RELIGION EXALTED
Dr. Talmage Draws a Sermon from
the Words of Job.
Discourse on the Latter's Comparison
of Heliifloii and the Beautiful
Crjital-Power of the
Gospel.
(Copyright. 1901, by Louis Klopsch, N. Y.]
Washington, Oct. 6.
The charm of au exalted religion is
by Dr. Talmage in this discourse il
lustrated and commended; text, Job,
28:17: “The crystal cannot equal it.”
Many of the precious stones of the
Bible have come to prompt recognition.
But for the present I take up the less
valuable crystal. Job, in my text,
compares saving wisdom with a speci
men of topaz. An infidel chemist or
mineralogist would pronounce the lat
ter worth more than the former, but
Job makes an intelligent comparison,
looks at religion and then looks at
the crystal and pronounces the former
as of far superor 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 its heaven in the dia
mond. Among all the pages of na
tural history there is no page more in
teresting to me than the page crystal
lographic. But 1 want to show yon
that Job was right when, taking re
ligion in one hand and the crystal ir
the other, he declared that the former
is of far more value and beauty that
the latter, recommending it to all the
people and to all ages, declaring: “The
crystal cannot equal it.”
In the first place, I remark that re
ligion is superior to the crystal in ex
actness. That shapeless mass of crys
tal against which you accidentally
dashed your foot is laid out with more
exactness than any earthly city
There are six styles of crystallization
and all of them divinely ordained
Every crystal has mathematical pre
cision. God’s geometry reaches
through it, and it is a square, or it is
a rectangle, or its 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
God’s attributes are exact, God’s law
exact, God’s decrees exact, God’s man
agement 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 wjth us perpendicular
ly when those providences ought to be
oblique, nor laterly when they oughl
to be vertical. Everything in our life
arranged without any possibility oi
mistake. Each life a six-headed prism.
Born at the right time; dying at the
right time. There are no “happen so’s’
in our theology. If I thought this was
a slipshod universe, I would be in de
spair. God is not an anarchist. Law
order, symmetry, precision, a perfect
square, a perfect rectangle, a perfect
rhomboid, a perfect circle. The edge
of God's robe never frays out. There
are no loose screws in the world’s ma
chinery. It did not just happen that
Napoleon was attacked with indiges
tion at Borodino so that he became in
competent for the day. It did not just
happen that John Thomas, the mission
ary, on a heathen island, waiting fot
an outfit and orders for another mis
sionary tour, received that outfit and
those orders in a box that floated
ashore, while the ship and the crew
that carried the box were never heard
of. I believe in a particular provi
dence. I believe God's geometry may
be seen in all our life more beautifully
than in crystallography. Job was
right. “The crystal cannot equal it.”
Again I remark that religion is supe
rior to the costal 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 adornments made out of
it 3,000 years ago—those adornments
found now attached to the mummies
of Egypt. A great many commen
tators 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
spect them. Oh, the triumphs of the
crystals in the celebrated windows of
Rouen and Salisbury! But there is
nothing so transparent in a crystal as
in our holy religion. It is a trans
parent region. You put it to your eye
and you see man—his sin, his *oul,
his destiny. You look at God and you
see something of the grandeur of His
character. It is a transparent reli
gion. Infidels tell us it is opaque. Do
you know why they tell us it is opaque?
It 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.
\Ye pray for vision. Lord, that our
eyes might be opened! When the eye
salve cures our blindness, then we find
that religion is transparent.
The providence that seemed dark
before becomes pellucid. Now you
find Cod 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 im
mortal juvenescence. And now you
understand why they lied about you
and tried to drive you hither and
thither. It was to put you in the
glorious company of such men as Ig
natius, who, when he went out to be
destroyed by the lions, said: “I am
the wheat, and the teeth of the wild
beasts must first grind me before I
can become pure bread for Jesus
Christ.” Or the company of such men
as “that ancient Christian martyr”
who, when standing in the midst of
the amphitheater waiting 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, stooping down toward the
cave where the wild beasts were roar
ing to get out, again cried: “Let
them come on!” Ah, yes, it is perse
cution to put you in glorious com
pany, and while there are many
thirgs that you will have to postpone
to the future world for explanation,
I tell you that it is the whole tend
ency of your religion to unravel and
explain and interpret and illumine
and irradiate. Job was right. It is
a glorious transparency. “The crys
tal cannot equal it.”
