The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1890-04-03
ANGELIC DOINGS.
Discourse by Rev. 7. Dewitt Tai
mage About Angels.
Classical and Secular Theories About tine
Heavenly Hosts Combated-Ths
Angel World Divided and
Classified.

Angel World Divided and
Classified.
The following discourse was delivered
by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage in the
Brooklyn Academy of Music, the text
being.
And the angels did wondrousiy.--Judge es
kill, 10.
Fire built on a rock. Manoah and his
wife had there kindled the flames for
sacrifice in praise of God, and in honor
of guest whom they supposed to be a
man. But, as the flame rose higher and
higher, their stranger stepped into the
flame and by one red leap assembled into
the skies. Then they knew that he was
an angel of the Lord.
The angel did wondrously.
Two hundred and forty-eight times
does the Bible refer to the angels, yet
never heard or read sermon on angel
ology. The whole subject is relegated
to the realm mythical, weird, spectral
and unknown. Such adjournment is
unscriptural and wicked. OF their life,
their character, their habits, their &C.
tions, their velocities, the Bible gives
us full-length portraits. and why this
prolonged and absolute silence concern
ing them? Angelology is my theme.
| There are two nations of angels, and
they are hostile to each other; the ma
ton of good angels and the nation
of bad angels. OF the former, chiefly
speak to-day. Their capital, their head
quarters, their grand rendezvous, is
Heaven, but their empire is the uni
verse. They are a distinct race OF
creatures. 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 different
grades and ranks, not all on the same
level, or the same height. They have
their superiors and interiors and equals.
/ propose no guessing on this subject,
but take the Bible for my only author
ity. Plato, the philosopher, guessed,
and divided angels into super-celestial,
celestial and sub-celestial. Dionysius,
the Areopagite, guessed, and diyided
them into three classes-the supreme,
the middle and 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 to the
sun. Fulgentius said that they were
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 sub
| ject that 1 respect says they are
| divided into Cherubim, Seraphim,
| Thrones, Dominations, Principalities,
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 any
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 Cove
| nant, who is the Lord Jesus, open our
| eyes and touch our tongue and rouse our
soul while we speak of their deathless-
ness, their intelligence, their numbers,
th cir strength, their achievements.
Yes, deathless. They had a cradle,
out will never have grave. The Lord
remembers when they were born, but
| no one shall ever see their eye extin-
guished, or their momentum slow up, or
their existence terminate. The oldest
| Of them has not wrinkle, or decrepi-
| tude, or a hinderance; as young after
six thousand years 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 an
gels." Yes, deathless are these wonder
tul creatures of whom / speak. They
will see world after world 60 out, but
there shall be no fading of their own
brilliance. Yea, after the last world
has taken its last fight they will be
ready for the widest circuit throughout
| immensity, taken quadrillion Of miles
in one sweep as easy as pigeon circles
dove-cote. They are never sick. They
are 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-ive
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 wom-
an 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 disturbing fake of crystal of
sand. Knowledge! 1t flashes on them.
They take it in at all points They
absorb it. They gather it up without
any hinderment- No need of literature
for them! The letters of their books
are stars. The dashes of their books
are meteors. The words of their books
are consultations. The paragraphs of
their books are galaxies. The pictures
| of their books are sunrise, and sunsets,
and midnight auroras, and the Con-
queror on the white horse with the moon
under His feet. and seas of glass mingled
with fire. Their library is an open
universe. No need of telescope to see
something millions of miles away. for
instantly they are there to inspect and
explore it. All ASTRONOMERS, all geolo-
gies. all botanies, all PHILOSOPHERS at
/ their feet. What an opportunity for