Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-10-11
The CHARM OF RELIGION.
DR.. Talmage Says II Eliminates and
Brightens the Lives of Men
and Women.
Religion Is Superior to the Crystal In
Exactness.
Downright, 1901. ]

valuable crystal. Job, in my text, com
| pares saving wisdom with a specimen Of
topaz An infidel chemist or mineralogls
would pronounce the latter worth NOR,
than the former but Job makes an intel
ligent comparison, looks at religion ant
then looks at the crystal and pronounce:
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 part OF my sermonic de
sign to depreciate the crystal whether il
be found in Cornish mine OF Harz Mount
ain or Mammoth Cave or tinkling among
the pendants of the chandeliers of pal
ace. The crystal is the star Of the mount
ain; it is the queen of the cave; it is the
eardrop of the hills; it finds its heaven in
the diamond Among all the pages of nat.
ural history there is no page more inter
csting to me than the page crystallogra-
phe But / want to show you that job
| was right when, taking religion in one
| clared that the former is of far more value
and beauty than the latter, recommending
it to all the people and to all the ages,
| declaring, "The crystal cannot equal'it."
In the first place ] remark that religion
| is superior to the crystal in exactness.
That shapeless mass of crystal against
which you accidentally dashed your foot
ls laid out with more exaetness than any
earthly city. There are six styles Of crys-
tallization and all Of, them diyinely or;
dained. Every crystal has mathematical
precision. Gods geometry reaches through
it, and it is rhomboid or in some way it
has a mathematical 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
management 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 perpendicularly when
those providences ought to be obliqnc. nor
laterally when they ought to be vertical.
Everything in our life arranged without
any possibility of mistake. Each life q
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 ]
would be in despair God is not an An
srchist. Law, order, symmetry, precision,
perfect square, perfect rectangle, p
perfect rhomboid, 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 DOTOulnO 80 THAI lie DCtdIHe
incompetent for one day. 1t did not Just
airy, on a heather island, waiting for an
outfit and orders for another missionary
tour, received that outfit and those or
ders in box that foated ashore, while
the ship and the crew that carried the box
were never heard of. | believe in a partic-
uiar providence | believe Gods geometry
may be seen in all our life more beauti-
fully than in crystallography. JOB was
right, THE crystal cannot equal it"
Again, 1 remark that religion is supe.
rior 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 Severus. Vase.
of it are brought up from the ruins OF
Herculaneum. There were female adorn.
ments 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
crystalline crystal in the window to keep
out the storm and let in the day, the crys'
tai 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 transpar
ent in a crystal as in our holy religion
1t is a transparent religion. You put it
his G y so fH s d anf YOU You of at God
and you see something of the grandeur OF
His character. 1t is transparent reli'
sion. Infidels tell us it is Opaque. Do
you know why they tell us it is opaque?
1t is because they are blind. ''The nat.
ural 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 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:
1t is Transparent Bible. All the mount
ain. of the Bible come out-Sinai, the
mountain of the law; Pisgah, the mount
ain Of prospect; Olivet, the mountain of
instruction; Calvary, the mountain of sac
rifce. All the rivers of the Bible come
out-Hidekel, or the river Of parsdisaical
beauty; Jordan, OF the river of holy
ehrism; 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, after our eyes have been
touched by grace, We find it all transpar-
ent, and the earth rocks, now with cru
eifxion agony and now with judgment ter
ror, and Christ appears in some Of His a5o
titles, as far as / can count them-the
Bread, the Rock, the Captain, the Com
mander, the Conqueror, the Star, and on
and beyond any capacity of mine 10 re-
hearse. Transparent religion
The providence that seemed dark before
becomes pellucid. Now you find God is
not trying to. put you down. Now you
understand why you lost that child and
why you lost your property. 1t was to
why sickness came, it being the precursor
Of immortal juvenescence. And now you
understand why they lied about you and
tried to drive you hither and thither. 1t
was to put you in the glorious company
of such men as Ignatius, who when he
went out to be destroyed by the lions said,
'1 am the wheat, and the teeth of the
wild beasts must first grind me before ]
can become pure bread for Jesus Christ"
or the company OF such men. as chat an
cient Christian martyr" who, standing
ing for the lions to come out OF their cave
and destroy him, and the people in the
galleries jeering and shouting, "The
lions!" replied "Let them come on" and
then, STOPPING down toward the cave
where the wild beasts were roaring to get
C t. again cried, Let them come on"
All, yes, it is persecution to put you in
glorious company, and, while there are
many things that you will have to post |
pone to the future world for explanation.
/ tell you that it is the whole tendency
of your religion to unravel and explain |
and interpret and ilumine and irradiate
Job was right. It is a glorious transpar-
ency. "The crystal cannot equal it,"
remark again that religion surpasses
the crystal in its beauty. The lump of |
crystal is put under the magnifying glass