Smyrna times., 1869-04-21
.MISceIIUW eOWS.
SANDALPHON.
BY HEZEKIAH BUTTERWoRTH.


"Let my prayer be set forth before thee as
incense! !" says David. Twice in passages of
marvellous beauty the poetic idea is unfOlded
in the Apocalypse that the prayers of the saints
are as incense to heaven. 1.-The four beasts,
and the four and twenty elders, says the Re-
velatOr, fell down before the Lamb, having
every one OF them harpS, and golden vials full
of OdOrs, which are the prayers of the saints. !"
When the seventh seal had been opened, we
read: And another angel came and stood at
the altar, having a golden censer; and there
was given unto him much incense, that he
should offer it with the prayer of the saints
upon the golden altar, which was before the
Throne. And the smoke Of the incense, with
the prayers of the saints assembled up before
God out OF the angels hand."
We never meet these poetic passages with
out being reminded of legend in the medieval
literature Of the Rabbins of Sandalphon, the
angel of prayer.
Far away lin the limitless realms of the air
are the serene and sunny regions of Paradise,
the abode of God and innumerable happy be-
lngs. The air is filled with music; the breezes,
of balm; and the Celestial City blazes with in
efable glory. By the gate of the city stands
SandalphOn, the angel of prayer, his feet on
the luminous steps descending to earth, and his
hands Outstretched to catch the prayers of
mortals. The prayers that ascend from earth
are clasped in his hands, and are changed into
flowers of marvellous fragrance and beauty, the
aroma of which, caught up by celestial breezes,
is waited through the Golden City. The pray
ers Of repentance and sorrow, of praise and
rapture, of faith and love, all turn into gar
lands in his hands; and, as prayer is perpetu-
ally ascending, Paradise is filled with perpetual
fragrance, and the angels eternally rejoice that
God is worshipped on earth.
The elegant and graceful pen of LongfelloW
thus relates the charming story:
"Have you =ead in the Talmud of old.
In the Legends the Rabbins have told
OF the limitless realms Of the air
Have you read IT, the marvellous stony
or SandalphOn. the Angel OF Glory,
SandalphOn, the Angel of Prayerf
"How, erect at the outermost gates
OF the City Celestial he waits,
His :eet on the ladder Of light,
That, crowded with angels unnumbered,
by Jacob was seen as he slumbered
Alone in the desert at nightr
| "The Angels of Wind and of Fire
Chant only one hymn, and expire
With the song Is irresistible stress;
Expire in their rapture and wonder,
Asharp-strings are broken asunder
By music they throb to express
But serene in the rapturous throng,
| Cnmoved by the rush of the song,
| With unmpassiOned aud slow,
| Among the dead angels the deathless
SandalphOn stands listening breathess
IL To sounds that ascend from below;
From the spirits earth that adore;
$ From the souls that entreat and impore
In the feryOr and passion OF prayer;
From the hearts that are burdened with losses
And weary with dragging the
Too heavy for mOrtals to bear.
"And he gathers the prayers he stands
/ And they change into flowers in his hands,
| Into garlands of purple and red;
T., And beneath the great arch of the portal,
Through the streets of the City Immortal
Is waited the fragrance they she'd"
e Many of the beautiful ideas of the Bible fin
Se a mystical rendering like the above in tn
poetical books Of the Rabbins. Such airy iC
IS ton, with all Of their dazzling imagery an
l. Oriental coloring, but highten our appreciate
.; of the solid Word of God. We turn from sue
:. fables with adeeper reverence for that Sacre
volume that alone bears the impress of tn
ls Eternal Mind, and that reveals to us that futur
~ state which alone meets the reasonable conceI
at tions of the soul. Yet there is something
n the legend of Sandalphon that fingers plea
Gr ingly in memory-recalling, as it does, the d.
I'D lghtful biblical truth that the prayers of Il
saints are as incense to Heaven.--M y Ind
"a pendent.