A BRILLIANT KEI.IOION.
BERMON DELIVERED BY DR. TAL
MAGE ON SUNDAY, APRIL 19.
Crystal Cannot Equal It" Job
XXTlii, 7. the Kmlnent Dtvlii'a Text.
Kellclou I Par Superior to the Crys
tal In All iMMirable Qnalitlea.
New YoiiK, pril 19. The eagerness to
fcear Dr. Talnme's sermons at The Chris
. Man Herald services on Snnday evenings
Id thia city continues unabttted. ' As usual,
there was this evening a dense mass of
people waiting outside the Academy of
Music long before the hour for commence
ment, and every seat in the huge building
was occupied in a few minutes' after the
doors were opened. Dr. Talmage had
preached to au immense audience in the
morning in the Brooklyn Academy of
Music. His text was, "The crystal can
not equal it" (Job xxviii, 7).
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 specimen of topaz. An in
fidel chemist or mineralogist would pro
nounce the latter worth more than the for
mer, but Job makes an intelligent com
parison, looks at religion and then looks
at the crystal and pronounces the former
as of superior value to the latter, exclaim
ing, in the words of my text, "The crystal
.cannot equal it."
THR STAR OF THB MOUNTAIN.
Mow, it is uot a part of my sermonic do
sign to depreciate the crystal, whether it
be found in Cornish mine or llartz moun
tain or Mammoth Cave or tinkling among
the pendants of the chandeliers of a palace.
The crystal is the star of the mountain; it
in 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 natural
history there is no page more interesting
to me than the page crystallographic But
I want to show you that Job was right
when, taking religion in one hand and the
crystal in the other, he declared 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, I remark that religion
a superior to the crystal in' exactness.
That shapeless mass of crystal against
which you accidentally dashed your foot is
laid out with more exactness than any
earthly city. There are six styles, of crys
tallization, and all of them divinely or
dained. Kvery crystal has mathematical
precision. God's geometry reaches through
it. and it is a square, or it is a rectangle, or
it is a rhomboid, or in some way it hath a
mathematical figure. Now, religion beats
that in the simple fact that spiritual accu-
'racy is more beautiful than material accu
racy. God's attributes are exact. God's
law exact. God's decrees exact. God's
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 providences ought to be oblique, nor
lateral when they ought to be vertical.
Everything in our life arranged without
any possibility of mistake. Each life a
six sided prism. Born at the right time;
dying at the right time. There are no "hap
pen so's" in our theology. If I thought this
was a slipshod universe I would go crazy.
God is not an anarchist. Law, order, sym
metry, precision, a perfect square, a perfect
rectangle, a perfect rhomboid, a perfect cir
cle. The edge of God's robe of government
never frays out. There are no loose screws
in the world's machinery. It did not just
happen that Napoleon was attacked with
indigestion at Borodino so that he became
incompetent for the day. It did not just
happen that John Thomas, the missionary,
on a heathen island, waiting for an outfit
and orders for another missionary 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. The barking of F. W. Robert
son's dog, Le tells us, led to a line of events
which brought him from the army into
the Christian ministry, where be served
-God with world renowned usefulness. It
, did not merely happen so. I believe in a
particular providence. I believe God's
geometry may lie seen' in all our life more
beautifully than in crystallography. Job
was right. "The crystal cannot equal it."
THE TBAXSPAHKNCY OK KKLIGION.
Again I remark that religion is superior
to the crystal i u transparency. We know
not when or by whom glass was first dis
covered, beads of it have been found in
the tomb of Alexander Severus. Vases of
it are brought up from the ruins of Her
culaneum. There were female adornments
made out of it three thousand years ago
those adornments found now attached to
the mummies of .Egypt. A great many
commentators believes that my text means
' glass. What would we do without the
crystal f The crystal in the window to
keep out the storm and let in he day; the
crystal over the watch defending its deli
cate 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 tri
umphs 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
transparent religion. You put it to your
ye and you see man bis sin, his soul, his
destiny. You look at God and you see
something of the grandeur of bis character.
It is a transparent religion. Infidels tell
as it is opaque. Do you know why they
tell ns it is opaque? It is bruise they are
blind. The natural 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 wis
dom, Lord, that our eyes inixht be opened.
When the eye salve cures our blindness
. then we find that religion is transparent.
