The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-06-09
AN ENDTO OUR TROUBLES
ONLY THOSE IN TIE ARK OF SAL
vATIoN WILL SEE THE RAINBOW.

without trouble the Brightness OF
Christian Consolation Would be
Lacking-The Beauties OF the Rain
bow-Rarth's Most Beautiful Things
to be Preserved in Heaven.
BROOKLYN, June e.-This is a sacra.
mental and baptismal day with the taber.
nacle congregation, an occasion of especial
impressiveness. The children were bap-
tised before the sermon and the sacrament
administered after sermon. The subject OF
DR.. Talmages discourse was, "All troubles
past" and the text, Revelation iv., 8, "There
was rainbow round about the throne
Following is the sermon:
As, after a night of fearful tempest al
sea, one ship, more stanch than another
rides on uudamaged among che 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. Look
ing 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
ccrpses of men. No tower is left TO toll the
burial; no nourners to form in line of pro-
cession; no ground In which to bury the
dead. Sinking a line twenty-seven feet
long, you Just touch the tops of the noun
tains. Ghastliness and horror The ark,
instead OF walking the sea like a modern
ship, in majesty and beauty, tosses help
lessly; no helm 30 guide; 20 sail to set: nc
shore to steer for. Why protraot the agony
OF the good people 10 such a craft, when
they might in one dash Of the wave have
been put out of their miseryf
But at yonder spot In the horizon we see
colors gathering in the sky; at just the op-
posite point In the horizon other colors ere
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 10 hung into the sky,
and the ark has a triumphal arch to sail
under. An angel of hight swings his hand
across the sky, and the seven prismatic
colors he paints with pencil of sunbeam, the
everlasting covenant between God and
every living creature. God lifted up that
great arched bridge, and set 1t over his own
head In the heaven. John saw 1t, for he
says. There vase rainbow round about
the throne.n ~
I notice that none but the people who
were in the ark saw the rainbow. 1t cas-.
its shadow clear down into the water where
the people were buried. and lighted up the
dead faces with a strange radiance, but
they could not see 1t, So only those who
X.
the overspanuing giories of the throne.
Hence you had better get into the arki A,
you cali your family out at the close of the
shower to show than the sign in heaven, &C
l want you all at last to see the grander
rainbow round about the throne. 'sLook
therer says Noah to his wife, ',at that bow
in the clouds; and Shem and Japhet, look
lookl the green, the yellow, the red and the
orange" ! should not wonder il some of
your ownchildren in the good land should,
after while. cry out to you, "Look father
look fnotheri there Is rainbow round
about the thronep' You had better get into
the ark with all your families, if you want
to see IL.
notice 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 ir
their apparel; and 80 it is the coarse-clad
tempest, 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 shoulder.
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 well as the orange. Miugling all the
cOlors of the former makes a white light
and it takes all the shades and sadnesses
and vicissitudes of life to make the white
luster OF a pure christian character.
Your child asks you, Father, what
makes the rainbow and you say. "It 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 cooclude
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, ard his property goes, and
bis friends go, | say, Nov we shall see the
glory Of God In this good mans deliver.
ance." As at Niagara Falls saw, one day
ten rainbows spanning the awful plunge OF
the cataract, SO over the abyss of the
christians trial hover the rich-nued wings
of all the promises.
notice that the most beautiful things OF
this world are to be preserved in heaven.
When you see 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 burn
ing up has given me many paag. When
| read that Paris was besieged, said: "Now
the pictures and statues in the Louvre aud
Luxembourg will be destroyed all those
faces of Rembrandt, and. those bold dashes
Of Rubens, and those euchantments OF
Raphael on canvas, and those statues of
Canova." But is it not more melancholy
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 TRANSPORTATION" OF
sunrise and sunset is hung with
loops and tassels OF fire?
was relieved when / fouad tnat
the pictures had been removed from the
Louvre and the Luxembourg, aud am
relieved now when | think that the best
parts OF this earth are either to be removed
or pictured in the good land. The trees
must twist in the last tire-the oaks, andthe
cedars, and the NAPLES; but in heaven there
shall be the trees of life on the bank of the
river, aad the palm-trees from which the
conquerors shall pluck their branches. The
Hudson, and the st. Lawrence, and the
Ohio shall boA in the last flame, 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
judgment, but John tells Of the garlauds
which the glorified shall wear; aud there
must be flowers, or there could be no gar
lands.
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 a rainbow round about the throne.n /
have but to look up to the radiant arch
above the throne of God to assure myself
that the most glorious things Of car th are