The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-11-07
uTHE LOOKING GLASS"
| Rev. DR.. Talmage Holds the Mirror
/ Up to Mankind.
The Brass LAYER In the Midst Of the Tab
ernacle Suggestive OF tho Gospel,
Through the Medium of Which
Our Faults are Reflected.

OA
+, ernacle Suggestive of the Gospel,
Through the Medium of Which
Our Faults are Reflected.
: The following discourse on 'Ths
Looking Glass was selected by Rev.
T. Dewitt Talmage for publication this
week. It is based on the text:
(; And he made the laver Of brass, and the foot
Of 1t was brass, of the looking glasses Of the
women neutrality-suspicious. xxxviii., 8.
We often hear about the Gospel in
John, and the Gospel in Luke, and the
Gospel in Matthew; but there is just
as surelya Gospel of Moses, and Cos.
pei Of jeremiah, and a Gospel of David.
In other words, Christ is as certainly
to he found in the Old Testament as in
the New.
When the Israelites were marching
through the wilderness they carried
their church with them. They called
it the tabernacle. It was a pitched
tent; very costly, very beautiful. The
framework was made of forty-eight
boards of acacia wood set in sockets OF
silver. The curtains of the place were
purple, and scarlet, and blue, and fine
linen, and were hung with most ar
tistic loops. The candlestick of that
tabernacle had shaft, and branch, end
bowl of solid gold, and, the figures of
cherubim that stood there had wings
of gold; and there were lamps of gold,
and snuffers of gold, and tongs of
gold, and rings of gold; so that skep-
sticisln has sometimes asked: Where
,did'aH atprecious metal come from?
1t is not my place to furnish the pre-
cious stones; it is only to tell that they
were there.
wish now more especially to speak
of the laver that was built in the midst
of that ancient tabernacle. 1t was a
great basin from which the priests
washed their hands and feet. The water
came down from the basin. IN spouts
and passed away after the cleansing.
This Iaver or basin was made out of
the looking g-glasses of the women who
had hequented the tabernacle, and
whohad made these their, contribution
to the furniture. These looking
glasses were not made of glass, but
they were brazen. The brass
was of very superior quality
and polished until it reflected
easily the features Of those who
looked into it. So that this laver of
looking glasses spoken of in my text
did double work; it not only furnished
the water In which the priests washed
themselves, but it also, on its shin
ing, polished surface, pointed out the
spots Of pollution on the face which.
needed ablution Now, my Christian
friends, as everything in that ancient
tabernacle was suggestive of religious
truth, and for the most part positively
symbolical Of truth, shall take that
laver of looking-glasses spoken of in
the text as all-suggestive of the Cos
pei, which first shows us our sins as in
mirror, and then washes them away
by Divine ablution.
5ati Oh, happy day, happy day,
Wheh Jesus washed my sins away!
have to say that this is the only
looking-glass in which a man can gee
himself as he is. There are some mir
rors that fatter tise features, and make
you look better han you are. Then
there are other mirrors that distort
your features, and make you look
worse than you are; but want to tell
you that this looking-glass of tae
Gospel shows man just as he is.
When the priests entered the ancient
tabernacle, one glance at the FURNISHED
side Of this laver showed them their
need Of cleansing; so the Gospel
shows the soul its need of di::
vine washing. ''All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God" That
is one showing. "All we, like sheep,
have gone astray." That is another
showing. "From the. crown Of the
head to the sole of the foot there is no
health in us" That is another show
ing. The world calls these defects,
imperfections. or eccentricities, or
erratic behavior, or ''wild oats" or
'.high living" but the Gospel calls
them sin, transgression. flth-the
abominable thing that God hates. It
was just one glance at that mirror that
made Paul cry out: "Oh, wretched man
that em, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death?" and that made
David cry out: Purge me with hys-
sop. and I shall be clean;" and that
made Martin Luther cry out: "Oh,
my sins, my sins!" am not talking
about bad habits. You and do not
need any Bible to tell us that bad
habits are wrong, that blasphemy and
evil-speaking are wrong. But I am
talking of sinful nature, the source
of all bad thoughts, as we'll as of bad
actions. The Apostle Paul calls their
roll in the first chapter of Romans.
They are regiment of death ercamp-
ing around every heart, holding it in
a tyranny from which nothing but the
grace of God can deliver it.
Here, for instance, is ingratitude.
Who has not been guilty of that sin?
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