; It is a transparent Bible. All the mount
ains of the Bible come out Sinai, the
mountain of the law; Pisgab, the mount
ain of prospect; Olivet, the mountain of
instruction; Calvary, the mountain of sac
rifice. All the rivers of the Bible come out
Hidekel, 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 it all transparent, and the earth rocks,
now with crucifixion agony and now with
' judgment terror, and Christ appears in
some of his two hundred and .fifty-six
'. titles, as far as I can count them the
bread, the rock, the captain, the comman
tder, the conqueror, the star, and on ami
beyond any capacity of mine to rehearse
them- Transparent religion!
; PROVIDENCE IS PELLUCID.
The providence that seemed dark, before
'becomes pellucid. Now you find God ii
not trying to put you down. Now yon un
derstand why you lost that child, and why
yon lost your property; it was to prepare
yon for eternal treasures. , And why sick
ness came, it being the precursor of im
mortal juvenesceuce. And now you un
derstand why thev lied about you and
tried to drive you hither and thither. It
was to put you in the glorious company of
such men ns Ignatius, who, when he went
out to be destroyed by the lions, saM:
"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
Polycarp, who, when standing in tbemiil-st
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 for Polycarp," re
plied, "Let them come on," and then stoop
ing dowu toward the cave where the wild
beasts were roaring to get out, "Let them
come on." Ah, yes, it is persecution to put
you in glorious company; and while there
are many things that you will have to
postpone to the future world for explana
tion, I tell you that it is the whole tendency
of your religion to unravel and explain
and interpret and illumine and irradiate.
Job was right. It is a glorious transpar
ency. . "The crystal cannot equal it."
I remark again that religion surpasses
the crystal in its beauty. That lump of
crystal is put under the magnifying glass
of t he crystallographer, und he sees in it in
describable beauty snowdrift and splint
ers of hoar frost and corals and wreaths
and stars and crowns and castellations 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 so
beautiful, and that is the religion of the
Bible. No wonder this Bible represents
that religion us the daybreak, as the apple
blossoms, as the glitter of a king's ban
quet. It is the joy of the whole earth.
TOO MUCH TALK OF THE CBOS8.
People talk too much about their cross
and not enough about their crown. Do
you know the Bible mentions a cross but
twenty-seven, times, while it . mentions a
crown eighty times? Ask that old man
what he thinks of religion. He has been a
close observer. He has been culturing an
aesthetic taste. He has seen the sunrises of
a half century. He has been an early riser.
He has been au admirer of cameos and
corals and all kinds of beautiful things.
Ask him what he thinks of religion, and he
will tell you, "It is the most beautiful
thing I ever saw." "The crystal cannot
equal it."
Beautiful in its symmetry. When 'it
presents God's character it does not pre
sent him as having love like a great pro
tuberance on one side of his nature, but
makes that love in harmony with his
justice a love that will accept all
those who come to him, and a justice that
will by no means clear the guilty. " Beauti
ful religion in the sentiment it implants!
Beautiful religion in the hope it kindles!
Beautiful religion in the fact that it pro
poses to garland and enthrone and empar
adise an immortal spirit. Solomon says
it is a lily. Paul says it is a crown. The
Apocalypse says it is a fountain kissed of
the sun. Ezekiel says it is a foliaged cedar.
Christ says it is a bridegroom come to fetch
home a bride. While Job in the text takes
up a whole vase of precious stones the
topaz, and the sapphire, and the chryso
prasus -and he takes out of this beautiful
vase just one crystal, and holds it up until
it gleams in the warm light of the eastern
sky, and he exclaims, "The crystal cannot
equal it."
. Oh, it is not a stale religion, it is not. a
stupid religion, it is not a toothless hag,
as some seetn to have represented it; it is
not a Meg Merriles with shriveled arm
come to scare the world. It is. the fairest
daughter of God, heiress of all his wealth.
Her cheek the morning sky; her voice the
music of the south wind; her step the
dance of the sea. Come and woo her. The
Spirit and the bride say come, and whoso
ever will, let him come. Do you agree with
Solomon and say it is a lily? Then pluck
it and wear it over your heart. Do you
agree with Paul and say it is a crowu?
Then let this hour be your coronation. Do
you agree with the Apocalypse and say
it is a springing fountain? Then come
and slake the thirst of your soul. Do you
believe with Ezekiel and say it is a foli
aged cedar? Then come under its shadow.
