Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-04-20
A BRILLIANT RELIGION.
SERMON DELIVERED BY DR.. TALL
MAGE ON SUNDAY, APRIL 10.

"rhe Crystal Cannot Equal Tt''--Job
xxvIii, 7, the Eminent Divine's Text. |
Religion Is Far Superior TO the crys-
tai In All Desirable Qualities.
NEW YoRK, April 19--The eagerness to
hear Dr. Talmage's sermons at The Chris |
tian Herald services on Sunday evenings
in this city continues unabated. As usual, |
there was this evening a 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 an immense audience In the
morning in the Brooklyn Academy OF
Music His text was, THE crystal can
not equal 1T" Dob xviii, y.
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 specimen of topaz. An in
fidel chemist or mineralogist would pro
nounce the latter worth more than the for
mer, but Job makes an intelligent com
parison, looks ut religion and then looks
at the crystal and pronounces the former
as OF superior value to the latter, exclaim-
ing, in the words of my text, ''The crystal
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
of the hills; it finds its heaven in the dia-
mond. Among all the pages of natural
history there is no page more interesting
10 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 1t 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
ii. and it is n square, or it is rectangle, or
IL is rhomboid, or in some way it hath
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,
tlaa ouolA 10
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
six sided prism. Born at the right time;
dying at the right time There are no hap
pen SOS" In our theology. If l thought this
was slipshod universe would go crazy.
God is not an anarchist. Law, order, SYM
metry, precision, a perfect square, perfect
rectangle, perfect rhoruboid, 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
indigestion at Borodlno 80 that he became
incompetent for the day. It did not just
happen that John Thomas, the missionary,
on a heather island, waiting for an outfit
and orders for another missionary tour,
received that outfit and thoss orders In
box that 1oated ashore, while the ship and
the crew that carried the box were never
heard Of The barking OF Il. w. Robert
sons dog, he tells us, led TO a line of events
which brought him from the army into
the Christian ministry, where he served
God with world renowned usefulness. 1t
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. "rhe crystal cannot equal it"
THE TRANSPARENCY OF RELIGION.
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
il are brought up from the ruins OF Her
culaneum There were female adornments
made out OF IL three thousand years ago
those adornments found now attached to
the mummies OF Egypt A great many
commentators believes that my text means
glnss What would we do without the
crystall The crystal in the window TO
keep out the storm aud 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, bywhieh
the astronomer brings distant worlds so
near lac can inspect them Oh, the tri-
nmpha OF the crystals In the celebrated
windows OF Roueu and Salisbury
But there Is nothing SO transparent In a
crystal AS in our holy religion. IL Is a
transparent religion. You put IL 10 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.
Ii Is transparent religion. lnildels tell
us il Is Opaque. DO YOU know why they
tell us IL Is opaqnef II Is because they are
blind. The natural man reoeiyeth 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 10 look through Il. We pray for wis
dom, Lord, that our eyes might he opened
When the eye salve cures our hlindnea,
then We find that religion Is Transparent
10 Is a transparent Bible, All the mount
aims OF the Bible Ccsne Out-StnM, th'
mountain OF the law; Pisgah, the monnt
ain OF prospect; Oliyet, the mountain o
instruction; Calvary, the mountain OF SAC
rlfloe. All the rivers OF tho Bible come out
iiHidekel, or the river of paradisaieal beauty
Jordan. or the river of holy cbrlsm
Cherith, or the river OF prophetic supply
Nile, OF the river Of palaces, and tne pun
river OF life from under the throne, clea
a. crystal While reading this bible afte
our ewes have been touched by greca v
fnd Il all Transparent, and the earth rock.
now with crucihXion agony and nov Wiz
Judgment terror, and Christ appeafe 4
sotos, ~ Lia two hundred aud II y Sl