Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1891-05-14
1HETABERNACLEPULPIT
BRILLIANT SUBJECT ExPOJND.
ED BY DIR. TALMAGE.
Tho Eminent Divine Holds Forth in His
Csuai Bright Vein-Comparing Re.
liSion to = Highly Trauspar-
ent Crystal.

Many OF the precious stones @: the Bible
pave come to prompt recognition. But for
Tho present l take up the less valuable
crystal. Job, in my text, compares saving
wisdom with specimen OF topaz. An In
hdel chemist or mineralogist would pro-
! nounce tho latter worth more than the
former. but Job makos an intelligent com.
parison. looks at religion and then looks at
'he crystal and pronounces tho former Us
OF far superior value TO the latter, eXclnm.
ing III the words OF my text. 1.-The crystal
cannot equal IT,"
Now, 1t Is not part Of my sermonic de-
sign to depreciate the crystal, vhe Their it be
found In Cornish minc or Hartz mountain,
or Mammoth Cave, or tinkling among tho
pendants OF the chandeliers Of II palace.
The crystal Is the star OF the mountain; it
Is the queen OF the cave; it is the ear-drop
OF tue hills; 1t finds Its heaven in the dia.
mond. Among all the pages of natural his
tory there IL no page more interesting to
me than the page crvstalioyraphic. But l
want TO show you that Job was right when
taking religion In one hand and the crystal
IN the other, he declared that tho corner Is
OF lar more value and beauty than the lat.
.er, recommending com it to all the
clarIny: "rho crystal cannot equal it," In
the first place l remark that religion is SIT
pcrior to the crystal in eXactness. That
shapeess 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 cry stallizaton ana all
OF them divinely ordained. Every crystal
has mathematical precision. Gods Ccome.
try reaches through it, and 1t is u square or
1t is rcctangle or 1t is " rhomboid or in
some way it hath u mathematical figure.
| Now religion beats that in the simple fact
! that spiritual accuracy Is more beauti-
| full than material accuracy. Cots nttrib-
utes are exact. Gods law exact. Gods
DEGREES exact. Gods management OF the
world exact. Never counting wrong,
though he counts the grass blades and tue
stars and the sands and the cycles. His
! providences never dealing with us perpcE-
dicnlsrly WHEN those proyidences ought to
be oblique. nor lateral whom they ought to
ranged without any possibility OF mistake.
Each life siX-sided prism. Born Mt the
right time; dying ut the right time. Thcre
are no 'happen-sos" in our theology. /;
thought this was Slfpshod universe l
would so crazy. God is not AN anarchist.
Law, order, symmetry, precision,
perfect square, perfect rectang!c,
! u perfect rhomboid, q perfect circle. The
edge Of Coils 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 tndlges.
ton at BOrodno SO that he became incOm-
petcnt for the day. 1t did not JUS. happen
that John Thomas, the missionary, on a
hcuthen island, waiting for an outfit and or
ders for another missionary tour, received
that outfit and those orders in box that
Noatel ashore, while the ship and tho crew
that carried the box were never heard of.
The barking OF +. w. Robertson's dog, he
tells u.s. led to q line ofevents which brought
him from tho army into the Christian MN
istry, where lie served God with world.re-
nowncd usefulness. 1t did not merely hap
pen so. believe in particular providence.
/ believe Gods geometry may be seen IN all
our life moro beautifully than in crystal
Biography. Job was right. 1.-THE crystal
cannot equal it,"
Again 1 remark that religion is superior
to the crystal In transparency. We know
not when or by whom glass was first dis
covered. Beads OF 1t have been found in
the tomb OF Alexander Severus. Vases Of
1t are brought up from the ruins OF Hercu-
laneum. There were female adornmens
made out OF it 5000 years ago-thosc adorn-
mcnts found now attached to the mllnlmies
Of Egypt. A great many commentators 1e-
iieve that my text means glass. What
would we do without the crystal? The
cry stall in tho window to keep out the storm
and let in the day-the crystal In tho watch,
defending its delicate machinery yet allow
ing US to see the hour - tho crystal Of the
teesc opc by which the astronomer brings
distant worlds 30 near he can inspect them.
Oh. the triumphs Of the crystals in tho cele.
brated windows OF Rouen and Salisbury
But there 10 nothing SO transparent in q
crystal as in our holy religion. When the
sye.salve cures our blindness then we lind
that religion IL transparent
People talk too much about their cross
and not enough about their crown. DO You
know the Bible mentions cross but
twenty-sevcn times while 1t mentions =
crown eighty times? Ask that old msn
what he thinks of religion. lilo has been a
close observer. He has been culturlng an
aesthetic taste. He has seen the sunrises OF
half century. He has been an early riser.
Ho has been an admirer OF canoes md
corals aud all kinds Of beautiful things
will tell you, ~ Is the most beautiful thing
ever saw" 1.-THE crystal cannot equal
it."
Beautiful in its symmetry. When II
presents Gods character 1t does not pre-
} sent Him as having love like great pro.
but makes that love IN harmony
with his tustice-a love that will accept ali
, those who come to him, mud Justice that
Will by no means clear the guilty. Beauti
full religion in tho sentiment 1t implants
Beautiful religion In the hope 1t kindlcs
Beautiful religion in the fact that 1t pro-
} poses to garland and enthrone and empara
disc an immortal spirit. Soloman says it i,
lily. Paul says 1t Is crown. The Apoca
, lyptc saws it 10 n fountain kissed OF the sun
, saws it Is \ bridegroom come to fetch hom,
a bride. While Job In the text takes up
whole vase Of precious stones-the topaz
1 and the sapphire and the chrysoprasus- ane
he takes out OF this beautiful vase just ont
q crystal and holds it up until II CLEANS il
, the warm light Of tho eastern sky, and b,
= exclaims: "The crystal cannot equal it,"
t Again religion IL superior to the crysta
in its transformations. The diamond i
= only capitalization OF coal. Carbonate
of lime rises till 1t becomes calcite or ara
gonitc. Red oxide OF copper crystalline
g into cubes and octachedrons. Those crys
tails which adorn our persons ana on
homes and our museums have only becl
resurrected from forms that were FAR iron
e lustrous. Scientists for ages have been ON
o aiming these wonderful transformations
But tell you In the Gospel Of the Son O
God there 10 more wonderful transforms
ton. Over souls by reason OF sin black u
coal and hard ~ iron. God, BY bis comfort
4 ing grace stoops ana says: "They shall b
mine in the day when I make up IN
Jewels"
n elry?" IL he wanted II, he could make til
), stars of heaven his belt and have the ever
. ing cloud for the sandals OF his feet; bl