Connecticut western news., 1897-12-30
JEWELRY OF FTHE SEA
Hev. DR. TALMAGE FINDS LESSONS IN
 THE CORAL REEFS.

EEV. DIR. TALMAGE FINDS LESSONS IN
 THE CORAL REEFS
 Upon Sculpture Seen at the Bottom of
 the Ocean-New Regions of Contempla-
 tlon.
 Copyright 1884, sIE sIatiana American Press Aas0-
 WASHINGTON, Dec. 26.-This pic iiresque discourse of Dr. Talmage leads Lis hearers and readers through m wonted regions of contemplation and Is fall of practical gospel; text, Joe xviii, 1S, "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 mak- ing exquisite oameos, and the sapphire, eky blue, and topaz of rhombic prism and the ruby of frozen blood, and here you say that the coral, which is mir aole of shape and transport of color to those who have studied it, is not worthy If mention in comparison with our holy
 
 coral" At St. Johnsbury, Vt, in a museum built by the chief citizen, as l examined a specimen on the shelf. first realized what a holy of holies God ran build and has built in the temple of one piece of coral. do not wonder that isrnst Heckel, the great scientist, while in Ceylon, was so entranced with the specimens which some Cingalese divers tad brought up for his inspection that he himself plunged into the sea and went clear under the waves at the risk st his life again and again and again that he might know more of the coral, ahe beauty of which he indicates cannot even be guessed by those who have only seen 1t above water, and after the polyps. which are its sculptors and architects, have died and the chief glo- lies of these submarine flowers have ex- ,ired. Job, in my text, did not mean to siepreciate this divine sculpture in the roral reefs along the seacoasta
 White Palacss 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 yearl the coral gardens and the coral rAstles and the coral battlements go on and mp charge you that you will please God and please yourself if you will 20 into the minute examination of the conals-their foundations, their pin naclea, their aisles, their pillars, their curves, their cleavages, their reticula- tiop, their grouping-families of them. towns of them, cities of them and con- tinents of them. Indeed you cannot ap- preciate the meaning of my text unless you know something of the coral-laby- 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 colora. You may find this work of God through the animalcu1es 80 fathoms down or amid the breakers. where the sea dashes the widest and beats the mightiest and bellows the loudest. These sea creatures arc ever busy. Now they build islands fin tho center of the Pacific ocean. Now they lift barriers aronnd the continent. Indian ocean, Red sea and coast of Zan- zibar have specimens of their infinitesi- anal 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 em- ployed tho coral to adorn their helmets and the hilts of swords. In many lands 1t has been used as amulets. The Alge- rian reefs in one year (lS78) had at work amid the coral 311 vessels, with 8.l60 sailors, yielding in profit $565,- 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 con. 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 infidel surgeon, featuring to the medical students in the dissecting room upon human eye which he held In his hand, showing its 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 him." Picking up a coral, feel like crying out, "There Ia a God, and adore him I"
 Nothing % impresses me with the fact that our God laves the beautiful The most beautiful coral of the world never comes to human observation Sun- rises and sunsets he hangs up for na- 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 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 glorions heav- en to please the angelic intelligences. Tam glad that he has planted these gar dens of the deep to please himself. But here and there God allows specimens of submarine glory to be brought up and set before us for sublime contemplation. While l speak these great nations of zoophytes, meandrinas and madrepores with tentacles for trowel, are building just such coral as we find in our text. The diamond may be more rare, the crystal may be more sparkling, the chrsyoprase may be more ablaze, but the coral Is the long, deep, everlasting blush of the sea. Yet Job, who under stood all kinds of precious stones, de- clares that the beauty and value of the coral are nothing compared with our holy religion, and he picks up this cor al1fne formation and looks at it and filings it aside with all the other beau. tiful things he has ever heard of and cries out in ecstasy of admiration for