The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-10-16
RELIGION EXALTED.
Dr.. Talnage Draws a Sermon f-cn
the Words Of JOB.
oiscourse on she Latter's Co1aparisoH
CT Eelision ao6 the Beautiful
Czystal-Power of the
Gospel.
rcopyr!sht. 1s01, by Louis klopsch, n. u
Washington, Oct. 6

by DR.. Talmage IL this discourse Il
Illustrated and commended; text, JOB.
es:17: The crystal cannot equal IL
Many of the precious stones OF 'he
Bible have come TO prompt rec09Hi>40n'
But for the present ! take up the less
valuable crystal. job, III my tsA.'
compares saving wisdom with sPecl-
men OF topaz. An l1hdeI chemist or
nineraIog;st would pronounce the lat
ter worth more than the former, but
Job makes an intelligent comparison,
looks at religion and then looks al
the crystal and pronounces the former
as Of far superior value TO the latter,
e1claining, in the words OF my text:
1.-The crystal cannot equal it"
Now, ii is not part OF my sernonlc
design to depreciate the crystal,
whether it be found in Cornish mine
or Earz mountain or Mammoth cave
or tinkIing among the pendants OF the
chandeliers of a palace. The crystal
is the star of the mountain; II is the
queen Of the cave; it is the earorop OF
the hills; it finds its heaven in the ola'
mond. Among all the pages OF na'
tural history there is no page more In
teresting to me than the page crystal
lograpbic. But 7 want to show you
that Job was right when, taking re-
Ggion 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 Il to all the
people and to al ages, declaring: The
crystal cannot equal it."
In the first place, remark that re-
1igion is superior to the crystal II ex-
actness. That shapeless mass Of crEs-
tai against which you accidentally
dashed your foot IS laid out with more
eIaotness than any earthly city.
There are six styles Of crysta-lizat:on
and all Of them divinely ordained.
Every -vstal has mathematical pre-
cisioI. Gods geometry reaches
through it, and It is square, or it is
. rectangle, or its rdoUbold, or in
some way it has natbena teal figure.
Now, religion beats that in the simple
fact that spiritual accuracy is more
beautiful than material accuracy.
Gods attributes are exact, Gods law
exact, Gods DEGREES exact, GODS man
agsnent 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 perpendicular
u when those pro7idences ought to be
obEque, nor laterly when they ought
80 be vertical. Everything in our life
arranged without any possibility OF
mistake. Each life six-headed prism.
Born at the right time; dying at the
right time. There are no happen SOS"
in our theology. III thought this was
. slipshod universe, would be IN de-
spair. God is not an anarchist. Law,
order, symmetry, precision, perfect
square, 9 perfect rectangle, a perfect
rhoRbold, perfect circle. The edge
OF Gods robe never trays out. There
are no loose screws in the worlds ma
chinery. It did not just happen that
Napoleon was attacked with indiges-
ton at Borodino SO that he became IL
competent for the day. Il did not just
Happen that John Thomas, the mission
sry, on heather island, waiting for
an outfit and orders for another mis-
sionary tour, received that outfit and
those orders in box that doateo
ashore, while the ship and the crew
that carried the box were never heard
Of. I believe in particular provi-
dence. I believe Coos geometry may
Be seen in all our life more beautifully
than in crystallog-aphy. Job was
right. The crystal cannot equal it."
Again remark that religion is supe-
Fior 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
Se7erus. Vases Of It are brought up
from the ruins Of Herculaneun. There
were female adernnents made out of
IL 5000 years ago-tdoss adornments
found now attached to the nunuies
OF Egypt. A great many conner
taters 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 tel
escope, by which the astronomer
brings distant worlds SO near he can in
speet then. Oh, the triunpbs OF the
crystals in the celebrated windows Of
Reuen and Salisbury! But there is
nothing so transparent in q crystal as
in our holy religion. It is trans
parent region. You put it to your eye
and you see nao-his sin, his soul,
his destiny. You look at God and you
see something OF the grandeur Of His
character. It is transparent reli-
gion. In6dels tell US it is opaque. Do
you know why they tell Us tits opaque?
Is is because they are blind. The
natural man receiveth not the things of
God, because they are spiritually dis
concerned" There is no trouble with
the crystal. The trouble is with the
eyes which try to look through it.
We pray for vision. Lord, that our
eyes might be opened! When the eye
sal7e cures our blindness, then we ind
that religion is transparent.
The providence that seemed dark
before becomes Pellucid. Now you
Snd God is not trying to put you
down. Now you understand why you
sost that child and why you lost your
property. It was to prepare you for
steroal treasures. And why sickness
came, it being the precursor OF i'm
mortal juYenescence. And now you