The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-04-30
.'TFHE LONDONDERRY SITTER,


terror, and Christ appears in some of
his two hundred and ilfty-six titles as
far as can count them-the bread,
the tock, the captain, the commander,
the conqueror, the star, and on and
beyond any capacity of mine to re-
hearse them. Transparent religion
THE BEAUTY OF RELIGION.
The providence that seemed dark be-
fore becomes pellucid, Now you find
God is not trying to put you down.
Now you understand why you lost that
child and why you lost your property;
it WIS to prepare you for eternal treas
uyes. And why sickness came, it be-
ing the precursor of immortal juvenes-
cence. 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 destroyed by the lions said,
~ am the wheat, and the teeth of the
wild beasts must first grind me before
can become pure bread for Jesus
Christi" the company of such men
as Polycarp, who when standing in
the midst of the amphitheater wait
ing for the lions to come out OF
their cave and destroy him, and the
people in the galleries jeering and shout
ing, "The lions for Polycarp," replied,
''Let them come on" and then stoop-
ing down toward the cave where the
wild beasts were roaring to get out,
'Let them come on" All, yes, it is
persecution to put you in glorious COM
pany; and while there are many things
that you will have to postpone to the
future world for explanation, tell you
that it is the whole tendency of your
religion to unravel and explain and in
terpret and illumine and irradiate. Job
was right. 1t is a glorious transparency
"The crystal cannot equal it,"
l remark again that religion SURPRISES
he crystal in its beauty. That lump
of crystal is put under the magnifying
glass of the crystallographer, and he
sees in it indescribable beauty-snow-
drift and splinters of hoar frost and
corals and wreaths and stars and
crowns and oscillations of conspicuous
beauty The fact is that crystal is SO
beautiful 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 rep
resents that religion as the daybreak,
as the apple blossoms, as the glitter of
kings banquet. 1t is the joy of the
whole earth.
TALK MORE OF THE CROWN.
People talk too much about their
cross and not enough about their crown
Do you know the Bible mentions a
cross but twenty-seven times, while it
mentions crown eighty times9 Ask
that old man what he thinks of relig-
ion. He has been a close observer.
He has been culturing an aesthetic taste.
He has seen the sunrises of half cent
ury. He has been an early riser. He
| llco UtCll oil VI CeliLOoo tbilu
corals and all kinds of beautiful things.
Ask him what he thinks of religion, and
he will tell you, "It is the most beauti-
full thing l ever saw" ''The crystal
cannot equal it,"
Beautiful in its symmetry. When it
presents Gods character it does not
present Him as having love like a great
protuberance on one side of his nat
ure, but makes that love in harmony
with his justice-a love that will accept
all those who come to Him, and JUS
tice that will by no means clear the
guilty. Beautiful religion in the SEMI
lnent it implantsl Beautiful religion
in the hope it hndles! Beautiful relig-
ion in the fact that it proposes to gar
land and enthrone and emparadise an
immortal spirit. Solomon says it is a
lily. Paul says it is crown. The
Apocalypse says it is a fountain kissed
of the sun. Ezekiel says it is a foliaged
cedar Christ says it is a bridegroom
come to fetch home bride. While
Job in the text takes up whole vase
of precious stone-the topaz and the
sapphire and the chrysoprasus he
takes out of this beautiful vase just one
crystal, and holds it up until it CLEANS
in the warm light of the eastern sky,
and he exclaims, ''The crystal cannot
equal it"
Oh, it is not stale religion, it is not
stupid religion, it is not toothiess
bag, as some seem to have represented
it; it is not Meg Merrilies, with shriv
eled arm, come to scare the world. Il
is the fairest daughter of God, heires:
of all his wealth. Her cheek the morn
ing sky; her voice the music of the
south wind; her step the dance of the
sea. Come and WOO her The spiri
and the bride say come, and whosoevel
will, let him come. Do you agree with
Solomon and say it is a lily2 Then
pluck ii and wear it over your heart.
Do you agree with Paul and say it is
crown9 Then let this hour be your
coronation. Do you agree with the
Apocalypse and say it is a springing
fountain2 Then come and slake the
thirst Of your soul. Do you believe
with Ezekiel and say it is foliaged
cedar2 Then come under it's shadow.
Do you believe with Christ and say il
is bridegroom come to fetch home q
bride2 Then strike hands with YOU
Lord the King while pronounce you
everlastingly one. Or if you think
with Job that it is jewel, then put il
} on your hand like ring, on your neck
} like bead, on your forehead like g
star, while looking into the mirror Of
Gods word you acknowledge ''tht
crystal cannot equal it."
RELIGIONS TRANSFORMATION
Again, religion is superior to tn,
crystal in its transformations. The
diamond is only capitalization o
coal Carbonate of lime rises till it be
, comes calcite of aragonite. Red oxid,
of copper crystallizes into cubes anC
Octahedrons. Those CRYSTALS which