Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-06-10

THE BROOKLYN DIVINE,S SIN.
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "THE SECRET PLACE OF
IHUNDER.n

IIse 10 make the DARKNESS very tnlck and the
Egyptian army in pursuit OF the escaping
lsraelites are on the bottom Of the Red Sea
its waters having been set up on either side
Ill masonry OF sapphire, for God can make a
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 saw 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 look 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 lsraelites ahead, giving
them light, and the back OF the lantern was
toward the Egyptians. and 1t growled and
rumblei and Jared with thunder, not thun.
der like that which cheers the earth after a
| drought, promising the refreshing shower,
but charged aud surchargcd with threats OF
doom.
The Egyptian CAPTAINS lost thoir presence
OF min :, and the horses reared and snorted
and would not answer to their bits, and tho
chariot wheels got interlocked and torn Off,
and the charioteers were hurled headlong
| and the Red Sea fell on all the host The
| confusing and confounding thunder was in
answer to the prayer of the Israelites. With
their backs cut by the lash, and their feet
bleeding. and their bodies decrepit with the
suffering of whole generations they had
asked Almighty God to ensepucher their
| Egyptian pursuers in one great sarcophagus,
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 dead
host. That is the meaning OF the text when
God says, II answered thee in the secret
| place of thunder
Now thunder, all up an1 down tho Bible
Is the symbol of power. The Egyptian
| plague or hail was accompanied with this
| full diapason of the heavens. While Sam
uel and his men were making a burnt Offer
ing OF lamb. and the PhilistineS were about
! TO attack them, it was by terrorizng thun-
| der they were diScomited. JOB, who was n
combination OF the Dantesque aud tho Nil.
tonic, was solomnZed on this reverberation
OF the heavens, and cried, The thunder of
His power, vino can understandp and he
challenges the universe by saying, "Canst
| thou thunder with voice like Him. and he
throws Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair into
the shade by the Bible photograph OF a war
horse, when he describes his neck as clothed
with thunder" because Of the power OF
James and John, they were called 'the sons
OF thunder" The law given or the basaltic
! crags OF Mount Sinai was emphasized with
this cloudy ebultjon. The skies all around
about st. john at Patmos were full Of 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, II answered thee
In the secret place of thunder" it suggest
there is some mystery about the thunder.
To tho ancients the cause OF this lombard
ing the earth with loud sound must have
been more of a mystery than 1t is TO us. The
hghtnngS which were To them wild mon
sters ranging through tine skies, in our time
have been domesticated We harness elec-
tricitv to vehicles aud we cage 1t in lamps,
and every schoolboy knows something about
the fact that it Is the passage of electricity
from cloud to cloud that makes the heavenly
racket which we call thunder. But, after
all that chemistry has taught the world,
there are mysteries about the skyey rcson-
ance and my text, true in the time of tho
Psalmist, is true now and always will be
true, 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 q thousand years to
come and learned men have discourse1 to
the utmost about atmospheric electricity and
magnetic electricity and galvanic electricity
and thermotic electricity and friotional
electricity and positive electricity and mega
tive electricity my text will be as suggestive
as it is to-day, when it speaks OF the secret
place of thunder.
Now right along by natural law there
Is always a spiritual law, as there is a
secret place Of moral thunder. In other
words, the religious power that you see
abroad in the church In the world has hid
ing place, and in many cases 1t is never dis.
covered at ALL i will use similitude. l
can give only dim outline OF particular
case for many Of the remarkable circum-
stances | have forgotten. Many years age
there was large church. 1t was character
lied by strange and uuaccountable conver'
sions. There were no great revivals. but
Individual cases Of spiritual arrest and trans
formation.
Young man sat in one OF the front psws,
He was a graduate OF Yale, brilliant as the
north star and VIGOROUSLY dissolute. Every
body knew him and liked him for his genl-
ality, but deplored his moral errantry. Ic
plesse his parents he was every Sabbath
morning In church One day there was Q
ringing of the door-bell of the pastor OF that
church and that young man, whelmed win
repentance implored prayer and advice, and
missed into complete reformation of hear
and life. All the neighborhood was aston
ished and asked, "Why was thisf" Hi
father and mother had said nothing to hin
about his souls welfare.
On another aisle Of the same church sa
an old miser. He paid his pew rent but
was hard on the poor and had no interest II
ony philanthropy. Piles OF money And
people said, "What struggle he will hav
J when he quits this life to part with his bond
and mortgages" One day he wrote to hi
minister: please to call Immediately;
have q matter of great Importance aoou
which / want to see you" When tne pasto
came in the man could not speak Tor emo
tion. but after awhile he gathered self con
troll enough to say: II have lived for thi
world too long. I want to know II yo'
think | can be saved, and, If so, ! wish yo
would tell me how ;" Upon his soul tn
lgbt soon dawned, aud tho old miser, no
only revolutionized in heart but In Ire, De
gnn TO scatter benefaotions, and toward al
the great charities Of the day he became
cheerful and bountiful almoner. What wa
the cause Of this changer everybody asked
and no one was capable oil giving an ihteii'
gent answer. .,,,, ~. cohho, /,
nv Sabbath, a beautiful and talented woman
who was a great society leader. She wen
IN church because that was respectaOl
thing to do. and in the neighborhood wher
che lived it was hardly respectable not to &c
Worldly was she to the last degree and
her family worldly. She had at her hou;
the finest germans that werc ever dancec
and the costliest favors that were ever glVel
and though she attended church she heV.
liked to hear any story of pathos and as
religious emotion OF any kind, she though
Il positively vulgar. Wines, cards, theater
rounds of costly gayety were to her u
highest satisfaction. ,-,.,
One day neghbor sent in visiting car'
and this lady came down the stairs IN teal
and told the whole story of how she had nI
sIspt for several nights, and she feared 81
was going to lose her soul, and sue wohaerS e.rS
if sotne one would not come around ana pre-
with her. From that time her entire d
: msanor was changed. and though she WI
not called upon to sacrifice any OF her amer
TO- Of life abe oonsecrated her beauty, b