Bible jewels

Front matter

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LIBRARY RE S.

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Preface

Did you ever see a casket of jewels ? Perhaps you are ready to ask, — what is a casket? It is a little box, made on purpose to keep jewels in. Suppose we have one here before us. We open it. Here is a diamond flashing and sparkling in its beauty, with little rainbows dancing round it. There is a pearl quietly shining in its silvery whiteness. Here is a ruby with its deep red color; an emerald with its bright sea-green ; a sapphire with its soft sky-blue ; a purple amethyst ; a yellow topaz, and an opal with its varying hues. They are all glittering in the light, though each shines with a color different from all the rest. How beautiful they look !

This book is intended to be like such a box. It is a casket filled with Bible jewels. The first we meet with is "the Pearl of great price." This represents Jesus. Then there is the diamond, which represents the true Christian. The ruby, with its flashing red, represents the love which real Christians have for their precious Saviour and all his people. The emerald, with its beautiful green, reminds us of the blessed hope of heaven which Jesus puts into the hearts of his people. The purple amethyst is the temperance jewel. The sky-blue sapphire reminds us of the faith which makes true Christians strong to

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IV PREFACE.

serve and strong to suffer. The topaz, with its golden yellow, stands for the true honesty of those who are always trying to please God; while the beautiful opal, in which all the colors of the other jewels blend together, represents prayer, which " brings every blessing from above."

Natural jewels are so valuable that many of us can never afford to buy them. Nor is this necessary, for we can be happy without them. But these Bible jewels are a thousand times more valuable, and without them we cannot be happy. Yet, valuable as they are, the poorest person who reads .this book, whether young or old, may become the owner of all the Bible jewels of which it speaks. And this is the reason why this book was written. The hope and prayer of the writer is that every one who reads these pages may try to get all these precious Bible jewels. Try first to get Jesus, — the Pearl of great price. And when he is yours, ask him to give you all the other jewels here described. They belong to Jesus. He has them to give away. He will give them to all who earnestly ask for them. Ask him to give them to you. Then how rich and happy, how good and useful, you will be! And when Jesus shall come to "make up his jewels" you will be gathered with them, and will shine in beauty forever among the bright and glorious things of his heavenly kingdom.

The graphic illustrations accompanying this volume were kindly furnished by our gifted young artist, Mr. A. G. Heaton, to whom the author tenders his most cordial thanks.

Contents

PAGE

I. — My Jewels, 9

II. — The Pearl, 41

I. "My jewels."— Malachi iii. 17

Bible Jewels.

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This is what God calls his people. He is speaking of all true Christians — of all persons who really learn to love and serve Jesus — when he uses this language. It is wonderful to notice how many different kinds of things God compares his people to in the Bible. In one place they are compared to trees, as the cedar (Ps. xcii. 12), or the palmtree (Ps. xcii. 12) . In another place they are compared to flowers, like the rose and the lily. (Canticles, or the Song of Solomon, ii. 1.) Again they are compared to the stars (Pan. xii. 3), and to the sun (Matt. xiii.

43). In one place they are compared to the sparkling dew-drops, that stand so thick on the flowers of the garden, on a fine summer morning, and make the whole garden look so fresh and beautiful. (Micah v. 7.) In other places they are compared to the light which the sun is pouring forth all the time, and which enables us to see the many wonderful things with which God has filled the world around us. (Matt. v. 14.) They are compared to the dove, because it is harmless ; to the lamb, because it is gentle ; to the lion, because it is bold ; and to the eagle, because it is a noble bird that tries to get above the world, and to rise far away up toward the sun. But, in this passage from the prophet Malachi, God compares his people to jewels. He says, " They shall be mine in that day when I make up my jeivels" Jewels are considered to be the most valuable things that a person can have. Sometimes they are made of gold and silver, and sometimes of pearls, or diamonds, or other precious stones. Kings and queens, lords and ladies, and other great and ricji people put jewels on their fingers, round their necks, or in their bosoms, and wear them for ornaments. And just in the same way God says his people shall be to him for w a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty." (Isaiah lxii. 3.) What a blessed thing it will be to be one of the jewels in the crown that Jesus wears, or to lie in his bosom shining like a diamond ! And yet, if we really love and serve him, He tells us in this text that we shall be his jewels.

