Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-12-27
JEWELRY OF THE SEA
REV. DR.. ThLMAGE FINDS LESSONS IN
THE CORAL REEFS.

tiOn.
TCopyright. 1897 by American Press Asso-
citation.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 26.-This pic
turesque discourse of DR.. Talmage leads
his hearers and readers through IN
wonted regions of contemplation and is
full of practical gospel; text, Job xviii,
Is, "No mention shall be made of
coral
Why do you say that, inspired dram
atist? When you wanted to set forth the
superior value of our religion, you tossed
aside the onyx, which is used for max
ing exquisite canoes, and the sapphire,
sky blue, and topaz Of rhOmbic prism
and the ruby of frozen blood, and here
you say that the coral, which is a mir
acle of shape and transport of color to
those who have studied it, is not worthy
of mention in comparison with our holy
religion. mo mention shall be made of
coral. At St. Johnsbury, VT, in a
museum built by the chief citizen. as
examined specimen ON the shelf,
first realized what holy Of holes God
can build and has built in the temple Of
one piece of coral. | do not wonder that
Ernst Heckel, the great scientist, while
III CGy1Ou, WAS 50 eAlEdRC0Q Will Gu0
specimens which some Cingalese divers
had brought up for his inspection that
he himself plunged into the sea and
went clear under the waves at the risk
of his life again and again and again
that he might know more of the coral,
the beauty of which he indicates cannot
even be guessed by those who have only
seen it above water, and after the
polyps, which are it's sculptors and
architects have died and the chief glo-
rieS OF these submarine flowers have eX-
pired. Job, in my text, did not mean to
depreciate this divine sculpture in the
coral reefs along the seacoasts
White Palaces of the Deep.
No one can afford to depreciate these
white palaces of the deep, built under
Gods direction. He never changes his
plans for the building of the islands and
shores, and for uncounted thousands Of
years the coral gardens and the coral
castles and the coral battlements go on
and up. 1 charge you that you Will
please God and please yourself if you
will go into the minute examination Of
the cOrals-their foundations, their pin
nacles, their aisles, their pillars, their
OAAfNSI tLCA1 CACtt SA3Cos OAlOA1 AObANu4%I-
tion, their rouping-families Of them,
towns Of them, cities of them and coli
tinents of them Indeed you cannot APP
preciate the meaning of my text unless
you know something of the cOral-Iaby-
rinthian, stellar, Columnar, floral, dent
ed like shields from battle, spotted like
leopards, embroidered like lace, hung
like upholstery; twilight and auroras
and sunbursts of beauty. From deep
crimson to milk white are it's colors
You may find this work of God through
the animalcules sc fathoms down III
amid the breakers, where the sea dashes
the widest and beats the mightiest and
bellows the lOudest. These sea creatures
are ever busy. Now they build islands
IN the center of the Pacific ocean. Now
they lift barriers around the continent.
Indian ocean, Red sea and coast Of Fan
zibar have specimens of their infnitesi-
NAL but sublime masonry. At the recess
sion of the tides you may in some places
see the top Of their Alpine elevations,
while elsewhere nothing but the deep
sea soundings from the decks of the
Challenger, the Porcupine and the
lightning Of the British expedition can
announce them. The ancient Gauls en-
ployed the coral to adorn their helmets
and the hits Of swords. In many lands
1t has been used as amulets. The Alge-
rian reefs in one year Q873) had as
work amid the coral 81 vessels, with
3, 100 sailors, yielding in profit $685.
900, but the secular and worldly value
of the coral is nothing as compared
with the moral and religious as when,
In my text, Job employs it in compari-
son. l do not know how any one can ex-
anime coral the size of the thumb nail
without bethinking himself of God and
worshiping him and feeling the opposite
of the great infdel surgeon, lecturing
to the medical students III the dissecting
room upon human eye which he held
in his hand, showing it's wonders of
architecture and adaptation, when the
idea Of God flashed upon him SO power
fully he cried out to the students, "Gen-
tlemen, there is God, but hate hini!'
Picking up a coral, l feel like crying
out, There is a God, and adore him -
Nothing so impresses me with the
fact that Or God loves the beautiful.
The most beautiful coral of the world
never comes to human observation Sun
rises and sunsets ne hangs up for ma
tions to look at. He may green the
grass and round the dew into pearl and
set on fire autumnal foliage to please
mortal sight, but those thousands of
miles of coral achievement 1 think he |
has had built for his own delight. In
those galleries he alone can walk. The !
music of those keys, played on by the |
fingers of the wave, he only can hear.
The snow of that white and the bloom
of that crimson he alone can see. Hav-
ing garnitured this world to please the
human race and lifted a glorious heav-