St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-01-29
SCULPTURE OF THEDEEP..
Rev. DR.. Talmage Talks About
God Amid the Coral Reefs.
The Wonderful Masonry OF the Minute
Marine Insects-LessOns From tho
Coral-GOd's Love OF the
Beautiful.

Coral-God's Love OF the
/ Beautiful.
In the following sermon Rev. I. De
| Witt Talmage leads his auditor
through rare channel OF contempla
ton of Gods wonders. The text is:
No mention shall be made OF corA.-Jol
| xviii. IS
Why do you say that, inspired drame'
fist? When you wanted to set fortf
the superior value of our religion, yor
tossed aside the onyx, which is USED
for making exquisite canoes, and the
sapphire, sky blue, and topaz of rhom
bic prism, and the ruby of frozen blood
and here you say that the coral, which
is a miracle 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 Johns
bury, VT, In a museum built by the
chief citizen, rs / examined speci
men on the shelf, first realized what
a holy of holes God can build and
has built in the temple of one piece OF
coral. l do not wonder that Ernst
Heckel, the great scientist, while in
Ceylon, was SO 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. 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 the chief
glories of these submarine flowers
have expired. Job. in my text, did not
mean to deprecate this divine sculp-
ture in the coral reefs along the sea
coasts. No one can afford to depre-
ciate 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. / charge you that you will please
God and please yourself if you will go
into the minute examination of the
corals-their foundations. their pima
cles, their aisles, their pillars, their
curves, their cleavages, their reticula-
ton, their grouping-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, CO.
lumnar, floral, denied like shields from
battle. spotted like leopards, embroi-
dered like lace. hung like upholstery
twilight and auroras and sun
bursts of beauty. From deep
crimson to milk-white are its
colors. You may find this work of God
through the animalculea eighty faith
oms down, or 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. In
Olau OCCdus XAOu SCA 0uu CO0SC VI z/6u-
zibar have specimens of their in
but sublime masonry. At
the recession OF the tides you may in
some places see the top of their Alpine
while elsewhere nothing
but the deep-sea soundings from the
decks of the Challenger. the Porcu-
pine and the Lightning of the British
expedition can announce them.
The ancient Ganls employed
the coral to adorn their helmets
and the hilts of swords. In many lands
it has been used as amulets. The Al
yerian reefs in one year QS7S) had at
work amid the coral Si1 vessels. with
}, $50 sailors, yielding in profit S565, 200.
But the secular and worldly value of
he coral is nothing as compared with
he moral and religious, as when, in
ny text, Job employees it in COMPARE
ION. do not know how anyone can
examine a coral the size of the thumb
,ail without bethinking himself of GOD
md worshipping Him. and feeling the
opposite of the great infidel surgeon.
to the medical students in
he dissecting room upon human eye
which he held in his hand, showing its
of architecture and adapta-
ion. when the idea of God flashed
,pon him SO powerfully he cried out to
he students. Gentlemen. there is a
Tod; but hate Him." Picking up q
oral, 1 feel like crying out: There is
J God. and adore Him."
Nothing SO impresses me with the |
act that our God loves the beautiful. |
The most beautiful coral of the world |
lever comes to human observation. |
and sunsets He hangs up for |
lations to look at: He may green the
,rass, and round the dew into pearl,
nd set on fire autumnal foliage to |
lease mortal sight. but those thou
ands of miles of coral achievement I |
hink He has had built for His own de-
ight. In those galleries He alone can |
valk. The music of those keys played |
n by the fingers of the wave He only |
an hear. The snow OF that white aud |
he bloom of that crimson He alone |
an see. Having garnitured this world |
o please the human race, and lifted a
lorious Heaven to please the angelic
ntelligences, l am glad that He has
lanted these gardens of the deep to
lease Himself. But here and there
iod allows specimens of subma-
inc glory to be brought up and
ct before us for sublime contempla-
ion. While l speak, these great ma
ions of zoophytes. meandrinas. and
with tentacles for trowel,
re building just such coral as we find
, our text The diamond may be
lore rare, the crystal may be more
parking, the chrysoprase may be
lore ablaze, but the coral is the long,
eep. everlasting blush of the sea. Yet
oh, who UNDERSTOOD all kinds of pre-
ious stones. declares that the beauty
nd value of the coral are nothing COM
AIRED with our holy religion. and he
iclxs up this coralline formation and
,oks at it. and filings it aside with al
he other beautiful things he has ever
card OF, and cries out in ecstacy Of
dmiration for the superior gu alities
I our religion: NO mention shall be
lade of coral.