The Yale expositor., 1901-10-11

an exalted religion is by DR.. Talmage
in this discourse illustrated and COM
mended; text, Job xviii, II, The cry
tai cannot equal it."
Many of the precious stones or the
Bible have come to prompt recogni-
tion. But for the D esent / take up
the less valuable crystal. Job, in my
text. compares saving wisd m with
specimen of topaz. An infidel chemist
or mineralogst would pronounce the
latter worth more than the former,
but Job makes an intelligent comparl-
son, looks at religion and then looks
at the crystal and proHounces the
former as of far superior value to the
latter. exclaiming, in the words of my
text, "The crystal cannot equal II.
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 OF the
chandeliers of a palace. The crystal
is the star of the mountain; 1t is the
queen of the cave; it is the eardrop or
the hills: it finds its heaven in the
diamond. Among all the pages Oh
natural history there is no page more
interesting to me than the page crys-
photographic. But 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 all the ag S, declaring
THE crystal cannot equal it."
Gods Immutable Laws.
In the first pace. / 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 crystallization
and all of them divinely ordained.
Every crystal has mathematical pre-
cision. Gods geometry reaches through
it, and it Is square, or 1t is rect
angle, or it is q rhomboid, or in some
way it has a mathematical figure. Now
that spiritual accuracy is more beauti-
full 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
the cycles His providences never
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 thought
this was a slipshod universe, would
be in despair. God is not an anarchist.
Law, order. symmetry, precision. a
perfect square, a perfect rectangle, a
perfect rhomboid, 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
attacked with Indigestion at Borodino
so that he became incompetent for the
day. 1t did not just happen that John
Thomas, the missionary, on a heather
island, waiting for an outfit and orders
for another missionary tour. received
that outfit and those orders in a box
that foated ashore, while the ship and
the crew that carried the box were
never heard of. / believe in a particu-
lar providence. l believe Gods geo.
metry may be seen in all our life more
beautifully than in crystallography.
Job was right. "The crystal cannot
equal it."
More Transparent Than Crystal.
Again | remark that religion is SUI
perior 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 of 1t are brought up
from the ruins of Herculaneum There
were female adornments made out o.
it 5000 years ago-those adornments
found now attached to the mummies
tors believe that my text means glass
What would we do without the crys.
tai? The crystal in the window t.
keep out the storm and let in the
day; the crystal over the watch, de
Tending it's 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 hi
can inspect them. oh the triumphs o
the crystals in the celebrated windows
of Rouen and Salisbury! But there Il
nothing so transparent in crystal as il
our holy religion. II is a Transparent
religion. You put 1t to your eye an
you see man-his sin. his soul, hi
destiny. You look at God and yo,
see, something OF the grandeur of hi
character. IL is transparent religion
Infidels tell us IL is Opaque. DO yoV
know why they tell us IL is Opaque
IL is because they are blind. "Th
natural man receiveth not the thing