The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1897-12-31
FOUNDED UPON CORAL
A Picturesque Discourse BY Rev. 7.
Dewitt Talmage, DO.
The Eloquent freaeher Talks of the Won
drous Work OF God In Building Gardens
beneath the Water = Wonderful
Ptan OF Creation That IL
Ever Gong On.

DR.. Talmage's text sunday was dob
xviii. Is: No mention shall be made
OF coral
Why do you say that, inspired dram
atists When you wanted 10 set forth /
the surerior value Of our religion you |
tossed aside the onyx, which is used 1
for making exquisite canoes, and the
sapphire, siv-blue, and the topaz OF
rhombic PRISM. and the ruby OF frozen I
blood, ami here you say that the coral,
which IS 4 miracle Of shape and trans
port OF color 10 those who have |
studied il, is not worthy OF |
mention in comparison with our |
holy religion. mo mention shall |
be made OF coral At St JOnesbury, !
VT. in a museum built by the chief |
citizen, rs / exam ned specimen on |
ths shelf, first realized what holy OF !
holies God can build ami has built in /
the temple Of one Tieee OF coral / do |
not wonder that Erlst IIeckel, the |
great scientist. while in Ceylon, was 50
entranced with the 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, that he might know
more Of the coral, the beauty Of which
he indicates can not even be guessed by
those who have only seen it above
water, and after the polyps, which
are its sculptors and architects, have
died and chief glories of these sub
marine flowers have expire. Job in
my text, did not mean to depreciate
this divine sculpture in the coral reefs
along the sea coast 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 60 on and
up. 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
curves. their reticulation, their group
ing-families of them, towns OF them,
cities of them, and continents Of them
Indeed, you can not appreciate the
meaning of my text unless you know
something Of the coral Labyrinthian,
stellar, columnar, floral, dented like
shields from battle, spotted like leop-
ards, embroidered like lace, hung like
upholstery twilight and auroras and
sunbursts of beauty! From deep Grim
son to milk-white are its colors. You
may find this work of God through the
animalcules so fathoms down, or amid
the breakers, where the sea dashes the
widest, and beats the mightiest, and
bellows the loudest These sea crea-
lures are very busy. Now they
build islands in the center of
the Pacific ocean. Now they lift
barriers around the continent In
dian ocean, Red sea and coast OF
Zanzibar have specimens Of their
infinitesimal but sublime masonry. At
the recession 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 expe-
dition can announce them. The ancient
Gauls employed the coral TO adorn their
helmets and the hits of swords In
many lands it has been used as amulets
The Algerian reefs in one year ISIS
had at work amid the coral 81 yes
sells with 3.15J sailors, yielding in
profit S565, 900 But the secular ant
worldly value OF the coral is nothing
as compared with the moral and relig
ious, as when, in my text, Job EN-
ploys it in comparison do not know
how any one can examine coral tn
size of the thumb nail without be
thinking himself of God and worship
ing Him. and feeling the opposite o
the great infidel surgeon, lecturing Z
the medical students in the dlssectinl
room upon a human eye which he he'll
in his hand, showing the wonders o
architecture and adaptation, when tn
idea Of God flashed upon him so pow
erfully he cried out TO the students
'Gentlemen, there is a God; but hat
him" Picking up a coral, feel lik
crying out: There is God, and
adore Him.
Nothing so impresses me with th
fact that our God loves the beautiful
The most beautiful coral Of the worl
never comes to human observation
Sunrises and sunsets He hangs up fc
nations TO look at; He may green tn
grass. and round the dew into pear
and set on fire autumnal foliage
please mortal sight, but those thoI
sands of miles OF coral achievemer
/ think He has built for His ow
delight In those galleries He alor
can walk. The music Of thoi
keys, played on by the fingers I
the waves, He alone can hea
The snow of that white and the bloc
of that crimson He alone can sec. Ha
ing garnitured this world to please Il
human race, and lifted q glorioI
Heaven to please the angelic INTEL
Rences | am glad that He has plant
these gardens Of the deep TO plea
Himself. But here and there God q
lows specimens Of submarine glory
be brought up and set before us Il
sublime contemplation. While spea
these great nations Of zooPhyte
meandrinas, and madrapores wi
tentacles for trowel, are bull
ing Just such coral as we find in o
tart The diamond may be more RAJ
the crystal may be more sparklin
the chrysoprase may be more ablaz
but the coral is the long, deep, eve
lasting blush Of the sea Yet Job, W
understood all kinds Of precious ston'
declares that the beauty and value
the coral are nothing compared wi
our holy religion, and he picks up Il
coralline formation and looks at 1t, a
filings II aside with all the other bea
tiful things he has ever heard OF, a
cries out in ecstasy of admiration
the superior qualities Of our religiC
mo mention shall be made Of coral.
Take my hand, and we will va
through this bower Of the sea, whilt
show you that even exquisite coral
not worthy of being compared wi
the richer Jewels of Christian so
The first thing that strikes me in lo'
ing al the coral is its long-continr
reorganization. II is not turned up i
Cotopaxi, but il is an outbutting q
an outbranching Of ages. In Pc
nesia there are reefs hundreds
feet deeps and 1000 miles lol
Who built these reefs, these islam