Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-01-18
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvIsE's sun.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: sTomb and Temple"

TKIT: Prom India even unto Ethiopia"
Esther l.. !.
In all the Bible this is the only book In
which the word India occurs, but II STANDS
for Il realm Of vast interest In the time OF
Esther, as in our time. IL yielded then, as
now, spices and silks and cotton anu re re
and indigo and ores Of all richness anu
precious stones OF all sparkle ana rau
civilization Of it's own Hs marked a. Icy
tian or Grscian or Roman eiviilnailoh' -
holds the costliest tomb ever oult auu =.
most unlaue and wonderful idolatrous tenn
,ia ever dpsnad For practical lessons IN
This nv sixth discourse In round the Wofla
series, show you that tomb ana Tempe VI
India. ,,.. o,
be easy TO tell the exact point when divides
the pilgrimage into halves. utthere was
one structure toward which We were al the
time travelling, and having seen that we ieit
that n we saw nothing more our expedition
would be a success. That one object was the
Tai Mahal OF India. Ii Ia 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 thespirt
OF st. Sophia OF Constantinople was there.
and the spirit of 81. IZaak of St. Petersburg
was there, ami the spirit OF the Baptistery OF
Pisa was there. and the spirits OF the pyramid
and OF Luxor obelisk, and OF the Porcelain
tower OF Nankn. and OF st. Marks OF
Venice and the spirits ofall the great towers,
great cathedrals, great mausoleums, great
sarcophagl, great capitols for the living and
OF great necropolises for the dead were there.
And the presiding genius OF the throng with
gavel of Parian marble smote the table oil
Russian malachite, and called the throng OF
spirits 10 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 unant-
nous acclaim the cry was "Long live the
spirit OF Tai, king of all the spirits OF areht.
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 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 TO me as the Tai itself.
There are some people always disappointed,
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 1t is" l said,
"Where?" For that which he saw to be the
building seemed to me to be more like the
morning cloud blushing under the stare OF
the rising Gun. 1t seemed not so much built
up from earth as let down from heaven.
Fortunately you stop at an elaborated gate
way OF red sandstone one-eighth OF mile
from the Tai. an entrance so high, so arched,
80 graceful, so four domed, so painted and
chiseed and scrolled that you come very
gradually upon the Tai which structure Is
enough to intoxcate the eye and stun the
Imagination and entrance the soul. We 20
up the winding stairs OF this majestic en-
trance of the gateway, and buy few pic
lures, and examine a few curlos, and from
II look off upon the Tai, and descend to the
pavement of the garden that raptures every
| thing between the gateway and the ecstacy
OF marble and precious stones. You pass
| along 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 fora greet the
nostril before they do the eye and seem to
roll in waves of color rs you advance toward
| the vision you are soon to have OF what hui
man genius did when it did its best moon
flowers, lilacs, marigolds, tulips and almost
everywhere the lotus; thickets Of bewilder-
ing 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 cy-
press and poplar and oleander and yew and
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 strange sensation OF awe and
tenderness and humility and worship. The
building is only a grave, but what 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, 1t makes me feel better TO think
that this commemorative pile was set up for
the naturalization of virtue rather than
vice. The Tai is mountain OF white
marble, but never such walls faced each
! other with exquisiteness never such tomb
| was cut from block of alabaster never such
congregation of precious stones Frightened
and gloomed and blazed and chastened and
glorified building since sculptor's chisel
out 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 Of
1877 feet high Il also at each side ofthis build.
ing is a splendid mosque OF red sandstone.
Two hundred and fifty years has the Ia.
stood, and yet not wall Is cracked, nor O
mosaic loosened, nor an arch sagged, nor G
panel dulled. The storms Of $50 winter:
have not marred nor the heats OF $50 sum
mers disintegrated q marble. There is NJ
story Of age written by moses on Its whit,
surface. Montaz, the queen, was beautiful
nd Ehoh Tabon ha kipn hara tr
let all the centuries OF time know it. Sh,
was married at twenty years OF age ant
died at twenty-nine. Her life ended rs an
other life began. AS the rose bloomed thu
rosebush persisted.
To adorn this dormitory OF the dead, a
the command of the king, Bagdad sent t
this building its corneliau and Ceylon i'll
lapis lazuli, and Punjab its jasper, an{
Persia Its amethyst, and Thibet its turquoise
and Lanka 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 were
pebbles. You find one spray Of vine bese
with eighty and another with 100 stones
Twenty thousand men were twenty years IL
building 1t, and although the labor wa.
slave labor, and not paid for, the building
cost what would be about $50, 1000, 00
OF our American money Some of the
Jewels have been picked out OF tn,
wall by iconoclasts or conquerors, ant
substitutes Of less value have taken the
places, but the vines, the traceries, tn,
arabesques, the spandrels, the entabature
are so wondrous that you feel like datinl
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 oil
this august pile. The king sleeps in tn
tomb beside the queen, although he intend
ed to build palace as black as this wa
white on the opposite side OF the river 70
himself to sleep in. Indeed the foundation
of such a metropolis of black marble is sti
there, and from the white to the black TEN
pie of the dead a bridge was to cross, bu
the son dethroned him and imprisoned him
and 1t Is wonderful that the king had an
place at oil in which to be buried. Instea