Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-10-11
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i'm this discourse illustrated and COM
mended; text. Job xviii, Il. The crys-
tai cannot equal It."
Many OF the precious stones OF the
Bible have come to prompt recognition.
but for the present take up the less
valuable crystal. job in my text, COM
pares saving wisdom with n 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
mt religion and then looks ut the crys-
tai and pronouneeS the former as of
far superior value to the latter, ex-
claiming in the words Of my text, THE
crystal cannot equal it,
Now, it is not part Of my sermonic
design TO depreciate the crystal. wheth-
er 1t bo found ia Cornish mine or Harz
mountain or Mammoth cave or tinkling
among the pendants OF the chandeliers
OF palace The crystal is the star OF
the mountain: Il is the queen OF the
cave: it is the earGycp Of the hills; it
finds its heaven IN the diamond. Among
oil the pages OF natural history there
is no page more Interesting to me than
the page crystal!ograQhic. But l want
TO show YOU that Job was right when.
taking religion III enc hand aud the
crystal in the other, he declared that
the former is OF far more value and
beauty than the latter, recommending
1t to all the people and TO all the ages,
declaring. The crystal cannot equal
st."
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 capitalization and ell
Of them divinely ordained. Every crys.
tai has mathematical precision. Gods
geometry reaches through It, and x is n
square or it Is n rectangle or IL is
rhomboid or in some way II has q
mathematical figure. Now, religion
beats that in the simple fact that spir-
itual accuracy is mere beautiful than
material accuracy. Gods attributes are
exact, Gods law exact, Gods DEGREES
exact, Gods management Of the world
oxact- Never counting wrong, though
be counts the grass blades and the
stars and the sands and tho cycles.
HIS providences never dealing with Us
perpendicularly when those proyi-
dences ought 10 be oblique. nor laterally
when they ought to be vertical. Every
thing in our life arranged without any
possibility Of mistake. Each life q six
headed prism. Born ut the right time.
dying at the right time There are no
eehQnnnn Cnfc'F In
thought this was a sllpshod universe.
1 would be in despair. God is not an
anarchist. Law, order. symmetry, pre-
cision, perfect square, n perfect rec
tangle, n perfect rhomboid, n perfect
circle. The edge OF Gods robe OF gov
ernment 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 ut Borodino SO that he became in
competent for the day. 1t did not lust
happen that John Thomas, the mis-
sionary, ON n heather island, waiting
Tor an outfit and orders for another
missionary tour, received that outfit
ana those orders in box that floated
ashore, while the ship and the crew
that carried the box were never heard
OF. believe In n particular providence.
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, l remark that religion IS su-
perior TO the crystal in transparency.
We know not when or by whom glass
was FIRST discovered. Beads OF IL have
been foand in the tomb OF Alexander
Severus. Vases OF IL are brought I'D
from the ruins OF Herculaneum. There
were female adornments made out OF
it 5000 years ago-those adornments
found now attached TO the mummIes
of'Egypt. 4 great many commentators
believe that my text means glass. What
would we do without the CRYSTALLINE
crystal IN the window 10 keep out the
storm and let In the day, the crystal
over the watch. defending its delicate
machinery, Yet allowing MS 10 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 rs in our holy rel,-
gion. Ii is transparent religion. You
put IL 10 your eye. and you see man
MS sin. his soul, his destiny. You look
at God, and you sec something OF the
grandeur or his character. 1t is trans
parent religion. Infdels tell us IL is
opaque. Do you know why they tell
us 1t Is opaque? 1t is because they are
h1Cd. Tue natural man receiveth not
the things OF God because they are
spiritually dIscerned." There Il no
trouble with the crystal: the trouble Is
with the eyes which try TO look through
II. We pray for vision, Lord. that our
eyes might be opened: When the eve
salve ceres our blindness, then we find |
that religion Is transparent
IL Is transparent Bible. All the |
mountains OF the Bible come out-Sinai. |
the mountain OF the law; Plssah. the |
mountain or prospect; Olivet, the noun |
tain OF Instruction: Calvary. the noun |
tain OF sacrifice. All the rivers OF the
bible come out Hldekel. or the river
81 psrncisaicsi beauty; Jordan, or the
river OF holy chrlsm; Cherith. or the
river or prophetic supply; Nile, or the
river OF palaces, and the pure river of
lie from under the throne. clear no
crystal. While reading this Bible. aft
er our eyes have been touched by grace.
we find it all transparent, and the earth
rocks. now with crucifxion agony and
now with judgment terror. and Christ
appears in some or his $50 titles. as far
as l can count them-the Bread, the
Kock' the Captain. the Commander, the
Conqueror. the Star. and on and be-
!ond any capacity OF mine to rehearse.
Transparent religion
Iiiuminntes and Brightens,
The providence that seemed dark he.
before becomes pellucid. Now you find
God 10 not trying to put you down.
Now you understand why you lost that
child and why You lost your property.
IL was to prepare you for eternal treas.
ures. And why sickness came, 1t being
the precursor Of immortal iuvenasoanca |