Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-05-01
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVISE's sun
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT, "THE BRLLIANCY OF Re.
LGION."

TEXT: "Ths crystal cannot equal L--
Job xviii,
Many OF the precious stones OF the Bible
have come to prompt recognition. But for
the present take up tho less valuable crvs-
tai. Job, in my text compares saving wis
dom with specimen of topaz An infidel
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 sermonic de-
sign to depreciate the crystal, whether 1t be
found in Cornish mine or Hartz mountain or
Mammoth Cave or tinkling among the pen.
dants OF the chandeliers of a palace. The
crystal is the star OF tho mountain; 1t is the
queen OF tho cave; it is the eardrop Of the
bills; 1t finds its heaven Ia 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
In one band 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, decIar-
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 capitalization and all
OF them divinely ordained. Every crystal
has mathematical precision. Gods geometry
| reaches through it, and IL is square or it is
isa rectangle, or it is rhomboid, or in some
way It hath mathematical figure Now,
religion beats that in the simple fact that
! spiritual accuracy Is more beautiful than
material accuracy. 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. aud the stars, and the sands, and the
| cycles. His providenc2s never dealing with us
perpendicularly when those provdencesought
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 our theology. II thought this
was slipshod universe ! would go crazy.
God Is not an anarchist. Law, order, SYM
metry, precision, perfect square, perfect
rectangle, perfect rhombod, n 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 ct Boroduo so that he became in
competent for the day. 1t did not just hap
zen that John Thomas the missionary. on a
heathen island, waiting for an outfit and
orders for another missionary tour, received
that outfit and those orders i'll q box that
doated ashore. while the ship and the crew
that carried the box were never heard of
The barking Of + w. Robertson's dog, he
tells us, led ' a line OF vents which brought
him from the army into the Christian min.
istry, where he served God with world re-
.f..l.x 4 H..
pen so. believe in particular providence.
I believe Gods geometry may be seen in all
our life more beautifully than in crystallog-
rapby. 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 the
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 mum
mics OF Egypt. A great many commeu-
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 ms to see the hour; the crystal
OF the telescope, bv which the astronomer
brings distant worlds so near he can inspect
them. Oh, the triumphs OF the crystals
In the celebrated windows OF Roueu and
Salisbury!
But there is nothing SO transparent In a
CT ystal as III our holy religion. It's a trans
parent 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. IL is trans.
parent religion Infidels tell us it is opaque'
Do you know why they tell us il 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 ewes which try to look through it, We
be opened. When the eye salve cures our
blindness then we find that religion Is trans
parent.
It is transparent Bible. All the noun
tains Of the Bible come out-Siaai, 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 paradisacal beauty; Jordan, or
the river of holy chrisrn: Cherith, or the
river Of prophetic supply; Nile, or the river
OF palaces, AMI 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 1t all transparent,
aud the earth rocks, now with crucifxion
agony and now with judgment terror, and
Christ appears Ia some of His two hundred
and fifty six titles, as far as I can count them
the bread, the rock the captain, the com
mander, he conqueror, the star and on and
beyond any capacity of mine to rehears:
them. Transparent religion
The providence that seemed dark before
becomes pellucid. Now you find God is moi
trying to put you down. Now you under
stand why you lost that child, and why YOU
3 lost your property; 1t was to prepare yor
for eternal treasures. And why sicknes,
| came, 1t being the precursor Of immorta
Q juvenescence And now you understand
, why they lied about you md tried TO drive
you hither and thither. II was to put yor
in the glorious company OF such men a
= 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 frs
{ grind me before can become pure bread fo
= Jesus Christi or the company ofsuch men n
Polycarp, who when standing in the mids
Of the amphtheatre waiting for the lions t,
Q come out OF their cave and destroy him. an,
= the people in the galleries jeering and shout
ing: "The lions for Polycarp," replied lie
them come on" and then stopped down to
=. ward the cave where the wild beasts wer
roaring to get out: LET them come on .
Ah, yes, It Is persecution TO put you in glo
g rious company; and while there nre man,
| things that you will have to postpoue to th
future world for explanation, tell you tina
IL Is the whole tendency Of your religion b
unravel and explain and interpret and 4
lumine and irradiate. job was right. 1t is
= glorious transparency THE crystal canno
: equal It,"
t I remark again that religion surpasses th
CRYSTAL in its beauty. That lump OF crysta
is put under the magnifying glass of til
crystallographer, and he sees In it indescrit
y able beauty-snowdrif and splinter Of hoa
4 frost and corals and wreaths and stars an
crowns and oscillations of conspicuou
l. beauty. The fact is that crystal is 80 beat
tiful that can think Of but one thing in a
4 the universe that is so beautiful, and that
the religion of the Bible; No wonder th