There are a great many precious stones mentioned in the Bible. Each of these may be considered as representing some important part of Christian character or duty ; and it seems to me that if we take up these jewels they will furnish us with an interesting and instructive subject for a course of sermons. This subject, then, we may call — Bible Jewels.

In our present text God's people are compared to jewels. This first sermon will lead us to consider some reasons why Christians are like jewels. I wish now to give you three reasons why they are so.

Iii the first place, Christians are like jewels, because jewels are very beautiful.

God never made anything that looks more lovely than some jewels do. When you hold up a diamond, in the light of the sun, or even of a lamp, and move it about, it flashes and sparkles most beautifully. And if we had a number of them together, as they are sometimes seen in a monarch's crown, or a lady's head-dress, in a strong light they would glitter and shine so, that we could hardly bear to look at them. They would seem to have little rainbows dancing all about them. We should see all the colors of the rainbow glittering and sparkling there. But these beauties are not in the jewels so much as in the light which shines upon them. If it were not for the light, you would see nothing of the beauty. Suppose it were as dark as midnight here ; I might hold up ten thousand diamonds, if I had them, and yet there would be no beauty for you to see. Not a trace of brightness would sparkle in one of them. We sometimes read stories about dark caves, in which great jewels are put up, instead of lamps, for the purpose of lighting them up. But this is a mistake. Jewels have no beauty in themselves. They have no power of their own to shine. It is only when light, outside of themselves, is thrown upon them that their beauty can be seen. But when the bright beams of the sun shine upon them they appear very beautiful.

And just so it is with Christians, who are God's jewels. They are very beautiful. But this beauty is not their own. It does not belong to themselves. It all comes from Jesus. When they learn to know him, and love him, and serve him, they become like him, and this is what makes them beautiful. Jesus is called in the Bible "the Sun of righteousness." He gives light to his people, just as the sun gives light to the world. He shines on the souls of his people, and this makes them look beautiful as diamonds and other jewels do, when the sun is shining on them. And the stronger the light is that falls on a jewel the more beautiful it appears. If, instead of the light of a lamp, j 7 ou hold a diamond in the beams of the sun, it will sparkle with a hundred times more beauty. And so the nearer we get to Jesus, the more we know of him and love him, the more beautiful we shall become.

You remember what we read in the Bible about Moses. He went up to the top of Mount Sinai once, and he was there for forty days, seeing Jesus all the time, and talking with him. And, when he came down, his face was shining with so much brightness and beauty, that the people could not bear to look at him. The sight of his face dazzled their eyes, like looking at the sun. Moses had to put a veil over his face, and cover it up, before the people could come near enough to talk with him.

And, you remember, too, what we read in the New Testament about Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. His disciples looked at him, just as you and I have sometimes looked at, what is called, a dissolving view, in a magic-lantern . They saw a wonderful change come over him. The appearance of him, which they were accustomed to see, melted away, and another form, or appearance, gradually took its place. His face grew brighter and brighter, till it was shining with a light above the brightness of the sun. His clothing changed, too. It all turned white, and kept on growing more and more pure, till it was whiter than the spotless snow. And Jesus underwent this change, and put on this beautiful appearance, on purpose to show us what the beauty is which he intends to put on all his people. Yes, my dear young friends, if you and I are true Christians, we shall be made, at last, to look just as Jesus did when he was on that mountain. One of these days Jesus is going to come into our world again. He will come to gather his jewels together. This means that he will come to raise his people out of their graves, and take them to be forever with him in his heavenly kingdom. And, when Jesus comes to do this, he will appear just as his disciples saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration.

And all his people will be made like him then. They will all be wearing the same snow-white garments that Jesus wore on the mount. Their faces will all be shining brighter than the sun, as his did. Oh, how brightly God's jewels will sparkle then ! How beautiful they will appear ! We often see great beauty, now, in the flowers, the rainbow, the sky ; but it fades while we look at it, and very soon it is all gone. Even the beauty of the transfiguration did not last! But the beauty that Jesus will give to his people, when he comes again, will be lasting beauty. It will never fade. On the contrary, it will grow brighter, and brighter forever. Jewels are very beautiful. This is one reason why God calls his people jewels.

