Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1890-03-25

ransaeked and explored and compass
ed. No one but God can tell them
anything they do not know. They
have read TO the last word of the last
line of the last page of the last volume
of investigation. And what delights
me most is that all their intelligence is
to be at our disposal, and, coming into
their presence, they will tell us in five
minutes moro than wo can learn by
one hundred years of earthly surmis-
ing.
!. THEIR VELOCITY.
A further characteristic of these i'm
mortals is their velocity. This the BIZ
BILE puts sometimes under the figure OF
wings, sometimes under the figure OF
a flowing garment, sometimes under
the figure of naked feet. AS these SUI
perhumans are without bodies these eX-
pressions are of course fgurative, and
mean swiftness. The Bible tells us
that Daniel was praying, and Gabriel
flew from heaven and touched him be.
fore he got up from his knees. How
far, then, did the angel Gabriel have
TO fly in those moments of Daniels
prayer2 Heaven is thought to be the
center of tie universe. Our sun and
its planets only the rim of the wheel
of worlds. In q moment the angel Ga
briel flew from that center to this pc
riphery. Jesus told Peter he could in
stantly have sixty thousand angels
present if he called for them. What
foot of antelope or wing of albatross
could equal that velocity2 Law OF
gravitation, which grips all things
else, has 10 influence upon angelic
momentum. Immensities before them
open and shut like fan. That they
are here is no reason why they
should not be quintillion of miles
hence the next minute. Our bodies
hinder us, but our minds can circle
the earth in minute. Angelic beings
are bodiless and have no limitation.
God may with his finger point down
TO some world in trouble on the out
most limits of creation, and instantly
an angelic cohort are there to help it.
Or some celestial may be standing at
the furthcrmost outpost of immensely,
and God may say "Come!" and in
stantly it is in his bosom. Abraham,
Elijah, Hagar, Joshua, Gideon, Ma
noah, Paul, st. John, could tell OF
their unhindered locomotion. The red
feet of summer lightning are slow
compared with their hegiras. This
doubles up and congresses intinitudes
into infnitesimals. This puts all the
astronomical heavens into a space like
the balls of child's rattle. This min
giles into one the Here and the There,
the Now and the Then, the Beyond and
the Wonder.
THEY ARE MULTITUDINOUS.
Another remark l have to make con-
corning these illustrious immortals IS
that they are multitudinous. Their
census has never been taken and no
one but God knows how many they
are, but all the Bible accounts suggest
their immense numbers. Companies
of them, regiments of them, armies Of
them, mountain tops haloed by them,
skies populous with them. John speaks
of angels and other beings round the
throne as ten thousand times ten thou
sand. Now, according TO my calcula-
ton, ten thousand times ten thousand
are one hundred million. But these
ere only the angels in one place. Da-
vid counted twenty thousand OF them
rolling down the sky in chariots.
When God came away from the riyen
rocks OF Mount Sinai, the Bible says
he had the companionship of ten thou
sand angels. 1 think they are in
every battle, in every exigency, at
every birth, at every pillow, at
every hour, at every moment. The
earth full of them. The heavens full of
them. They outnumber the human
race in this world They outnumber
ransomed spirits in glory. When
Abraham mad his knife uplifted to
STAY Isaac, twas an angel who arrest
ed the stroke, crying: Abraham!
Abraham" 1t was stairway of an
gels that Jacob saw while pillowed In
the wilderness. We are told an angel
led the hosts of Israelites out of Egyp-
tan serfdom. 1t was an angel that
showed Hagar the fountain where she
filed the bottle for the lad. It was an
angel that took Lot out OF doomed
Sodom. twas an angel that shut up
the mouth of the hungry monsters
when Daniel was thrown into the cav
ems. It was an angel that fed Elijah
under thejuniper tree. 1t was an an
gel that announced to Mary the APP
preaching nativity. They were angels
that chanted when Christ was born.
1t was an angel that strengthened our
Saviour in his agony. 1t was an
angel that encouraged Paul in
the Mediterranean shipwreck. 1t
was an angel that burst open
the prison, gate after gate, until
Peter was liberated. 1t was an angel
that stirred the Pool of Sloan, where
the sick were healed. TWAS an angel
that John saw flying through the midst
of heaven, and an angel with foot
planted on the sea, and an angel that
opened the book, and an angel that
sounded the trumpet, and an angel
that thrust in the sickle, and an angel
that poured out tho vials, and an angel
standing in the SUD. 1t will be an
angel with uplifted hand, swearing
that Time shall be no longer. In the
great final harvest of the world the
reapers are the angels. Yea, the Lord
shall be revealed from heaven with
mighty angels. Oh, the numbers and
the might and the glory of these SUI
pernals! Fleets of them! Squadrons
of them! Host beyond host! Rank
above rank! Millions on millions!
And all ON our side if we will have
them.
OFFICES OF THESE sUPERNArS.
This leads me to speak of the offices
of these supemals. To defend, to
cheer, to rescue, to escort, TO give vic
tory to the right, and overthrow the
wrong; that is their business. Just as
alert today and efficient as when IN
Bible times they spread wing, or un-
sheathed sword, or rocked down peni-
tentiaries, drilled the mountains with
horses of fire hitched to chariots Of fire