I remark again that religion sur
passes the crystal in its beauty. The
lump of crystal is put under the mag
nifying glass of the crystallograph
er and he sees in it indescribable ex
quisiteness—snowdrift and splinters
of hoar frost and corals and wreaths
and stars and crowns and constella
tions of conspicuous beauty. The fact
is that crystal is so beautiful that I
can think of but one thing in all the
universe that is as beautiful, and
that is the religion of the Bible. No
wonder this Bible represents that re
ligion as the daybreak, as the apple
blossoms, as the glitter of a king’s
banquet. It is the joy of the whole
earth.
ieopie taiK too mucn aDout tneir
cross and not enough about their
crowns. Do you know that the Bible
mentions a cross but 27 times, while
it mentions a crown 80 times? Ask
that old man what he thinks of re
ligion. He has been a close observer.
He has been cultivating an esthetic
taste. He has seen the sunrises oi
half a century. He has been an early
riser. He has been an admirer oi
cameos and corals and all kinds oi
beautiful things. Ask him what h«
thinks of religion, and he will tell
you: “It is the most beautiful thing
I ever saw. The crystal cannot
equal it.”
Again, religion is superior to the
crystal in its transformations. The
diamond is only a crystallization. Car
bonate of lime rises till it becomes cal
cite or aragonite. Ited oxide of copper
crystallizes into cubes and octahed
rons. Those crystals which adorn our
persons and our homes and our mu
seums have only been resurrected from
forms that were far from lustrous.
Scientists for ages have been examin
ing these wonderful transformations.
But I tell you in the Gospel of the Son
of God there is a more wonderful trans
formation. Over souls by reason of
sin black as coal and hard as iron
God, by His comforting grace, stoops
and says: “They shall be mine in the
day when I make up my jewels.”
“What!” say you. “Will God wear
jewelry?” If He wanted it, He could
make the stars of the heaven His
belt and have the evening cloud for
the sandals of His feet, but He does
not want that adornment. He will
not have that jewelry. When God
wants jewelry He comes down and
digs it out of the depths and dark
ness of sin. These souls are all crys
tallizations of mercy. He puts them
on, and He wears them in the pres
ence of the whole universe. He wears
them on the hand that was nailed,
over the heart that was pierced, on
the temples that were stung. “They
shall be mine,” saith the Lord, “in
the day when I make up my jewels.”
Wonderful transformation! Where
sin abounded grace shall much more
abound. The carbon becomes the ’sol
itaire. “The crystal cannot equal it.”
Now, I have no liking for those peo
ple who are always enlarging in
Christian meetings about their early
dissipation. Do not go into the par
ticular, my brother. Simply say
you were sick, but make no display
of your ulcers. The chief stock in
trade of some ministers and Chris
tian workers seems to be their early
crimes and dissipations. The num
ber of pockets you picked and the
number of chickens you stole make
very poor prayer meeting rhetoric.
Besides that, it discourages other
Christian people who never got drunk
or svple anything. But it is pleasant
to know that those who were far
thest down have been brought high
est up. Out of infernal serfdom into
eternal liberty. Out of darkness into
light. From coal to the solitaire.
“The crystal cannot equal it.”
But, my friends, the chief trans
forming power of the Gospel will not
be seen in this world, and not until
Heaven breaks upon the soul. When
that light falls upon .he soul, then
you will see the crystals. What a
magnificent setting for these jewels
of eternity! I sometimes hear people
representing Heaven in a way that
is far from attractive to me. It
seems almost a vulgar Heaven as they
represent it, with great blotches of
color and bands of music making a
deafening racket. John represents
Heaven as exquisitely beautiful.
Three crystals! In one place he says:
“Her light was like a precious stone,
clear as crystal.” In another place
he says: “I saw a pure river from
under the throne, clear as crystal.”
In another place he says: “Before
the throne there was a sea of glass
clear as crystal.” Three crystals!
John says crystal atmosphere. That
means health. Balm of eternal June.
What weather after the world’s east
wind! No rack of stormclouds. One
breath of that air will cure the worst
tubercle. Crystal light on all the
leaves. Crystal light shimmering on
the topaz of the temples. Crystal
light tossing in the plumes of the
equestrians of Heaven on white
horses. But “the crystal cannot
equal it.” John says crystal river.
That means joy. Deep and ever roll
ing. Not one drop of the Potomac
or the Hudson or the Rhine to soil
it. Not one tear of human sorrow
to embitter it. Crystal, the rain out
of which it was made. Crystal, the
bed over which it shall roll and rip
ple. Crystal, its infinite surface. But
“the crystal cannot equal it.” John
says crystal sea. That means multi
tudinously vast. Vast in rapture.
