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PRECIOUS STONES.
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But fire to thaw that ruddy snow,
To break enchanted ice, And give love's scarlet tides to flow,—
Whence shall that sun arise ? "
"
In good sooth," adds De Boot, " I am fain to confess that supernatural
effects are after this fashion produced, God having permitted that it
should be so. Those, therefore, who would attract good spirits to
inhabit their Gems, and would benefit by their presence therein, let
them have the martyrdom of our Saviour, the actions of His life, which
teach virtue by example, graven upon their Jewels ; and let them often
contemplate them piously. Without doubt, by the grace of God, and the
assistance of good spirits, they will find, that not in the Stone only,
or the graven image, but from God, are its admirable qualities."
Proverbially—"
Great minds know each other at first sight." From the same stand-point,
only with regard to domestic rather than pious affections, it may be
reasonably conjectured that the family Diamonds, and other such
heirlooms, handed down from grandsires, and grand-dams, or otherwise
fondly inherited, and highly prized, retain within their substance
ancestral virtues, and excellent personal qualities, which are possible
of self-realisation (under particularly favourable conditions) by
their fortunate present inheritors. But not when these costly Jewels
are worn ostentatiously in public, or for the vain purpose of causing
envy, or mere worldly admiration. It must be rather when modestly
chosen as adornments at home, or within the family circle, in the true
spirit of memorial love, and of a meek desire to win esteem by
unpretending gracefulness, that the Jewels will set free for a while
the spiritual
tendencies which they still derive, in a measure, from
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