Democratic messenger., 1892-09-03

holdeth the water i'll the hollow of his
hand"
REVERENCE THE INFINITE.
As you take pinch of salt or powder
between your thumb and two fingers, So
Isaiah indicates God takes up the earth.
He measures the dust Of the earth, the
original there indicating that God takes
all the dust of all the continents between
the thumb and two fingers You wrap
around your hand blue ribbon five
times. ten times. You say it is five hand
breadths or it is ten handbreadths. So,
indicates the prophet, God winds the
blue ribbon of the sky around his hand.
''He meteth ont the heavens with n span
You know that balances arc made of a
beam suspended in the middle, with two
basins at the extremity of equal heft.
In that way what vast heft has been
weighed! But what are all the balances
of earthly manipulation compared with
the balances that Isaiah saw suspended
when he saw God putting into the scales
the Alps, and the Apennines, and Mount
Washington, and the Sierra Nevadas.
You see the earth had to be ballasted.
1t would not do to have too much
weight i'll Europe, or too much weight
i'll Asia. or too much weight in Africa,
or i'll America: so when God made the
mountains he weighed them. The Bible
distinctly says So God knows the
weight of the great ranges that cross
the continents-the tons, the pounds
ayoirdupoiS, the ounces, the grains,
the milligrams-just how much they
weighed then. and inst how much they
weigh now. He weighed the noun
tains in scales and the hills in bal
ance." Oh, what God to run against;
oh, what Il God 20 disobey: oh. what a
God to dishonor; oh, what n God to
defy. The brightest. the mightiest an
gel takes no familiarity with God. The
wings of reverence are lifted. with
twain he covered the face"
Another seraphic posture in the text.
The seraph must not always stand still.
He must move and it must be without
clumsiness There must be celerity and
beauty i'll the movement. With twain
he did fly" Correction, exhilaration.
Correction at our slow gate, for we only
crawl in the service when we ought to
fly at the divine bidding. Exhilaration
in the fact that the soul has wings as the
seraphs have wings. What is a wing?
An instrument of locomotion. They NAV
not be like seraph's wing, they may not
be like birds wing, but the soul has
wings. God says So. He shall mount
up ON wings as eagles" We are made
i'll the divine image, and God has wings
/ The Bible says SO. Healing in his
wings" Under the shadow of his
wings" Under whose wings thou hast
come to trust" We have folded wing
now. wounded wing. broken wing,
bleeding wing, Gagged wing. Aye. /
have it now Gagged within bars of bone
and under curtains of flesh. but one day
to be free. hear the rustic of pinions
i'll Seagrave's poem, which we often
sing:
Rise, my soul. and stretch thy wings.
hear the rustic of pinions in Alexan-
der Pope's stanza. which says:
mount. | fly;
q Death. where is thy victory?
4 dying Christian not long ago cried
out, Wings, wings. wings" The air is
full of them. coming and going. coming
and going. You have seen how the dull.
sluggish chrysalid becomes the bright
butterfly: the dull, and the stupid, and
the lethargic turned into the alert and
the beautiful. Well. my friends, in this
world we are i'll the chrysalid state.
Death will unfurl the wings. Oh, if we
could only realize what a grand thing
I =. L., - Al,s IL ..I,I of
body and mount the heavens. neither
Eeagull nor lark nor albatross nor falcon
nor condor pitching from highest range
of Andes, so buoyant or so majestic of
stroke.
SORROW GOETH BEFORE FORGIVENESS.
See that eagle in the mountain nest.
It looks 50 sick, SO ragged feathered. SO
worn ont and SO half asleep. Is that
eagle dying: No. The ornithologist
will tell YOU it is molting season with
that bird. Not dying, but molting.
You see that Christian sick and weary
and worn out and seeming about to ex-
pire on what is called his deathbed. The
world says he is dying. say it is the
molting season for his soul-the body
dropping away, the celestial pinions
coming on. Not dying. but molting.
Molting ont of darkness and sin and
struggle into glory and into God. Why
do you not shout: Why do you sit shiv
ering ut the thought of death and trying
to hold back and wishing you could stay
here forever, and speak of departure as
though the subject were filled with skel-
etons and the varnish of collins, and as
though you preferred lame foot to swift
wing:
. people of God. let us stop playing
the fool and prepare for rapturous flight.
When your soul stands on the verge of
this life and there are vast precipices
beneath and sapphired domes above,
which way will you fly? Will you
swoop or will You soar: Will You fly
downward or will you fly upward:
Everything on the wing this morning
bidding us aspire. Holy Spirit on the
wing. Angel of the new covenant on
the wing. Time on the wing. flying
away frow us. Eternity on the wing,
flying toward us. Wings, wings. wings.
Live so near to Christ that when you
are dead people standing by your life
less body VIII not sollloquiZe. saying,
What a disappointment life was TO
him; how aver>e he was To departure;
what II pity it was he had To die; what
an awful calamity" Rather standing
there may they see Il sign more vivid on
your still face than the vestiges of pain,
something that will indicate that it was
happy exit clearance from op-
pressivc quarantine. the castoff chrysa-
lid. the molting of the faded and use
less and the ascent from malarial val
leys to bright, shining mountain tops,
and be led to say rs they stand there
contemplating your humility and your
reverence i'll life and your happiness i'll
death, with twain he covered the feet,
with twain he covered the face. with
twain he did fly" Wings! Wings.
Wings.
v.uu.. Euyti.t,u.u wear FRINGE