Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-06-11
THE RAINBOW OF LOVE

The following is the sermon delivered by
Rev. FL. I'll. Morrell, D. D., rec or of St
Johns Church, in that church last Sunday
morning, and is published by request:
Rev. a. And there was a rainbow
round about tie throne in sight like unto
all en- rald'
1t was mysterious Providence that per
mltted the Apostle John to be banished to
the small and lonely island of Patmos. in
the Egean Sea, about the year 81, as it is
supposed, of the Christian era, by Domitan,
the emperor. But God, who makes the
wrath of man to praise Him, overruled it
to the immense good of the church. Like
the imprisonment of st. Paul, that re-
suited in his great epistles to the churches,
SO this mysterious persecution resulted in
giving to the church of the Christian ages
the last and sublimest chapter of Revela-
ton. 1t must have seemed a strange and
almost cruel providence to the aged Apo stle
as he walked the shore of that lonely
island, with no friendly faces to greet his
eye, and no voices sounding upon his ear
but those Of the surging pillows and the
low murmur of the waves But it was
there that God had in store for him nm
measured blessings for himself and the
world.
he was soon caught in spirit, up to the
third heaven and heard voices from fine ex
cellent glory that never before nor since
have fallen upon mortal ear. l. g.. 10. 10
| Let us take portion of this Revelation
for our study and profit to-day, IA. l-6
The first object is a throne 1t indicates
| power, rule, sovereignty. God rules the
world. de stitch above the water floods
He rules the universe. His thought, His plan
HIS will are IN it to the remotest star.
| He rules the nations Men NAV resist
His will and trample His laws under their
feet, and say in their heart there is no
God," but he who stitch in the heavens
shall laugh them to scorn- Then, too, there
Is pictured before us most wildly, the Ho-
illness of God.
These mysterious beasts that were
| full of eyes within, rest not day
and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty, who was and is and is to
come"
And also in the sea of glass like unto
crystal that was before the throne
And that is a truth that flashes on every
soul that is lifted out of the binding infiu-
ence of sense into any adequate conception
of God
And SO as natural and inevitable con-
sequence, ''out of the throne proceeded
lightnings and thunderings." How the aged
Apostle must have trembIed in that awful
presence.
As Moses trembled when he stood on
Sinai, amidst its thunderings, which indi-
Gated the majesty of Gods law. The sin
ner can not stand before Gods law without
trembling. And the best of men are sin
ners. But there is another feature in this
celestial scene and the central one on which
we shall fasten our eye of thought to-day
Inere was a rainbow round about the
throne in sight like unto an emerald
There ID always something sweet
and comforting in a rainbow The sieht
of it gives seDse of relief and safety, It
brings to mind Gods covenant with Noah.
1t is His eternal token of that covenant
written in the storm cloud in letters of
light.
But here it tells of q truth that is higher
and far more precious than Gods
covenant with Noah, for it is here not on
the storm cloud, but round about the throne
of God ,ra *
1t is therefore token of God covenant
love in Christ And this is the central
theme of discourse, and one that is betting
an angels tongue.
The meaning of this sign language is that
God is love. and that love is supremacy
manifest in the person and glory of His only
son, Jesus Christ.
say it is token of Gods covenant love.
There is much in the Bible about the COW
enant. There are two covenants spoken Of
in the Scriptures-thsA old and the