Connecticut western news., 1895-01-10
A TOMB ANDA TEMPLE
TIRE FAMOUS TAI MAAAL AND THE
 ElEPHANTA CAVES.


 EtEPHANTA CAVES.
 Rev. Dr. TAlmaGe Describes at Length the
 Exqaiaits Architecture of the Hindoos
 and Compares Their Materialism With
 the Spirituality of the Christian Faith.
 BRooKLYN, Jan 6.-In continuing his series of round the world sermons through the press Rev. Dr. Talmage to- day chose for his subject "Tomb and Temple" having reference to that most famous and beautiful of mausoleums, the Tai Mahal. The text selected was, From India even unto Ethiopia" (Es- ther 1. D.
 In all the Bible this is the only book in which the word India occurs, but it stands for realm of vast interest in the time of Esther, as in our time. It yield ed then, as now, Spices and silks and cot ton and rice and indigo and ores of all richness and precious stones of all sparkle and had civilization of it's own as marked as Egyptian or Grecian or Roman civilization. It holds the cost Hest tomb ever built and the most unique and wonderful idolatrous temple ever opened. For practical lessons in this my sixth discourse in round the temple of India.
 In 8 journey around the world it may not be easy to tell the exact point which divides the pilgrimage into halves. But there was one structure. toward which we were all the time travelling, and hay ing seen that we felt that if we saw nothing more our expedition would be Q success. That one object was the Tai Mahal of India. It is the crown of the whole earth. The spirits of architecture met to inthrone a king, and the spirit of the Parthenon of Athens was there, and the spirit of St Sophia of Constantine pie was there, and the spirit of St. Izaak { of St Petersburg was there, and the spiritof the Baptistery of Pisa was there, and the spirits of the great pyramid and of Luxor obelisk, and of the Force lain tower of Nankin, and of St Marks of Venice, and the spirits of all the great towers, great cathedrals, great mausoleums, great sarcophagi, great oapitols for the living and of great ne- cropolises for the dead were there. And the presiding genius of the throng with gavel of Parian marble smote the table of Russian malachite, and called the throng of spirits to order, and called for 8 vote as to which spirit should wear the chief crown, and mount the chief throne and wave the chief scepter, and by unan. imous acclaim the cry was: "Long live the spirit of the Tai, king of all the spirits of architectural Thine is the,Taj Mahal of Indial''
 FulfI.s All Expectations.
 The building is about six miles from Agra. and IS we rode out in the early dawn we heard nothing but the hoofs and wheels that pulled and turned us along the road. at every yard of which our expectations rose until we had some thought that we might be disappointed at the first glimpse, as some say they were disappointed. But how can any one be disappointed with the Tai is al most as great wonder to me as the Tai itself. There are some people always disappointed, and who knows but that having entered heaven they may criti- cise the architecture of the temple and the cut of the white robes, and say that expectations. and that the white horses on which the oonquerors ride seem a lit tie spring halt or spavined?
 My son said, ''There it isp' said, "Where?" For that which he saw to be the building seemed to me to be more like tho morning cloud blushing under the stare of the rising sun. It seemed not so much built up from earth as let down from heaven. Fortunately you stop at an elaborated gateway of red sandstone one-eighth of mile from the Tai. an entrance so high, ss arched, so graceful, so four domed, so painted and chiseled and scrolled that you come very gradually upon the Tai. which structure is enough to intoxicate the eye and stun the imagination and entrance the soul We go up the winding stairs of this majestic entrance of the gateway, and buy few pictures, and examine few curios, and from it look off upon the Tai. and descend to the pavement of the garden that raptures everything between the gateway and the ecstasy of marble and precious stonea You pass along a deep stream of water in which all man. ner of brilliant fins swirl and float There are 84 fountains that spout and bend and arch themselves to fall in showers of pearl in basins of snowy whitenesa Beds of all imaginable flora greet the nostril before they do the eye and seem to roll in waves of color as you advance toward the vision you are soon to have of what human genius did when 1t did it's best; moon flowers, lilacs. marigolds, tulips and almost everywhere the lotus; thickets of bewil- derfng bloom; on either side trees from many lands bend their arboresoence over your head or seem with convoluted branches to reach out their arms toward you in welcome On and on you go amid tamarind and cypress and poplar and olearder and yew and sycam Ire and ban .yan and palm and trees of such novel branch and leaf and girth you cease to ask their name or nativity.
 An Ideal Memorial.
 As you approach the door of the Tai one experiences a strange sensation of awe and tenderness and humility and worship. The building is only grave, but what a gravel Built for queen, who, according to some, was very good, and according to others was very bad. I choose to think she was very good. At any rate, it makes me feel better to think that this commemorative pile was set up for the immortalization of virtue rather than vice. The Tai is mountain of white marble, but never such walls faced each other with exquisiteness; never such a tomb was cut from block of alabaster; never such congregation of precious stones brighte1eJ and gloom ed and biazed and chastened and glori- fed building since sculptor's chisel out its first curve, or painters pencil traced its first figure, or mason's plumb line