Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-04-24
A BMLIANT RELIGION.
SERMj DELIVERED BY DIR.
TALMACE.

s'The CIal Cannot Equal It''-Job xviii,
Z, thtminent Divine's Text-Religi on
Is Farperior to tho Crystal in All De-
slrabpualities.
DR.. images text was, ssThe crystal
cannotual it" Dob xviii, y.
Mani the precious stones of the
Bible We come to prompt recognition.
But fole present take up the less
valual crystal. Job, in my text, com
parcs sing wisdom with specimen of
topaz. IN intidel chemist or mineralo-
gist w'd pronounce the latter worth
more tn the former, but Job makes an
intcllist comparison, looks at religion
and tn looks at the crystal and pro-
nolncthc former as of superior value
to the ter, cXclaiming, in the words OF |
my tie, ''The crystal cannot equal it,"
NoWt is not part of my sermonic
design dcprcciate the crystal, whether
it be fnd in Cornish Mine or Hartz
MOURN or Mammoth Cave or tinkling
amoihe pendants of the chandeliers
of q; lace. The crystal is the star of
the tmtain: it is the queen Of the cave;
it is eardrop of the hills; it finds it's
hcavdin the diamond. Among all the
pages natural history there is no page
more tcreSting to me than the page
crystDgraphic. But l want to show
you Tt Job was right when taking re-
ligion one hand and the crystal in the
othcr,le declared that the former is OF
far mt value and beauty than the lat
ter, lommcnding it to all the people
and toll the ages. declaring, ''Thc crys-
, tai caot equal it,"
In / first place, l remark that re-
ligion superior to the crystal in exact
ness. MAT shapeless mass of crystal
againwhch you accidentally dashed
your 1T is laid out with more eNactness
than y earthly city. There are six
! stylc>f crystallization, and all OF them
divine ordained. Every crystal has
) mathtatcal precision. Gods geometry
reach throughit, and it is a square, or
it is mctanglc, or it is rhomboid, or
: in sol way it hath Il Mathematical
| figure Now, religion beats that in the
, simpfact that spiritual accuracy is
more autiful than material accuracy.
> God s!ttributes are exact. Gods la"
p exact Gods DEGREES exact. Gods man
n agent OF the world eXact-nevcr count
, ing wing, though He counts the gras:
blade and the stars. and the sands, ant
), the cies. His providences never deal
y ing VIII us pcrpendicularly when thos'
provinces ought to be obliquc, no
, latertwhen they ought to be vertical
a Everhing in our life arranged withou
Q any lssibility of mistake. Each life
e six sid prism Born at the right time
dyinat the right time. There arc n
n "hann sos in our theology. II
d thou4t this was IL slipshod universe
Ls wougo crazy. God is not an anarchist
l. LawJrder, symmetry, precision, a pei
a feet ,uarc, Il perfcctrectanglc: perfee
rhonoid, perfect circle. The edge
&c God':obe of government never fray
- out. There are no loose screws in I'll
~ worls machinery. 1t did not lu
- hapln that Napoleon was attacked wit
indistion at Borodino, so that he b
d. camincompetent for the day. 1t q
le not jst happen that John Thomas, u
j. misSnary, on "a heather island, waltll
re for aoutiit and orders for another IN
m sion;y tour. received that outfit a.
d. thor, orders in Il box that Heated ashol
is whk,ythe ship and the crew that CARR
20 thet,X were never heard of. The bar
! ing OFF. w. Robcrtson's dog, he tic
- us, lie to line of events which broug
% him fom the army into the Christi;
~ miniiry, where he served God WI
III worl renowned usefulness. 1t did Il
. merry happen so. believe in pa
ticulr providence. J. believe Goo
geopterv may be seen in all our Ii
mortbeautifully than in crystallograph
10 Job was right. ''rhe crystal cam
pss equait p" ......
OF Aain remark that religion is supt
at ior the crystal in transparency.
III kno, not when or by whom glass W
1t f'rstliscovered Beads of it have be
id foml in the tomb of Alexander Severn
Iit Vass of it are brought up from t
. ruin of Herculancum. There were
NAL adornmcnts made out OF IL 81.
yeas ago-those adornments found NJ
attached to the mummies OF Egypt.
greet many commentators believe I'll
! my ext means glass. What would
| do ,ithout the crystal? The crystal
theyindow to keep out the storm a
\ let the the day: the crystol over
wath defending its delicate machine
/ yetlllowing us to see the hour: the CT
tai the telescope, by which the astr'
ONE brings distant worlds SO near
T cainspcct them. Oh, the triumphs
! theerystas in the celebrated wlndo
of ,ouen and Salisbury!
lat there is nothing so transparent
a cystal as in our holy religion. 1t
= transparent religion. You put it
: yor eye and you see man-his sin,
sou, his destiny. You look at God g
yo, see something of the grandeur
hischaracter 1t is a transparent
Iiipn. Infidcls tell us it Is OPAQUE?
-. is Because they are blind. The natu
~ ma receivcth not the things of God
- cause they are spiritually discern
Thre is no trouble with the crystal;
ne tro Bile is with the eyes which try
re Ioo through it. We pray for wisdt
an LoI, that our eyes might be open
Whn the eye salve cures our blindn
re thcl we find that religion is transpare
/ is a transparent Bible. All
n. mountains of the Bible come out-Sll
K. thcmountain of the law: Pisgah,
I'm mountain of prospect: Olivet, the mou
81 ain of instruction; Calvary, the mount
~ of acriticc. All the rivers of the III
cone out-Hidekel, or the river OF pa
ds.ical beauty; Jordan, or the river
ne hoy chrism: Cherith, or the river
1g prphetic supply; Niles. or the river
to paaces, and the pure river of life IL
if unler the throne, clear as crystal. WI
re:ding the Bible after our eyes II
hon touched by grace we find it