Do you believe with Christ and say it is a
bridegroom come to fetch home a bride?
Then strike hands with your Lord , the
King while I pronounce you everlastingly
one. Or if you think with Job that it is a
jewel, then put it on your hand like a ring,
on your neck Uke a bead, on your forehead
like h star, while looking into the mirror
of God's Word you acknowledge "the
crystal cannot equal it."
THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF RELIGION.
Again, religion is superior to the crystal
in its transformations. The diamond is
only a crystallization of coal. , Carbonate
of lime rises till it becomes calcite or ar
agonite. Red oxide of copper crystallizes
into cules and octohedrons. Those crys
tals which adorn our persons and our
homes and our museums have only been
resurrected from forms that were far from
lustrous. Scientists for ages have been ex
amining these wonderful transformations.
But I tell you in the gospel of the Son of
God there is a more wonderful transforma
tion. Over souls by reason of siu black as
coal aud hard as iron God by his comfort
ing grace stoops and says, "They shall be
mine in the day when I make up my
jewels."
"What," say you, "will God wear jewel
ry?" If he wanted it he could make the
stars of heaven his belt and have the even
ing 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 darkness of sin.
These souls are all crystallizations of
mercy. He puts them on, and he wears
them in the presence 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' trans
formation! "The crystal cannot equal it. "
There she is, a waif of the street, but she
shall be a sister of charity. There he is.'a
sot in the ditch, but he shall preach the
gospel. There, behind the bars of a prison,
but he shall reign with Christ forever.
Where sin abounded grace shall mnch
more abound. The carbon becomes the
solitaire. "The crystal cannot equal it."
DO NOT GO INTO PARTICULARS.
Now, I have no liking for those people
who are always enlarging in Christian
meetings about their early dissipation. Do
not go into the particulars, my brothers.
Simply say you were sick, but make no
displajtof your ulcers. The chief stock in
trade of some ministers and Christian
workers seems to be their early crimes and
dissipations. The number bf pockets you
picked and the number of chickens you
stole make very poor prayer meeting rhet
oric. Besides that, it discourages other
Christian people who never got drunk or
stole anything. But it is pleasant to know
that those who were farthest down have
been brought highest up. Out of infernal
serfdom into eternal liberty. Out of-dark
ness into light. From coal to the solitaire.
"The crystal cannot aqnal it.'
But, my friends,' the chief transforming
power of the gospel will not be seen in this
world, and not until heaven breaks upon
the soul. When that light falls upon the
soul then you will see the crystals. Oh,
what a magnificent setting for these jewels
of eternity! I sometimes hear Deonle ren-
I resenting 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 mak
ing a deafening racket. John represents
heaven as exquisitely beautiful. Three
crystals. -. In one place be says, "Her light
was like a precious stone, clear as crystal."
In another place- he says, "I saw a pure
river from nnder the throne, clear as crys
tal." In another place he says, "Before the
throne there was a sea of glass clear as
crystal." Three crystals! John says crys
tal atmosphere. That means health. Balm
of eternal June. What weather after the
world's east wind! No rock of storm
clouds. One breath of that air will cure
the worst tubercle. Crystal light on all
the leaves. Crystal light shimmering on
the topaz of vthe temples. Crystal light
tossing in the plumes of the equestrians
of heaven on white horses. But "the crys
tal cannot equal it." John says crystal
river. That means joy. Deep and ever roll
ing. Not one drop of the Thames or the
Hudson or the Rhine to soil it Not one
tear of human sorrow to im bitter it. Crys
tal, the rain out of which it was made.
Crystal, the bed over which it shall roll
and ripple. Crystal, its infinite surface:
But "the crystal cannot equal it." John
says crystal sea. That means multitu
dinously 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 Antarctica and Mediterraneans
and Atlantics and Pacifies in crystalline
magnificence. Three crystals crystal light
falling on a crystal river; crystal river roll
ing into a crystal sea. But "the crystal
cannot equal it."
HEAVEN WE MUST HAVE.
"Oh," says some one, putting his hand
over his eyes, "can it be that I who have
been in so much Bin and trouble will ever
come to those crystals?" Yes, it may be
lt will be. ' Heaven we must have, what
ever else 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 dia
mond. In other words, nothing. The same
Almighty power that makes the crystals
in the mountains 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 bf flesh."
