Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1901-10-11

In this discourse illustrated and com
mended; text. Job xviii. II, The cry
tai cannot equal it,
Many of the precious sones OF the
Bible have come to prompt recoghl-
ton. But for the p esent l take up
the less valuable crystal. Job, in my
text, compares saving wisdom with
specimen of topaz. An infidel chemist
or mineralogst would pronounce the
latter worth more than the former,
but Job makes an intelligent compar-
son. looks at religion and then looks
at the crystal and pronounees the
former as of far superior value to the
latter, exclaiming, in the words of my
text. "The crystal cannot equal It.
Now. it is not a part of my sermonic
design to depreciate the crystal
whether it be found in Cornish mine
or Harz mountain or Mammoth cave
or tinkling among the pendants oil the
chandeliers of a palace. The crystal
ia the star Of the mountain; it is the
queen of the cave; it is the eardrCp OF
the hills: ii finds its heaven IN the
diamond. Among all the pages Vi
natural history there is no page more
interesting to me than the page crys-
tallographic. But l want to show you
that job was right when, taking re-
ligion in one hand and the crystal IN
the Others. he declared that the for
mer is of far more value and beauty
than the latter, recommending it TO all
people and to al the ag S, declaring
1.-The crystal cannot equal 1t.
Gods Immutable Laws.
In the first Place, | remark that re-
iigion 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 specialization
and all of them divinely ordained.
Every crystal has mathematical pre-
cision. Gods geometry reaches through
1t, and it is a square, or 1t is rect
angle or it is a rhomDoid. or in some
way it has mathematical figure. NOW
religion beats that in the simple fact
that spiritual accuracy is more beauti-
ful than material accuracy. Gods at
tributes are exact, Gods laws 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
dealing with us perpendicularly when
those provinces ought to be oblique,
nor laterally when they ought to be
vertical. Everything in our life ar
ranged without any possibility Of mis-
take 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 l thought
this was a slipshod universe, l would
be in despair. God is not an anarchist.
Law, order. symmetry, precision. a
perfect square, perfect rectangle, a
perfect rhOm bold, a perfect circle. The
edge of Gods robe of government new
er trays out. There are no loose
screws in the worlds machinery. 1t
did not just happen that Napoleon was
attacke with indigestion at Borodino
so that he became incompetent for the
day. 1t did not just happen that John
Thomas. the missionary. on heather
island waiting for an outfit and orders
for another missionary tour, received
that outfit and those orde,s in a box
that fioated ashore, while the ship and
the crew that carried the box were
never heard Of / believe in a particu-
lar providence. | believe Gods geo.
metry may be seen in all our life more
beautifully than in crystallography
Job was right. THE crystal cannot
equal ii"
More Transparent Than Crystal.
Again I remark that religion is SUI
periOr TO the crystal in ansparency
We know not when or by whom glass
was first discovered. Beads of it have
been found in the tomb of Alexander
Severus. Vases of it are brought ut
from the ruins of Herculaneum There
were female adOrnments made out Of
1t 5000 years agO-those adOrnments
found now attached to the mummies
OF Egypt. A great many commenta-
tors believe that my text means glass
What would We do without the crys-
tai? The crystal in the window tc
keep out the storm and let i'm the
day; the crystal over the watch. de
Tending its de icate machinery yet al
lowing us to see the hour; the crysta
OF the telescope, by which the astrono
mer brings distant worlds so near h,
can inspect them. Oh the triumphs O.
the crystals in the celebrated window,
OF Rouen and Salisbury! But there i:
nothing so tranSpar MT in crystal as in
our holy religion. 1t is a TRANSPARENT
religion. You put 1t to your eye anC
you see man-his sin, his soul. hi.
destiny You look at God and yo,
see something OF the grandeur OF hi!
character. 1t is transparent religion
1nfidels tell us it Is Opaque Do yor
know why they tell us it is OPAQUE
1t is because they are blind. 9TH,
natural man receiveth not the thing.
OF God because they are SPIRITUAL,
discerned." There is no trouble will
the crystal. The trouble is with tn,
eyes which try to look through it. w,
pray for vision. Lord. that our eye
might be opened! When the eye salv,
cures our blindness. then We find tina
religion is transparent
Preparation for Eternal Treasures.
The providence that was darl
before becomes pellucid. Now yol