Rapture vast as the sea, deep as the
sea, strong as the sea. ever changing
as the sea. Billows of light. Billows
of beauty, blue with skies that were
never clouded and green with depths
that were never fathomed. Arctics
and antarctics and Mediterraneans
and Atlantics and Pacifies in crystal
line magnificence. Three crystals!
Crystal light falling on a crystal river.
Crystal river rolling into a crystal
sea. But "the crystal cannot equal
it,”
un, says some one, putting nis
hand over his eyes, “can it be that I
who have been in so much sin and
trouble will ever come to those crys
tals?” Yes, it may be—it will be.
Heaven we must have, whatever we
have or have not, and we come here to
get it. “How much must I pay for it?”
you say. You will pay for it just as
much as the coal pays to become the
diamond. In other words, nothing.
The same Almighty power that makes
the crystal in the mountain will change
your heart which is harder than stone,
for the promise is: “I will take away
your stony heart, and I will give you
a heart of flesh.”
“Oh,” says some one, “it is just the
doctrine 1 want. God is to do every
thing, and I am to do nothing.” My
brother, it is not the doctrine you
want. 'The coal makes no resistance.
It hears the resurrection voice in the
mountain and it comes to crystalliza
tion; but your heart resists. The
trouble with you, my brother, is the
coal wants to stay coal.
I do not ask you to throw open the
door and let Christ in. I only ask that
you stop bolting and barring it. My
friends, we will have to get rid of our
sins. I will have to get rid of my sins,
and you will have to get rid of your
sins. What will we do with our sins
among the three crystals? The crys
tal atmosphere would display our pol
lution. The crystal river would be be
fouled with our touch. Transforma
tion must take place now or no trans
formation at all. Give sin full chance
in your heart and the transformation
will be downward instead of upward.
Instead of crystal it will be a cinder.
In the days of Carthage, a Christian
girl was condemned to die for her faith,
and a boat was bedaubed w ith tar and
pitch and filled with combustibles and
set on fire, and the Christian girl was
placed in the boat, and the wind was off
the shore, and the boat floated away
with its precious treasure. No one
can doubt that boat lauded at the
shore of Heaven. Sin wants to put you
in a fiery boat and shove you off in an
opposite direction—off from peace,
off from God, off from Heaven, ever
lastingly off, and the port toward
which you would sail would be a port
of darkness, and the guns that w-ould
greet you would be theguns of despair,
and the flags that would wave at your
arrival would be the black flags of
death. Oh, my brother, you must
either kill sin or sin will kill you! It
is no exaggeration when I say that any
man or woman that wants to be saved
may be saved. Tremendous choice! A
thousand people are choosing this mo
ment between salvation and destruc
tion, between light and darkness, be
tween charred ruin and glorious crys
tallization.
So He Must.
Joakley—It’s surprising that so
many successful farmers should be
duped by confidence men.
Hoakley—O! I don’t know. Farm
ing isn’t calculated to make one
shrewd.
Joakley—And yet to be a successfu1
farmer one must be sharp as a raiser
—Philadelphia Press.
His Natural Inference.
Little Willy—Pa?
Mr. Hennypeclt—Well, my son?
Little Willy—Is a bald eagle one
that’s married?—Puck.
SHRINKAGE OF GRAIN.
Rennlta of Elaborate Experiments at
Various Experiment Stations
Prove Instructive.
Wheat fluctuates in weight accord
ing to the dryness of the air. The
extent of this variation under ordi
nary conditions does not exceed six
per cent., but where the grain is
taken from an intensely dry climate
to a comparatively damp one the gain
may amount to 25 per cent. Oats
stored in the fall lost in one instance
over three per cent, by the following
May, less than two per cent, in the
second instance and exactly two per
cent, in the third, and in the fourth
lost but seven pounds in 100 bushels.
Corn, when the entire plant is stored
in the silo, suffers a very considerable
loss in weight. As an average of four
tests this loss amounted to 8.32 per
cent. In other cases the loss varies
from 14.57 to 20.36 per cent. When
the entire plant is cured in the field
subsequent variations in weight are
determined by the dryness of the air.
At the Connecticut station, where
27.36 tons of corn were cut Septem
ber 1 into shocks, hauled to the barn
later and stored for fodder, the gross
weight was but 4.8 tons. On Febru
ary 8 following the weight was 7.5
tons. In a duplicate test 25.5 tons of
green corn weighed but 5.2 tons on
November 11 and gained to 8.5 tons
by February 8. When the corn is
husked in the field the loss of weight
suffered by the ears depends on their
condition when hauled to the crib.
