The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-10-10
TALMAGE's SERMON.
THE CHARM OF EXALTED RELIGION
THE SUBJECT.
From job XXvrII-"The Crystal Cannot
Equal lt"-Preparation for Eternal
treasures Should Begin Early in the
Material World-open the Door to
Christ

copyright, 1901. by Louis Klopsch, NJ VI
washington, Oct. 6.-Tne charm of
an exalted religion is by DR.. Talmage
In this discourse illustrated and COM
mended; text, Job xviii, II, THE cry
tai cannot equal it."
Many of the precious stones of the
Blble have come to prompt recogni
ton. But for the present / take up
the less valuable crystal. Job, in my
text, compares saving wisdom with a
specimen Of topaz An infidel chemist
or mineralogist would pronounce the
latter worth more than the former,
but Job makes an intelligent compari-
son, looks at religion and then looks
at the crystal and pronounces the
former as Of far superior value to the
latter, exclaiming, 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 crys-
photographic. But want to show you
that Job was right when, taking re-
ligion in one hand and the crystal in
the others, he declared that the for
mer is of far more value and beauty
than the latter, recommending it to all
people and to all the ages, declaring
The crystal cannot equal it."
Gods Immutable Laws.
In the first place, 1 remark that re-
fgion is superior to the crystal in ex-
actness. That shapeless mass of crys-
tai against which you accidentally
dashed your fsot is laid out with more
exactness than any earthly city
There are SIX styles Of capitalization
and all of them divinely ordained.
Every crystal has mathematical pre-
cision. geometry reaches through
1t, and it is a square, or it is rect
angle, or 1t is rhomboid, or in some
way it has mathematical figure Now,
religion beats that in the simple fact
that spiritual accuracy is more beauti-
full than material accuracy. Gods at
tributes are exact, Gods laws 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 cycles. His providences never
dealing with us perpendicularly when
those provinces ought to be oblique,
nor laterally when they ought to be
vertical. Everything in our life ar
ranged withouSeany possibility of mis-
take. Each life 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 slipshod universe, 1 would
be in despair. God is not an anarchist
Law, order, symmetry, precision, a
perfect square, perfect rectangle, a
perfect rhomboid, perfect circle. The
edge of Gods robe of government new
er trays out. There are no loose
screws in the worlds machinery. 1t
did not just happen that Napoleon was
attacked with indigestion at Borodino
SO that he became incompetent for the
day. 1t did not just happen that John
Thomas, the missionary, on heather
island, waiting for an outfit and orders
for another missionary tour, received
that outfit and those orders in a box
that foated ashore, while the ship and
the crew that carried the box were
never heard of. believe in a particu-
lar providence. I believe Gods geo.
metry may be seen in all our life more
beautifully than in crystallography.
Job was right. THE crystal cannot
equal it,"
More Transparent Than Crystal.
Again l remark that religion is SUI
pcrior to tho 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
OSNSA 10. ScoSo VI IL cilc UlOuSQC 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. A great many commenta-
tors believe that my text means glass
What would we do without the crys-
tai? The crystal in the window to
keep out the storm and let in the
day; the crystal over the watch. de-
Tending it's delicate machinery yet al
lowing us to see the hour; the crystal
of the telescope, by which the astrono-
mer brings distant worlds so near he
can inspect them. Oh the triumphs of
the crystals in the celebrated windows
of Rouen and Salisbury! But there is
so transparent in crystal as in
our holy religion. 1t is transparent
religion. You put it to your eye and