The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-06-09
AT THE TABERNACLE.
DR.. TALMAGE lLLUMINATES AN OBJ.
SQUIRE TEXT.

Thee in tho Secret Place OF Thur
In tho Biblo Thunder Is tho TYPO of
Power and Mystery.
BROOKLYN, May 29.--Dr. Talmage
gave fresh illustration this morning of
the power he possesses Of extracting val
liable lessons from text which preach
ers have generally neglected as barren
ground. His sermon was based on the
text Psalms lXXNi, 7, ST answered thee
in the secret place Of thunder"
II is past midnight, and two O'Clock
il the morning, far enough from sunset
and sunrise to make The darkness very
thick, and the Egyptian army III pursuit
OF the escaping lsraelitcs arc on the
bottom of the Red sea, It's waters hay
ing been set up on either side in mason,
ry of sapphire, for God can N, m,,,xc sxi;,;o . wall
as solid H9!'3. 9, %:t,y %.ttyr as out Of granite, &
and the trowels with which thcsc two
walls were built were none the less
powerful because invisible. Such walls
had never before been lifted.
When l saw the waters Of the Red
sea rolling through The Sucz canal they
other waters, but tonight, as the Egyp-
tians look up to them built into walls,
now Oh one side and now on the other,
they must have been irownng waters,
for 1t was probable that the same power
that lifted them up might suddenly flung
them PROSTATE. a great lantern Of
cloud hung over this chasm between the
TWO walls. The door OF that lantern
was opened toward the Israclites ahead,
giving them light, and the back Of the
lantern was toward the Egyptians, and
it growled and rumblcd and Jared with
thunder; moi thunder like that which
cheers the earth after drought, prom
ising the refreshing shower. but charged
and surchargcd with threats of doom.
The Egyptians captain lost their
presence of mind, and the horses reared
and snOrtcd and would not answer to
their bits, and the chariot wheels goL
lntcrlocked and torn of, and the char
iotccrs were hurled hcadlong, and tho
Red sen fell on all the host. The con-
tusing and cOntounding thunder was in
answer to. the prayer of the Israclitcs.
With their backs cut by the lash and
their feet bleeding and their bodies de-
crepIt with the suffering OF whole gcner-
atons, they had asked Almighty God
to ensepu'chcr their Egyptian pursuers
III one great SarCOphagus, and the splash
and the roar OF the Red sea as it dropped
TO its natural bed were only the shutting
OF the sarcophagus Ona 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 and down the
Bible, Is the symbol Of power. The
egyptian plague OF hail was accOmpa-
MED with this full dapason Of the hcav-
ems. While Samuel ard his men were
making burnt Offering of Il lamb, and
the Phllstincs were about 10 attack
them, it was by tcrrorzing thunder they
were discounted. job, who was a COM
blnation of the Dantcsquc and the Mil
tonic, was solcnniZcd on this rcverbera-
ton OF the heavens, and cried: "Thc
thunder of his power, who can under.
stand!' and he challenges the universe
by saying, "Can'st thou thunder with q
voice like him?" and he throws Rosa
Bonhcur's 'Ilorse Eair' into the shade
by the Bible photograph ofa war-horsc.
When he describes his neck as "clotheG
with thunder" because of the power
OF james and John, they were called
'lhc sons Of thunder" The law given
on the basaltic crags Of Mount Siuu
was emphasized with this cloudy chulli.
ton. Tho skies all around about St
John at PatmOs were tull of the thunder
ol war and the thunder of Christly tri
umph and the thunder Of resurrection
AMI the thunder Of eternity.
Now right along by natural law
there is always spiritual law. As
there is secret place of natural th,n.
der, there is asecrct place of moral thun
der. In other words, the religious
power that you see abroad in the church
and i'll the world has n hiding place, an(
III many cases lis never discovered al
all. [ Will use n simlltudc. | can give
only the dim outline ofa particular case
Tor many Of the remarkable circumstan.
ccs L have forgotten. Many years ACC
there was large church. 1t was char.
actcrlzed by strange and unaccountablc
conversions. There were no great re.
Vlvals, but individual cases of spiritual
arrest and transformation.
a young man sat in one Of the front
pcws. He was graduate of Yale,
brilliant as the north star and notorious
~ dlssoutc. Everybody knew him and
liked him for his gcnality, but dcplorcd
his moral crrantry. TO please his par
ents nc was every Sabbath morning in
church. One day there was ringing
OF the doorbell of the pastor of that
church, and that young man, whelmed
Wit, repentance, implored prayer and
advice and passed INTO complete refor.
nation OF heart and life. All the neigh
borhood was astonished and asked, Why
Was this? His father and mother had
sad nothing to him about his SOULS wei.
fare.
On another aisle OF the same church
sat an Old dmlser. Hepaid his pew rent,
Tut was hard on the poor and had no
interest in any philanthropy. Piles of
money! And people said: "What a
struggle he will have when he QUITS this
life, TO part with his bonds and mort
cages" One day he wrote to his min.
ister: PLEASE to call Immediately. |
nave matter great importance about
winch want to see you" When the
pastor came i'll the old man could not
speak Tor emotion. but after a while he
gathered sell control enough to say: 81
have lived for this world too long. ]