The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-24
ANGELOL0GY HIS THEME.
TALMAGE PREACHEs ON THE TWO
NATIONS IN THE AIR.

One Eost a Bad One and the Other
Heavenly-The Rendezvous OF the
Latter the City of Gold and Jewels,
But Their Empire the Universe-A
Magnificent Organization.
BROOKLYN, March 2S-The Academy of
Music was filed to overfowlng this morn
ing by the Tabernacle congregation, and a
large number of strangers anxious to hear
the famous preacher. After the opening
exercises, which commenced with the sing
Ing Of the hymn,
Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my home,
DR.. Talmage announced his text, judges
xii, 10" ,"And the angel did wondrouslv.n Fol-
lowing is verbatim report OF his sermon:
Fire built on rock. Manoah and his
wife had there kindled the flames for sacri-
flee in praise of God, and in honor of a
guest whom they supposed to he a man.
But, as the flame rose higher and higher.
their stranger guest stepped into the fame
and by one red leap asceaded into the skies
Then they knew that he was an Angel of
the Lord. THE angel did wonderously.n
Two hundred and forty-eighU times does
the Bible refer to the angels, vet [ never
heard or read a sermon on Angelology. The
whole subject is relegated to the realm of
the mythical, weird, spectral and unknown.
Such adjournment is unscriptural and
wicked. OF their life, their character, their
habits, their actions, their velocities, the
Bible gives Us full-iength portraits, ana
why this prolonged and absolute silence con-
| corning them? Angelology is my theme.
There are two nations of angels, and they
are hostile to each other; the nation of good
angels and the nation OF bad angels. 0f'the
former, chiefly speak to-day. Their'capi-
tai, their headquarters, their grand rendez-
vous, is heaven, but their empire is the uni
verse. They are distinct race of crea-
lures. No human being can ever join their
confraternity. The little child who, in the
Sabbath school, sings: 81 want to be an
angel will never have her wish gratified.
They are superhuman; but they are of dif-
ferent grades and ranks not all on the same
level, or the same hight. They have
their superiors and interiors and
equals. l propose no guessing on this
subject, but take the Bible for my only au-
thority. Plato, the philosopher, guessed,
and divided angels into super-celestial,
celestial, and sub-celestial. Dionysius, the
Areopagite, guessed, and divided them into
three classes-the supreme, the middle, aud
the last-and each of these into three other
classes, making nine in all. Philo said that
the angels were related to God as the RAYS
composed of body and spirit. Clement said
they were incorporeal. Augustine said
| that they had been in danger of falling, but
| now are beyond being tempted. But The
| only authority on this subject that
| respect says they are divided
into Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones,
i nominations, principaiities, powers. Their
commander-in-chief is Michael. Daniel
| called him Michael, st. John called him
| Michael. These supernal beings are more
thoroughly organized than any army that
| ever marched. They are swifter than anv
| cyclone that ever swept the sea- They are
more radiant than any morning that ever
! came down the sky. They have more to do
with your destiny and mine than any being
in the universe except God. May the angel
| of the new covenant, who is the Lord Jesus.
| open our eyes and touch our tongue and
rouse our soul while we speak of their
| deathlesSness, their intelligence, their num-
| beis, their strength, their achievements.
Yes, deathless They had cradle, but
| will never have a grave. The Lord re-
members WHEN they were born, but no one
shall ever see their eye extinguished, or
| their momentum slow up, or their existence
| terminate. The Oldest Of them has not a
wrinkle, or a decrepitude, or a hindrance; :;
as young after six thousand yea as at the
| close of their first hour. Christ said Of the
| good in heaven: Neither can they die any
more, for they are equal unto the angels !"
| Yes, deathless are these wonderful creatures
Of whom / speak. They will see
world after world go out, but there
shall be no fading Of their
own brilliance. Yea, after the last world
has taken its last flight they will be ready
for the widest circuit through immensity,
taking quadrillion Of miles in one sweep
! as easy as a pigeon circles dovecote. They
are never sick. They ere never exhausted.
| They need no sleep, for they are never
| tired. AT Gods command they smote with
| death. in one night, one hundred and
| eighty-five thousand of Sennacherib's host.
but no fatality can smite them. Awake,
agile, multipotent. deathless, immortal!
| A further characteristic of these radiant
| folk IS intelligence The woman of Tekoah
was right when she spoke to King David of
| the wisdom of an angel. We take in what
| little we know through eye and ear and
nostril and touch; but those beings have no
| physical encasement and hence they are all
| senses. A wall five feet thick is not solid to
them. Through it they go without disturb
| ing fake of mortar or crystal of sand.
| Knowledgei 1t flashes on them. They take
| 1t in at all points. They absorb it. They
! gather it UP without any Underwent. No
need OF literature for them. The letters of
their books are stars. The dashes OF their
books ore meteors. The words Of their
| OOOkS are ne pdTd2FaDnS
! of their books are galaxies. The pictures
of their books are sunrises, and sunsets and
midnight auroras, and the conqueror on the
| white horse with the moon under his feet,
| and seas of glass mingled with ire. Their
| library is an open universe. No need of
| telescope to see something millions of miles
away, for instantly they are there to IN
spect and explore it. All astronomies, all
| geologies, ali botanies, all philosophies at
| their feet. What an opportunity for intel
| ligence is theirsl What facilities for know
| ing everything and knowing it right away !
| There is only one thing that puts them to
their wits end, and the Bible says they
! have to study that They have been study
| ing it all through the ages, and yet | war
! rant they have not fully grasped 1.-THE
| wonders of redemption. These wonders are
SO high. SO deep, so grand, so stupendous,
| 80 magnificent, that even the intelligence OF
| angelhood is confounded before it. The
| apostle says '"Which things the angels de-
| sire to look into" That IS a subject that
excites inQusltiveness on their part That
! is theme that strains their faculties to the
utmost. That is higher than they can
| climb, and deeper than they can dive.
| They have a desire for something too big
| for their comprehension, (which things the
! angels desire TO look inton But that
| does not discredit their intelligence. No
one but God himself can fully understand
the wonders Of redemption. If all heaven
should study it for fifty eternities, they