The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-10-11
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY The NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject The Charm Of the Christian
Religion - it i,irminstos and Bright
ems the Lives Of Men and Women
The Beauty OF Gods Love.
.Copyright. isli. ]

WASHINGTON. ID. C.-The charm az an
exalted religion j. by d.. lalmage IN this
discourse Illustrated and commended;
text, job xviii, Il, The crystal cannot
equal u.
Many Of the precious stones OF the
Bible have come 20 prompt recognition,
bu, for the present | take up the less
valuable crystal job, in my text. com
pares saving wisdom with a specimen OF
topaz. An inhdel chemist or mineralogist
would pronounce the latter worth more
than the former. but job makes an intel.
ligent comparison, looks az religion and
then looks at the crystal aud pronounces
the former as OF far superior ,alue to the
latter, eNclaiming in the words of my
text. The crystal cannot equal II.
Now. it Is not part OF my sermonic de-
sign TO depreciate the crystal, whether II
be found in Cornish mine or Harz Mount.
ain or Mammoth Cave or tinkling among
the pendants OF the chandeliers o; a pal
ace. The crystal l. the star OF the mount
aim IL Is the queen of the cave: II Is the
eardrop of the hills; IL finds its heaven IN
the diamond. Among all the pages OF nat
ural history there Is no page more inter
esting 70 me than the page erystalloSra.
phic. But | want 70 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
10 20 all the people and 20 all the ages,
declaring The crystal cannot equal it
In the irst place | remark that religion
ls superior to the crystal IN exactness
That shapeless mass OF crystal against
which YOU accidentally dashed your foot
Is laid out with more eNactness than any
earthly city. There are six styles of crys.
tallzation and all OF them divinely or.
dained. Every crystal has mathematical
precision. Gods geometry reaches through
u, and II is a rhomboid or IN some way it
has a mathematical figure. Now. religion
beats that IN the simple fact that spiritual
accuracy is more beautiful than material
accuracy. Gods attributes are exact,
Gods Jaw exact, Gods decrees exact, God :
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 provideaces ought TO be ob,ique. nor
latorally when they ought TO be vertical
Everything IN our llte arranged without
any possibility OF mistake Each life a
slX-hoaded prism. Born az the right time,
dying at the right time. There are no
happen sos in our theology. Ii
thought this was a slipshod universe
would be IN despair. God Is not an An
archist Law, order symmetry, precision
a perfect square. perfect rectanglc. a
ItAA'Ah iHNiNbbihf VNiA'NN NiANAfs h'
edge of Gods robe OF government never
trays out There are no loose screws in
the worlds machinery. IL did not Just
happen that Napoleon was attacked with
indigestion at Borodlno SO that he became
incompetent for one day. IL did not Just
happen that John Thomas. the mission.
airy. on a heather island, waiting for an
outfit and orders for another missionary
tour, received that outfit and those or.
ders in a box that hoated ashore. while
the ship and the crew that carried the box
were never heard Of. | believe IN a partic-
uar providence. | 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, / remark that religion is supe-
rior 90 the crystal in transparency We
know not when or by whom glass was first
discovered. Beads OF it have beea found
IN the tomb cf Alexander Severus. Vases
of IL are brought up from the ruins of
Herculaneum. There were female adorn-
ments made out of il 5000 years ago
those adornments found now attached 20
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 90 keep
out the storm and let in the day. the crys.
tai over the watch, defending its delicate
machinery, yet allowing VS. 90 see the hour
the crystal of the telescope. by which the
astronomer brings distant worlds SO near
he can inspect them!
Oh, the trumphs Of the crystals in the
celebrated windows OF Rouen and Sails.
bury! But there is nothing so transpar.
ent in crystal az in our holy religion.
II Is transparent religion. You put 1t
to your eve, and you see man-hls sin,
his soul, his destiny. You look at God,
and you see something OF the grandeur Of
His character. IL Is a transparent reli.
gIon. Infdeis tell Us u is opaque. Do
you know why they tell us it is Opaque I?
II is because they are bind. The nat.
ural man rece.veth not the things of God
because they are spiritually discerned.' -
There Is no trouble with the crystal; the
trouble II with the eyes which try 90 look
through it, We pray for vision, Lord,
that our eyes might be opened! When
the eve salve cures our blindness then we
find that religion Is transparent.
Ii 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
rfce. All the rivers Of the Bible come
out-H dekel. or the river OF paradlsaical
beauty; Jordan, or the river OF holy
chrsm, Cherith, or the river OF prophetic
supply; Nile, or the river OF palaces, and
tnt pure flNtI OF llle from unufI IH'
throne clear as crystal. While reading
this Bible, after our eyes have been
touched by grace, we find II all transpar.
ent, and the earth rocks. now with cru.
cifxion agony and now with judgment ter
roT, and Christ appears in some OF Has 255
titles. az far az j can count them-the
Bread, the Rock. the Captain, the Com.
mander, the Conqueror. the star, and on
and beyond any capacity Of mine 10 re
hparap TThps.arprf Feltgtgu'
The providence tina. seemed dark before
becomes pellucid. Now you find God ~
not trying 90 put YOU down Now you
understand why you lost that child and
why you lost your property. IL was 10
prepare you for eternal treasures. And
wnv sickness came, ~ being the precursor
OF immortal Iuyenescence. And now you
understand why they lied about you and
tried 20 drive you hither and thither. II
was % put you in the glorious company
OF such men az Iznatus who when he
went out % be destroyed by the lions said
II am the wheat, and the teeth Oi the
wild beasts must first grind me before ]
can become pure bread for Jesus Christ -
or the company OF such men as that an.
oient Christian martyr who, standing
in the midst % the amphitheatre wait.
ing for the lions 20 come out oi their cave
and destroy him, and the people IN the
galleries ieering and shouting, The
lions" replied Let them come on and
then. stopping down toward the cave
where the Wild beasts were roaring % get
Z, again cred, Let them come on"
Al. yes. 10 j. persecution % put you in
glorious company. and. while there are
many things that you viii have % post
pone % the future world for explanation,
] tell you that u - the whole tendency
of your religion 90 unravel and explain
and interpret and illumine and irradiate.
JOB was right. II u glorious transpar-
ency. the crystal cannot equal IT,"
va~vuvm .yarv that FnIfgIru surra .