The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-10-23
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: The Charm of tho Christian
Religion - It lllrminates and Bright
ems the Lives of Men and Women
The Beauty of Gods Love.
rCopyright, 1901. !

Religion - It llluminates and Bright
ems the Lives of Men and Womei
The Beauty of Gods Love.
tCopyright, 1sol.l
WASHINGTON, d. C-The charm of an
exalted religion is by Dr.. Talmage in TINS
discourse illustrated and commended;
text. Job xviii, II, "The crystal cannot
equal It" :,
Many of the precious stones Of the
Bible have come to prompt recognition
bu, for the present I take up the less
valuable crystal. Job, in my text, com;
pa-es saving wisdom with specimen OF
topaz. An infdel chemist or minera!ogls'
would pronounce the latter worth more
than the former, but Job makes an intel:
iisent comparison, looks at religion and
then looks at the crystal and rconounces
the former as of far superior taiue to the
latter, exclaiming in the words of my
text, "The crystal cannot equal it."
Now, it is not part of my sermonlc de.
sign to depreciate the crystal. whether 1t
be found in Cornish mine or Harz Mount
ain or Mammoth Cave or tinkling. among
the pendants OF the chandeliers of pal
ace. The crystal is the star OF the mount
ain; it is the queen of the cave. 1t IS the
eardrop of the hills; it finds its heaven in
the diamond. Among all the pages of nat
ural history there is no page more inter
esting to me than the page crystallogra-
phic. But want to show you that JOB
was right when, taking religion IN one
hand and the crystal in the other, he de-
clared that the former is of far more value
and beauty than the latter, recommending
it to all the people and to all the ages
declaring, "The crystal cannot equal It,.
In the first place remark that religion
is superior to the crystal IN exactness.
That shapeless mass of crystal against
which you accidentally dashed your foot
is laid out with more exactness than any
earthly city. There are six styles. of crys-
tallization and all of them divinely or,
dained. Every crystal has mathematical
precision. Gods geometry reaches through
It, and it is a rhomboid or in some way 1t
has mathematical figure. Now, religion
beats that in the simple fact that spiritual
accuracy is more beautiful than material
accuracy. Gods attributes are eXaSt,
Gods law exact, Gods DEGREES exact, God 8
management of the world exact. Never
counting wrong, though He counts the
grass blades and the stars and the sands
and the cycles. His providence never
dealing with us perpendicularly when
those providences ought to be oblique, nor
laterally when they ought to be vertical.
EVERYTHING in our life arranged without
any possibility of mistake. Each life a
siy-headed prism. Born at the right time,
dying at the right time. There are no
"happen SOS" in our. theology: II |
thought this was slipshod Universe L
would be in despair. God is not an An
archist. Law, order, symmetry, precision,
a perfect square, perfect rectangle.
perfect rhomboid, a perfect circle. The
edge Of Gods robe OF government never
trays out. There are no loose screws in
the worlds machinery. 1t did not just
happen that Napoleon was attacked with
indigestion at Borodino so that he became
incompetent for one day. 1t did not Just
happen that John Thomas, the mission.
ary, on a heathen island, waiting for an
outfit and orders for another missionary
tour, received that outfit and those or
ders in a box that floated ashore, while
the ship and the crew that carried the box
were never heard Of. I believe in partic-
ular providence I believe Gods geometry
may be seen in all our life more beauti-
fully than in crystallography. JOB was
right, "The crystal cannot equal it."
Again, I remark that religion is supe-
rior to the crystal In transparency. We
know not when or by whom glass was first
discovered. Beads of it have been found
in the tomb Of Alexander Severus. Vases
Herculareum. There were female adorn-
ments made out of it 5000 years ago
those adornments found now attached to
the mummies of Egypt. A great many
commentators believe that my text means
glass. What would we do without the
Crystalline crystal in the window to keep
out the storm and let in the day, the crys-
tai over the watch, defending its delicate
machinery, yet allowing US to see the hour;
the crystal of the telescope, by which the
astronomer brings distant worlds so near
he can inspect them?
Oh, the triumphs OF the crystals in the
celebrated windows Of Rouen and Sails
bury! But there is nothing so transpar-
ent in crystal as in our holy religi ion.
It is transparent religion. You put 1t
to your eye, and you see nan-hls sin,
his soul, his destiny. You look at God:
and you see something of the grandeur OF
His character. 1t is a transparent reli-
gion. Inidels tell us it is Opaque. Do
you know why they tell us it is Opaque?
It is because they are bind. The nat
ural man receiveth not the things of God
because they are spiritually discerned." ;"
There is no trouble with the crystal; the
trouble is with the eyes which try to look
that our eyes might be opened! When
the eve salve cures our blindness then we
find that religion is transparent.
1t is. a transparent Bible. All the mount
aims Of the Bible come out-Sinai, the
mountain of the law; Pisgah, the mount.
ain of prospect; Olivet, the mountain of
instruction; Calvary, the mountain OF sac
rifce. All the rivers of the Bible come
out-Hidekel, or the river of paradisaical
beauty; Jordan, or the river OF holy
chrism; Cherith, or the river of prophetic
supply; Nile, or the river Of palaces, and
the pure river of life from under the
81 eto1
this Bible, after our eyes have been
touched by grace, we ind it all transpar-
ent, and the earth rocks, now with cru
cifxion agony and now with judgment ter
Tor, and Christ appears in some of His 256
titles. as far as I can count them-the
Bread, the Rock, the Captain, the Com
mander, the Conqueror, the Star, and on
and beyond any capacity Of mine to re-
hearse. Transparent religion!
The providence that seemed dark before
becomes pellucid. Now you find God is
not trying to put You down. Now you
understand why you lost that child and
why you lost your property. 1t was to
prepare you for eternal treasures. And
wny sickness came, it being the precursor
of immortal juvenescence. And now you
understand why they lied about you and
tried to drive you hither and thither. 1t
was to put you in the glorious company
of such men as 1gnatius, who when he
went out to be destroyed by the lions said,
'I am the wheat, and the teeth of the
wild beasts must first grind me before l
can become pure bread for Jesus Christ, "
or the company OF such men as chat an
cient Christian martyr" who, standing
in the midst of the amphitheatre wait
ing for the lions to come out OF their cave
and destroy him, and the people in the
galleries jeering and shouting, -, "The
lions" replied 'Let them come on" and
then, stopping down toward the cave
where the wild beasts were roaring to get
t, again cried, LET them come on
Ah, yes, it is persecution to put you in
cla,inns carnnan1. and while there are