Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-04-30
A BRILLIANT RELIGION.
SERMON DELIVERED BY DR.. TAL-
MAGE ON SUNDAY, APRIL 10.

Religion Is Far Superior to the Crys-
tai in All Desirable Qualities.
NEW YORK, April l9.-The eagerness TO
hear DR.. Talmege's sermons at The Chris
tian Herald services on Sunday evenings
in this city continues unabated. AS usual,
there was this evening dense mass of
people waiting outside the Academy Of
Music long before the hour for commence
ment, and every seat in the huge building
was occupied in few minutes after the
doors were opened DR.. Talmage had
preached to AL immense audience in the
morning in the Brooklyn Academy Of
Music. His text was, "The crystal can
not equal it" Job xviii, q.
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 specimen of topaz. An in
fdel chemist or mineralogist would pro-
nounce the latter worth more than the for
mer, but Job makes an intelligent com
parison, looks at religion and then looks
at the crystal and pronounces the former
as of superior value to the latter, exclaim-
cannot equal it."
THE STAR OF THE MOUNTAIN.
Now, it is not part of my sermonic de-
sign to depreciate the crystal, whether it
be found in Cornish mine or Hartz noun
tain or Mammoth Cave or tinkling among
the pendants of the chandeliers of palace.
The crystal is the star of the mountain; it
is the queen of the cave; it is the eardrop
~ fha killos n Hndc itc haovot, In ha l;o
mond. 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 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 the
people and to all the ages declaring, "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 crys-
tallization, and all of them divinely or
dained. Every crystal has mathematical
precision. Gods geometry reaches through
it, and it is square, or it is a rectangle, or
it is rhomboid, or in some way it hath a
mathematical figure. Now, religion beats
that in the simple fact that spiritual accu-
racy is more beautiful than material accu-
racy. Gods 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 perpendicularly when
those providences ought to be oblique, nor
lateral when they ought to be vertical.
Everything in our life arranged without
any possibility of mistake. Each life a
six sided prism. Born at the right time;
dying at the right time. There are no chap
pen SOS" in our theology. If I thought this
was slipshod universe would go crazy.
God is not an anarchist Law, order, SYM
metrySprecision, perfect square, perfect
rectangle, a perfect rhomboid, perfect cir
Gle. The edge of Gods robe of government
never trays out There are no loose screws
in the worlds machinery. It did not just
happen that Napoleon was attacked with
indigestion at Borodino so that he became
incompetent for the day. 1t did not just
happen that John Thomas, the missionary,
on heathen island, waiting fer an outfit
and orders for another 'ry tour,
received that outfit and those or ers in q
box that floated ashore, while the ship and
the crew that carried the box were never
heard of. The barking of F. w. Robert
sons dog, he tells us, led to line of events
which brought him from the army into
the Christian ministry, where he served
God with world renowned usefulness. It
did not merely happen SO. believe in a
particular providence. / believe Gods
geometry may be seen in all our life more
beautifully than in crystallography. Job
was right. "The crystal cannot equal it."
THE TRANSPARENCY OF RELIGION.
Again Tremark 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
the tomb of Alexander Severus. Vases Of
it are brought up from the ruins of Her.
culaneum. There were female adornments
made out Of 1t three thousand years ago
those adornments found now attached to
the mummies Of Egypt. A great many
commentators 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 deli
cate machinery, yet allowing us to see the
hour: the crystal of the telescope, by which
the astronomer brings distant worlds so
near he can inspect them. Oh, the tri-
umphs 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 q
transparent religion. You put it to your
eye and you see man-his sin, his soul, his
destiny. You look at God and you see
something of the grandeur of his character.
It is transparent religion. Infidels tell
us it is Opaque Do you know why they
tell us it is Opaque? 1t 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
crystal; the trouble is with the eyes which
try to look through it. We pray for wis
dom, Lord, that our eyes might be opened
When the eye salve cures our blindness
then we find that religion is transparent.
It Is transparent Bible. All the mount
aims Of the Bible come out-Sinai, the
mountain of the law; Pisgah, the mount
ain of prospect; Olivet, the mountain of
instruction; Calvary, the mountain of sac
rifice. 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