Connecticut western news., 1901-10-10
{2a!!gllag|8s||E2s jjl;!::!| g
 agAaEGaz MN kS@2lIIl(Q)lT1sstiIG if G4HHHE88H6Zy

4fH6knHEg
 WASHINGTON, Oct. 6.-The charm of an exalted religion Is by pr. Talmage in this discourse illustrated and con- mended; text, Job xviii, IT, "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 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, 'The crystal cannot equal It."
 Now, 1t is not part of my sermonic design to depreciate the crystal, wheth- CT 1t be found in Cornish mine or Harz mountain or Mammoth cave or tinkling among the pendants of the chandeliers
 
 the mountain; 1t is the queen of the cave; 1t is the eardrop of the hills; 1t finds its heaven in the diamond. Among all the pages of natural history there is no page more interesting to me than the page crystallographic. But I 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 all the people and to all the ages, declaring, "The crystal cannot equal it,"
 In the first place, I remark that re- ligion 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 thafany earthly city. There are six styles of specialization and all of them diyinely ordained. Every crys- tai has mathematical precision. Gods geometry reaches through 1t, and 1t is a square or 1t Is rectangle or 1t Is rhomboid or in some way it has a mathematical figure. Now, religion beats that in the simple fact that spir- itual accuracy is more beautiful than material accuracy. Gods attributes are exact, Gods law exact, Gods decrees 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- dences ought to be oblique, nor laterally when they ought to be vertical. Every thing in our 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 happen sos" in our theology. If thought this was a slipshod universe I would be in despair. God Is not an anarchist. Law, order, symmetry, pre- cision, perfect square, perfect rec tangle, perfect rhomboid, perfect circle. The edge of Gods robe of gov ernment never frays out. There are no loose screws In the worlds ma chinery. It did not just happen that Napoleon was attacked with indiges- tion at Borodino so that he became in- competent for 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 fioated ashore, while the ship and the crew that carried the box were never heard of. l believe in a particular providence. l believe Gods geometry may be seen in all our life more beautifully than iu crystallography. Job was right, ''The crystal cannot equal It."
 Religion Transparent.
 Again, I remark that religion is su- perior to the crystal in transparency. We know not when or by whom glass was first discovered. Beads of 1t 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 of it 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 crystal-the crystal In the window to keep out the storm and let in the day, the crystal over the watch. defending its 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- zion. 1t Is transparent religion. You put 1t 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. It Is a trans parent religion. Infdels tell us 1t is opaque. Do you know why they tell us 1t Is opaque? It 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 with the eyes which try to look through 1t. We pray for vision, Lord, that our eyes might be opened! When the eye salve cures our blindness, then we find that religion is transparent.
 It Is transparent Bible. All the
 
 the mountain of the law; Pisgah, the mountain of prospect; Olivet, the noun tain of instructions; Calvary, the noun tain of sacrifice All the rivers of the Bible come out-Hidekel, or the river of paradisaical beauty; Jordan, or the liver of holy chrism; Cherith, or the river of prophetic supply; Nile, or the river of palaces, and the pure river of life from under the throne, clear as crystal. While reading this Bible, aft CT our eyes have been touched by grace, we find 1t all transparent, and the earth rocks, now with crucifixion agony and now with judgment terror, and Christ appears in some of his 256 titles, as far as I can count them-the Bread, the Rock, the Captain, the Commander. the Conqueror, the Star, and on and be- yond any capacity of mine to rehearse.