In nature there is hardly a stone that is not capable of crystallizing into something purer and brighter than its normal state. Coal, by a slightly different arrangement of its particles, is capable of becoming the radiant diamond. The number of by-products taken from coal-tar now runs into thousands.

The slag from the blast-furnace is generally cast away as useless waste, but some of the globular crystals of it are most beautiful. From tar and pitch the loveliest colors are now manufactured. The very mud on the street, so disgusting at times and trampled underfoot as a type of all impurity, can be changed by chemical art into metals and gems of surpassing beauty.

And so the most unpromising materials, from the most worthless moral rubbish that men cast out and despise, may be converted by the Divine alchemy into the gold of the sanctuary and made gems for the jewel casket of Heaven.

Let the case of the demon-possessed Magdalene, of the slave-trading Newton, of the wicked Bunyan, of the bloodthirsty Saul of Tarsus, of thousands more, encourage those who are still "poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity" (Acts 8:23). "Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, you will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." (Psalm 68:13).

Some jewels are very rough when first discovered, but the skill of the lapidary soon transforms them into objects of exquisite beauty. So from the ranks of the rough and uncouth God picks up many of His choicest gems.