Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-04-24
THETABERNACLEPULPIT
BRILLIANT SUBJECT ExPOUND-
ED BY DIR. TALMACE.
Tho Eminent Divine Holds Forth IN His
Usual Bright yein-Conp pairing Re
ligion to "A Highly Transrsr-
ent Crystal.

crystal. Job. in my text, compares saving
wisdom with specimen OF topaz. An IN
! ndel chemist or mineralogist would pro-
nounco the latter worth more than The
former, but Job makes All intelligent COM
parlsOn, looks at religion and then looks al
the crystal and pronounces the former ns
of far superior value TO the latter, eXclaim-
! ing In the words OF my text 1.-The crystal
cannot equal it,
Now, IL is not part OF my sermonic de-
sign To depreciate the crystal, whether II be
! found in Cornish mine or HaiN mountain,
or Mammoth Cave, or tnklng among tho
! pendants OF the chandeliers OF palace
! The crystal Is the star OF the mountain; II
Is the queen OF the cave; IL Is the ear-drop
! Of the hills; il finds Its heaven In the dia-
mond Among all the pages OF natural his
tory there il no page more interesting 10
Inc than the page crystallographlc. 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 ~
OF far more value and beauty than the lat
ter, recommending it TO all the
/ people and TO all the ages. de-
| clring: "fhe crystal cannot equal It, In
the first place remark that religion Is SUI
! perior 10 the crystal in eNactness. mat
shapeleSs mass OF crystal against which you
accidentally dashed your foot ~ lalu out
] with more eXactness than any earthly city.
| There are six sly les OF capitalization ana all
/ OF them diyinely ordained. Every crystal
| has mathematical precision. Gods geome-
| try reaches through it, and II IL square or
! 1t is a rectangle or II IL rhomboid or In
! some way it hath mathematical hgure.
! Now religion beats that in the simple fact
/ that spiritual accuracy is more Deauil-
/ ful than material accuracy. Gods nttrlD-
! 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 the
stars and the sands and the cycles. His
prOyidences never dealing with us perpen-
! dcularly when those providences ought 10
/ he oblique, nor lateral when they ought 10
/ be vertical. Everything in our life ar
ranged without any possibility OF mistake.
| Each life siN-sided prism. Born nj The
/ right time; dying nj the right time. There
/ are no "happen-sO's' in our theology. IL |
/ thought This was slipshod universe l
would so crazy. God is not mn anarchist.
! Law, order, symmetry, precision,
! perfect square. perfect rectangie
l 4 perfect rhomboid, a perfect circle. The
! edge of God's robe OF government never
] frays out. There are no loose screws IN the
/ worlds machinery. IL did not just happen
! that Napoleon was attacked with indlges-
/ ton at BorOdnO so that he became incom-
/ petent for the day. 1T did not just happen
1 that John Thomas, the missionary, on II
! heather island, waiting for an OUTFIT and or
| ders for another missionary tour, received
/ that outfit and those orders In box that
/
! that carried the box were never heard Of
! The barking OF f. W. RobertsOn's dog, be
| tells us, led 10 a line OF events which brought
! him from the army into the Christian NM
! istry, where he served God with world-re-
! nowned usefulness. 1t did not merely hap
/ pen SO. | believe In a particular providence
! | believe Gods geometry may he seen IN all
/ our life more beautifully than in crystal
Biography. job was right The crystal
, cannot equal it,
Again / remark that religion j. superior
, TO the crystal in transparency. We know
not when or by whom glass was iirst dis
covered. Beads OF it have been found in
, the tomb Of Alexander Seyeru,. Vases Of
' II are Drought up from the ruins OF Iercu.
/ lancum. There were female adornments
made out OF IL 5000 years ago-those adorn-
ments found now attSched to the mummles
| OF Egypt A great many commentators be-
I iieve 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 in the watch,
! defending its delicate machinery yet allow
/ ing us to see the hour 80 the crystal OF the
! telescope by which the astronomer brings
distant worlds 80 near he can inspect them.
| oh, the triumphs OF the crystals In the cele-
/ brated windows OF Rouen and Salisbury
But there is nothing so transparent In a
crystal rs in our holy religion. When the
eye-salVe cures our blindness then we tind
that religon is transparent
People talk too much about their cross
/ and not enough about their crown. DO YOU
know the Bible mentions cross but
twenty-Seven times while II mentions Il
crown eighty tmesE Ask that old man
! whit lie thinks OF religion. lie has been a
close observer lie has been culturlng an
aesthetic taste. lie has seen the sunrlses OF
] n half century. lie has been an early riser.
/ lie has been an admirer OF canoes and
corals and all kinds Of beautiful things.
ASK him what he thinks OF religion and he
will tell You, at Is the most beautiful thing
| ever saw" THE crystal cannot equal
/ it."
Beautiful in its symmetry. When It
presents Gods character 1t does not pre-
sent Him rs having love like great pro-
tuberance on one side Of his nature,
but makes that love in harmony
with his justice--a love that will accept al!
! those who come TO HIM, and justice that
Will by no means clear the guilty. Beaut-
ful religion in the sentiment IL implants!
| Beautiful religion in the hope IL kindles
| Beautiful religion In the fact that IT pro-
poses to garland and enlhrone and empara-
! disc AN immortal spirit. Soloman says II is
lily. Paul says IL Is n crown. The Apoca-
lypso says ii is n fountain kissed of The sun
Ezekiel says IL isa foliased cedar. Christ
| SAYS il Is a bridegroom come 10 fetch home
bride. While Job In the text takes ups
whole vase OF precious stOnes-the topaz
and the sapphire and the chrysoprasus- and
| he takes ont OF this beautiful vase just one
crystal and holds 1t up until IL CLEANS in
the warm light OF the eastern sky, and lie
| exclalms: The crystal cannot equal it,"
Again religion il superior TO the crystal
in its transformations. The diamond is
only capitalization OF coal. Carbonate
Of lime rises till IT becomes calcite or ara
gonite Red oxide OF copper crystaliIZes
/ into cubes and octachedrOns. Those crys-
tails which adorn our persons and our
| homes and our museums have only been
resurtccted from forms that were lar from
lustrous. Scientists for ages have been eX-
aiming these wonderful transformations.
But tell YOU in the Gospel OF the Son OF
God there IL a more wonderful transforma-
ton over souls by reason OF sin black as
coal and hard rs IRON. God, by bis com fort
ing grace stoops anu says: They shall be
mine in the day when | make up my
jewels"
What" say you, "will God wear Jew
elryy" II he wanted 10, he could make the
stars Of heaven his belt aud have the even
ing cloud for the sandals OF his fcet but
he does not want that adornment. lie will