Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-04-24
REV. DIR. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divines Sun
day Sermon.
Subject; "The Brilliancy of Religion"
TEXT; THE crystal cannot equal it,
JOB xviii, Z,

Many of the precious stones of the Bible
have come 10 prompt recognition. But for
the present take up the less valuable crys-
tai. Job in my text, compares saving wis
dom with specimen of topaz. An inidel
chemist or mineralogist would pronounce
the latter worth more than the former, but
Job makes an intelligent comparison, looks
at religion and then looks at the crystal and
pronounces the former as of superior value
to the latter, exclaiming, in the words ofmy
text, The crystal cannot equal it,"
Now, it is not part of my sermouic de-
sign to depreciate the crystal, whether it be
found in Cornish mine or Hartz mountain or
Mammoth Cave or tinkling among the pen
dants of the chandeliers of palace. The
crystal is the star of the mountain; it is the
queen of the cave, it is the eardrop of the
hills; it finds its heaven in the diamond.
Among all the pages OF natural history there
is no page more interesting to me than the
page crystallographic. But want to show
you that Job was right when, taking religion
iii 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 the people and to all the ages, declar-
ing, THE crystal cannot equal it,"
In the first place, remark that religion is
superior to the crystal in exactness. That
shapeless mass of crystal against which you
accidentally dashed your foot is laid out
with more exactness than any earthly city
There are six styles of crystallization, and all
Of them divinely ordained. Every crystal
has mathematical precision Gods geometry
reaches through it, and it is a square, or it is
lisa rectangle, or it is a rhomboid, or in some
way it hath a mathematical figure. Now
religion beats that in the simple fact that
spiritual accuracy is more beautiful than
material accuracy. GOS's attributes are
exact Gods law exact Gods DEGREES exact
Gods management of the world exact-never
counting wrong, though He counts the grass
blades. and the stars, and the sands, and the
cycles. His providences never dealing with us
perpendcularly when those providencesought
TO be Oblique, nor lateral when they ought TO
be vertical. Everything in our life arranged
without any possibility of mistake. Each
life six sided prism. Born at the right time,
dying at the right time. There are no hap
pen SOS" in or theology If thought this
was a slipshOd universe | would go crazy.
God is not an anarchist. Law, order, SYM
metry. precision, perfect square, a perfect
rectangle, perfect rhomboid, perfect cir
Gle. The edge of Gods robe of government
never trays out. There are no loose screws
in the worlds machinery 1t did not just
happen that Napoleon was attacked with in
digestion at Borodino so that he became in
competent for the day. 1t did not just hap
ren that John Thomas, the missionary, on a
heather island, waiting for an outfit aud
orders for another missionary tour, received
that outfit and those orders in box that
foated ashore, while the ship and the crew
that carried the box were never heard Of.
The barking of F. W. Robertson's dog, he
tells Us, led 10 line of events which brought
him from the army into the Christian min
istrv. where he served God with world re-
nowned usefulness. IL did not merely hap
pen So. / believe in particular providence.
believe Gods geometry may be seen in all
our life more beautifully than in crystallOg-
raDby. Job was right. The crystal cannot
equal it,
Again | remark that religion is superior
to the crystal in transparency. We know
not when or by whom glass was first dis
covered. Beads of it have been found in ths
tomb Of Alexander Severus. Vases of it are
brought up from the ruins Of Herculaneum.
There were female adornments made out
Of it three thousand years ago-those adorn-
mentS found now attached to the num-
mics of Egypt. A great many common
tators believes that my text means glass.
What would we do without the crystal?
The crystal in the window to keep out the
storm and let in the day; the crystal over
the watch defending its delicate machinery.
vet allowing US to see the hour; the crystal
of the telescope, by which the astronomer
brings distant worlds so near he can inspect
them Or, the triumphs Of the crystals
in the celebrated windows Of Rouen and
Salisbury,
But there is nothing so transparent in q
crystal as in our holy religion. 1t is trans
ralivtCn Vrftr, II 70. ava nd
you see man-hs sin, bis soul, his destiny.
You look at God and you see something Of
the grandeur of His character. 1t is trans
parent religion In6dels tell US it is Opaque?
Do YOU know why they tell us it is opaque,
It is because they are blind. The natural
man receiveth not the things of God because
they are spiritually discerned There is no
trouble with the crystfi. the trouble is with
the eyes which try to look through it. We
pray for wisdom, Lord that our eyes might
be opened. When the eye salve cures our
blindness then we find that religion is trans
parent.
1t is a transparent Bible All the noun
tatns of the Bible come Out-Sinai, the noun
tain of the law, Pisgah, the mountain of
prospect. Olivet, the mountain of instruc-
ton; Calvary. the mountain of sacrifice. All
the rivers of the Bible come out-Hidekel, or
the river of paradisaical beauty; Jordan or
the river of holy chrism Cherith, or the
river of prophetic supply; Nile, or the river
OF palaces, and the pure river Of life from
under the throne, clear as crystal. While
reading this Bible after our eyes have been
touched by grace we find it all transparent,
and the earth rocks. now with cruciixion
agony and now with Judgment terror, and
Christ appears in some Of His two hundred
and fifty-six titles as far as | can count them
- the bread, the rock, the captain. the com
mander the conqusror, the star, AMI on an
beyond any capacity of mine to redearss
them. Transparent religion
The providence that seemed dark before
becomes pellucid. Now you find Col is not
trying TO put you down. Now You under
stand why you lost that child aud why yOu
lost your property; it was to prepare yol
for eternal treasures. Aud way sickness
came, it being the precursor OF immortal
juvenesceDce. And now you understand
why they lied about you and tried to drive
you hither and thither 1t was to put you
in the glorious company OF such men as
Ignatius, who when he went out TO be de-
stroyed by the lions, said: II am the wheat.
and the teeth OF the wild beasts must first
grind me before l can become pure bread for
Jesus Christ" or the company Of such msn as
Polycarp, who, when standing in the midst
OF the amphitheatre waiting for the lions 70
come out of their cave and destroy him, and
the people in the galleries jeering and shout
ing: The lions for Polyclrp' replied: Let
them come on, AMI then stopped down to-
ward the cave where the wild beasts were
roaring TO get ont Let them come on -
Alb, yes, it is persecution to put yon in glo-
rious company, and while there are many
things that you will have to postpone to the
future worll for explanation, l tell you that
it is the whole tendency of your religion TO
unravel aud explain and interpret and il
lumine and irradiate job was right. 1t is
glorious transparency. "The crystal cannot
equal it
remark again that religion surpssses the
crystal in It's beauty That lump of crystal
is put under the magnifying glass of the
crystallograpber. and he sees in it indescrib-
able beauty -snowdrift and splinter Of hoar
frost and corals and wreaths and stars and
crowns and castelatlons Of conspicuous
beauty The fact is that crystal is so beau
tiful that can think Of but one thing in all
the universe that is so beautiful. and that is
the religion of the Bible. No wonder this
Bible represents that religion as the day
break. as the apple blossoms, as the glitter
of a kings banquet. 1t is the joy of the
whole earth.