Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-10-12

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WASHINGTON. Oct. 6.-The charm o
IN exalted religion is by DR.. Taimag
in ,his discourse illustrated and com
menGed; text Job xviii, II, THE crys
p tai cannot equal It,"
Many Of The precious stones Of tn,
Bible have come TO prompt recognition
but for the present take up the les.
, valuable crystal. Job, in my text, com
pares saylrg wisdom with specimen
j, Of topaz. IN infdel chemist or miner
G alcglst would pronounce the latter
worth more than the former, but job
makes an intelligent comparison, looks
at religion and then looks at the crys-
. tai and pronOunces the former as of
far superior value to the latter. ex-
claiming in the words Of my text, "The
/, crystal cannot equal It,"
Now. II is not part Of my sermonic
design to dcpreciate the crystal, wheth-
er 1t be found in Cornish mine or Harz
mountain or Mammoth cave or tinkling
among the pendants Of the chandeliers
of a palace. The crystal is the star Of
the mountain; 1t is the queen Of the
cave; 1t Is the eardrop of the hills; 1t
finds Its heaven In the diamond Among
all the pages Of natural history there
is no page more interesting to me than
the page crystallographic. But want
to show you that Job was right when,
taking religion in one hand and the
crystal In the other, he declared that
the former Is of far more value and
beauty than the latter. recommending
1t to all the people and to all the ages,
declaring, "The crystal cannot equal
/ IT,"
In the first place, | remark that re-
ligion Is superior to the crystal In ex-
actness. That shapeless mass of crys-
tai against which you accidentally
dashed your foot is laid out with more
exactness than any earthly city. There |
are six styles Of crystallization and all |
Of them diyinely ordained. Every crys.
tai has mathematical precision. Gods
geometry reaches through It, and it is a i
square or 1t Is rectangle or 1t is q
rhomboid or In some way 1t has a
mathematical figure. Now, religion
beats that in the simple fact that spr-
itual accuracy Is more beautiful than
material accuracy. Gods attributes are
exact, Gods law exact. Gods DEGREES
exact, Gods management of the world
exact. Never counting wrong though
he counts the grass blades and the
stars and the sands and the cycles.
His proyidences never dealing with us
perpendlcularly when those provi-
dences ought to be oblique, nor literally
when they ought to be vertical. Every
thing in our life arranged without any
possibility Of mistake. Each life a six
headed prism. Born at the right time,
dying at the right time. There are no
happen SOS" in our theology. If 1
thought this was a slipshod universe.
would be In despair. God Is not an
anarchist. Law, order. symmetry, pre-
clslon, perfect square, perfect rec
tangle, n perfect rhombOld, a perfect S
circle. The edge Of Gods robe Of gov 6
ernment never trays out. There are S
40 loose screws In the worlds ma l
,hinery. 1t did not just happen that [
Napoleon was attacked with indiges- t
ion at Borodlno so that he became in I
for the day. 1t did not just c
happen that John Thomas, the mis-
ionary, on heather island, waiting o
or an outfit and orders for another c
tour, received that outfit Il
nd those orders In box that doated a
shore, while the ship and the crew e
hat carried the box were never heard
(. believe in particular providence. n
believe Gods geometry may be seen lie
\ all our life more beautifully than In ST
rystallography. Job was right, The 81
rystal cannot equal it." IT
Religion Transparent. es
Again, | remark that religion Is su- IN
erior to the crystal in transparency. I'll
Ve know not when or by whom glass u
as first discovered Beads of it have 81
cen found in the tomb of Alexander W
everus. Vases Of 1t are brought up ae
ON the ruins Of Herculaneum. There IL
ere female adornments made out Of nc
5000 years ago-those adornments IL
'und now attached to the mummies 70
Egypt. A great many commentators IN
,lieve that my text means glass. What ihI
ould we do without the crystalline th
yStal in the window to keep out the lie
orm and let in the day. the crystal w
bo 4nI toe ;.o Ill: | SD
achnery. yet allowing us to see the an
'ur; the crystal Of the telescope, by lei
hich the astronomer brings distant WI
orlds so near he can inspect them? no
]. the triumphs Of the crystals in the yo
lebrated windows Of Rouen and Sails lhe
ry. But there is nothing so trans yo'
rent In crystal as in our holy reli- iih
N. 1t is transparent religion. You TOT
I II to your eye. and you see man
sin. his soul. his destiny You look
Cod and you see something Of the A
indPur Of his character 1t Is trans tai
rent religion. ln6dels tell us II Is mo
lque. no you Know why they tell nat
il Is opaune? II is because they are cite
nd. THE natural man receiveth not cry
things OF I'D because they are Inc
rituaiiy dlsccrned.' There is no son
uble with the crystal; the trouble Is hay
h the eyes which try to look through tha
We pray for vision. Lord that our for
s might br opened, When the eye wor
We cures Our blindness, then we find Won
t religion H. transparent. thel
is a transparent Bible. All the ton
untalns Of the Bible come out-Sinai, as ,
mountain of the law; Pisgah, the com
nntain OF prospect; Olivet. the noun 9th
J Of instruction.: Calvary. the noun NAL
! Of sacrifice All the rivers Of the "N
lie come Out-Hldekel. or the river lew
beauty; Jordan. or the NAL
r of noiy chrism; Cherith, or the hav
r Of prophetic supply; Nile, or the of b
r of palaces, and the pure river of ado