Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-04-25
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject: "The BrilIIancy of Religion"

Text The crystal cannot equal n.r-
Job xviii, :.
Many OF the precious stones of tbs Bible
l nave come 70 prompt recognition But for
e present take up the less valuable crys-
taL job, IN my text compares saving wis
oom with specimen of topaz An infidel
chemist or mineraiogist would pronouncs
me latter worth more than the former. but
Soo makes an intelligent comparison, looks
at religion and then looks at the crystal and
pronounces the former rs Of superior value
! 70 the latter, exclaiming, in the words OF my
! text. The crystal cannot equal il ~
now, u IS not a part OF my sermonic do
sign TO denreciaie the crystal, whether it be
found in Cornish mine or Hartz mountain or
Mammoth Cave or tinkling among the ren-
dants Of the chandeliers OF a palace The
crystal IS the star OF tho mountain; il is the
| queen OF the cave, it is the eardrop of the
hills: 1t finds its heaven in the diamond
Among all tho pages Unnatural 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
~ one hand and the crystal in the other. he
| declared that the former is OF far more value
and besuty than the latter, Recommending IL
70 sii the people and to all the ages, deciar-
! ing, The crystal cannot equal it,
In the first place, remark that religion IA
L
shapeiesS mass Of crystal against which YOU
ACCIDENTALLY dashed your foot is laid out
win more exactness than any earthly CITY
There are six styles of capitalization, and all
OF them diyinely ordained. Every crystal
mas mathematical precision. Gods geometry
reaches through it, and il is a square, or Il Is
isa reetangle, or il is rhomboid, or in sono
way u hath mathematical figure. Now
rengion beats that in the simple fact that
spiritual accuracy is more beautiful than
material accuracy Gods attributes ara
exact Gods law exact COTS de.rees exact
Cod 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 providencesoupht
70 be obhque, nor lateral when they ought 70
pc vertical. Everything in our life arranged
without any possibility Of mistake. Each
life six sided prism. Born at the right time
dying a. the right time There are no ''hap.
pen SOS in our theology. II thought this
was slipshod universe | would go crazy.
Tod IS not an anarchist. Law, order. SYM
metry, precision n perfect square a nerfect
rectangie, a perfect rhomboid, a 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 lust
happen that Napoleon was attacked with in-
digestion nc Borodino so that he became in
competent for the day. Ii did not lust ham
zen that John Thomas, the missionary. ona
heather island, waiting for an outfit and
orders for another missionary tour received
that outfit and those orders in a box that
hoated ashore, while the ship and the crew
that carried the box were never heard Of.
The barking Of F. w. Robeftson's dog he
tells us. led TO line OF events which brought
him from the army into the Christian min.
IStry, where he served God with world re-
nowned usefulness. IL did not merely han
pen 50. believe in particular providence,
believe 'fods geometry may be seen in all
our life more beautifully than in crystallog-
Iaphy: 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 II have been found in the
tomb Of Alexander Severus Vases Of il 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,
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 triumphs OF the CRYSTALS
Salisburvl
But there is nothing so transparent In
crystal as IN our holy religion. II trans
parent religion. You put il TO your eye aud
you see man-his sin. his soul, his destiny
You look at God and you see something Of
the grandeur OF His character. II is trans.
parent religion. Infides tell us 1t Is opaquep
Do you know why they tell us II ia opaqueF
IL 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 crystai; tho trouble is with
the eyes which try 10 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
IL is a transparent Bible All the noun.
talns OF the Bible come out--Sinai the noun
tain Of the law Pisgah, the mountain OF
prospect, Olivet, the mountain Of ingtruc.
ton Calvary. the mountain OF sacrifice. All
the rivers OF the Bible come out-Hidekei 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 il all Transparent.
and the earth rocks now with cruclfxion
agony and now with Judgment terror, and
Christ appears in some Of His two hundred
AMI fifty-siz titles as far as can count tnsm
90 tle bread the rock, tins captain, tbs com
Inander, the conquer3r, the star, AMI on an
bsyon1 any capacity OF nina to rehsarss
them. Transparent rsligioni
The providence that seemed dark before
becomes pellucid. Now you find God Is not
trying TO put you down. Now yon under
stand why you lost that child, and why you
lost your property: 1t was 10 prepare you
for eternal treasures And way sickness
came, It being tho precursor Of immortal
J1venescence AMI now you understand
why they lied about you and tried to drive
you hisher and thithsr. IL was % put you
in the glorious company OF sucd men az
lgnatius, who. when he went out to be de-
stroyed by the lions said: Il am the wheat
and the teeth Of the wild beasts must first
grind me before can become pure bread for
Jesus Christ; - or the company Of such men M
Poiycsrp, who when standing In the midst
OF the amphitheatre waiting for tae lions u
come out Of their cave and destroy him, and
the people in the galleries jsering and sholr-
ing "iha lions for Polycarp,7 replied. Let
them come on. AMI then stopped down to-
ward the cave where the wild beasts wers
roaring 10 get out LET them come on p
All. yes, IL is persecution 10 put you in glo-
rious company; and while thsre are many
things that you will have TO postpone 70 the
future worl for explanation, tell Won that
1t is the whole tendency OF your religion b
unravel and explain and interpret and IL
lumins andirradiate. Job was right II Is
glorious transparency. Tine crystal einnot
equal it,
remark again that religion SURPRISES the
crystal in its beauty. That lump Of crystal
Is put under the msgnifying glass Of tbs
rystalographer and he sees in II indescrib-
able beauty -snO wdrft and splinter Of boar
frost and corals and wreaths and stars and
crowns and cancellations OF conspicuous
beauty. The fact is that crystal is 20 beau
uful that ! can think OF but one thiag IN all
the universe that Is 70 beautiful and that Is
the religion Of the Bible. No wonder tAis
Bible represents that religion a. the day
break, as the apple blossoms, az the glitter
OF a kings banquet II is the joy Of tho
whole earth.
People talk too much about their cross and
not enough about their crown. Do you know
the Bible mentions cross bat twenty -seveu
times, while il mentions a crown eighty
timsss Ask thai old man what he thinks Of
religion. He has been close observer He
has been culturinZ ESthetic TASTE. He has
seen the suurisss OF half a centnry. He has
been early riser. He has been al ad-