The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-06-19
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Weekly Discourse OF tho Great
Brooklyn Preacher.

TEXT; "Ihere uas a rainbow round
ooow the throne, "-Reyelation iv., 8.
As after night of fearful tempest at sea,
one ship, more stanch than another, rides on
unchanged among the fragments OF spars
anu hulks that aoat about, so old Noah's ark,
AZ the close OF the deluge floats on over the
wreck OF dead world. Looking out OF the
window OF the ark, you SEQ the planks OF
houses, and tina sheaves OF wheat, and the
eareasses of cattle ani the corpses OF men.
NO tower is left TO toll the burial no MOURN
ers TO form in line CT procession; no ground
IN which to bury tho dead. Sinking line
twenty-seven feet long you just touch tho
tops or the mountains. Ghastliness and hor-
rorl The ark, instead OF walking the sea,
IKE modern ship, in majesty and beauty,
losses helplessly; no helm To guide; no sail to
set; no shore TO steer for. Why protract the
agony Of the good people in such craft,
when they might in one dash OF the wave
have been put out OF their misery
But at yonder spot in thu horiz IN we see
eolors gathering in the sky. At just the OPP
posite point in the horizon other colors are
gathering. find that they are the two but
tresses OF an arched bridge. The yellow, tho
red, the orange, the blue, the indigo, the
violet, are mingled, and by invisible hands
v,
the ark has triumphal arch to sail under.
An Angel OF Light swings his hand across
the sky, and In the seven prismatic colors he
paints with pencil Of sunbeam the everlast-
ing covenant between God and every living
creature. God lifted up that great arched
bridge and set it over his own head in the
heaven. John saw it for he says: There
was rainbow round about the throne
notice that none but the people who were
n n hnw 81 pho ln,u
clear down into the water where the people
were buried, and lighted up ths dead faces
with strange radiance, but they could not
see it. SO only those who are at last found
In Christ, the Ark, will see the overspanning
giories of the throne. Hence you had better
get into the ark As you call your family out
at the close OF the shower TO show them the
sign in heaven, SO want you all at last to see
the grander rainbow round about the throne.
Look therep said Noah to his wife, ''at that
bow in the clouds; and, Shem and Japhet,
Iookl look!-the green, the yellow, the red,
and the orangep l should not wonder il
some of your children in the good Land should
after while cry out to you, Look, fatheri
look mother there is a rainbow round about
the throneIp You had better get into the
ark, with all your families, if you want to
see it.
noticed also that the chief glory Of God
comes after the rain. No shower, no rain
bow; no trouble, no brightness OF Christian
consolation. Weavers are sometimes by
reason Of their work, dusty and rough in
their apparel; and so it is the coarse clad tenn
pest, whose hand and foot swing the shuttle,
that weaves the rainbow. Many Christians
are dull and stupid and useless, because they
have not had disaster enough TO wake them
up. The brightest scarf that heaven makes
IS thrown over the shoulders of the storm.
| You cannot make thorough Christian life
! put Of sunshine alone. There are some very
dark hues in the ribbon OF the rainbow; you
must have in life the blue as well as the
orange Mingling all the colors of the for
mer makes white light; and it takes all
the shades and sadnesses and vicissitudes Of
life to make the white lustre of pure Chris
tan character.
Your child asks you: "Father, what
makes the rainbow and you say: at is
The sunlight striking through the rain
drops" Therefore l wondered how there
could be a rainbow in heaven since there
are no storms there; but then conclude that
that rainbow must be formed by the striking
Of heavens sunlight through tho falling
tears of earthly sorrow. When we see man
overwhelmed with trouble and his health
goes, and his property goes, aud his friends
go, say, Now we shall see the glory of God
In this good mans deiverancs." As at Nj
agara Falls | saw. one day, ten rainbows
spanning the awful plunge Of the cataract,
SO over the abyss of the Christians trial
hover the rich hued wings OF all the promises.
notice that the most beautiful things OF
this world are to be preserved in heaven.
| When you sec the last color fade out from
the rainbow of earth, you need not feel sad,
for you will SEQ the rainbow round about
the throne That story about the world
burning up has given me many pang.
When l read that Paris was besieged,
said Now the pictures and statues in the
Louvre and Luxembourg will be destroyed;
all those faces of Rembrandt and those
| bold dashes of Rubens and those enchant-
ments of Raphael on canvas and those stat.
ues OF Canoya." But is it not more mel
ancholy thought that ruin is to come upon
this great glory of the earth, in which the
mountains are the chseled sculptures, and
upon the sky, in which the TRANSPORTATION"
Of sunrise and sunset is hung with loops and
tasseis OF fire?
was relieved when l found that the pict-
ures had been removed from the Louvre and
the Luxembourg, and l am relieved now
when | think that the best parts of this earth
| are either to be removed or pictured in this
| good land. The trees must twist in the last
| fire-the oaks, and the cedars and the naples;
but i'll heaven there shall be the trees of life
on the bank of the river, and the palm trees
from which the conquerors shall pluck their
branches. The Hudson, and the st. Law.
renee, and the Ohio shall boil in the last
fame. but We shall have more than their
beauty In the river OF lite from under tn
throne. The daisies, and the portulacas, an
! the roses of earth will wither in the hot siroc
co of the Judgment, but John tells of the gar
lands which the glorifie1 shall wear; AM
there must be flowers, or there could be NJ
garlands.
The rainbow on our sky, which is only
the pillow of tile dying storm, must be re
moved; but then, glory be to God! "there is
rainbow round about tho throne" have
but to look up to the radiant arch above the
throne of God to assure myself that the most
| glorious things of earth are to be preserved
! in heaven. Then let the world burn; all that
is worth saving will b, snatchei out of the
fire.
see the same truth set forth in the twelve
foundations of the wall Of heaven. st. John
announces the twelve foundations OF this
wall to be, the first, of jasper-yellow and
red; the second, OF sapphrs-a deep blue;
the the t1 ou 'hsosop{a T psGs 0'sry
color the fifth, sarIonyx-a blush
white; the sixth, sardius--red and fiery; the
seventh, hrysolite-golden hued; the eighth,
oeryl-a blush green; the ninth, topaz-a
pale green mixed with yellow; the tenth,
chrysoprasus-a golden blush tint; the
eleventh, jacinth-fery as the sunset; the
twelfth, amethyst. But these precious stones
are only the foundation of the wall OF hea-
ven-the most inferior part of it. On the top
of this foundation there rises mighty wall
of jasper--of brilliant yellow and gorgeous
crimson. Stupendous cataract Of color
Throne Of splendor and sublimity
You sec that the beautiful colors which
ere the robes OF glory to our ear tn ara to bs
forever preserved in this wall OF heaven.
Our skies Of blue, which sometimes seem al