The free press., 1895-01-17
REV. DR.. TALMAGE,
CHE BRoOKLYN DIVINE'S sun.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: sTomb and Temple"

Tor calm OF vast interest IN Ine time oi
Esther, as in our time. 1t yielded tnen, as
now, spices and silks and cotton and rice
and indigo and ores Of all richness and
precious stones OF all sparkle and bad q
civilization Of its own as marked as Egyp-
tian or Grecian or Roman civilization. 1t
holds the costliest tomb ever built and the
most unique and wonderful idolatrous tenn
pie ever opened. For practical lessons IN
this. my sixth discourse in round the world
series, show you that tomb and temple OF
India.
In a journey around the world it may rot
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 iet
that If we saw nothing more our expedition
would be II success. That ono object was 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 thespir1t
of st. Sophia OF Constantinople was there,
and the spirit of st. Izaak of st. Petersburg
was there, and the spirit OF the Baptistery or
Pisa was there. and the spirits OF the pyramid
and of Luxor obeisk, and of the Porcelain
tower OF Nankin. and of st. Marks OF
Venice, and the spirits ofal 1.-THE great towers,
great cathedrals, great mausoleums, great
sarcophagi, great capitos for the living and
of great necropolises for the dead were there
And the presiding genius of the throng with
gavel of Parian marble smots the table of
Russian malachte, and called the throng OF
spirits to order. and called for a vote
as to which spirit should wear the
chief crown, and mount the chief throne,
and wave the chief scerter, and by unan!-
nous acclaim the cry was: "Long live the
spirit of Tai, king of all the spirits of archi-
lecture Thine is the Tai Mahal of India y
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 that
pulled and turned US alongthe road, at every
yard of which our expectations rose until
we had some thought that we might be dis
appointed at the first glimpse, as some say
they were disappointed. But how can any
one be disappointed with the Tai is almost as
great a wonder 10 me rs the Tai itself.
There are some people always disappo nted,
and who knows but that having entered
heaven they may criticise the architecture OF
the temple and the cut of the white robes,
and say that the River OF Life is not quite up
to their expectations, and that the white
horses on which the conquerors ride seem
little spring halt or spawned?
My son said ''There it is ~ I said,
"Where?" For that which he saw to be the
building seemed to me to be more like the
morning cloud blushng under the stare of
the rising sum- 1t seemed not so much built
up rum eUItH dS lOt uOWll ilOLu HCdNth.
Fortunately you stop at an elaborated gate
way OF red sandstone one-eighth of a mile
from the Tai an entrance so high, so arched,
SO graceful, so four domed, so painted and
chseled and scrolled 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 30
up the winding stairs OF this majestic en-
trance of the gateway, and buy a few pic
a. n fayU
it look off upon the Tai, and descend to the
pavement of the garden that rapturos every
thing between the gateway and the ecstacy
OF marble and precious stones. You pass
along IA deep stream of water in which all
manner of brilliant 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 white
ness. 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 hu-
man genius did when it did its best; moon
flowers. lilacs, 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 ana or you go amid tamar.nd and cy-
press and poplar and oleander and yew and
sycamore and banyan and palm and trees
OF such novel branch and leaf and grth you
cease TO ask their name or nativity.
AS you approach the door OF the Tai one
experiences Il strange sensation of awe and
tenderness and humility and worship. The
building is only grave, but what q grave
Built tor queen, who, according to some.
was very good, and according TO others very
bad. ! 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 eXqusteness never such a tomb
was cut from block OF alabaster never such
a congregation of precious stones frightened
and gloomed and blazed and chastened and
gorifled a building since sculptor's chisel
cut its first curve, or painters pencil traced
It's first figure, or masons plumb line
measured its first wall, or architects COM
pass swept its first circle.
The Tai has sixteen great arched win
dows, tour at each corner also at each of
the four corners of the Tai stands minaret
1877 feet high also at each side of this build
ing Is a splendid mosque OF red sandstone.
Two hundred and fifty years has the Tai
stood, and yet not q wall is cracked, nor a
mosaic loosened, moran arch sagged, nor Il
panel dulled. The storms of $50 winters
nave not marred nor the heats OF 25O sum-
mers disintegrated a marble. There Is no
story OF age written by moses on its white
surface. Montaz, the queen, was beautiful,
and Shah Jehan, the king, here proposed TO
let all the centuries Of time know it. She
was married ut twenty years of ago and
died at twenty-nine. Her life ended as an
other life began. AS the rose bloomed the
rosebush perisned.
To adorn this dormitory OF the dead, at
the command of the king, Bagdad sent 10
this building its corneian and Ceylon its
lapis lazuli, and Punjab its jasper, and
Prrsil its amethyst, and Thibet its turquoise,
and I4nnka its sapphire, and Yemen its agate,
an Puma its diamonds and blood stones,
and sardonyX and chalcedony and moss
acates are as common as though they were
pebbles. You find one spray Of vine beset
with eighty AMI another with 100 stones
Twt y Thousand men were twenty years in
building it, and although the labor was
slave labor. and not paid for, the building
cost what would be about $50, 600 GOO
OF orr American money. Some of the
Jewels have been picked out OF the
wall hy iconoclasts or conquerors, and
substitutes of less value have taken their
places, but the vines. the iraceries. the
ardbesques, the spandrels, the entablatures
are so wondrous that you feel ike dating
the rest of your life from the day you first
saw them. In letters of black marble the
IVholp Of thp Koran js SnnlIai out in and on