"Oh," says some one, "it is just the doc
trine I want. God is to do everything, and
I am to do nothing." My brother, it is not
the doctrine yon want. The coal makes
no resistance. It hears the resurrection
voice in the mountain, and it comes to
crystallization, 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. 1
only ask that yon stop bolting it and bar
ring it. Oh, 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 crystal at
mosphere would display our pollution.
The crystal river would be befouled with
our touch. The crystal sea would whelm
as with its glistening surge. Transforma
tion now or no transformation at all.
Give sin full chance in your heart and
the transformation will be downward in
stead of "upward. Instead of a 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 with
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
shore and the boat floated away with its
precious treasure. No one can doubt that
boat landed at the shore of Heaven.
Sin wants to put yon in a fiery boat and
shove yon off in an opposite direction off
from peace, off from God, off from heaven,
everlastingly off; and the port toward
which you would sail would be a port of
darkness, and the guns that would greet
you would be the guns of despair, and the
flags that would wave at your arrival
would be the black flags of death. O, my
brother, you must either kill sin or sin will
kill you. It is no wild 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 moment between solvation and de
struction, between light and darkness, be
tween heaven and bell, between charred
ruin and glorious crystallization.
A Fetish Man.
The fetish man nnder any name is the
authority on all matters connected with
relations of man to the unseen. He is the
exorciser of spirits, the maker of charms,
and the prescriber and regulator of all cer
emonial rites. He can discover who "ate
the heart" of the chief who died but yes
terday, who it was who caused the canoe
to upset and give three lives to the croco
dile and the dark waters of the Congo, or
even who blighted the palm trees of a vil
lage and dried up their sap, causing the
supply of malafu, or palm wine, to cease,
or drove away the rain from a district and
withered its fields of nguba (ground nuts).
All this is within the ken of the Nganga
Nkisi, and he is appealed to on all these
occasions to discover the culprit by his in
sight into the spirit world, and hand him
or her over to the just chastisement of au
outraged community. This is the only
substitute for religion that the African
savage possesses. Its tenets are vague and
unformulated, for- with every tribe and
every district, belief varies and rites and
ceremonies are as diverse as the fancies of
the fetish men who prescribe them. K. J.
Glave in Century.
Punctuality.
When eight Quaker ladies had an ap
pointment, and seven were punctual, and
'the eighth, being three minutes too late,
began apologizing for keeping the others
waiting, the reply from one of them was:
"I amsorry, friend, that thee should
have wasted thine own three minutes; but
thee had no right to waste twenty-one
more of our time, which was not thine
own."
. Of Washington it is said that when his
secretary, on some important occasion,
was late, and excused himself by saying
his watch was too slow, the reply was:
"You will have to get another watch or I
another secretary."
Napoleon used to say to his marshals: '
"You may ask anything of me but
time." New York Ledger..
Tea, Ha Bought It.
Tom What a pretty rose! Where did
yon get it?
Jack (boastfully) A lady gave it to me.
Tom f cruelly) A saleslady? Pack,
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tte -
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THE DALLES.
The Gate City of the Inland Empire is situated at
the head of navigation on the Middle Columbia, and
is a thriving, prosperous city.
ITS TERRITORY.
It is the supply city for an extensive and rich agri
cultural an "i grazing country, its trade reaching as
far south as Summer Lake, a distance of over twe
hundred miles.
THE LARGEST WOOL MARKET.
The rich grazing country along the eastern slope,
of the the Cascades furnishes pasture for thousands
of sheep, the -wool from -which finds market here.
The Dalles is the largest original wool shipping
point in America, about 5,000,000 pounds being
shipped last year.
ITS PRODUCTS.
The salmon fisheries are the finest on the Columbia,
yielding this year a revenue of $1,500,000 which can
and will be more than doubled in the near future.
The products of the beautiful Klickital valley find
market here, and the country south and east has this
year filled the warehouses,
places to overflowing with
ITS WEALTH
It is the richest citv of its size on the coast, and its
money is scattered over and
more farming country than
city in Eastern Oregon.
Its situation is unsurpassed! Its climate delight
ful! Its possibilities incalculable! Its resources un
limited! And on these corner stones she stands.
cmonicle
and all available storage
their products.
is being used to develop,
is tributary to any other
' .