The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-01-01
SCULPTURE OF THE DEEP.
Rev. DIR. Talmage Talks About
God Amid the Coral Roofs.
The Wonderful Masonry OF tho Minute
Marine Insects LESSONS From tho
Coral Gods Love OF the
beautiful.


Witt Talmage leads his auditors
through "A rare channel of contempla-
ton OF Gods wonders. The text is:
No mention shall be made OF coral. job
xviii, 10,
Why do you say that, inspired drama
list? When you wanted to set forth
the superior value of our religion, you
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 miracle of shape and a transport
OF color to those who have studied it,
is not worthy Of mention in comparison
with our holy religion. mo mention
shnll be made of coral" At st. Johns
bury VT, in Il museum built by the
chief citizen, as | examined II speci-
men on the shelf. first realized what
"a holy Of holics God can build and
has built in the temple of one piece OF
coral. ! do not wonder that Ernst
Hcckel, the great scientist, while in
Ceylon, was so cntranced with the
specimens which some Cingalesc 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 IL above water and after the
polypS, which are its sculptors and
architects, have died and the chief
glorics 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 deprc-
ciatc these white palaces of the deep.
built under Gods direction. He
never changes Ills 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
MP. | charge you that you will please
God and please yourself IL you will go
int1F the minute examination of the
corals-their foundations, their pinna--
Giles, their aisles, their ~pillars, their
curves, their clcavages, their reticula-
ton, their grouping-fa Of them,
towns of them, cities of them
ami 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 animalculeo eighty faith
oms down, or amid the breakers,
where the sea dashcs 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
dian ocean, Red sea and coast OF Fan
zibar have specimens of their in
finitesimal but sublime masonry. At |
the recession OF the tides you mny 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 Porcu-
pine and the Lightning of the British |
expedition can announce them. |
The ancient Gauls employed |
the coral to adorn their helmets |
and the hilts of swords. In many lands |
it has been used as amulcts The AL |
gerian reefs in one year QS73) had ut |
work amid the coral 81 vessels. with |
3, $50 sailors, yielding in profit sos, 900. !
But the secular and worldly value of |
the coral is nothing rs compared with
the moral and religious, as when. in
my text, job employees it in COMPARE
son. do not know how anyone can |
examine coral the size of the thumb
nail without bethinking himself of God
and worshipping Him, and feeling the |
opposite OF the great infidel surgeon,
occurring to the medical students in |
the dissecting room upon n human eve |
which lie held in his hand, showing its |
wonders of architecture and adapta-
ton, when the idea of God flashed |
upon him SO powerfully he cried out to |
the students. Gentlemen, there is a
God; but l hate Him" Picking up n
coral, feel like crying out: There is
a God, aud adore Him."
Nothing SO impresses me with the |
1dcJ LlluJ our uOu loves the beautiful. |
The most beautiful coral of the world |
never comes TO human observation. |
Sunrscs and sunsets lie hangs up for |
nations to look at; lie may green the |
grass and round the dew into pearl, |
and set on fire autumnal foliage to
please mortal sight, but those thou
sands of miles of coral achievement | |
think He has had built for His own de-
light 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. Having garnitured this world
to please the human race, and lifted
glorious Heaven To please the angelic |
intelligences, | am glad that He has |
planted these gardens OF the deep to |
please Himself. But here and there
God allows specimens of subma-
rinc glory to be brought up and
set before us for sublime contempla-
tion. While 1 speak, these great ma
sions Of zoophytes meandrinas, and
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 /
Il. -