Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-09
THE BOW OF PROMISE
Emblematicai of the Joys That Come
to Faithful Christians
AFTER LIFE'S STORM is ENDED.
The Beautiful Things Of this World to be
Preserved in Heaven.
LESSONS TAUGHT By THE DELUGE


and Baptismal Day with the Tabernacle
congregation, an occasion Of especial i'm
pressiveness. The children were baptized
before the sermon and the sacrament admin
istered after sermon. The subject OF Dr.
Talmage's discourse was, "An Troubles
Psst;" and the text, Revelation iv: 8, There
was q rainbow round about the throne.
Following is the sermon:
As, after night of fearful tempest at sea,
one shin 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 dsluge, floats on over the wreck OF
q 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 mourners to form IN line of pro-
eession; no ground on which to bury the dead.
Sinking line q feet long, you just touch the
tops of the mountains. Ghastliness and horror!
The ark, instead of walking the sea, Ike
modern ship, in majesty and beauty, tosses
helplessly; no helm to guide; no sail 10 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 misery7
But at yonder spot in the horizon we see
oolors gathering in the sky; at just the oppo-
site point in the horizon other colors are gath
erings i 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
8 triumphal arch to sail under. An angel OF
Light swings his hand across the sky, and In the
seven prismatic coiors he paints with pencil OF
sunbeam the everlasting covenant between God
and every living creature. God lifted up that
great arched bridge, and set il over His OWL
head in the heaven. John saw IT. Tor ne says;
''1here was rainbow round about the throne"
.r-rr-r, cTOIM
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
were buried and lighted up the dead faces with
q strange radiance but they could not see it
So only those who are at last found in Christ
the Ark, will see the overspanning glories of
the throne. Hence youlhad better get into the
ArkI 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 rain
bow round about the throne. Look there!" says
Noah to his wife, ''at that bow in the clouds;
and, Shem and Japhet, looki look!-the green,
the yellow. the red and the orange! should
not wonder if some of your own children in the
Good Land should after a while cry to you,
"Look, fstherl look, motheri there Is rainbow
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 consola-
tion. Weavers are sometimes by reason of
their work, dusty and rough in their apparel;
and so it is the coarse-clad tempest whose hand
and foot swing the shuttle, th at 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 rain
bow; you must have in life the blue as well as
the orange. Mingling all the colors OF the
former makes white light; and it takes all the
shades, and saonesses, 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, at is the sunlight
striking through the rain drops" Therefore I
wonder 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 man overwhelmed with trouble.
and his health goes, and his property goes, and
his friends go, L say, Now we shall see the
glory Of God in this good mans deliverance."
As at Niagara Falls / saw, one day, ten rain
bows spanning the awful plunge of the cat,
aract SO over the abyss of the Christians trial
hover the rich-hued wings of all the promises.
A GLORIOUS TRUTH.
I 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 pang. When l read
thar Paris was besieged, 1 said, "Now the pict-
ures and statues in the Louvre and Luxem-
bourg will be destroyed; all those faces of Rem
brandt and those bold dRshes of Rubens, and
those enchantments of Raphael on canvas, and
those statues of Canova." But is it not a 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 ''transigu.
ration" of sunrise and sunset is hung
with loops and tassels Of fire2 I was re-
lieved when 1 found that the pictures had
been removed from the Louvre and the
Luxembourg. and 1 am relieved now when
think that the best parts of this earth are
either to be removed or pictured in the Good
Land. The tree must twist in the last fre-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. Lawrence.
and the Ohio shall boil 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 pOrtulaccas, and the roses of earth will
wither in the hot sirocco of the Judgment, but
John tells us Of the garlands which the glorifled
shall weari ana there must be flowers, or there
could be no garlands.
The rainbow on our sky, which is only the
pillow of the dying storm, must be removed;
but then, glory be to Godi there is a rainbow
round about the throne" 1 have but to look
up to the radiant arch above the throne of God
10 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 snatched out of the fire.
/ 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-yellow and red; the
second, of sapphire-a deep blue; the third,
chalcedOny-a varied beauty: the fourth en-
erald-a bright green color; the fifth sardonyx
"a blush white; the sixth. sardius-red and
nery; the seventh, Observation-Disclosures;
the eighth, beryl-a blush green; the ninth.
topaz pale green mixed with yellow; the
tenth, chrysopTasus-a golden blush tint; the
eleventh, jaclnth-hery as the sunset: the
twelfth, amethyst But these precious stones
are only the foundation of the wall of heaven
the most inferior part of it. On the top of
this foundation there rises mighty wall of
jasper-of brilliant yellow and gorgeous Grim
SON Stupendous cataract of colorI Throne of
splendor and sublimityl
EARTHLY AND HEAVENLY BEAUTY.
You see that the beautiful colors which are
the robes of glory to our earth are to be for.
ever preserved in this wall of heaven. Our
skies of blue which sometimes seem almost to
drop with richness of color shall be gloriied
and eternized in the deep everlasting blue of
thst fiery stone which forms the second founda-
tion of the heavenly wall. The green that
sleeps on the brooks bank, and rides on the
sea-wave, and spreads its banners on the noun
tain top, shall be eternized in the emerald that
fo vms the fourth foundation of the heavenly
wall The fiery gush of the morning, the con-
facrsi ion Of the autumnal sunset the electric
fly that shoots its forked tongue out OF the
thunder-ci oud, the fame at whose breath Mos
COW fen and Etnas burn, shall be eternized in
the fiery jasper. It seems as If all earthly
beauty were in one billow TO be dashed up
Ofh hn.u &H7oNe