Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-06-03
REV. DR.. 7ALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's SUM-
day Sermon.
subject. "The Secret Place of Thunder

place of thunder Psalms Xxi, T.
Ii is past midnight and two O'Clock in the
morning, far enough from sunset and sun
rise to make the darkness very thick, and the
Egyptian army in pursuit of the escaping
Israelites are on the bottom of the Red Sea.
its waters having been set up on either side
inmasonry of sapphire. for God can make
wall as solid out of water as out of granite.
and the trOwels with which these two walls
were built were none the less powerful be-
cause invisible Such walls had never before
been lifted.
When Isaw the waters of the Red Sea roll
ing through the Suez Canal they were blue
and beautiful and flowing like other waters,
hut tonight, as the Egyptians lcok up to
them built into walls. now on one side and
now on the other they must have been
frowning waters, for it was probable that
the same power that lifted them up might
suddenly fling them PROSTATE. A great Ian
tern of cloud hung over this chasm between
the two walls The door of that lantern was
opened toward the Israelites ahead, giving
them light, and the back of the lantern was
toward the Egyptians and it growled and
rumbled and Jared with thunder, not thun-
der like that which cheers the earth after a
drought, promising the refreshing shower.
but charged and surcharged with threats OF
doom
\ The Egvptian captains lost their presence
of min and the horses reared and snortst
ai6-would not answer to their bits, and the
chariot wheels got interlocke1 and torn OF,
and the characters were hurled hea tong,
and the Red Sea fell on all the host. Inc
confusing ami confounding thunder was IN
answer TO the PRAYER of the Israelites. With
their hacks cut bv the lash, and their feet
bleeding and their bodies decrepit with the
suffering OF whole generations they had
asked Almighty God to ensepulcher their
Egyptian pursuers in one great sarcopbagus.
and The splash and the roar of the Red Sea
as it dropped to its natural bed were only
the shutting o. the sarcophagus ON dean
host. That is the meaning OF the text when
God SAYS. 81 answered thee In the secret
place of thunder
Now thunder, all up and down the Bible,
4 the symbol of power. The Egyptian
plague OF hail was accompanied with TINS
iulI diapason of the heavens. While Sam
mel and his men were making burnt o1er-
ing of a lamb, and the PhilistlneS were ABOUT
10 attack them, it was by terrorlzng thun-
der they were discounted. job, who was
combination of the Dantesque and the Mil
tonic was solomnized on this reverberatlon
of the heavens. and cried, The thunder OF
His power, who can understand ana ne
challenges the universe by saving. "CanSt
thou thunder with a voice like Him. and he
throws Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair INTO
80 the,shade by the Bible photograph OF a war
horse. Va en- he describes his neck as clothed
with til .u6er." Because of the power OF
James snd John. they were called the sons
of thunder The law given or the basaltic
cracs of Mount Sinai was emphasized WIN
this cloudy ebullition. The skies all aroun1
about St John at Patmos were full oil the
thunder of war and the thunder OF Christly
triumph. and the thunder OF resurrection,
and the thunder OF eternity.
But when my text says, Il answered thee
in the secret place of thunder, IL Suggest
there is some mystery about the thunder
To the ancients the cause of this lombard
ing the earth with loud sound must nave
been more Of a mystery than 1t Is to us. Inc
hghtnings which were TO them wild mon
. sters ranging through the skies, in our time
ave been dOmesticated. We harness eiec-
of the Stv to vehicles and we cage 1t In lamps,
in Ralt;everv schoolboy knows something about
ct that it is the passage OF electricity
calleu cloui to cloud that makes the heavenly
of the let which we call thunder. But aIter
.,., that chemistry has taught the Worlu'
aSsui ere are mysteries about the skyey reson-
n ance and my text, true IN the time Oh tne
Psalmist is true now and always VIII oe
trns that there is some secret about the
place Of thunder.
TO one thing known about the thunder
there are a hundred things not known
After all the scientific batteries have been
doing their WORK for a THOUSAND years 70
the utmost about atmospheric electricity an
MAGNETIC electricity and galvanic electricity
and thermOtic electricity and frlcuOna
electricity and positive electricity AMI nege'
tive electricity my text will he as suggestlv,
as it is to-day, when It speaks oil the secre'
place OF thunder. 49,
is always a spiritual law, as there Is
secret place of moral thunder. In Other
words. the religious power that you SCI
abroad in the church IN the world mas MI
inc Mace and in many cases 1t Is never dis
covered at all [ will use slmihtuds-
can give only a dim outline OF particuia
case. for many Of the remarkable clrcuii
stances [ have forgotten. Many years ag
there was a large church. 1t was character
izsd nv strange ard uuaccOuntable CONVEX
sions There were no great revlvals ou
individual cases Of spiritual arrest ana trans
formation.
A vcung man sat in one of the front pew'
He was graduate of Yale, brilliant as tn
north star and VIGOROUSLY absolute. Every
body knew him and liked him for his gent
alitv but deplore his moral errantry. l
please his parents he was every Sa0Oat
morning in church. One day there was
ringing of the door-bell of ths pastor of tina
church, and that young man, whelmed wit
repentance implored prayer and ADVICE; an
passed into complete reformation OF near
and life. All the neighborhood was aston
ished and asked, "Why was this," III
father and mother had said nothing 10 nlI
about his souls welfare.
On another aisle of the same church sa
an old miser. He paid his pew rent ou
was hard on the poor, and had no interest
any philanthropy. Piles of money An
people said, What struggle he will hay
when he quits this life to part with ms oono
and mortgages" One day he wrote to b
minister: "Please TO call Immediately.
have a matter Of great Importance aboU
which [ want 10 see you" When the paste
came in the man could not speak for emo
fiop but after awhile he gathered self col
troll enough TO say: Il have lived for tn
world too long. | want to know If 20
think can be saved, and If so, wish yo
would tell me how" Upon his soul IN
light soon dagned. and the old Rissr,- ne
only revolutionized in heart but ia life, b'
gan TO scatter benefactions, and toward a
the great charities of the day he became
cheerful and bountiful almoner. What we
the cause of this change, everybody aske,
and 70 one was capable OF giving an INTEL
gent answer.
nv sabbath. a beautiful and talented womal
who was great society leader She we
70 church because that was a respectful
thing to do. and in the Deighborhoot whe
she lived it was hardly respectable not to g
Worldly was she TO the last degree, aud
her family worldly. She had at her nou
the finest germans that were ever dance
and the costliest favorS that were ever give
and though she attended church she new
I;ked tohear any story Of pathos, and as
religious emotion of any kind, she thong
il positively vulgar Wines, cards, theate
rounds of costly gayety were to her
highest satisfaction.
One day a ne:ghbor sent in visiting car
and this lady came down the stairs IN tea
and told the whole story Of how she had n
slept for several nights, and she feared
was going to lose her soul. and she wonder
IL some one would not come around and pr
with her. From that time her entire
meanor was changed, and though sne
not called upon to sacrifice any OF her anne
ties OF life, she coDsecrated her beauty,
social position, her family. her all to God al
the church and usefulness. Everybody sa
in regard to her: Have you noticed