Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-24
THE HEAVENLY HOST
Angels Hover All About Us, Ready
TO Perform Good Offices.
MORE NUMEROUS THAN MORTALs,
On Wings Swifter Than the lightning
They Fit Everywhere,
AS FAITHFUL MINISTER'S OF THE LORD.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE prspArcHl


BROOKLYN, March 23-The Academy c
Music was filled to overfowing this mornin
by the Tabernacle congregation, and larg
number of strangers anxious to hear tn
famous preacher. After the opening exer
cises, which commenced with the singing o
the hymn,
Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my home.
DR.. Talmage announced as his text, Judge
1919, And the angel did wondrously.
Following is verbatim report of his ser
mon:
Fire built on a rock. Manoah and his wife
had there kindled the flames for sacrifice il
praise of God, and in honor of a guest whom
they supposed to be man. But. as the flame
rose higher and higher, their strange guesi
stepped into the fame and by one red lear
ascended 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 tc
the angels, yet 1 never heard or read
a sermon on angelology. The whole subject is
releeated to the realm mythical, weird. spectral
and unknown. Such adjournment is unscript
ural and wicked. OF their life, their character,
their habits. their actions. their velocities, the
the Bible gives US full-length portraits. and why
this prolonged and absolute silence concerning
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. OF the former, !
chiefly speak to-day. Their capital. their head.
quarters, their grand rendezvous is heaven,
but their empire the universe. They are a
distinct race of creatures. No huE'an 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.
CLASSIFICATION OF ANGELS.
propose no guessing on this subject, but
take the Bible for my only authority. 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 mid
die and the last-and each of these into three
other classes. making nine in all. Phio said
that the angels were related to God, as the
rays to the sun. Fulg 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 subject that respect says
they are divided into cherubim, seraphim,
thrones, Nominations, 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 Covenant, who is the Lord Jesus, open
our eyes, and touch our tongue. and rouse our
VII n Leaf
their intelligence, their numbers, their strength
their achievements.
Yes, deathless. They had cradle but will
never have a grave. The Lord remembers when
they were born. but one shall ever see their
eve eXtinguished, or their momentum slow UP,
or their existence terminate. The Oldest of
them has not wrinkle, or decrepitude, or
hindrance; as Young after 5000 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 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 dovecot They are never sick.
They are never exhausted. They need no
mand they smote with death, in one night, lS5,-
600 of Sennacherib's host but no fatality can
smite them. Awake, agile, multipotent, death
less, 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 wow through eye and ear and nostril and
touch; but those beings have no physical en-
easement and hence they are all senses. wall
five feet thick is not solid to them. Through il
they go without disturbing flake of mortar or
crystal of sand. knowledge! 1t flashes on
them. They take it in at all points, 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 pict-
ures of their books are sunrises,
and sunsets, and midnight auroras. aad the
ConQueror 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
spect and explore it All ASTRONOMERS, all geol-
ogies, all botanies, all PHILOSOPHERS at their
feet What an opportunity for intelligence is
theirs! What facilities for knowing everything
and knowing it right awayI There is only one
thing that puts them to their wits end, and the
Bible says they have to study that They have
been studying it all though the ages, and vet
warrant they have not fully grasped 1.-THE
WONDERS OF REDEMPTION.
These wonders are so high, so deep, so grand.
SO stupendous, so magnificent that even the
intelligence of angelhood is confounded before
it. The apostle says. (which things the angels
desire to look into" That is a subject that ex-
cites inquisItiveness on their part. That is a
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
too big tor their comprehension.
(which things the angels desire to look into'
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 80 eternities they would get
no further than the A b c of that inexhausti-
BILE subject. But nearly all other realms Of
they have ransacked and explored
and compassed. No one but God can tell them
anything they do not know. They have read
10 the last word of the last line of the last page
Of the last volume of investigation. And what
delights most is that all their intelligence is
10 be at our disposal, and. coming into their
presence. they will tell us in five minutes more
than we can learn by 100 years of earthly sur
missing.
A further characteristic of these immortaIs
is their velocity. This the Bible puts some
times under the figure of wings sometimes un-
der the figure of flowing garment, sometimes
under the figure of naked feet. AS these SUPER
humans are without bodies these expressions |
are of course hgurarive, and mean swiftness. |
The Bible tells us that Daniel was praving and |
Gabriel few from heaven and touched him be- |
lore be got up from his knees. How tar then
LID the angel Gabriel have TO fly in those mo- /
nents of Daniels prayer? Heaven is thought |
70 be the center of the universe. Our sun and |
Is planets only the rim of the wheel of worlds |
IN moment the angel Gabriel few from that
center to this periphery. Jesus told Peter He |
,ould instantly have 60 900 angels present if He |
;alled for them. What foot of antelope or
wing of albatross could equal that velocity? |
Jaw of gravitation, which grips all things else |
las no influence upon angelic momentum. In
nensltles before them open and shut like
an. That they are here is no reason WHY they
hould not be a quintillion of miles hence the
leXt minute. Our bodies hinder us. but our
minds can circle the earth in minute An