sixty miles from its capital,
where lives and reigns the ruler, called,
Lord of the RubieS - Under a careful
governmental guard, are these valuable
mines of ruby kept. Rarely has any for
eigner visited them. When a ruby of
large value was discovered il was brought
forth with elaborate ceremony, a process
sion was formed, and with all hammered
pomp, military guard and princely attend
ants, the gem was brought TO the kings
palace.
OF great value is the ruby, much more
so than diamond, as lapidaries and jewel
ers will tell you. An expert on this sub
1ect, writes: "A ruby Of perfect color
weighing five carats is worth at the
present day ten times as much as a
diamond of equal weight" 1t was dis
aster when Charles the Bold lost the ruby
he was wearing at the battle of Grand
son 1t was a great atftuence when
Rudolph the Second of Austria inherited
ruby from his sister, the queen dow
ager 1t was thought to have had much
TO do with the victoryOf Henry the Fifth,
as he wore it into the battle of AgincOurt.
It is the pride of the Russian court to
own the largest ruby of all the world,
presented by Gustavus the Third to the
Russian empress. WOndrous ruby 1t
has electric characteristics, and there are
hghtnings compressed in its double six
sided prisms. What shall | call it, 1t is
frozen fire! 1t is petrItied blood! In all
the world there is only one thing more
valuable, and my text makes the compare
SON Wisdom is better than rubies"
But it is impossible 10 compare two
things together unless there are some
points of similarity as well as of differ
ence. am glad there is nothing lacking
here. 1.-The ruby is more beautiful in the
night and under the lamplignt than by
day. II is preferred for evening adorn-
ment How the rubies glow, and burn,
and fash as the lights lift the darkness!
Catherine OF Arragon had on her finger a
ruby that fairly lanterned the night Sir
John Vaudeville, the celebrated traveller
of four hundred years ago, said that the
Emperor of China had a ruby that made
the night as bright as the day. The prob
ability is that Solomon, under some of
the lamps that illuminated his cedar pal
ace by night noticed the peculiar glow of
the ruby as it looked in the hilt of
sword, or hung in some fold of the up
holstery, 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 bet
ter than rubies"
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 exubcrance and how much of
1t is the grace of God But let the sun
or nd he hoo lou.
and the thick darkness of sickness, or
poverty, or persecution, or mental ex-
haustlOn oil the soul. and fill the house
and I'LL 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 appears. You never fully
appreciate their power until in the deep
night of trouble the divine lamp revealed
their eXQuiSiteneSS. Pearls and anne
thysts for the day but rubies for the
night.
All of the books of the Bible attempt in
some way the Arrangement of mis- fortune
OF the one hundred and fifty 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 The Executive Man
Sui, DuI utter IL was DESTROYED IN the
war of 1914 and rebuilt it was painted
white, to cover up the marks of the smoke
and fire that had bIackened the stone
walls. Hence it was called, The White
House" Most of the things
now white with attractiveness were
once black with disaster What the world
most needs is the consoIatory, and here it
comes, our holy religion, with botl hands
full of anodynes,. land sedatives, and bal
sans, as in Daniels time to stop mouths
leonine as in Shadrachs time to cool
blast furnaces; as in Ezekiel's time TO
console captivity; as in ST Johns time To
unroll an apocalypse over rocky desola-
tions. Hear its soothing voice as it de-
clares: weeping may endure for a night.
but JOY cometh in the morning :" the
mountains shall depart and the hills be
removed, but my loving kindness shall
not depart from you;' Whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth :" 'They shall hun
ger 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 liv-
ing fountains of water, and GOD shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes" The
most wholesome thing on earth is trouble
If met in Christian spirit. To make Paul
what he was it took shipwreck. and
whipping on the bare back, and peniten-
tiary, and pursuit of wild MODS and the
sword of decapitation. To make David
IA AZ "a roo. oil L. a