But jewels are very valuable ; and this is another reason why God calls his people jewels.

It is because of their value that we call them precious stones. Very often a single jewel will be worth more than many a rich man's whole fortune. You remember the

Bible speaks of a man ff finding one pearl, of great price, and then selling all that he had" in order to purchase that pearl.

We read of a nobleman in England, some time ago, who had a suit of clothes made to wear on special occasions. It was what is called a court-dress. He only used to put it on when the king had great companies of the nobility at his palace. But there were so many jewels on that one suit of clothes that it was worth four hundred thousand dollars.

A young friend of mine, now travelling in Europe, wrote home the other day that he saw, while visiting the royal gallery in the city of Dresden, a necklace of jewels that was said to be worth two millions of dollars. In the same place is a small casket of jewels valued at twenty millions of dollars.

But to show you what very valuable things jewels are, let me tell you about some of the most celebrated diamonds in the world.

One of these is called the Orloff diamond, or the Grand Kussian diamond. This is about as large as a walnut. It belongs to the

Emperor of Kussia. Its lustre is very fine, but it is a little defective in shape. It is valued at over half a million of dollars. There are two stories told about this diamond. One is that it used to belong to a Persian prince, who called it "the Moon of the Mountain." It is said that somebody murdered the prince, and then stole all his jewels, and among them this great diamond, which, after many changes, came into the hands of the Empress Catharine, of Russia, and has since been kept in that family.

The other story is that this beautiful gem was once used as one of the eyes of an idol, in the temple of Brahma. I don't know what he had for his other eye. But certainly one of his eyes must have been much brighter, and more beautiful than the other. Well, there it was, for many a year, flashing and sparkling most splendidly. The fame of this wonderful bright-eyed god spread all over the country. A French soldier, in the garrison at Pondicherry, made up his mind to try and get it. He deserted from the army. He went to the priests of this temple, and professed his desire to become a convert to the worship of their god. He remained with them a long time, till he gained their confidence, and was appointed to some post of duty about the temple. Then he watched for an opportunity and got into the temple all alone one night, when he climbed up on the shoulders of the idol, gouged out his brightjewelled eye, and went off with it. He escaped to Madras, and sold it to a sea-captain for fifty thousand francs. After passing through different hands, a Greek merchant finally sold it to the Empress Catharine. The price she paid the merchant for it was four hundred and fifty thousand dollars cash down, twenty thousand dollars a year as long as he lived, and also a title of nobility. She made him a lord, or a duke, or something of that kind. It is said to be worth a million of dollars.

There is another great diamond, called the Austrian, or Grand Tuscan diamond. It has belonged to the family of the Emperor of

Austria for many generations. It is cut in the form of a rose. It has nine sides, each presenting a star with nine rays. But it has a kind of yellowish tint, which makes it less valuable than it would otherwise be. Yet that single jewel is supposed to be worth between seven and eight hundred thousand dollars.

Another of the celebrated diamonds of the world is called the Pitt diamond, or the Regent. It is not the largest, but is said to be the most perfect and beautiful, diamond in Europe. When it was cut, or polished, it took two years' time to do it, and the work cost fifteen thousand dollars. The fragments broken off from it in cutting were worth many thousand dollars. It is called the Pitt diamond ; because, when first brought from the East Indies, it was bought by Mr. Thomas Pitt, the grandfather of the celebrated English statesman of that name. It is called the Regent diamond, because, when Mr. Pitt sold it, it was bought by the Duke of Orleans, who was then the Regent, or reigning Prince of France. When Napoleon I. was Emperor of France it belonged to him. He used to wear it on the hilt of his sword. Once he had to pawn it to raise money to pay his soldiers. Now. it is set in the crown of the Emperor of France, and sparkles beautifully there. When this diamond was sold the cost of the sale was twenty thousand dollars. This one jewel is worth a million of dollars. Another famous diamond is called " The Star of the South." This belongs to the King of Portugal. There is an interesting story connected with the finding of this precious gem. A good many years ago, you know, Brazil, in South America, which is now an independent government, used to belong to the King of Portugal. In those days three men had done something to offend the king. As a punishment they were banished to a place in the interior of Brazil.

