The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-01-11
TOMB AND TEMPLE.
DR.. Talmage Describes the Mauso-
leum of Queen Montaz.
IL Cost Sixty Million Dollars, and Is the
Most Superb and Perfect Work of
Art in the world-Sbah Jehan's
Black Tomb.

Inc latest sermon given out DIV Kew.
T. Dewitt Talmage through the press
was upon the subject: Tomb and Tenn
pie" having reference to that most
famous and beautiful of mausoleums,
the Tai Mahal. The text selected was:
''From India even unto Ethiopia -
Esther i. /. The sermon is as follows:
In all the Bible this is the only
book in which the word India occurs,
but it stands for realm of vast inter-
est in the time of Esther as in our time.
1t yielded then, as now, spices, and
silks, and cotton, and rice, and indigo,
and ores of all richness, and precious
stones of all sparkles, and had a civili-
cation of its own as marked as Egyp-
tan or Grecian or Roman civilization.
1t holds the costliest tomb ever built,
and the most unique and wonderful
idolatrous temple ever opened. For
practical lessons, in this, my sixth dis
course in Round the World" series.
show you that tomb and temple of In
dia.
In 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, having seen that, we
felt that if we saw nothing more our
expedition would be a success. That
one object was the the Tai Mahal of
India. 1t is the crown of the whole
earth. The spirits of architecture met
to enthrone king, and the spirit of
the Parthenon of Athens was there;
and the spirit of st. Sophia
of Constantinople was there; and
the spirit of st. Izaak of st. Peters
burg was there; and the spirit of the
Baptistrv of Pisa was there; and the
spirit of the Great Pyramid, and of
Luxor Obelisk, and of the Porcelain
Tower of Nankin, and of st. Marks of
Venice; and the spirits of all the great
towers, great cathedrals, great MAUI
soleums, great Sarcophagi, great capt.
tolls for the living. and of great necrop-
olises for the dead, were there. And
the presiding genius of the throng with
gavel CT Parian marble smote the table
of Russian malachite, and called the
throng of spirits to order and called
for vote as to which spirit should
wear the chief crown, and mount the
chief throne, and wave the chief scep-
ter, and by unanimous acclaim the cry
was: Long live the spirit of Tai, king
of all the spirits of architecture! Thine
is the Tai Mahal of Indiar'
The building is about miles from
Agra. and as 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 expectation rose until we haC 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 My son said: There it isl
/ said: "Where?" For that which he
saw to be the building seemed to me to
be more like the morning cloud blush
ing under the stare of the rising sun.
1t seemed not so much built up from
earth as let down from heaven. For
you stop at an elaborated
gateway of red sandstone one-eighth
of mile from the Tai, an en-
trance SO high, so 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 en-
trance the soul. We coup 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 ecstacy of marble and precious |
stones You pass along a deep stream |
Of water in which all manner of bril-
liant fins swirl and float. There are |
eighty-four fountains that spout and |
bend and arch themselves to fall in
showers of pearl in basins of snowy
wilderness. Beds of all imaginable !
fora greet the nostrils before they
10 the eye, and seem to roll in waves
If color as You advance towards the
7ision you are soon to have of
what human genius did when it did its
pest. As you approach the door of Tai
me experiences a strange sensation of
1--WE, and tenderness. and humility, and
The building is only "a grave,
,ut what grave! Built for a queen,
Who, according to some was very good,
md according to others was very bad.
choose to think she was very good.
1t any rate, it makes me feel better to
I'll AIaA l. 1
vas set up for the naturalization of
.irtue rather than vice.
The Tai has sixteen great arched
four at each corner. Also at
ach of the four corners of the Tai
lands minaret 137 feet high. Also
t each side of this building is splen-
i'd mosque of red sandstone. Two
hundred and fifty years has the Tai
TODD, and yet not wall is cracked,
or a mosaic loosened, nor an arch I
jagged, nor panel dulled. The storms I
f go winters have not married, nor the {
eats of $50 summers disintegrated a
larble. There is no story of age writ
en- by MOSES on its white surface.
Iontaz, the queen, was beautiful, and
hah Jehan, the king, here proposed to /;
It all the centuries of time know it. ;
ne was married at 20 years of age
nd died at 90. Her life ended as an '
Their life began; as the rose '
doomed the rose bush persisted.
o adorn this dormitory of the
cad. at the command of the
ing Bagdad sent to this building its
lrnelian. and Cevlon its laDis laZuli. I
nd Punjab its jasper, and Persia its q
and Thibet its turquoise, and
anka its sapphire. and Yemen its agate, c