Very damp corn cribbed early in Oc
tober shrank in weight 30 per cent,
by the middle of February, while dry
corn cribbed October 21 had shrunk
by the last of January 11 per cent.
Ia another case corn very dry when
hauled shrunk by New Year’s less
than three per cent. At the Iowa sta
tion the loss in an entire year was 20
per cent, in one case and nine per
cent, in another. The relation be
tween the weights of kernels and cob
does not stay constant as the ears
dry. When first husked fully 25 per
cent, of the weight of the ears lies
in the cob. By spring less than 20
per cent, of the weight of the ear is
in the cob. An elaborate set of ex
periments at Houghton farm showed
that the shelled corn lost in weight
but about 7.45 per cent, from Octo
ber to March, while the cobs lost
fully 36 per cent.—D. C. Smith, Mich
igan Station, in Prairie Farmer.
HANDY WAGON RACK.
Has Ileen in Use Half a Century on
One Farm and Is Still Con
sidered Excellent.
The cut shows a hay and grain wagon
rack which was constructed more than
50 years ago by my father, Thomas
Atkeson. I have never seen one like
it except on that farm which I now
use and cultivate. The lumber bill is
as follows: Two ash scantlings 4x5
inches 14 feet long, 4 pieces 2%xl2
0% fe^t long, cut in a curved piece, as
shown in cut, so as to be 4x2% inches,
four 1x3 15 feet long. The structure
should be put together with screw
3
USEFUL WAGON RACK.
bolts of proper length. A little study
of the cut will enable any man handy
with tools to make it. It has the ad
vantage of being level the full length
of both sides with a tendency of the
load toward the center. After many
years of use 1 am sure no better rack
has ever been constructed.—T. C. At
keson, in Orange Judd Farmer.
Mysteries of the Soil.
The mysteries locked up in the soil
are only slowly being made plain.
Year by year, decade by decade, cen
tury by century, the W’ork goes on.
In all civilized lands are scientists
applying themselves to the problems.
Chemists, botanists, biologists and
geologists all find in this quarter
room enough for their labors. And
the farmer has need of all this kind
of help he can get. To nearly every
cultivator of the soil to-day, as in the
past, the thing he cultivates is an un
known factor. He knows it is sandy
or clayey, wet or dry, rich or poor,
but those things are but the begin
ning of wisdom.
How Plants Absorb Water.
Water is absorbed by the roots
and undergoes a very slight change;
matter from the cells of the tree is
added (as sugar, in the maple) and
it is then denominated “sap.” It
passes from cell to cell upwards,
through the sap-wood, until it reaches
the leaves. The cells being separate,
and not continuous tubes, it is con
veyed from one to another through a
great number of partitions; in the
basswood, for example, w'here the
cells are very long, it passes about
2,000 partitions in rising a foot.—
Farmers’ Review.
Piso’s Cure is the best medicine we ever
used for all affections of the throat and
lungs.—Wm. 0. Endsley, Vanburen, Ind„
Feb. 10, 1900.
“Now, this is~what I call good sin-tax,”
said the grafter grammarian as lie took the
$20 bill proffered by the dive-keeper.—In
dianapolis News.
To Cure a Cold In One Day
Take Laxative Bromo Quinine Tablets. All
druggistsref und money if it fails to cure. 25c.
Some men have reasons for doing things—
and some have excuses.—Chicago Daily
News.
MILWAUKEE PEOPLE
Could Hardly Believe It. A
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Death by Lydia E. Pinkham’s
Vegetable Compound.
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my remarkable cure will hardly believe
it; had I not experienced it myself, I
know that I should not.
MRS. SADIE E. KOCH.
“I suffered for months with
troubles peculiar to women which
gradually broke down my health and
my very life. I was nearly insane
with pain at times, and no human
skill I consulted in Milwaukee could
bring me relief.
“ My attention was called to Lydia
E. Pinkliain’s Vegetable Com
pound ; the first bottle brought re
lief, and the second bottle an absolute
cure. I could not believe it myself,
and felt sure it was only temporary,
but blessed fact, I have now been well
for a year, enjoy the best of health,
and cannot in words express my grat
itude. Sincerely yours, Sadie E. Koch,
124 10th St., Milwaukee, Wis.”—$5000
forfeit if above testimonial is not genuine.
Such unquestionable testimony
proves the power of Lydia E. Pink
ham’s Vegetable Compound over
diseases of women.
Women should remember that
they are privileged to consult
Mrs. Pinkham, at Lynn, Mass.,
about their illness, entirely free.
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