The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-01-09
"TOMB AND TEMPLE"
Rev. Dr. Talmage Discourses on
Famous Tai Mahal.
The Most Wonderful sepulcher In All thu
Modern World "A Poem in Stone
Which Cost Sixty Million
Dollars = The Temple
of Elephanta.

DoAtANh - Ano AeInpAo
of Elephanta.
In continuing his series of Round
the World sermons through the press,
Rev. DR.. Talmage last Sunday chose
for his subject "Tomb and Temple" I"
having reference to that most famous
and beautiful of mausoleums, the Tai
Mahal. The text selected was 'From
India even unto Ethiopia" Esther l., l.:
In all the Bible this is the only book
in which the word India occurs, but
it stands for realm of vast interest
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 sparkle, and had a civili-
zation 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 temple ever opened For
practical lessons, in this my sixth dis
course in Round the World" series,
show you that tomb and temple of
India.
In a 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 success. That
one object was the Tai Mahal of India.
1t is the crown of the whole earth.
The spirits of architecture met to en-
throne a king, and the spirit of the
Parthenon of Athens was there; and
the spirit of st. Sophia of Con-
stantinople was there; and the spirit
OF st. Izaak Of st. Petersburg was
there; and the spirit of the Baptis-
terry of Pisa was there; and the spirits
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 mausoleums
great sarcophagi, great capitols for the
living, and great necropolises for the
dead were there.
And the presiding genius of the
throng, with gavel of Parian marble,
smote the table of Russian malachite
and called the throng of spirits to or.
der, and called for vote as to which
spirit should wear the chief crown and
mount the chief throne, and wave the
chief scepter, and by unanimous ac
claim the cry was: 'Long live the
spirit of the Tai, king of all the spirits
of architecture! Thine is the Tai Ma
hal of Indiap
The building is about six miles from
Agra, and as we rode out in the early
dawn we heard nothing but the hoof:
and wheels that pulled and turned III
along the road, at every yard Of whicl
our expectation rose until we hat
some thought that we might be disap
pointed 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 mt
as the TAI itself There are some peo
pie always disappointed, and whc
knows 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 no
quite up to their expectations, and tha
the white horses on which the conquer
ors ride seem little spring-halt o.
spawned!
''My son said: 'There it Isl" said
"Where?" For that which he saw t.
be the building seemed to me to b.
more like the morning cloud blushine
under the star of the rising sun. l
seemed not SO much built up from tn,
earth as let down from heaven For
tunately, you stop at an elaborated
gateway of red sandstone one-eightl
of mile from the Tai, an entrance Sc
high, so arched so graceful, so four
domed, so painted, and chiseled, anc
scrolled that you come very gradually
upon the Tai, which structure i
enough to the intoxicate eye, and stul
the imagination, and entrance the soul
We get up the winding stairs of thi
majestic entrance of the gateway, AM
buy few pictures and examine few
curios, and from it look off upon tn,
Tai, and descend to the pavement o
the garden that raptures everything
between the gateway and the ecstas,
of marble and precious stones. Yol
pass along deep stream of water Ii
which all manner of brilliant fins swir
and float. There are eighty-four foun
tains that spout, and bend, and arcl
themselves to fall in showers of pear
in basins of snowy whiteness. Beds o
all imaginable fora greet the nostri
before they do the eye, and seem to rol
in waves of color as you advance to
wards the vision you are soon to hav,
of what human genius did when it die
its best; moon flowers, 1ilacs, mari
colds, tulips, and almost everywher,
the lotus; thickets Of bewilderinl
bloom; on either side trees from many
lands bend their aborescence over you
head, or seem with convoluted branches
to reach out their arms towards you il
welcome. On and on you go amid tam
arind, and cypress, and poplar, ant
oleander, and yew and sycamore, ant
banyan, and palm, and trees of sucl
novel branch and leaf, and girth, yol
cease to ask their name or nativity.
| As you approach the door of the Ia
one experiences strange sensation o
awe, and tenderness, and humility
and worship. The building is only ,
grave, but what a gravel Built for
a queen, who, according to some, wa
very good, and according to others wa
| vay.v had. / choose TO think She wa