The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1901-10-18
REELECTION TX Allied.
Or. Talmago Draws a Sermon from
the Words of Job.

& Discourse on tho Latter's Comparison
81, OF Religion and the beautiful
Crystnl--pover Of tho
80. Gospel. ..1s
4 copyright. 1901. by Louis Klopsch, N. VI
,f, Washington. Oct. 6.
u The charm of an exalted religion is
by DR.. Talmage in this discourse il
Illustrated and commended; text, Job,
es:17: THE crystal 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,
compares saving wisdom with a speci.
me-. Of topaz. An intidel chemist or
tnineralogist would pronounce the lat
Nter worth more than the former, but
Job makes an intelligent comparison,
looks at religion and then looks at
the crystal and pronounces the former
Rs OF far superior value to the latter,
exclaiming, in the words of my text:
"The crysto cannot equal it,"
Now, it is not 4 part Of my scrmonio
< design {to deprcciate the crystal,
whether 1t be found in Cornish mine
or Harz mountain or Mammoth cave
i or tinkling among the pendants Of the
chandeliers Of palace. The crystal
is the star of the mountain; it is tho
queen Of the cave; 1T is the eardrop OF
the hills; it finds its heaven in the dia.
mond. Among all the pages Of ma.
/ tural history there is no page more in
teresting to mo than the pagc crystal
lographic. But I want TO show you
that Job was right when, taking re.
ligion in one hand and thc crystal in
the other, he declared that the former
is of far more value and beauty than
the latter, Recommending it to all tho
people and to all ages, declaring; "Thc
crystal cannot equal it,"
In the first place, remark that ro.
actness. That shnpcless mass Of crys-
tai against which you accidentally
dashed your foot is laid out with moro
exaotness than any earthly city.
There arc six styles Of crystnllization
and all Of them diyinely ordained.
Every crystal has mathematical pre-
cision. Gods geometry reaches
through 1t. and it is a square, or it is
q rectanglc, or its rhombold,, or in
somo way it has a ma mathematicalf flgure.
Now, religion beats that in the simple
fact that spiritual accuracy is more
beautiful than material accuracy.
Gods attributes aro exact, Gods law
exact, Gods decrocs exact, Gods man
agemcnt OF the world exact. Never
counting wrong though he counts tho
grass blades and the stars and the
sands and the cycles. His Providence
never dealing with us perpendicular
~ when those proyidences ought TO be
ehl!ins, acr later!y when they ought
to be vertical. Everything in our life
arranged without any possibility Of
mistake. Each lifo six-headed prism.
Born at tho right time; dying at the
right time. There are no "happen SOS"
an our theology. I'll thought This was
slipshod universe, would be in de-
spair. God Is not an anarchist. Law.
order, symmetry, precision, perfect
square, perfect rectanglc, a perfect
rhombold, q perfect circle. The edge
OF Gods robe ne7cr trays out. There
arc no loose SCREW in the worlds ma
chinery. 1t dio not just happon 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 mission
ary, on hcathen island, waiting for
an outfit and orders for another mis-
sionary tour, received that outfit and
those orders in box that floated
~, d.; = ~.
that carried the box were never heard
OF. believe in particular provi-
denoe. believe Gods geometry may
De seen in all our lifo more beautifully
than In crystallography. Job was
right. "The crystal cannot equal It,"
Again remark that religion is supe-
T1or to the crystal in TRANSPARENCY.
Wo know not when or by whom glass
was first discovered. Beads OF it 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
~ 6,uoo years ago-those adornmcnts
found now attached to the mummies
or Egypt. A great many commen-
tators believe that my text means
glass. What would we do without The
crystal? Tho crystal in the window 10
Keep out the storm and let in tho day;
the crystal over the watch, defending
ats delicate machinery yet allowing us
TO SEQ tho hour; the crystal Of the tel
esoopc, by which the astronomer
brings distant worlds SO rear he can IN
speot them. Oh, the triumphs Of tho
crystals in the celebrated windows Of
houen and Salisbury But there IS
nothing SO transparent in crystal aa
in our holy religion. It is a trans
parent region. You put it to your eve
and you see man--his sin, his soul.
his destiny. You look at God and you
see something Of the grandeur OF His
character. 1t is a transparent reli-
g'on. Infidels tell us it is OPAQUE. Do
you know why they tell us 1t is opaque?
Il is because they are blind. 'The
natural man reccivcth not the things OF !
Ged, because they are spiritually dis
concerned" There is no trouble with
the crystal. The trouble is with the
syes which try to look through it.
We pray for vision. Lord, that our
syes might be opened When the eye
salve cures our blindness, then we find
that religion is transparent .
The providence that seemed darl.
before becomes pellucid. Now YOU
Ind God 10 not trying to put You
down. Now you understand why YOU
lost that child and why You lost your
property. 1t was to prepare you for
eternal treasures. And why sickness
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