Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-01
GREAT NOISE NOT
SIGN OF STRENGTH
Talmage Draws Lesson from January
Blizzard Giving Way Before
the Effects Of Warm
Sunshine

Sunshine
"Three Empty Crosses" was the sub
ject of Rev. Frank De Witt Talmage
yesterday morning. In part he said:
1T is not the power making the
greatest noise which always has the
most enduring strength. Neither is 1T
the day of evil which has the longest
twilight What are you making such
fuss aboutY L asked bitter January
wind some years ago among the Miehi-
gan hills. Oh answered the wind L
am going to bring down a blizzard
from the far north. Then I am going
to pile these fields up with great snow
drifts. Then l am going to freeze the
lakes so thick with ice that the lum-
bermen can drive their sleds loaded
down with heavy logs over them. Then
| am going to freeze up the ground so
tight that 1t will be as hard as rock.
Then / am going to stop, all the traffic
upon the railroad tracks. Then 1 am
going to starve the snowbirds and the
rabbits and freeze to death the deer in
the forest ravines. Yes, am going to
make all living creatures tremble in
terror before my scepter of ice.'
And well did the January wind keep
its word. 1t blew until the billiards.
came. 1t blew until the fences dsap-
peared under the falling snow. 1t blew
until it seemed as though man must
flee those Michigan hills for his life
But after that north wind had exhaust
ed all it's fury and piled up the great
snowbanks everywhere and hung pyra-
mids of icy stalactites from every tree
branch, quietly and gently the warm
sun came out. Then the bright sun
beams kept kissing this snowflake and
kissing that snowflake, and changing
this blade of ice and that blade Of ice
into another bar of gold, and burrow-
ing here and burrowing there, until
after a while that same sun brushed
away every snowbank and began to
WOO the buds out of the trees and the
grass out of the ground and the sap
began to flow and the birds began to
build their nests and spring and sum-
mer took the place of the blizzards and
the frosts of winter. All, no; it is not
the power of making the greatest noise
which always has the most enduring
strength.
MANY centuries ago there was a
great assemblage of the forces Of ma
ture and they said: Let us build a
tower of Babel. Let us erect huge
fortress of rock, which shall be forever
| a monument to our strength So the
earthquake said: We will writhe and
| twist this old earth all out of shape
| We will throw the rocks aslant and
we will pile them one upon the other.
Then the fervent heat said: we will
| strike this old earth. and make it shrivel
| up like dried orange Then the vol
canoes said: Out of the center of the
earth we will Vomit up great noun
tains of lava. We will build a huge
| mountain range of rocks that the fires
cannot burn and the eternities cannot
laval Co 90 t11t.A
to work. They piled up huge mountain
ranges which seemed to be impreg-
nable and inaccessible fortresses for
all time But after these rough forces
of nature had finished their work a
collection of white fleecy clouds began
to sail across the heavens. Then they
came to the great mountains and said:
Let us undo the work of the earth
quake, the volcanoes and the fervent
heat So these white fleecy clouds went
over to the sea, and they dropped their
golden buckets into the deep and filled
up their reservoirs. Then with their
white wings they fled away to the
mountains and began to let that water
fall upon the mountainside. Then that
water gradually and yet surely began
to wash away the dirt and the rocks
of those mountains. They washed those
mountains down into the valleys. And
til after a while the little drops of
water were able to level the unscalable
fortresses which the volcanoes and the
earthquake had piled up into great
mountain ranges, seemingly strong
enough to defy the eternities them
selves. 1t is not the power making the
greatest noise which always has the
enduring strength.
AHA cried the Sanhedrin. Aha,
| nriad 10 q nria6
Roman prohigate. Aha cried all the
| intrenched forces of sin. we shall for
ever live and triumph if we can only
slay this upstart, Jesus Christ. So
what did they do? They united their
forces of evil. They defied and over
rode every law of justice. They cap
tured Jesus by night, which was con-
trary to every known Hebrew or Ro-
man usage. Then. in the early morn
ing, they hung him upon the cross.
Then they stood at the foot of the
cross and cried: 'Aha!' We, the pow
ers of evil, have forever won. Aha!
Jesus, our denunciator himself, Is dead
And he was dead. Have you ever seen
Rubens' greatest masterpiece called
The Descent from the Crosse All,
that picture we'll illustrates how dead
Jesus was.
when your little girl died and the
her and laid her out in the casket, sur
rounded by flowers, it did not seem as
| though she could be dead. There she
lay with smile upon her lips, just as
you had seen her lying a hundred
times in her crib. AS you watched her
you could almost see her breast heave
and see her roll over in her sleep.
Then you said; oh, she is too beauti-
full to be put away in the dark grave
But in Rubens' Descent from the
Cross there is no doubt about Christ
being dead. His skin is as CHASTITY
white as the white sheet they are
wrapping about him. The blue veins
seem to be standing out like whip
cords upon his forehead. His feet, his
hands and his head seem to be hanging
as heavy as tons of lead. He could not
have. been more utterly beyond restora-
ton If he had lain in his grave a
thousand years. And yet, within three
days, within sight Of his empty cross,
Christ arose and walked and moved
and lived and had his being, My
friends, like the crucifiers of old, you
may be able to defy Christ for little
while. But remember the day of
Christs burial is TO be followed by his