Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-10-09

lcopyrIght. Louis Klopseh. laol.l

AnrO I'LL cudFm Oh Au tAa}iSu ANHs'0-
is by DIR. Talmage in this discourse
u illustrated and commended; text,
Job xxviii II. The crystal cannot equal
it,
Many OF the precious stones of the BIZ
bic have come to prompt recognition. But
for the present l take up the less valu-
able crystal. Job in my text, compares
saving wisdom with a specimen of topaz.
An infidel chemist or minera logist would
pronounce the latter worth more than the
former, but Job makes an intelligent COM
parison, looks at religion and then looks
at the crystal 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, 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: it is the queen of the cave;
it is the eardrop of the hills; it finds It's
heaven in the diamond. Among all the
pages of natural history there is no page
more interesting to me than the page
crystallographic. Il l want TO show
you that Job was right when, taking rellg-
ion in one hand and the crystal in the
other, he declared that the former is OF
far more value and beauty than the lat
ter, recommending it to all the people and
to all the ages. declaring The crystal
cannot equal it.
In the first place. / remark that refig-
ion superior to the crystal in exact
ness. That shapeless mass of crystal
against which You accidentally dashed
your foot is laid out with more exactness
than any earthly city. There are SIX
styles of specialization and all of them
sliyinely ordained. Every crystal has
mathematical precision. Gods geometry
reaches through it, and it is a square, or
it is 'ectangle, or it is rhomboid, or IN
some way it has a mathematical Inquire.
Now, religion beats that in the simple
fact that spiritual accuracy is more beau
tiful than material accuracy. Gods at
tributes 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 cy-
cles His providences never dealing with
us perpendicularly when those provi-
deDees 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 six
headed prism. Born at the right time;
dying 1T the right time. There are no
happen SOS" in our theology. If
thought this was slipshod universe, l
would be in despair. God is not an an
archist Law, order, symmetry, precision.
a perfect square, perfect rectangle,
perfect rhomboid a perfect circle. The
edge of Gods robe of government never
trays out. There are no loose screws in
the worlds machinery. 1t did not just
happen that Napoleon was attacked with
indigestion at Borodno so that he be-
came incompetent 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 mission
airy tour, received that outfit and those
ORDERS in "a box that hoated ashore, while
the ship and the crew that carried the
box were never heard of. believe in
j particular providence. | believe Gods
I geometry may be seen in all our life more
h beautifully than in crystallography. Job
oswas right. 1.-THE crystal cannot equal it.
Wore Transparent tran Cryst-,'.
> 9 Again remark that religion is superior
tn o the crystal in transparency. We know
!, hot when or by whom glass was first dis
~ .cvered Beads of it have been found in
IN ,e tomb of Alexander Severus. Vases
WIZ it are brought up from the ruins of
70 Iercuaneum. There were female aorn-
~ na.nts made out 1f it 5000 years ago
those adornments found now attached to
the mummies of EgyIt. \ 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 t.le watch, defending its
delicate machi~ Try yet allowing us 10 see
the hour; the crystal of the telescope, by
which tife astronomer brings distant
worlds so near he can inspect them Oh.
the triumphs of the crystals in the cee-
brated windows of Rouen and Salisbury!
Bat there is nothing so transparent in
crystal as in our holy religion. 1t is a
transparent religion. You put it to your
eye and you see tnan--his sin, his soul
his destiny You look at God and you
see something of the grandeur of his
character. 1t is transparent religion.
Intidels tell US it is Opaque. DO you know
why they tell us it is opaque? 1t il be-
cause they are blind. The natural man
reseiyeth not the things of God Tee ause
thSy are spiritually discerned." There
IS no trouble with the crystal. The rou-
bls is with the eyes which try TO ,ook
through it. 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.
/. Is transparent Bible All the
moantains of the Bible come Out-Sinai.
tie mountain of the law; Pisgah, the
mountain OF prospect; Olyet, the noun
,ain of instruction; Calvary, the noun
tain of sacrifice All the rivers of the
Bible come out-Hidekel, or the river of
paradisaical beauty; Jordan, or. the river
Of holy chrism: Cherith. or the liver 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. after our eyes have
been touched by grace, we find it all
transparent. and the earth rocks, now
with crucifixion agony and now with
Judgment terror, and Christ appears in
some Of his 25G titles, as far as can
count them-the Bread, the Rock, the
Captain. the Commander. the Conqueror,
the Star. and on and beyond any capacity
Of mine to rehearse. Transparent religion
PREP ration r Eternal Treasure.
The providence that seemed dark be
fore becomes pellucid. Now you find
God IS not trying to put you down Now