They were never to go home again to their families, but were to stay there till they died. The part of the country to which they were sent was very rich in gold and jewels. Every river rolled over a bed of gold, and every valley was a sort of diamond mine. But they couldn't live on gold. And jewels wouldn't take the place of their families and friends ; and so the banished men were very unhappy. They longed to go back to their homes. But how could this be done ? It occurred to them that if they could only find some very rich mine of gold, or some very large, valuable jewel, perhaps the king would pardon them and let them go back to their homes. Then they went to work. For six long years they toiled on without success. But one summer there came a long, severe drought. It hardly rained any all the season. The stream, near which they lived, dried up. They went into the bed of the river to dig for gold. While digging there they found the largest diamond they had ever seen. It was over an ounce in weight. They knew it was exceedingly valuable. They were filled with joy. They ventured to go home with this precious gem. They sent it to the King of Portugal in Lisbon. He was so delighted with it that he pardoned the men and let them stay at home. This was the famous "Star of the South." The king had a hole bored through it, and used to wear it round his neck on holidays. It has since been cut into a beautiful eight-sided jewel. In a French work on the subject of jewels, which I have, it is said that this diamond is supposed to be worth the surprising sum of three millions of pounds, or fifteen millions of dollars.

Another of these celebrated diamonds is called the "Koh-i-noor," or Mountain of Light. This now belongs to Victoria, the Queen of England. It is said to have been found in the mines of Golconda, more than a thousand years before the birth of our Saviour. During all these many centuries it is said to have been in the possession of different rajahs, or princes, in India, and many stories are told about it.

Once an Indian prince had conquered another. The conquered prince owned this gem, and wore it in his turban or head-dress. The conqueror saw it flashing in its beauty there. He proposed to the conquered prince that they should exchange turbans in token of friendship. The poor fellow was very unwilling to do this. But he knew it would cost him his life if he refused. So he made the exchange, but lost that splendid jewel.

There was another occasion when one Indian prince had conquered another in battle. The conquered prince was known to be the owner of the Koh-i-noor. The conqueror invited him to his palace. When he came, he was told that he never should go out again till he gave up his jewel to his conqueror. He had expected this ; and to be prepared for it, he had a counterfeit, or imitation of the real jewel made. This he pretended to be very loath to part with, yet finally gave it up. Then he was set at liberty. The other prince was delighted to think of his great treasure. But when he gave it to his jeweller, to set it for him, he told him it was a counterfeit, and not the real jewel. Then he went to the palace of the prince who had deceived him, and tried to find the great diamond. He ransacked the palace from top to bottom, bat couldn't find it. At last one of the prince's slaves told him where it was hid, and the " Koh-i-noor " — the "Mountain of Light" — was found hidden away under a heap of ashes. But at last the English army conquered a part of India called the Punjaub. The prince of that country owned this celebrated diamond, and he was obliged to give it up to the Queen of England; and now it shines and sparkles among the crown jewels of that kingdom. It is worth about a million and a half, or two millions of dollars.

Now we see, from what has been said, how very valuable jewels are. But perhaps some of you are ready to say, "Well, what is all this to us? We have no such jewels as these."

Nay, but you have though. Every one of you has a jewel worth more than the Koh-inoor, and the Star of the South, and all those costly gems put together. I mean by this your soul. The soul of the youngest child here is worth more than all the gold and silver, and all the diamonds and rubies, and gems and jewels in the world. Jesus said that if a man should gain the whole world, and lose his soul by it, he would make a very bad bargain. Jesus knows what the soul is worth, for he made it. And when it was lost he paid the price that was required to redeem it, or save it. That price was his own precious blood. He shed this on the cross for us. And this shows us how very valuable our souls are. This is a very good reason why God should call his people jewels. He does it because they are very valuable.

The third reason why Christians are like jewels is because they are hard to polish.

Many diamonds, when they are found, have some stain or speck upon them, and they almost all have a rusty sort of coating, which must be taken off before their real beauty and brilliance can be seen. But this is a very hard thing to do. You know the diamond is one of the hardest things in the world. It is harder than iron, or steel, or stone. It is so hard that it will write on glass. It is so hard that nothing can be used to polish it but powder made out of diamonds.

