The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-06-11
GALL TROUBLE PAST
A Place Where All is Rest Peace
and Happiness.
Rev. DIR. Talmage breaches About the
Rainbow Round About the Heavenly
Throne and What 1t Means to Sim
ners-God's Promises.

The subject Of DR.. Talmage's recent
discourse at the Brooklyn Tabernacle
was, "All Trouble Past" and the text,
Revelations iv. 3, 'There was rainbow
round about the throne" Following is
the sermon;
As, after a night Of fearful tempest at
sea, one ship, more staunch than an
other 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
dead world. Looking out Of the win
dow 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 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
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 point in the horizon other
colors are gathering. l find that they
are the two buttresses Of an arched
bridge. The yellow, the red, the orange,
the blue, the indigo, the violet are min
gled, 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 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 II, 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 SEQ 1t. So
only those who are at last found in
Christ the ark, will see the over-span-
ming glories OF the throne. Hence you
had better get into the ark! AS you call
your family out at the close Of the show
or TO show them the sign in heaven, so
Iwant 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 ia
phet, lookl lookl-the green, the yell
low, the red and the orangeW l should
not wonder II some OF your children In
the Good Land should after while cry
out to you, "Look, fatherl look, motherl
there is rainbow round about the
thropeI' You had better get into the
ark, with all your families II you want
see II.
notice also that the chief glory Of
God comes after the rain. No shower,
no rainbow; no trouble, no brightness
Of Christian consolation. Weayers are
sometimes, by reason OF their work,
dusty and rough in their apparel; and so
IL is hecoarse-clad tempest, whose hand
and foot swing the shuttle, that weayes
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 heav-
en- makes is thrown over the shoulders
OF the storm, You can not make q
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 or
ange. Mingling all the colors Of the
former makes O white light, and 1t takes
all the shades, and sadness, and vicissi-
tudes Of life to make the white luster Of
pure Christian character.
Your child asks you, "Father, what
makes the rainbow" and you say, Tt
Is the sunlight striking through the
raindrops." Therefore wondered how
there could be rainbow in heaven,
Mnce 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 man
overwhelmed with trouble, and his
health goes, and his property goes, and
his friends 20, say, snow we shall sec
the glory Of God in this good mans de-
nyerance" As at Niagara Falls / saw
ono day, ten rainbows spanning the aw-
full plunge OF the cataract, SO over the
abyss Of the Christians trial hover the
rieh-hued wings Of all the promises.
Inotice thai 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 500 the
rainbow round about the throne. That
story about the world burning up has
given me many pang. When ] read
that Paris was besieged, l 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 en-
chantmonts Of Raphael on canvas, and
those statues Of Canova," But is II not
more melancholy thought that ruin Is
10 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 sun
rise and sunset is hung with loops and
tassels OF fire? was relieved
whom found that tho pictures
had been removed from the Lou
vre and the Luxembourg, and I
am relieved now whom think that the
best parts OF this earth are either to be
removed or pictured in the good land.