PRECIOUS STONES by Frederick Griggs

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 19, 1902

PRECIOUS STONES.

By Frederick Griggs

Several little ragged urchins were playing on the street of one of our large cities. It was down in the portion of the city called the slums. The children were dirty as well as ragged, and they were vicious as well as dirty. They seemed to be enjoying their play one minute, and the next would be fighting. A man came along with some flowers, and gave one to each of the children. These poor little youngsters had rarely seen even a green thing growing in all their wretched lives. The whole scene was changed when the flowers were given the children. In place of the curses were exclamations of delight. They manifested an almost insane affection for their flowers, kissing them, hugging them, acting as tho they were really living persons. “Beautiful flower,” and “sweet flower,” and similar other exclamations were heard. What made the children do this?—Simply that love for the beautiful which is implanted in every human heart.

I mention this incident to show the effect upon the human mind of that which is beautiful, and to show how deeply a love for it is engrafted in our nature. This inherent love is so firmly implanted that even if we have never been brought in contact with the beautiful, we yet recognize it.

God has made everything beautiful in its time—beautiful in form, beautiful in color—to meet this love of the beautiful planted in the human heart. There is an abundance of it to be found in stones. We see even in the cobble-stones, when we have studied them as to their form and color, much that is pleasing to the eye. But there are many stones that possess in a much more striking way this element of beauty. The purpose of God in making beautiful things is not simply that the senses may be delighted, but that the soul may be ennobled and made better. We all recognize the pleasure of delicious food. It satisfies our sense of taste. We derive a similar pleasant sensation from harmony of color. It satisfies our sense of sight. There is, however, great danger in our enjoying the beautiful in color and the delicious in taste—in fact, in the exercise of all our senses—from a purely selfish motive. We receive the pleasure of these sensations; but it is a selfish pleasure, whereas God designs that all the gratifying sensations shall but bring to our whole being a sense of harmony and rhythm which is in itself the foundation of health and good feeling. Music has been said to be beneficial in the curing of many kinds of disease, particularly nervous ones. This is so because the nerves are set in harmonious vibration. Harmony is life, whether harmony of sound, harmony of color, or harmony with our neighbors.

Heaven is to be a very beautiful place, and the purpose of this beauty for God’s children is that their whole being may be tuned to the influence of that which is beautiful, that they may more fully express the divine love which is the life of heaven. The channel through which God’s love flows in those who inherit heaven, becomes continually broader throughout all eternity. This is the sole reason why the mansions which have been prepared for those who are to be saved, and the city in which they are to live, are so wonderfully beautiful.

Notice the description of this city in the Revelation, “having the glory of God; and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” A crystal is perfectly clear. While there are different colors of jasper, yet the prevailing color is green. The oriental jasper is a beautiful sea-green. The jasper here described is said to be perfectly transparent, that is, it is as unclouded as the brightest crystal, consequently the most precious of its kind. Among precious stones there are those of the same species which are more valuable than others. The value of precious stones depends upon their freedom from flaws and their uniform and brilliant transparency.

In an article which I wrote some time ago on color in vegetation, I made the remark that green was the most restful of all colors. This has been determined by scientific experiment. The light, then, of this city, being of a green hue, is agreeable to the sight. While it must be an intense light and a splendid one, yet it is tinged with color, and becomes very restful.

Notice the foundations of the walls. The first is of jasper. Here again is this beautiful color. The second sapphire. This stone is generally of a fine blue color, and is said to be next in hardness to the diamond. The third is a chalcedony. The chalcedony presents various shades of white, brown, yellow, gray, green, and blue. The most common color of this stone is that of bluish white. The emerald is the fourth foundation. It is of a bright green color without any mixture, and is considered to be one of the most beautiful of all gems. The onyx is an accidental variety of the agate kind. It is of a dark horny color in which is a plate sometimes of bluish white and sometimes red. The sardonyx is a kind of onyx. It is so called when on one or both sides of the white there happens to lie a plate of reddish color.

The sardius is a precious stone of a blue-red color. The chrysolite is a gold stone. It is of a dusky green, having a shade of yellow. It is said to be a species of the topaz. The beryl, the eighth foundation, is of a bluish green color. The topaz is of a pale dead green, while the tenth foundation, the chrysoprasus, is a variety of the chrysolite, and is called by some the yellow-green and clouded topaz. It differs from the chrysolite only in that it has a bluish hue. A stone of a dead-red color with a mixture of yellow is the jacinth, the eleventh foundation; while the amethyst is a gem which is generally of a purple or violet color from the composition of strong blue and deep red. The colors which I have here named are the prevailing colors of these stones. All of these stones vary in color the same as do flowers of the same variety, but the colors I have mentioned are those which are considered to be the most probable.

It certainly is true that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” It is well for us that we contemplate even the colors in the home which we expect to inherit; for if we had purchased a farm in an adjoining township, expecting to make it our home, we would enjoy thinking about it, and how much more, then, an inheritance in the land of perfection, a home in a city of such vast dimensions—three hundred seventy-five miles on each side, and an exact square—with the streets of transparent gold as clear as glass. What a beautiful city it must be as it comes from heaven to earth, and is in mid-air with these inexpressibly beautiful stones for its foundation, flooded with the light of God. And all of us have the privilege of entering it.

There is indeed much more that might be said concerning precious stones; but I have chosen to speak of these because it has seemed to me that the study of these particular stones might be helpful to others, as I have found it to be to myself. If the inhabitants of the world had seen in the gems of beauty which the Lord placed in the earth when He created it, the lessons which the stones might have taught them, it would not have been necessary for Him to have hidden them as He did at the time of flood.

I want to conclude this article with the suggestion that the children should be made familiar with the colors of these stones. They may be taught concerning them while enjoying their crayons and paints. Nearly all of these stones as we find them are kinds of crystals. Next week I want to talk about how crystals are formed.

FREDERICK GRIGGS.

South Lancaster, Mass.