The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-10-12
MAJESTIC CLOUDS.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on the
Grandeur OF the Clouds.
They Are Typical of the Power Of the Lord
-Beauties of the CIouds-The Chariou
of the Lord-Prayer the Only
peliverapce.

In a recent sermon preached at Brook
tyn, Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage took his tex
from Psalms civ. 3: "Who maketh tn
clouds his chariot" DR.. Talmage said:
Brutes are constructed so as to loci
down. Those earthly creatures that hav,
wings when they rise from the earth still
look down. and the eagle searches for mic
in the grass and the raven for carcasses il
the field. Man alone is made to look up
To induce him to look up God makes tn,
sky a picture gallery, a Dusseldorf,
Louvre, a Luxembourg, a Vatican tina
eclipses all that German or French or ital
ian art ever accomplished. But God ha
failed so far to attract the attention o.
most of us by the scenery of the sky. W.
go into raptures over flowers in the soil
but have little or no appreciation of tn,
'morning glories" that bloom on the wal
of the sky at sunrise or the dahlias in thu
clouds at sunset. We are in ecstacies ovel
a Gobelin tapestry or bridal vail of rars
fabric, or snow bank of exquisite curve
but see not at all, or see without emotion
the bridal walls of mist that cover tn,
face of the Catskills, or the swaying up
bolstery around the couch of the dying
in the heavens.
My text bids US lift our chin three OIL
four inches and open the two telescope.
which under the forehead are put on
swivel easily turned upward, and SET
that the clouds are not merely uuninter.
esting signs of wet or dry weather, blu,
that they are embroidered canopies OF
shade, t;aat they are the Conservatives OF
-
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 al
affairs OF amber and alabaster, that they
are the mothers of the dew, that they are
ladders for ascending and descending
glories, Cotopaxis Of belching fame,
Niagaras of color, that they are the mes
terpieces of the Lori God Almighty.
The clouds are a favorite Bible simile
and the sacred writers have made much
use Of them. After the deluge Of God
hung on a cloud in concentric bands the
colors of the spectrum, saying: 81 do set
my bow in the cloud" As a mountain is
sometimes entirely hidden by the vspors
so, says God, 81 have blotted on. as thick
cloud thy transgressions." David measures
the divine goodness and found it so high
he apostrophized: Thy faithfulness
reacheth unto 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 'as clouds and doves"
As in the wet season no sooner does the
sky clear than there comes another obscu-
ration, so says Solomon, one ache or all
ment of old folks has no more than gone
than another pain comes "as clouds re-
turn in the rain" A column of illumined
cloud led the Israelites across the wilder.
ness. In the book of Job Elitu. 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 being understood
and he cries out: "Dost thou know the
balancing of the clouds:" When / read
my text it suggests to me that the clouds
arethe Creators equipage, and their whirl-
ing masses are the wheels, and the tongue
of the cloud is the pole of the celestial We
hicle, and the winds are the harnessed
steeds, and God is the royal occupant and
driver ''who maketh the clouds His char
iotr
To understand the psalmist's meaning in
the text you must know that the chariot of
old was sometimes a scuptured brilliancy
made out of ivory, sometimes of solid sill
yer, and rolled on two wheels which were
fastened to the axle by stout pins, and the
awful defeat of Oenomaus by Pelops was
caused by the fact that traitorous chari-
oteer had inserted a linchpiT of wax in
stead of a linchpin of iron. All of the 600
chariots of Pharaoh lost their linchpins in
the Red Sea, for the Bible says: 1.-THE
Lord took off their wheels" Look at the
long flask of Solomon's 1,400 chariots, and
the $4,000 chariots of the Philist;nes.
If you have ever visited the buildings
where a 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 used only on great oc-
casions." This is the coronation carriage
and in it the King rode on the day he took
the throne" SIN this the Queen went to
open Parliament" This is the coach in
which the Gar and the Sultan rode ON the
occasion of their visit" All costly and
tesselated 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
fall force sounding TIE National air, the
splendor starts and rolls on under arches
entwined with banners, and amid the hug
"a of hundreds Of thousands of spectators,
the scene is memorable. But my text puts
oil such occasions into insignificance, as it
lepresents the King of the Universe COM
ing to the door of His palace and the gild.
ed vepors 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 triunphal ride under the arches
Of sapphire, and over the atmospheric
highways of opal and chrysolite-the
clouds His chariot
NV hearers, do not think that God belit-
ties Himself when He takes such convex
ance. Do you know that the clouds are
among the most wondrous and majestic
things in the whole universe: Do YOU
know that they are flying lakes and rivers |
and oceans: God waved His hand over
them and said: ''Come up higherw and |
they obeyed the mandate. That cloud in |
stead of being, as it seems, small gath |
ering of vapor few yards wide and high |
is really seven or eight miles across and is |
a mountain. from its base to its top, 1900 |
feet, $1,000 feet, $1,000 feet, and cut |
through with ravines 5000 feet deep.
No, David did not make fragile or un- |
worthy representation of God in the text !
when he spoke Of the clouds as His chariot |
But as / suggested in the case of an earth
ly King, He has His morning cloud chariot |
and His evening clocd chariot-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 judgment. When He rides
out in His morning chariot at this season,
about six O'Clock, he puts golden coronets
on the dome of cities. and silyers the