Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-10-22
TALMAGES SERMON.
INTERESTING THEME BY The WASH.
NcToN PREACHER.

place OF thunder. ---f>alhr 81 VII.
II is past midnight. and o'clock in the
morning; far enough from sunset and sun
rise TO make the darkness very thick, and
the Egyptian army in pursuit 81 the escap-
ing Israelites are on the bottom OF the Red
Sea, its waters having been set up on either
side in masonry Of sapphire, Tor God can
make a wall a solid out Of water as out Of
granite. and the trowes with which these
two walls were built were none the less
powerful because invisible. such walls
had never before been lifted. When | saw
the waters Of the Red Sea rolling through
the Suez Canal they were blue and beauti-
full and flowing like other waters. but as
the Egyptians look up To them butt into
walls, now ON one side and now on the
other. they must have been irowning wa
tiers for II was probable that the same
power that lifted them up might suddenly
fling them PROSTATE. \ great lantern 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 it growled
and rumblcd and Jared with thunder; not
thunder Ike that which cheers the earth
after a drought promising the refreshing
shower, but charged and surcharged with
threats Of doom. The Egyptian captains
lost their presence Of mind, and the horses
reared and snorted and would not answer
TO their bits and the chariot wheels got in
terlocked and torn off, and the charioteers
were hurled headlOng. and the Rcd Sea fell
on all the host The confusing and con
founding 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 suiferi.g Of
whole generations. they had asked Almighty
God to ensepulcher their Egyptian pur-
suers in one great sarrophagus and the
splash and the roar Of the Red Sea as it
dropped To its natural bed were only the
shutting of the sarcophagus on a dead host.
That is the meaning Of the text when God
says. Il answered thee in the secret place
Of thunder
Now, thunder all mp and down the Bible,
l. the symbol Of power. Small wits depre-
ciate the thunder aud say. 1t is the
lightning that strikes But God evident
ly thinks the thunder OF some Importance
or He would not make SO much Of IL. That
man must be without imagination and with
out Sensitiyeness and without religion who
. can, without emotion, see the convention
of summer clouds called to order by the
falling gavel Of the thundcrbOlt. There i
/ nothing in the natural world that awes and
sOlemnzps me as the thunder The Egyp-
tian plague OF hail was accompanied with
'A'A'' A'4ia 'At'' pun "a Wv 'i''N
Samuel and his men were making IA burnt
Offering Of lamb, and the Phlistines We're
about to attack them, 1t was by terrorizing
thunder they were discounted. Job, who
was combination Of the DanteSque and
the Miltoni' was solcmnized by this reyer-
. beration OF the heavens, and cried: The
thunder of His power, who can under
standt' and Il" challenges the universe by
saying: Can = thou thunder with voice
like Htm; and he throws Rosa B0nheur :
Horse Fair into the shade by the Bible
photograph of war horse, when he de-
scribes his neck a- clothed with thunder.
Because Of the power Ut James and John,
they were called the sons OF thunder.
The law given On the basaltie crags Of
Mount Sinai was emphasized withthis cloudy
ebullitlon. The skies all round about st.
John at Patmos We're fan of the thunder OF
war, and the thunder Of Christly triumph,
ana the thunder OF resurrection, and the
thunder Of eternity
But when my text says, | answered thee
in the secret pIar" Of thunder, it suggests
there Is some mystery about the thunder.
70 the ancients the cause of this lombard
ing the earth with loud sound must have
been more of mystery than II is to US,
The lightninGs, which were TO them wild
monsters ranging through the skies in our
tihe nave beeh domesucated' we harness
electricity TO Nehlcles ana We cage 1t IN
lamps, ana every schoolboy knows some
tnlhS ABOUT the TACT that II Is the passage OF
electricity from CLOUD 10 cloud that makes
the heavenly racket winch we eau thuh-
DER. BUT, aIttr al that chemistry mas
taught the Wofiu, there are mysteries ABOUT
TINS skyry resonance, ana my text, true In
the time 81 the psalmlst Is true now, ami
always Will be true, that there Is some So
cret ahont the place OF thunder.
now rlSht aiohS ny natural law. there
Is always spiritual law. As there Is u
secret Plnre OF natural thunder there l.
secret pace OF moral thunder. In otheI
words, the religious power that you see
ABROAD IN the chuf'h ana III the word hit'
hldIIS place, ana IN many cases II j.
never discovered at All. VIII use slmlb
luue. can give ohlF IN" am Outline o'
particular case, Tor many 81 the remark
able circumstances have forgotten. Many
years ago there was a large churrh WNi"t
was charaeterzrd by strange ana una
couhtaple conversions mere were II,
great reVlvalS, but Individual cases o'
spiritual arrest aud transformation \
young man sat In one OF the front pews
lie was graduate OF Yale, brilliant a.
the north star ana VIGOROUSLY dlsSolute
Everybody knew him anu liked him fol
mis- genialty, but deplored his moral er
rantry. TO please his parents he was ever
! SABBATH morning IN church. One da,
there was "A ringing of the doDr bell Of tn,
pastor Of that church, and that young man
whelmed with repentance, implored praye
and advice, and passed into complete re
formation of heart and life. All the neigh
borhood was astonished and asked. VIII,
was this? His father and mother had sal,
nothing to him about his souls welfare
On another side Of the same church sat Al
old miser. He paid his pew rent, but wa
hard on the poor and had no interest in an
philanthropy. Piles of money! And peopl
said: What a struggle he will have, whe
he quits this life, to part with his bond
and mortgages" One day he wrote to hi
minister: please to call Immediately.
have a matter Of great Importance abou
which want to see you" When the paste
came in the man could not speak for emo
tion, but after awhile he gathered self-con
troll enough to say: