Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-10-07
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In this discourse illustrated and COM
mended; text. Job xviii, II, 1.-THE crys-
tai cannot equal it,
Many of the precious stones Of the
Bible have come to prompt recognition,
but for the present l take up the less
valuable crystal. Job. in my text, COM
pares saving wisdom with a specimen
OF topaz. An infidel chemist or miner
alogist 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, 1.-The
crystal cannot equal it,
Now, 1t is not part of my Sermonic
design to depreciate 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; it is the queen of the
cave; it is the eardrop of the hills; it
finds its heaven in the diamond, Among
all the pages of natural history there
Is no page more interesting to BE 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 Ill the people and to all the ages,
GeSihring, ''Tle crystal cannot equal
1t"
In the first place. l remark that re-
ligfon is Superior to tho crystal in ex-
actness. That SHAPED 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 capitalization and all
OF them divinely ordained. Every crys-
tai has mathematical precision. Gods
geometry reaches through it, and it is q
square or it is a rectangle or it is 4
rhomboid or in some way it has a
mathematical figure. Now, religion
beats that in the simple fact that spir-
: 5itual 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 providences never dealing with US
perpendicularly when those provi-
deRces ought to be oblique, nor literally
when they ought to be vertical. Every
thing in cur 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
s'happen SOS" in our theology. If l
-, cIi nod
I would be in despair God is not an
anarchist. Law. order, symmetry, pre-
ciSion, Il perfect square, a perfect rec
tangle q perfect rhomboid, a perfect
circle. The edge Of Gods robe of gov
eminent never trays out. There are
no loose screws in the worlds ma
chinery. 1t did not just happen that
Napoleon was attacked with indiges-
ton at Eoroiino so that be became in
competent fer the day. 1t did not just
happen that John Thomas, the mis-
sionary. on a heather island, waiting
for an outfit and orders for another
missionary tour, received that outfit
and those orders in a box that floated
ashore. while the ship and the crew
that carried the box were never heard
OF. believe in particular providence.
I believe Gods geometry may be seen
In all our life more beautifully than in
crystallography. Job was right, ''The
crystal cannot equal it."
Religion Transparent.
Again, remark that religion is su-
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
Seyerus. Vases of it are brought up
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 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 crystal
over the watch, defending it's 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 trans
parent in crystal as in our holy reli-
gton. 1t is transparent religion. You
put it to your eye. and you see man
his sin. his soul, his destiny. You look
at God. and you see something Of the
grandeur of his character. 1t is a trans
parent religion. Infidels tell US it is
Opaque. Do you know why they tell
us Ii is Opaque? 1t is because they are
blind. THE natural man receiveth not
the things of God because they are
spiritually discerned." There is no
trouble with the crystal the trouble is