The Red Cloud chief., 1891-05-01
PURE RELIGION.
On Talmage Discourses on tho
Beauties Of Christianity.
Nothing in True Religion to Weary tho BE
hcver-Promises to the Redeemed-The
Only Choice For MortaIs
Pointed Out,

the purity of true religion Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage took for his text s'The
crystal cannot equal It." Job xviii Z.
He said:
Many of the precious stones of the
Bible have come TO prompt recognition.
But for the present take up the less
valuable crystal. Job, in my text,
compares saving wisdom with a speci.
men of topaz An infdcl chemist or
m~ineralogist would pronounce the lat
ter worth more than the former, but
Job makes an intelligent comparison,
looks at religion and then looks at the
crystal and pronounces the former a.
of far superior value 10 the latter, ex-
claiming In the words of my text 1.-The
crystal cannot equal IL" The crystal
As The star of the mountain: il is the
queen Of the cave; the ~eardrop Of the
hills; il finds its heaven in the diamond
Among all the pages Of natural history
there - no page more interesting TO me
than the page crystallographic. But
want 70 show you that Job was RICH,
when taking religion in one hand and
Tho crystal in the other, he declared
that the former il of far more value and
beauty than the other, recommending ii
10 all the people and to all the ages, de.
claring: The crystal can not equal
it" In the first place ! remark that re,
hgion il superior TO the crystal in exact
ness. That shapeless mass of crystal
against which you accidentally dashed
your foot is laid out with more exact
ness than any earthly city. There are
six styles Of capitalization and all OF
them divincly ordained
Every crystal has mathematical pre-.
cision. Gods geometry reaches through
il, and il Is "A square or il il a rectangle
or it is IA rhomboid or in some way j,
hath a mathematical figure. Now re.
ligion beats that in the simple fact tina,
spiritual accuracy is more beautiful
than material accuracy. Gods attri
butes are exact Gods laws exact
Gods DEGREES exact. Gods manage.
ment Of the world exact Never count.
ing wrong. though lie counts the grass
blades and the stars and the sands and
the cycles. His providcnccs never
dealing with IL pcrpendicularly when
those providcnces ought 10 be oblique,
nor ~laterally when they ought to be
vertical. Everything in our life ar
ranged without any possibility of mis-
take. Each life a six sided prism,
TORN nj the right time; dying at the
right time. There are no 'happcn-so's'
in our theology. God is not an anarch.
list Law, order, symmetry, precision,
"A perfect square, "A perfect ~rectangle, a
perfect rhoiDbold, "A perfect circle. The
edge of Gods robe of government never
trays out. There are no loose screws
In the worlds machinery. II did not
just happen that Napoleon was attacked
with indigestion at Borodino SO that he
became incompetent for the day. II
did not just happen that John Thomas,
the missionary, on a heather island,
waiting for an outfit and orders for an
other missionary, on a heather island,
waiting for an outfit and orders for an.
other missionary tour, received hat out.
fit and those orders in a box that flnated
ashore, while the ship and the crew
that carried the box were never heard
of. | believe in a particular providence.
l believe Gods geometry may be seen
in all our life more beautifully than in
crystallography. job was right The
crystal can not equal it"
Again ! remark that religion is supe-
rior 10 the crystal in transparency. We
know not when or 10y whom glass was
first discovered. Beads of il have been
found in the tomb of Alexander Seycrus.
Vases Of IL are brought up from the
ruins II Hc%rculancum. There were
female a~dornmcntS made out of il 5000
ycnrs ago-thosc adornmcntS are found
now attached To the mummics of Egypt
A great many commentators believe
that my text means glass. What would
We do without the crystal? The crystal
in the window Ia keep out the storm
and let In the day-thc crystal over
the watch defending its delicate ma
chiuery. vet allowing W. 10 see the hour
the crystal of the telescope by which
the astronomer brings distant worlds
80 near he can inspect chem. q, the
triumphs IF the crystals in the ccle'
bratcd windows Of Eoucn and Sails,
bury! hut there il nothing 80 trans
parent in II crystal as in our holy re,
ligion IL l. IA transparent religion
You put il Ia your Y and You see mar
his sin. his soul, his destiny. You
look nj God and you see something %
the grandeur Of His character.
IL is n transparent Bible. All Ia,
mountains of the Bible come out: Sinai
the mountain of the law; Tisgah. In,
mountain Of prospect; oliyct, tn
mountain OF instruction: Calvary, IN
mountain of sacrifice. All the rivers q
the Bible come out: liidekcl. or Tn
river of paradisaical beauty; Jordan. q
the river of holy chrism: Chcrith, q
the river Of prophetic supply; Nile. q
the river of palaces, and the pure rive
of life from under the throne. clear a
crystal. While reading this Bible aftc
our yves have beer touched by grace
we find il transparent
The providence that seemed dark he
fore becomes pcllucid. Now Won I'm
God il not trying 20 put you down
Now you understand why you lost tina
child and why you lost your property
II was 10 prepare You for eternal treas
ureS Ana why siChhSSS SainS, ~ cSAhi
the precursor of Immortal ju~venescence
And now q understand why the,
lied about you and tried to drive yo'
hither and thither. 1t was IA put yo'
in the glorious company Of such men a
lrnatiuS who. when he went ont 10 b
destroyed by the lions said: Il am tn
wheat and the teeth of the wild beast
mus; first grind me before | can be
conn pure bread for Jesus Christ
An, yes. il is persecution 10 put You il
glorious company; and while there ar
many things that you will have 10 post
none 10 the future world for eNplana
ton. | tell you that il is the whole
tendency Of your religion 10 unravc
and explain and interpre; and illumin'
and irradia;e. Job was right II Is
glorious transparency. The crys'a
cannot equal IT,"
| remark again that religion sur
passes the crystal in its beauty. Tha
lump Of crystal is put under the magni
fving glass Of the crystallographer an
be sees in il understandable beauty
snow drift and splinters IF hoar fros
and corals and wreaths and stars an'