The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-11-01
TALMAGE's SERMON.
The Chariot of the Lord Which
Rolls Upon the Clouds.
The Wheels Representing Justice and
Mercy, Ready to Turn on the In
slant in Response to the Cry
of the Perturbed Soul.


In recent Sabbath sermon at the
Brooklyn Tabernacle Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage preached from the following
text:
Who maketh the clouds His chariot.-Ps alms,
civ. 3.
Brutes are constructed so as to look
down. Those earthly creatures that have
wings, when they rise from the earth,
still look down, and the eagle searches
for mice in the grass, and the raven fol-
carcasses in the field. Man alone is made
to look up. To induce him to look up
God makes the skies a picture gallery, q
Dusseldorf, Louvre. Luxembourg, 9
Vatican that eclipses all that German OF
French or Italian art ever accomplished.
But God has failed so far to attract ths
attention of most of US by the scenery OF
the sky. We go into raptures over fow-
ers in the soil, but have little or no ap-
probation of the morning glories" thai
bloom on the wall Of the sky at sunrise OF
the dahlias in the clouds at sunset We
are in ecstacies over gobe1iu tapestry,
or bridal vail of rare fabric or snow
bank of exquisite curve, but see not al
all, or see without emotion, the bridal
walls of mist that cover the face of the
Catskills, or the swaying upholstery
around the couch of the dying day, or the
snow-banks of vapor piled up IN the
heavens.
My text bids us lift our chin three OF
four inches and open the two telescopes
which, under the forehead, are put on
swivel easily turned upward, and see that
the clouds are not merely undressing
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 paint
ings in water color; that they are the an
gels OF the mist; that they are great ca
theIrals of light with broad aisles for
angelic feet to walk through and bow at
eltars of amber and alabaster; that they
are mothers of the dew; that they are
ladders for ascending and descending
glories, Cotopaxis of belching fame.
Niagaras of color; that they are the
masterpieces Of the Lord God Almighty.
The clouds are fayorite Bible smile,
and the sacred writer's have made much
use of them
After the deluge God hung on cloud
in concentric bands the colors of the
oPOSeA aAAAf soy ihSs w nOb SSb may DOW
in the clolid.n As mountain is some.
times entirely hidden by the vapors SO,
says God, II have blotted out q thick
cloud, thy transgressions." David meas
ures the Divine goodness, and found it so
high he apostrophized: ''Thy faithfulness
reached into the clouds.' As sometimes
there are thousands of fieeces of vapor
scurrying across the heavens, so, says
Isaiah, will be the converts in the millen-
mum s'as clouds and as doves"
AS In the wet season, no sooner does
the sky clear than there comes another
observation, 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.n
A column Of illumi ned cloud led the Is
raelites across the wilderness, In the
Book OF Job, Elihu, watching the clouds.
could not understand why they did not
fall, or why they did not all roll together.
the laws of evaporation and condensa-
ton then not being understood, and he
cried out: s'Dost Thou know the balanc.
ing of the clouds?" When read INV text
1t suggests to me that the clouds are the
Creators equipage, and their whirling
masses are the wheels, and the tongue of
the cloud is the pole of the celestial We
hlcle, and the winds are the harnessed
steeds, and God is the royal occupant and
driver "who maketh the clouds His char.
lot"
To understand the Psalmist's meaning
In the text you must know that the chariot
OF ola was sometimes a sculptured brill
fancy made out of ivory, sometimes OF
solid silver, and rolled on two wheels
which were fastened to the axle BY stout
Plus, and the awful defeat of Enonaus
by Peiops was caused by the fact that O
traitorous charioteer had inserted a
Inch pin of wax instead OF Inch min
OF iron. All of the SIX hundred chariots
OF Pharaoh lost their Inch pins in the
HE'D Sea, for the Bible says: 1.-THE Lord
took off their wheels.n
Look at the long fash OF Solomon,s
fourteen hundred chariots, and the thirty
thousand chariots of the Philistines If
You have ever visiteI the bnildinps
where King or Queen keeps the coaches
OF state, as have, you know that Kings
and Queens have great varieties of turn-
out. The keeper tells you:
This is the state carriage. and mead
only on great occasions This ia the
SesAA issScy duu III IL the King
rode on the day he took the throne.n an
TINS the Queen went to open Parliament
This Is the coach In which the Car and
the Sultan rode on the occasion of their
VISIT
My hearers, do not think that God he.
Titles Himself when He takes such con.
veyance. Do you know that the clouds
are among the most iwonderous and ma
lesuc things in the whole universe? 10
you know that they are flying lakes and
rivers and oceans? God waved His hand
over them and said: "Come uu higher y,
and they obeyed the mandate. That
cloud, instead of being, as it seems. .
small gathering of vapor few yards wide
and high, is really seven or eight miles
across, and is amountain from its case to
Its top, fifteen thousand feet. eighteen
Thousand feet twenty thousand feet and
cut through with ravines five Thousand
rect deep. No. David did not make a
fragile or unworthy representation of God
In the text when he spoke of the clouds as
bis chariot. But, as / suggested in the
case OF an earthly King, He has His morn
ing cloud chariot aud His evening cloud
cnarlof-the cloud chariot in which He
rode down to Sinai to open the law and
the cloud chariot in which He rode down
to Tabor to honor the Gospel. and the
cloud chariot in which He will come To