The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-01-16
TAI lI.iHAL OF INDIA.

/ Al MAilAL vi iNDLl.
REV. c2. TAL%%A9E DESCRIBES A
WONDERFUL TOMB.
Viz: " ord Fivt III. OF the Most Wonderful
g.: IIo;.:trous Te:npl:a---iE to Cover :,
handful OF Dust--Thc Great Campaign
OF the Gospel.
! BROOKLYN. jan TN continuing
his series of round the world sermons
| through the press Rev. DR.. Talmage
today chose for his subject Tomb and
Temple" having reference to that
most famous and beautiful of maui
solums. the Tai 2lahal The text Sc
lectcd was. From India even unto
Ethiopia" Esther i, II.
In all the Bible this is the only book
IN which the word India occurs. but it
] stands fora realm of vast interest in
the time Of Esther, as in our time. 1t
welded then, as now. spices and silks
and cotton and rice and indigo and
ores of all richness and precious stones
of all sparkle and had civilization of
its own as marked as Egyptian or
Greci;ln or Roman civilization. 1t
holds the costliest tomb ever built
and the most unique ard wonderful
idolatrous temple ever opened. For
practical lessons in this my sixth dis
course in round the world series |
show vou that tomb and temple of
India.
In journey around the world it
NAV 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 bea success. That one object
was the Tai Mahal OF India, It is the
crown of the whole earth.
| The building is about six miles from
AGRA. and as we rode out in the early
dawn We heard nothing but the hoofs
aud wheels that pulled and turned d-saaa:s
along the road, at every yarrr10jifow 81 which
our eXpecsai5a9ssss ssose until we had
arsaSzae essho1ght that we might be disap-
7 pointed 1T the first glimpse, as some
, say they were disappointed. But how
5 can any one be disappointed with the
, Tai is almost as great wonder to me
as the Tai itself. There are some peo-
. pie always disappointed, and who
f 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
e not quite up to their expectations, and
: that the White horses on which the
+ conquerors ride seem a little spring
halt or spawned?
! Ny son said, There it is 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 sun: 1t
seemed not so much built up from
earth as let down from heaven. For
, tunately you stop at an elaborated
gateway OF red sandstone one-eighth
Of mile from the Tai, an entrance 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 entrancethe soul
: We 90 up the winding sstairs of this
majestic entrance Of the gateway an
: buy a few pictures and examine few
: curios, and from it look off upon the
: Tai and descend to the payment of the
garden that raptures everything be-
tween the gateway and the ecstasy OF
: marble and precious stones. You pass
long deep stream Of water in which
all manner of brilliant fins swirl and
float. There are 81 fountains that
spout and bend and arch themselves to
, fall in showers of pearl in basins of
snowy whiteness. Beds Of all imasin-
: able flora greet the nostril before they
! do the eve and seem toroll in waves OF
! color as you advance toward the Wis
ion 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;
thickets of bewildering bloom; on
either side trees from M ay Lands
bend their aborescence over your head,
or seem with convoluted branches to
reach out their arms toward you in
t welcome. On and on you go amid
tamarind and cypress and poplar
and oleander and yew and sycamore
and banyan and palm and trees of such
novel branch leaf and girth you
; cease to ask their name or nativity.
AS you approach the door of the
Tai one experiences a strange sensa-
ton of awe and tenderness and hum
ihty and worship. The building is on
ly grave, but what a grave. Built
for queen, who, according to some
was very good, and according to others
was very bad. | choose to think she
was very good. At any rate, it makes
me feel better to think that this COM
| memorative pile was set up for the
immortalization of virture rather than
vice The Tai is mountain of white
marble, but never such walls faced
each other with exquisitness; never
such tomb was cut from block Of al
abaster: never such a congregation OF
| precious stones frightened and gloom
: ed and blazed and chastened and
: glorifed building since scuptor's
, chisel cut It's first curve, or painters
: pencil traced It's first figure. or mason S
| plumbline measured it first wall, or
! ! architect s.compass swept its first CIR
Gle.
The Tai has Is great arched windows
four at each corner; also at each of
four corners of the Tai stands a min.
aret 137 feet high; also at each side of
this building is splendid mosque of
| red sandstone. Two hundred and fifty
years has the Tai stood, and yet not a
wall is cracked, not a mos
aic loosened, nor an arch
sor~ad nor a panel dullied. The