The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-01
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A CHARIOT OF CLOUDS.
TALMAGE's BEAUTIFUL PEN PIC
TURB OF THE SKY BANKE.

The Masterpieces of the Creator Fa-
vorite Bible Simile-The Wind the
Harnessed Stools of tho Biblical
Vehic.e OF Vapor-The Blessings Dis
tributed as 1t Rolls Along.
BROOKLYN, Sept. 30-The HYMN sung st
the opening of the services in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle this morning was:
Welcome. sweet day of rest
That saw the Lord arise"
After expounding appropriate passages
OF scripture, the Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage,
D. D., took the text: Psalm civ, 81 "Who
maketh the clouds his cnariotp DR.. Tai
mage said;
Brutes are constructed 50 as to look down.
Those earthly creatures that have wings
when they rise from the earth still look
down, aud the eagle searches for mice in
the grass and the raven for carcasses in the
field. Man alone is made to look up. To
induce him to look up God makes the sky
picture gallery, a Dusseldorf, a Louvre, a
Luxembourg, a Vatican that eclipses all
that German, or French, 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. We
are IN ecstacies over a gobeiiu tapestry or a
bridal veil of rare fabric, or snowbank of
exquisite curve, but see not at all, or see
without emotion, the bridal wells OF mist
that cover the face of the Catskils. or the
swaying upholstery around the couch OF the
dying day, or the snowbanks of yapor piled
up in the heavens
My text bids us to lift our chins three or
four inches aud open the two telescopes
which under the forehead are put on swivel
easily turned upward, and see that the
clouds are not merely uninteresting signs Of
wet or dry weather, but that they are enl-
broidered canopies of shade, that they are
the conservatories of the sky, that they are
thrones of pornp, that they are crystalline
bars, that they are paintings in 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 altars of amber and alabaster,
that they are the mothers Of the dew, that
they are ladders for ascending and descend
ing glories, Cotopaxis Of belching flame,
Niagaras OF color, that they are the master
pieces Of the Lord God Almighty.
The clouds are favorite
Bible simile and the sacred
writer's have made much use Of them.
After the deluge God hung on a cloud in
saying: II do set my bow in the cloud"
AS mountain is sometimes entirey hidden
by the vapors, 80, says God, 81 have blotted
out as thick cloud thy transgressons.
David measured the divine goodness and
found 1t so high he apostrophized: "lhy
falthfulness reacheth to the clouds" As
sometimes there are thousands of fseces of
vapors scurrying across the heavens, 80,
says Isaiah, will be the converts in the mill
lennlum ''as clouds and ms doves" Az in
tho 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 moro than gone than another
pain comes "as clouds return in the rain"
column of iliumined cloud led the
Israelltes across tho 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 condensation then not be-
ing understood, end no cried out "Dost thou
know the balancing of he c!oudsp When
| read my text it suggests to me that the
clouds are the Creators equipage, and their
whirling masses are the wheels, and tho
tongue of the cloud is the pole Of the ce-
lestia vehicle, and the winds are the har-
messed steeds, and God is the royal occupant
aud driver who maketh the clouds his
chariot
To understand the psalmst's meaning in
the text you must know that the chariot Of
old was sometimes a sculptured brilliancy
made out of ivory, so erimes of solid
silver, and rolled on two wheels which were
fastened to the axle oy stout pins, and the
awful defeat of Gnomau3 by Pelops was
caused by the flcb that a traitorous
chari0teer had inserted Inch pin of wax
instead of Inch pin Of iron. All of the
six hundred ohariots of Pharaoh
lost their lineh pins in the Red
sea, for the Bible says: "The Lord
took off their wheelsn Look at the long
flash of Solomon's fourteen hundred char
lots, and the thirty thousand chariots of
the Philistines IL you have ever visited
the buildings where a king or queen keeps
the coaches OF safe, 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
occasions" 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. "Thls is the coach in
which the czar and the sultan rode on the
occasion of their visit" All costly and tes-
selated and o riched 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 aud rolls on under arches en-
twined with banners, and amid the huzsa
of hundreds of thousands Of spectators, the
scene is memorable. But my text puts all
such occasions into insignihcance, as ID
represents the king of tue uni verse coming
10 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 gallopiDg winds in his hand.
starts in triumphal ride under the arches of
sapphire, and over the atmospheric high
ways OF opal and chrysollte, the clouds bis
chariot.
My hearers, do not think that God belit-
ties himself when he takes such conveyance.
Do you know that the clouds are among the
most wondrous and majestic things in the
whole universsf Do you know that they
are flying lakes and rivers and oceansa God
waved his hand over them and said: Come
up higherl" and they obeyed the mandate.
That cloud instead of being, as it seems, a
small gathering OF vapor lew yards vide
and high is really seven or eight miles
across, and is a mountain, from its base to
its top, fifteen thousand feet, eig teen thou
sand feet, twenty thousand feet, aud cut
through with ravines five thousand feet
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 a. | suggested In the case of an earthly
king, be has his morning cloud chatiot and
his evening cloud chariot--the cloud cha lot
IN which he rode down to Sinai TO omen the
Ia az and tina cloud cha riot n, .I,f,, H.. ..<.I.