Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-01-18
REV. DR. TALMAGE
The Eminent Brooklyn Divina'S Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: "Tomb and Temple"

In all the Bible this Is the only book In
which the word India occurs, but 1t stands
for O realm of vast interest In the time OF
Esther, as in our time. 1t yielded then, as
now, spices aud silks and cotton and rice
and indigo and ores Of all richness and
precious stones OF all sparkle and had
civilization CT its own as marked as EgyP.
tian or Grecian or Roman civilization. IL
holds the costliest tomb ever built and tae
most unique aud wonderful idolatrous tenn
pie ever opened. For practical lessons III
this, my sixth discourse in round the world
series, show you that tomb ana temple OF
India.
In journey around the world 1t may Iot
be EASY TO tell the exact point when dlviueS
the pilgrimage into halves. but there was
one structure toward which We were Oil the
time travelling, and having seen that we ien
that If we saw nothing more our expedition
would be a success. That one object was the
Tuj Mahal OF India. 1t is the crown OF tho
whole earth. The spirits OF architecture
met to enthrone king, and the spirit OF
Parthenon Of Athens was there, and tnespirt
OF st. Sophia OF Constantinople was there,
and the spirit OF st. Izaak of st. Petersburg
was there. an the spirit of the Daptistery OF
Pisa was there and the spirits OF the pyramid
and of Luxor obelisk, and OF the Porcelain
tower OF Nankin. and Of St. Marks OF
Venice, and the sp rits ofallthe great towers,
great cathedrals, great mausoleums, great
sarcophagi, great capito's Ior the living anu
Of great necropolises for the dead were tneIe'
And the presiding genius OF the throng with
gayel of Parian marble smote the table OF
Russian maachite, and called the throng OF
spirlts to order, and called for vote
as TO which spirit should wear the
chief crown, and mount the chief throne,
and wave the chief scerter, and by unani-
nous acclaim the cry was: Long i've tne
spirit of Tai, king of all the spirits or archl.
lecture Thine is the Tai Mahal OF India ]!
The building is about six miles from Agra,
and as we rode out in the early dawn we
heard nothing but the hoofs and wheels tnat
pulled and turned us alongthe road, at every
| ward of which our expectations rose until
| we had some thought that we might he dis
appointed at tho first glimpse, as some say
| they we're disappointed. But how can any
| one be disappointed withthe Tai is almost as
| great wonder TO me rs the TAI nsei.
| There are some people always disappointed,
| and who knows but that having entered
heaven they may crticiss the architecture Oh
the temple and the cut OF the white robes,
and saw that the River Of Life is not quite up
10 their expectations, and that the white
horses on which the cOrquerors ride seem
little spring halt or spawned?
Nv son said, "Thtre it is" l said,
"Where?' For that which he saw to be the
building seemed to me 10 be more IKE the
morning cloud bushing under the stare OF
the rising sun. 1t seemed not so much bu'lt
ND from earth as let down from heaven.
Fortunately you stop at an elaborated gate
way OF red sandstone one-eightn Oh mile
from the Tai. an entrance so high, so arched,
so graceful. 80 four domed, so painted and
| chiseled and scroled that you come very
gradually upon the Tai, which structure Is
| enough 10 intoxicate the eye and stun the
| Imagination and entrance the soul. we go
| up the winding stairs OF this majestic en-
| trance of the gateway, and buy rev PIC
lures and examine few curios, ana from
it look off upon the Tai, and descend to the
| pavement of the garden that raplur0s every
thing between the gateway and the ecstacy
| of marble and precious stones. You pass
along a doep stream Of water IN when all
manner of brilliant fins swirl and hoat.
There are eighty-four fountains that spout
and bend and arch themselves to fall IN
showers of pearl in basins OF snowy white
ness. Beds OF all imaginable flora greet the
nostri before they do the eye and seem 10
roll in waves Of color as you advance toward
| the vision YOU are soon to have OF what nu-
man genius did when it did its best; moon
flowers, liacs, marigolds, tulips and almost
everywhere the lotus; thlckets OF bewilder-
ing bloom; on either side trees from many
lands bend their arborescence over your
head or seem with convoluted branches to
reach out their arms toward you in welcome.
On and OF YOU go amid tamar.nd and cy-
press and poplar and oleander and yew ana
sycamore and banyan and palm and trees
OF such novel branch and leaf and girth you
cease TO ask their name or nativity.
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 grave
Built for a queen, who, according 10 some,
was very good, and according to others very
bad. / choose to think she was very good.
At any rate, 1t makes me feel better to think
that this commemorative pile was set up Tor
the naturalization Of virtue rather than
vice. The Tai Is O mountain OF white
marble. but never such walls faced each
other with exquisteness never such TOMB
was cut from block Of alSbaster never such
q congregation of precious stones FRIGHTENED
and gloomed and blazed and chastened and
glorified a building since scuptor's chisel
cut its first curve, or painters pencil traced
its first figure, or mason's plumb line
measured its first wall, or architects com
pass swept its first circle.
The Tai has sixteen great arched win,
dows, four at each corner also at each OIL
the four corners of the Tai stands minaret
1877 feet high also at each side ofthis build
ing Is a splendid mosque OF red sandstone.
Two hundred and fifty years has the Ia
stood. and vet not wall is cracked, nor q
mosaic loosened, nor an arch sagged, nor q
, panel dulled. The storms OF 25O winters
have not married nor the heats OF ESQ sum
mers disintegrated a marble. There IS M
story of age written by moses on Its Wnitt
surface. Montaz, the queen, was beautiful
and Shah Jehan, the king, here proposed tc
let all the centuries OF time know it. Sh'
was married at twenty years OF age ant
, died at Twenty-Five. Her life ended as an
other life began. AS the rose bloomed tht
9 rosebush persisted.
To adorn this dormitory OF the dead, a
4 the command OF the king, Bagdad sent t
e this building its cornelian and Ceylon III
Z lapis lazuli, and Punjab its jasper, am
Persia its amethyst, and Thibet its turquoise
and Ianka its sapphire, and Yemen its agate
and Puma its diamonds and blood stones
and sardonyx and chalcedony and mos
agates are as common as though they wer'
pebbles. You find one spray OF vine bese
with eighty and another with 100 stones
TWen.y thousand men were twenty years II
building ii, and although the labor wal
! slave labor. and not paid for, the bulldins
cost what would be about $50 ,OO
OF our American money Some OF thu
Jewels have been picked out OF tn
wall by iconocasts or conquerors, ant
substitutes of less value have taken thei
places, but the vines, the traceries, tn
arabesques, the spandrels, the entablature
are so wondrous that you feel like datini
the rest of your life from the day you frs
saw them. In letters OF black marble tn
whole of the Koran is spelled out in and Of
this august pile. The king sleeps in tn
tomb beside the queen, although be Intend
ed to luild palace as black as this wa
white on the opposite side OF the river 70
himself to sleep in. Indeed the foundatio