Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-10-12
THE LORDS CHARIOT.
LAST SUNDAYS DIVINE SERVICES IN
THE BROOkLYN TABERNACLE.

THE BKOOkLYN TABERNACLE.
Dr. Talmage Says That Man Was Made Il
Look Upward = God Does Not Belittls
Himself When He Takes IA Chariot as
Conveyance storm Cloud
The hymn sung at the opening of the
services ill the Brooklyn Tabernacle
Sunday was:
Welcome, sweet day of rest,
That saw the Lord arise
After eXpounding appropriate pas
sages of Scripture, the Rev. T. DE Witt
Talmage, d. D., took the text: Psalm,
civ. B: who maketh the clouds His
chariot" DR.. Talmage said:
Brutes are constructed so Us to look
down. Those earthly creatures that
have wings when they rise from the
earth still look down, and the eagle
raven for carcasses in the field. Man
alone is made to look up. To induce
him to look mp God makes the sky pic
ture gallery. Il Dusseldorf. Louvre. a
Luxembourg, Vatican that eclipses all
that German or English or Italian art
ever accomplished. But God has failed
so far to attract the attention of most of
us by the scenery of the sky. We go
into raptures over flowers in the soil,
but have little or no appreciation of the
"morning glories that bloom on the wall
of the sky at sunrise or the dahlias in
the clouds at sunset. Weare in ecstasies
over gobelin tapestry or bridal veil
of rare fabric. or Il snowbank of eNquis-
lite curve, but see not at all, or see
without emotion. the bridal wells of mist
that cover the face of the Catskills. OF
the swayingupholstery around the couch
<,f< ~ <>E
yapor piled up i'll the heavens.
Ny text bids us lift our chin three or
four inches and open the two telescopes
which under the forehead are put on Il
swivel easily turned upward, and see
that the clouds are not merely uninter-
esting signs of wet or dry weather. but
that they are embroidered canopies of
shade. that they are the Conservatives
of the sky. that they are thrones of
pomp, that they are crystalline bars, that
they are paintings i'll water color. that
they are the angels of the mist, that
they are great cathedrals of light with
broad aisles for angelic feet to walk
through and bow at the affairs of amber
and alabaster. that they are the mothers
of the dew. that they are ladders for as
cending and descending glories, Coto-
paxis of belching flame. Niagaras of
color, that they are the masterpieces Of
the Lord God Almighty. The clouds are
q favorite Bible smile. and the sacred
writer's have made much use of them.
After the deluge God hung on a cloud
in concentric bands the colors of the
spectrum, saying: Il do set my bow in
the cloud. AS mountain is sometimes
entirely hidden by the vapors so, says
God: Il have blotted out as Il thick
cloud thy trans gressions." David meas
nres the Divine goodness and found it
so high he apostrophized: Thy faith
fulness reacheth unto the Clouds" As
sometimes there are thousands of feeces
of vapor scurrying across the heavens.
so, says Isaiah. will be the converts in
the millennium "as clouds and as doves"
AS in the wet season no sooner does the
sky clear than there comes another OBJ
scuration, SO. says Solomon, one ache or
ailment of old folks has no more than
gone than another pain comes as clouds
return in the rain" 4 column of illu-
mined cloud led the Israelites across the
watching the clouds, could not under
stand why they did not fall or why they
did not rolltogether, the laws of evaro-
Tation and condensation then not being
understood, and he cries out. "Dost
thou know the balancing of the clonds?"
When read my text it suggests to me
that the clouds are the Creators equi-
page, and their whirling masses are the
wheels, and the tongue OF the cloud is
the pole of the celestial vehicle, and the
winds are the harnessed steeds. and
God is the royal occupant and driver
who maketh the clouds His chariot"
To understand the psalmist's meaning
IN the text you must know that the
chariot of old was sometimes q sculp-
tured brilliancy made out of ivory.
sometimes of solid silver, and rolled on
two wheels which We're fastened to the
axle by stout pins, and the awful defeat
of Oenomaus by Pelops was caused by
the fact that traitorous charioteer had
inserted q Inch pin Of wax instead of a
dred chariots of Pharaoh lost their Inch
pins i'll the Red Sea, for the Bible says.
The Lord took off their wheels" Look
at the long flash Of Solomon's fourteen
hundred chariots. and the thirty thou
sand chariots of the Philistines. If you
have ever visited the buildings where
king OF queen keeps the coaches of
state, as have, you know that kings and
queens have great varieties of turnout
The keeper tells you: This is the state
carriage and used only on great occa-
sions." This is the coronation car
riage, and in it the king rode on the day
he took the throne. In this the queen
Went to open parliament. This is the
coach in which the czar and the sultan
rode on the occasion of their visit" All
costly and tessellated and enriched and
emblazoned are they, and when the
driver takes the reins of the ten white
horses in his hands, and amid mounted
troops and bands in full force sounding
the national air, the splendor starts and
rolls on under arches entwined with
banners, and amid the huzza of hun
dreds of thousand of spectators the
scene is memorable. But my text puts
all such occasions into insignifcance,
as it represents the King of the Universe
coming to the door of His palace, and
the gilded vapors Of the heavens rolling
up to His feet, and He, stepping in and
taking the reins of the galloping winds
in His hand starts in triumphal ride
under the arches of sapphire, and over
the atmospheric highways of opal and
chrysolite, the clouds his chariot.
My hearers, do not think that God be-
Titles himself when he takes such con-
yeyance. Do you know that the clouds
are among the most wondrous and ma
jestic things in the whole universe? Do