Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-06-20
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVISE'S Sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: All Troubles Past"


one ship, more stanch than another, rides on
unchanged among the fragments OF spars
and hulks that float about, so old Noah ark,
ut the close Of the deluge, floats on over the
wreck Of a dead world. Looking out Of the
window Of the ark, you see the planks OF
houses and the sheaves of wheat and the
carcasses of cattle and 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 10 bury the dead. Sinking n line
twentyseven feet long, you just touch the
tops of the mountains Ghastliness and hor-
ror The ark instead of walking the sea,
like 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 the horizon we see
ooors gathering In the sky. At just the OPP
DOsite point in the horizon other colOrS are
gathering. find that they are the two but
tresses Of an arChed bridge. The yellow, the
red, the orange the blue, the indigo, the
violet. are mingled, and by invisible hands
the whole structure is hung into the sky, and
die ark has triumphal arch to sail under.
An Angel of Light swings his hand across
The sky, and In the seven prlsnatic cOOrs 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
IN the ark saw the rainbow. 1t cast its shadow
clear down into the water where the people
we're buried, and lighted up the 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 OverspannlHg
glorieS 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 therem said Noah TO his wife, lat that
bow in the clouds; and. Shem and Japhet,
Look! lOok!-the green, the yellow, the red,
and the granger [ should not wonder if
some of your children in the good land should
after while cry out to you, Look, father!
look, mother there is a rainbow round about
che thrOneW You had better get into the
ark with all your families, if YOU want to
see it.
l noticed also that the chief glory of God
comes after the rain. No shower. no rain
bow; 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,
shat 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 a thorough Christian life
out of sunshine alone. There are some very
dark hues in the ribbon of the rainbow; you
must have in life the blue as we'll as the
orange. Mingling all the cOlOrs Of the for
UIer makes a white light; and it takes all
the shades and sadnesses and vicissitude5 of
hte to make the white lustre of pure Chris
bian character
Your child asks you: Father, what
makes the rainbOwZ' and you say: cit is
the sunlight striking through the rain
drops" Therefore [ wondered how there
could be rainbow i'll heaven, since there
are no storms there; but then | conclude that
that rainbow must be formed by the striking
OF heavens sunlight through the falling
tears of earthly sorrow. When see man
overwhelmed with trouble, and his health
goes, and his property goes, and his friends
80, | say, Now we shall see the glory Of God
"a IBIS good mans deiverance." AS at Nj
2gara 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 see the last color fade out from
the rainbow of earth, you need not feel sad,
for you will the rainbow round about
the throne. That story about the world
burning up has given me many a pang.
When | read that Paris was besieged, 1
said: Now the pictures and statues iii the
louvre and Luxembourg will be destroyed;
all those faces of Rembrandt, and those
Bold dashes Of RuDens and those enchant-
mentS OF Raphael on canvas, and those stat
oes of Canova." But is it not Il more mel
anchoiy thought that ruin is to come upon
shls great glory Of the earth, in which the
mountains are the chSeled sculptures and
upon the sky, in which the ''tranSfiguratiOn''
OF sunrise aud sunset is hung with loops and
taSSelS or fire.
| was relieved when found that the pict-
ares had been removed from the Louvre and
Che Luxembourg and [ am relieved now
Ehen l thInli that the best parts of this earth
are either to be removed or pictured in the
good land. The trees must twist IL the last
fre-the oaks and the cedars and the naples.
hut IN heaven there shall be the trees OF life
on the bank of the river, and the palm trees
from which the cOnquerOTs shall pluck their
branches The Hudson, and the st. Law
EenC>, and the Ohio shall boil in the last
6amo. but we shall have more than their
beauty III the river OF life from under the
throne. The daisies, and the pOrtulacaS. an6
the roses of earth VII! wither in the hot sroc.
90 of the Judgment, but John tells OF the Gar.
lands which the glorifei shall wear: and
there must be flowers, or there could be nc
garlauds.
The rainbow on our sky, which is only
the pillow OF the dying storm, must BE- re-
moved; but then, glory be to God: ''there IS
3 RAINBOW round about the throne | have
Sut to look UP to the radiant arcn above the
throne OF God to assure myself trat the most
glorious things of earth are to be pres4rval
III heaven. Then let the world burl: all that
Is worth saving will be snat.neI out of the
Are.
[ 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-yeliow and
the third, chacedony--a varied beauty;
the fourth, emerald-a bright green
ooIor; the fifth, sardonvx-a blush
white; the sixth, sardius--red AMI fiery; the