The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1901-12-03
THE CHARM OF RELIGION.
DIR. TalmaSe Says II Eliminates and
Brightens the Lives of Men
and Women.
Religion Is Superior to the Crystal il
Exaetness.
tcopyright, IaoI.l


but for the present | take up the less
valuable crystal. job. in my text com
pares saving wisdom with specimen of
topaz. An inhdel chemist or mineralogst
would pronounce the latter worth more
than the former. but job makes an intel
hgent comparl> N, 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, II Is not part of my scrmonic de-
sign TO depreciate the crystal. whether it
be found in Cornish mine or Harz Mount
ain or Mammoth Cave or tinkling among
the pendants of the chandeliers OF a pal
ace. The crystal is the star of the mount
ain; it is the queen of the cave; it is the
eardrop or the hills; 1t finds its heaven in
the diamond. Among all the pages of nat
ural history there Is no page more inter
estlug to me than the page crystallogro-
phic. But l want to show you that job
was right when, taking religion IN one
hand and the crystal in the other, he de-
clared that the former is of far more value
and beauty thar the latter, recommending
1T to all the people and to all the ages,
declaring. THE crystal cannot equal IT..
In the first place i remark that religion
rs superior to the crystal in exactness.
That shapelcss mass of crystal against
which you accidentally dashed your foot
is laid out with more eXactncss than any
earthly city. There are SIX styles of crys-
Utilization and all of them divinely or
Qalneu. Every crystal mas mathematical
precision. Gods geometry reaches through
n, and it is a 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
dnalinu with l1a Hipnlarlu Ntbpv
those providences ought to be obique, nor,
laterally when they ought to be vertical.
Everything in our life arranged without
any. possibility of mistake. Each life a
six-headed prism. Born at the right time,
dying at the right time. There are no
happen SOS" in our theology. If j
thought this was a slpshod universe l
We Aid be in despair. God is not an An
archist. Law, order, symmetry, precision,
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 Borodino so that he became
incompetent for one day. 1t did not just
happen that John Thomas, the mission
airy, on a heather island, waiting for an
outfit and orders for another missionary
tour, received that outfit and those or
ders in a box that foated ashore, while
the ship and the crew that carried the box
were never heard of. | believe in a partic
ular providence. / believe Gods geometry
may be seen in all our life more beauti-
fully than in crystalOgraphy. Job was
right, The crystal cannot equal it,"
Again, l 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 Vases
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 \ 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 in our holy religion.
1t Is transparent religion. You put it
TO your eye, and you see man.-hIs sin,
his SOUL his destiny. You look at God
His character. 1t Is transparent reli
gion. Infide,s tell US it is Opaque Do
you know why they tell us 1t is Opaque?
1t is because they arc blind. The nat
hlhl man lCttlNtAn- HOl kIt lIllUES OF GOU
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 saive cures our blindness then we
find that religion il transparent.
IL is a transparent Bible. All the mount
aims of the Bible come out-Sinai. the
mountain of the law; Pisgah, the mount
ain OF prospects Olivet, the mountain of
instruction; Calvary, the mountain of sac
rihce. All the rivers of the Bible come
out'-Hldckel. or the river OF paradisaical
beauty; Jordan, or the river of holy
chrism 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 IL all transpar-
ent. and the earth rocks now with cru
ciixion agony and now with judgment ter
ror. and Christ appears in some of His 256
titles, as TAR as j can count them-thc
Bread, the Rock, the Captain, che Com
mander, the Conqueror, the Star and on
and beyond any capacity of mine to re-
hearse. Transparent religion
The providence that seemed dark before
becomes pcllucid. 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. It was to
prepare you for eternal treasures And
why sickness came. it being the precursor
OF immortal luvenesccnCe. And now you
understand why they lied about YOU and
tried TO drive you hither and thither IL
was to put you i'm the glorious company
OF such men as Ignatius. who when he
went out 90 be destroyed by the lions said.
81 am the wheat and the teeth of tho
wild beasts must first grind me before /
can become pure bread for Jesus Christ"
on the company of such men as chat an.
cient Christian mertyr' who. standing
in the midst Ok the amphithc0trc wait.
ing for the lions TO come out Of their cave
and destroy him, and the people i'm the
galleries ieering and shouting. "The
lonsW replied "Let them come onl" and
then STOPPING down toward the cave
where the wild beasts were roaring TO &c,
e. again cried, let them come ont"
An. yes, 1t is persecution TO put you in
glorious company, and. while there are
many things that you will have to post.
pone 10 the future world fci explanation
i tell you that 10 is TIE whole tondencv
of your religion 20 unravel and explain
and interpret and illumine and irradiate
JOB was right. IL is 2 glorious transpar
ency THE crystal cannot equal g."
I remark again that religion SURPASSED
the crystal i'm its beauty The lump ol
crystal is put under the macnifying glas
of the crystalloTnpher, and he sees in "A
Undesirable eKquisiteness snowdrift and
splinters Of hosrfrost and corals and
wreaths and stars and crowns and constel
lations Of conspicuous beauty. The fact u