The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-04-10
THE TALMAGE SERMON,
DROOkLYN'S DIVINE breaches
ON ANGELOLOGY.
There are Two Nations OF Angels: The
Nation CT Good Angels and the
Nation of Bad Angels.

Judges Kill, l9.
Fire built on rock. NIanoah and his
wife had there kind!ed the flames for sacri.
flee 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 guest stepped into the flame and by
one red leap 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 to the angels, yet never
heard or read 4 sermon on Angelology. The
whole subject is rciegated to the realm
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 length portraits, and why
this prolonged and absolute silence concern
ing them? Angelology ismy theme.
There are two nations of angels, and they
nre hostile to each other; the nation of good
angels and the nation OF bad angels. Or the
former chiefly speak to-day. Their capital,
their headquarters, their grand rendezvous,
j. heaven, but their empire is the universe.
They arc distinct race OF creatures. No
human being can ever JOIN their con(rater.
nifty. The little child who in the Sabbath
school sings, II want to be all angel" will
never have her wish gratiied. They are su
perhuman: but they are Of different grades
md 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 authority Plato, the philosopher,
guessed. and divided angels into super-celes-
tiGi, celestial and sub-celastial. Dionysius, the
Areopagitc, guessed, and divided them into
three claSscs-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 10 the sun. Fuigentius said
that they were composed OF body and spirit.
Clement said they were incorporeal. Au-
guStine said that they had been in danger of
falling, but now are beyond being tempted.
But the only authority ON this subject that
I respect says they are divided into Cheru-
tim, Serapbim, Thrones, DominationS, Prin-
cipalitieS, 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 morn
ing that over came down the sky They have
more to do with your destiny and mine than
any being III the universe except God. May
the Angel of the New Covenant, who is the
Lord Jesus, open our eyes, and touch cur
tongue, and rouse our soul. while we speak Of
their dcathlessncss, their intelligence, their
numbers, their strength, their achievements.
Yes, deathless They had cradle, but
will never have a grave. The Lord renem
bers when they were born, but no one shall
ewes see their eye e5tingushed, or their mo-
mentum slow up, or their existence term
mate. The oldest of them hes not wrinkle,
or decrepitude, or 4 hindrance, as young
after six thousand years rs at the close OF
their first hour Christ said of the good in
heaven, Neither can they die any more for
thcy arc equal unto the angels" Yes death
less are these wonderful creatures of whom /
SPEAK. They will see world after world so
out but there shall be no fading of their own
brilliauce. 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
pigeon circles dovecot. They are never
sick. They are never exhausted. They need
no sleep, for they are never tirel. At Coils
command they smote with death, in one
night, one hundred and eighty-ive thousand
of SIENNA acherib'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 Tckoah
was right when she spoke to King David OF
tho wisdom of an angel. We take in what
little we know through eye and ear and nos.
tril 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 flake Of mortar or crystal Of sand. Knowl-
edge II flashes on them. They take it In at
oil points. They absorb it. They gather it
up without any hindermcnt. No need OF
literature for theml The letters of their
books are stars. The dashes of their books
are meteoYs. The words of their books are
consultations. The paragraphs 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 fire. Their library is IN open
universe. No need Of telescope to see some
thing millions of miles away. for instantly
they are there to inspect and explore it. All
ASTRONOMERS, all geologieS, all botanies, all
philosophers at their feet. What ali oppor-
tunity for intelligence is theirs! What facili-
ties for knowing 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 studying it
tll through the ages, and yet warrant they
havenot fully grasped 1.-THE wonders Of Re-
demptiou. These wonders are so high, Sc
'leep, so grand, so Stupendous, SO magnificent
that even the intelligence Of angelhood is con-
founded beforeit. The apostle says: (which
things the angels desire to look into" That
is subject that excites inquisitiveneSs on
their part. That is theme that strains their
faculties to their utmost That is higher than
they can climb, and deeper than they can
dive. They have desire for something too
big for their comprehension. (Which things
the angels desire to look into" But that does
not discre lit their Intelligence. No one but
Gol Him,5if can fully understand the Won
ders OF Redemption. If all heaven should
study it for fifty eternitieS they would get no
further than the A Is c of that iuexhaustiblo
subject. But nearly all other realms of
knowledge they have rausacIe | and explored
an. ccmpaSsel. No ona 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, COM
ing into their presence, they will tell us in
five minutes more than we can learn by enc
hundred years of earthly surmising.
A further characteristic of these i'm.
mortalS is their velocity. This the Bible
puts sometimes under the figure of wings,
sometimes under the figure of flowing gar
lhent, sometimes under the figure of nakel
feet As these superhumans are witiiout
bodies these expressions are of course fgur-
etive and mean swiftnesS. The Bible tells
us that Daniel was praying, and Gabriel few
from heaven and touched him before he got
up from his knees. How far, then, did |
thu Angel Gabriel have to fly i'll those
moments of Daniels prayer? Heaven
is thought to he the center Of the uni
verse Our sun and its planets only the
rim OF the wheel of worlds In mo.
ment the Angel Gabriel few from that center
to this periphery. Jesus told Peter He could
instantly have sixty thousand angels present
If He called for them. What foot of antelope
or wing OF albatross could equal that veloc
ltYS LAW of prnvitafi finn which nr,.irS I'll |