The Bossier banner., 1890-08-14
THE BOW OF PROMISE.
The Covenant of God with Man
and It's Lessons.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage on
the Rainbow and Its Beauties
Contracted with the Ugu-
ness of Sin.

"
by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmsge in the
Brooklyn Academy of Music from the
text:
There was a rainbow round the throne
Revelations, w., 3.
AS. after night of fearful tempest
at sea, one ship, more stanch than
another, rides on undamaged 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
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 tell
the burial; no mourners to form in line
Of procession; no ground in which to
bury the dead. Sinking line twenty
seven feet long, you just touch the tops
of the mountains. Ghastliness and
horror! The ark, instead of walking
the sea, like a modern ship, in majesty
and beauty, tosses 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 colors gathering in the sky; at just
the opposite points in the horizon other
colors are gathering. find that they
are the two buttresses 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 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
on sunbeam the everlasting 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
casts it's shadow clear down into the
water whore the people were 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 overspan-
ming 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 Heav-
en-, so want you all at last to see the
grander rainbow round about the
throne. Look there!" says Noah to
his wife, ''at that bow in the clouds;
and Shem and Japhet looki lookl the
green, the yellow, the red and the
orangep l should not wonder If some
of your own children in the good land
should after awhile cry out to you:
Look, father! look, motherl there is a
rainbow round about the throne!" You
had better get into the ark with all
your families, if you want to see it.
notice also that the chief glory of
God comes after the rain. No shower,
no rainbow; no trouble, no brightness
of Christian consolation. Weavers are
sometimes, by reason of their work,
dusty and rough in their apparel; and
80 1t Is the coarse-clad tempest, whose
hand and foot swing the shuttle, that
weaves the rainbow. Many Christians
are dull and stupid, and useless be-
cause they have not had disaster
enough to wake them up. The bright
est scarf that Heaven makes is thrown
over the shoulders of the storm. You
can not make thorough Christian life
out OF sunshine alone. There are some
very dark hues in the ribbon of the
Ta1nhnyVs OF ~ e.
as well as the orange. Mingling all
the colors of the former makes white
light; and it takes all the shades and
and sadnesses and vicissitudes of life
to make the white luster of a moor
Christian 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 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 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
deliveranee." AS at Niagara Falls I
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 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 I said:
Now the pictures and statues in the
Louvre and Luxenlberg will be de-
stroyed; all those faces of Rembrandt
and those bold dashes of Rubens. and
those enchantments of Raphael on
canvas, and those statues of Canova.n -
But is it not more melancholy thought
that ruin is 70 come upon this great
glory of the earth, in which the mount
aims are the chiseled sculptures and
apcn the sky, in which the '.trans-