The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1891-04-24
PURE RELIGION.
DR. Talmage Discusses on the
Beauties OF Christianity.
-sothis.g in True religion to weary the Be
Hever-PrOmises to the Rsdsszned-Ths
Only Choice For AEOrtass
Pointed Out.


crystal cannot equal 1t-" Job xviii z.
He said:
Many OF the precious stones of the
Bible nave come to prompt recognition
But for the present take up the less
valuable crystal Job, in my text,
compares saving wisdom with a speci-
men OF topaz An infdel chemist or
mineralOgist would pronounce the lat
ter 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 far superior value to the latter, ex-
claiming in the words of my text, '-the
crystal cannot equal it." The crystal
is the star of the mountain; it is the
queen of the cave; the eardrop of the
hills; it finds its heaven in the diamond
Among all the pages of natural history
there Is no page more interesting to me
than the page crystallogFaphic. But I
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 other, recommending it
to all the people and to all the ages, de-
-claring: 1.-THE crystal can not equal
it, In the first place I remark that re-
ligion is superior to the crystal in exact
mess That shapeless mass of crystal
against which you accidentally dashed
your foot is laid out with more exact
ness than any earthly city. There are
six styles of capitalization and all OF
them divinely ordained.
Every crystal has mathematical pre-
-cision. Gods geometry reaches through
1t, and it is square or it is rectangle
or it is a rhombOid or in some way it
hath a mathematical figure. Now re-
Igion beats that in the simple fact that
spiritual accuracy is more beautiful
than material accuracy. Gods attri-
Gods DEGREES exact. Gods manage
ment of the world exact Never count
ing wrong, though He counts the grass
blades and the stars and the sands and
the cycles. His prOvidences never
dealing with as perpendicularly when
those prOvidences ought to be Oblique,
nor 1aterally when they ought to be
vertical. Everything in our life ar
ranged without any possibility OF mis-
take. Each life a six sided prism.
Born at the right time; dying at the
right time. There are no ''happen-sO's'
in our theology. God is not an anarch-
-ist- Law, order, symmetry, precision,
a perfect square, a perfect rectang1e,
perfect rhOm bold, a perfect circle 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 Borodino SO that he
became incompetent for the day. 1t
did not just happen that John Thomas,
the missionary, on a heather island,
waiting for an outfit and orders for an
other missionary, on heather island.
waiting for an outfit and orders for an
other missionary tour, received that out
fit and those orders in a box that fioated
ashore, while the ship and the crew
that carried the box We're never heard
of. believe in a particular providence,
I believe Gods geometry may be seen
in all our life more beautifully than in
crystallOgraphy. Job was right. 1.-The
crystal can not equal it. -
Again remark that religion is supe-
rior to the crystal in transparency. We
know not when or by whom glass was
first discovered 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 s, 600
years ago-those adornments are found
now attached to the mummies of Egypt
A great many commentators believe
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 ma
-chinery, 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 o, the
triumphs of the crystals in the cele-
-brated windows of Rouen and Sails
bury But there is nothing so trans
parent in crystal as in our holy re-
1igion It is a transparent 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.
1t is transparent Bible All the
rrnoIintains of the Bible come out: Sinai,
the mountain OF the law; Pisgah, the
cmountain of prospect; Olivet, the
mountain of instruction; Calvary, the
mountain of sacrifice, All the rivers OF
the Bible come out; Hidelzel, or the
river of parRSisaical beauty; Jordan, OF
the river of holy chrisn; Cherith, OF
the river Of prophetic supply; Nile, on
the river of palaces. aud the pure river
of life from under the throne, clear as
crystal. While reading this Bible after