The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-04-29
DR.. TALMAGE:s SERMON.
SAVING WISDOM COMPARED TO A
PERFECT CRYSTAL.

HENS Shf A..
Religion Superior to a Crystal in Exact
ness, in transparency, in Symmetry
and in Beauty-Souls OF Sinners the
Cxystallization OF Mercy.
New YORK, April l9.-The eager
ness to hear DR.. Talmace's sermons
at the Christian Herald services on Sun
day evenings in this city continues un-
abated. AS usual there was this even
ing q dense mass of people waiting out
side the Academy OF Music long before
the hour for commencement and every
seat in the huge building was occupied
in few minutes after the doors were
opened. Dr. Talmage had preached to
an immense audiesce in the mcrning IN
the Brooklyn Academy Of Music. HIS
text was: ''The crystai cannot equal It"
Job. xviii: /.
Many ofthe precious stone of the Bibles
have come to prompt recognition. But
for the present take up the less valua-
bic crystal. Job, in my text, compares
saving wisdom with spec!menot topaz.
An infdel chemist or mlneraloglst
would pronounce the latter worth more
than the former, but Job makes an IN
s telsent comparison, looks at religion and
then looks at the crystal and pronounces
s the former as of far superior value to
the latter. exclaiming in the words OF my
text, s'The crystal cannot equal it."
Now, 1t is not a part Of my sernonlc
design to depreciate the crystal, whether
it be found in Cornish mine OF Hartz
mountain or Mammoth Cave or tinking
among the peAdanta of the chandeliers.
: The crystal is the star Of the mountain;
fit is the queen OF the cave; it is the ear
drop OF the hills; it finds its heaven in the
diamond. Among all the pages Of ma
tural history there is no page more IN
teresting to me than the page crystallo-
s graphic. Butt want to show You that
: JOB was right when, taking religion in
one hand and the crystal in the other,
he declared that the former is Of far
more value and beauty than the latter,
recommending it to all people and to all
ages. declaring: The crystal cannot
equal it." In the first place l remark
that religion IS superior to the crystal III
eAactness. That shapeless mass ofcrys-
tai against which your sccidently dashed
your foot is laid out with more exact
ness than any earthly city. There are
six styles Of crystallization and all of
8 them diyinely ordained. Every crystal
has mathematical precision. GODS
: geometry reaches through it, and it is
square or it is rectangle, or it is a
rhomboid or in some way it hath math-
ematical figure. Now, religion bea S
that in the sin pie fact that spiritual ac-
curracy Is more beautiful than material
accuracy. Gods attributes are exact.
4 Gods DEGREES exact. Gods manage
ment of the world exact. Never count
ing wrong, though he counts the grass
blades and the stars and the saIds and
the cycles. His piovidences never deal
ing with us pr:pendicuiarly when those
proGidences ought to be oblique, nor
lateral when they ought to be vertical.
Everything in our life arranged with
out any possibility of mistake. Each
life a six-sided prism. Born at the
right time; dying at the right time.
There are no ''happen-so's'' in our the
ology. If I thought this was slip
shod universe 1 would 60 crazy. God
is not az anarchist. Law, order, SYM
metery, precision, a perfect square, a
perfect rectangle, serfect rhomboid, a
perfect circle. The edge Of Gods robe
of government never trays out. There
are no loose screws in the worlds ma
chmery. 1t did not just happen that
Napoleon was attacked with indiges-
ton. at Borodlno so that he became in
competent for the day. It did not just
happen that John Thomas, the mission
ary, on a heather island, waiting for an
outfit and orders for another missionary
tour, received that outfit and those Or
ders in a box that foated ashore, while
the ship ard the crew that carried
the box were never heard OF. The bark
INC of F. w. Robertson's dog, he tells
us, led to line Of events which brought
him from the army into the Christian
ministry, where he served God with
HorN-renowned usefulness. 1t did not
merely happen so. I believe in par
fcular providence. I believe Gods ge-
ometry may be seen in all cur life more
beautifully than i'll ystallography.
JOB was RIGHT. ''The crystal cannot
equal lt.''
Again remark that religion is supe-
rior to the crystal insstransparency. We
know not when or by whom glass was
first discovered. Beads oft have been
found in the tomb of Alexander Severus.
Vases of it are brought up from the ruins
sof Herculaneurl. There were female
adornments made out of it 5000 years
ago-those adornments found now at
tached to the mummies of Egypt. a
great many commentators believe that
my text means glass. Whas would we
sao without the crYstal2 The crystal IN
the window to keep out the storm and
letm the day-the crystal over the watch
defending it's delicate machinery, yet
allowing US to see the hour-the crystal
Of the telescope by which the astrono-
mer brings distant worlds so near he can
inspect them. Oh, the triumphs OF the
CRYSTALS in the celebrated windows Of
Rouen and Salisbury? But there is
nothing SO transparent IN crystal as
in our holy religion. 1t is Transporter, :,
religion. You put 1t to your eye and
you see man-his sin, his soul, his
destiny. Yo1 look at God and you see
something of the grandeur of his charac-
Ter. Its a transparent religion. Infdels
tel US it is opaoue9 Do you know why
they tell US it is opaque? 1t is because
they are blind. The natural man receiyeth
not the things of God because they are
spiritually discerned. There is no trouble
with the crystal; the trouble is with the
eyes which try to look through it. We
pray for vision, Lord, that our eyes
might be opened. When the eye-salve
cures orr blindness tt.en we find that