The men who polish diamonds, and other jewels, are called lapidaries. Lapis is the Latin word for a stone. And a lapidary means one who works in jewels or precious stones. If we should go into the workshop of a lapidary we should see a great variety of machinery, which is used in polishing jewels. Most of these are solid wheels made of hard wood or iron. They are about an inch or an inch and a half thick, and about a foot wide. They are like thin, small grindstones. They are so arranged that they can be made to turn round very fast. Then the diamond, which is to be cut or polished, is fixed very tight on the end of a piece of wood, so that one side of the diamond at a time can be held very steadily against the wheel while it is flying round rapidly, just as you have seen the scissors-grinder hold the scissors he is sharpening, against the grindstone. But the diamond is so hard that this grinding sort of work has to be kept up a long time before the polishing is finished. It takes months of this sort of work to polish a diamond. The Pitt diamond, of which we have already spoken, took two years' time to polish it. So you see that polishing jewels is very hard work. And this is a very good reason why Christians are called jewels ; for they have to be polished, too, and it is hard work with them, just as it is with jewels.

When we become Christians we are like diamonds, as they are found in the mines. There are specks, or stains, on us, which must be removed by polishing. These specks and stains mean the bad habits we have formed, which must be broken up ; or the bad tempers we have indulged, and which must be overcome. But there is one great difference here between diamonds and Christians, or between men's jewels and God's jewels. When a man is polishing a jewel, the jewel can't help him. It has nothing to do. But if we are God's jewels, when he is polishing us we must help him. There is something for us to do. And God won't carry on the work of polishing us, or making us better, unless we try to help him. Let me try to show you what I mean.

Edward Norton was a good Christian boy. He was one of God's jewels. But there was quite a big speck on this jewel. He had a bad temper. A little thing would often make him very angry. He was fond of reading about the great conquerors spoken of in history. His mother tried to show him how he might become a greater conqueror than they. Every tnorning, for a whole week, she made him repeat this verse, " He that ruleth his own spirit is greater than he that taketh a city." At the same time she taught him to pray to God for grace to help him to resist the temptation to get angry, and for power to rule his own spirit.

One day, after they had been talking about this verse, Edward was playing with some boys. A dispute arose between them. One of them called Edward a fool, laughed at him, and made fun of him. In a moment Edward grew red in the face. The fire began to flash from his eyes. He was just doubling up his fist, and raising his hand to strike a blow, when he suddenly stopped. He thought of what his mother had said about conquering his spirit. In a moment the silent prayer went up from his heart, "Lord, help me to overcome this angry spirit." God heard that prayer and helped him. No angry blow was struck. No angry word was spoken. He ruled his own spirit. And when he went home and told his mother about it, she threw her arms round his neck, and kissed him, and told him that he had gained a more glorious victory that day than any that Alexander, or Caesar, or Napoleon ever gained. That was true. And when Edward Norton was resisting that temptation, and trying to overcome his angry temper, he was helping God to polish one of his jewels, and remove an ugly speck from it.

Let me tell you now about another little boy who helped to polish one of these jewels.

This boy's name was Yfillie. He was trying to be a Christian. The spot on this jewel was not that of an angry, but of a selfish spirit. He liked to have his own way, and indulge, and please himself better than any one else. One Saturday Willie came home from school and said they were to have holiday for a week. His mother told him that on Monday afternoon she was going to send their man Dennis with the wagon to a village six miles off, and that if he were a good boy, and the weather were fine, he might go along with him. Willie was delighted with the prospect of such a fine, long ride, for he loved riding above all things.

The next day, while in church, and Sunday school, Willie could hardly keep from thinking about that ride, and wishing that Monday afternoon would come.

On Sunday evening, while sitting by his mother, he said, K Ma, the minister talked to us in Sunday school to-day, about self-denial. And he said that the more we denied ourselves, for the good of others, the happier we should feel. Now is that really so?"

"It is, Willie," said his mother. "The Bible tells us, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive ; ' and that we must ' take up our cross daily, and follow Christ.' "

" Then, ma, I feel that I have been a very selfish little boy ; for I don't like to deny myself at all. I ate all those oranges myself, the other day, although I knew that Johnny Maloney would have been very glad of one, for he has just got over the fever, and I remember how good they tasted when I was getting well, after I was sick last fall."