Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-06-14
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Noted Brooklyn Diyine's Sunday
Sermon.


a0ONt tue tftfONe. -1l6NeldLlOu ~, D.
As, after a night of fearful tempest at sea,
one ship, more stanch than another, rides on
unchanged among the fragments of spars
and hulks that float about, so old Noah's ark,
at 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 to bury the dead Sinking line
twenty-seven feet long, you just touch She
tops OF the mountains. Ghastliness and hor.
rorl 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 horiz IN we see
colors gathering in the sky. At just the op-
posite 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, aud
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
in the ark saw the rainbow. feast its shadow
clear down into the water where the people
were buried and lighted up the dead faces
with strange radiance but they could not
see il. So only those who are at last found
in Christ the Ark. will see the overspanning
glories of tho throne. Hence you had better
get into the ark As you call your family out
at tue 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 there" said Noah to his wife, sat that
bow in the clouds; and Shem and Japhet,
look looki-the green, the yellow, the red,
and the orangep | 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
the thronem 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; 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
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
mer makes a white light. and it takes all
the shades and sadnesses and vicissitudes of
life to make the white lustre of a pure Chris
tan character
Your child asks you: "Father, what
makes the rainbow and you say sit is
the sunlight striking through the rain
drops" Therefore | wondered how there
could be 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 the falling
tears of earthly sorrow. When we see a man
overwhelmed with trouble, and his health
goes and his property goes, and his friends
go, say, 'Now we shall see the glory of God
in this good mans deliverauce" 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.
J
the rainbow of earth, you need not feel sad,
for you will see 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 in tho
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 Canova." 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 chiseled sculptures, and
upon the sky, in which the transformation
OF sunrise and sunset is hung with loops aud
tassels OF fire?
was relieved when | 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 OF pictured in the
good land. The trees must twist in the last
fire-the oaks, and the cedars and the naples;
but in 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
lame, but we shall have more than their
beauty IN the river of life from under the
throne. The daisies. and the portulacas, and
the roses of earth will wither in the hot siroc-
co of the judgment, but John tells of the gar
lands which the gloriGe1 shall wear. and
there must be flowers, or there could be no
garlauds
The rainbow on our sky, which is only
the pillow of the dying storm, must bs re
moved; but then, glory be to Cod there is
a rainbow round about the 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 be snatchel out of the
fire
1 see the same truth set forth in the twelve
foundations of the wall of heaven St Jonn
announces the twelve foundations of this
wall to be. the first of jasper-yelow AMI
red; tho second, of sapphrs-a deep blue;
the third, chacelony--a varied beauty
the fourth, emerald "A bright green
color; the fifth, sardonyx-a blush
white; the sixth, sardiu5--red aud fiery: the
seventh chrysolte golden hued the eighth,
beryl-a blush green; the ninth, topaz
pale green mixed with yellow; the tenth,
chrysoprasus-a golden blush tint; the
eleventh, jaeinth-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 a mighty wall
of jasper-of brilliant yellow and gorgeous
crimson. Stupendous cataract Of colorl
Throne of splendor aud sublimityl
You see that the beautiful colors which
are the robes Of glory to our earth are to be
forever preserved in this wall of heaven
Our skies of blue, which sometimes seem al
most to drop with richness of color, shall be
glorified and eternized in the deep, everlast-
ing blue of that fiery stone which forms the
second foundation Of the heavenly wall.
The green that sleeps on the brooks
bank, and rides on the sea wave, and
spreads its banners on the mountain top,
shall be eternized in the emerald that forms
the fourth foundation of the heavenly wall.
The fiery guShes OF the morning. the con
flagration of the autumnal sunset the cleo
tricity that shoots its forked tongue out of
the thunder cloud, the flame at whose breath
Moscow fell and 4Htnas burn, shall be etern-
lied in the fiery jasper. 1t seems as if all
earthly beauty were in one bilIow to be
dashed up against that wall of heaven: so
that the most beautiful things of earth will
be kept either in the wall or the foundation,
or in the rainbow round about the throne
| notice the unspeakabie attractivenass of
heaven In other places the Bible tells us of
the floor Of heaven-the waters and the
stones and the fruits; but now St John tells
! US of the roof-the frescoed arch of eternity
and the rainbow round about the throne
Get ticket and carefully guarded. YOU 90
into the royal factory at Paris, where the
Gobelin tapestries of the world are made, and
see how, for years. man will sit putting in
and out ball of colore1 worsteis through
the delicate threads, satisfied if he can in
day make so much as fingers breadth of
beauty for Kings canopy. But behold
how my Lord. in one hour with His two
hands, twisted the tap estry. now swung
above the throne, into a rainbow of infinite
glory. Oh, what place heaven must bel
You have heretofore looked at the floor. this
morning take one glancs at the ceiling
notice what must be the feeling of safatv