The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-09-08
THE USE OF WINGS.
The seraph Referred to by Isaiah En-
ployed His Wings to Cover His
Feet and to Fly With.

The Importance Of the Foot--A Les
son Of Humility and Of Rev.
erence,
LONDON, Especial cable]- During
the past week DR.. Talmage has been
preaching to enormous audiences in
the great manufacturing towns of the
English Midland countries. The SER
mon selected for publication this week
is on Isaiah 6:2 "With twain he COW
cred his face; with twain he covered
his feet; and with twain he did fly
In hospital OF leprosy good King
Uzziah had died and the whole land
was Swallowed with solemnity and
theological and prophetic Isaiah was
thinking about religious things, as one
is apt to do in time Of great national
bereavement, and forgetting the pres
ence OF wife and two sons, who made
up his family, he has adream, not like
the dreams OF ordinary character
which generally come from Indigestion,
but a vision most instructive and
under the touch of the hand of the
Almighty.
The place, the ancient temple; build
ing, grand, awful, majestic. Within the
temple a throne higher and grander
than that occupied by any car or
sultan or emperor. On that throne,
the eternal Christ. In lines surround
ing that throne, the brightest celestials
not the cherubim, but higher than tibet;
the most exquisite and radiant of the
heavenly inhabitants, the seraphim.
They are called burners because they
look like fire. Lips Of fire, eyes OF fire,
feet of fire. In addition to the features
and the limbs which suggest a human
being, there are pinions which suggest
the> lthest, the swiftest, the most
inspiring of all intelligent creations
bird. Each seraph had six wings, each
two OF the wings for different pur-
pose. 1saiah's dream quivers and
AAe1oAAHo NACAAaIACSC Dl1IiOIlS. NOW lOlu-
ed, now spread, now beaten in loco
motion. with twain he covered his
feet, with twain he covered his face,
and with twain he did fly"
The most practical and useful lesson
for you and me-when we see the SER
aph spreading his wings over the feet,
is ,
A LESSON OF HUMANITY
at imperfection. The brightest angels
Of God are so far beneath God that he
charges them with folly. The seraph
so far beneath God, and we so far
beneath the seraph in service we ought
to be plunged in humility, utter and
complete. Our feet, how laggard they
have been in the divine service! Our
feet, how many missteps they have
taken. Our feet, in how many paths
OF worldliness and folly they have
walked"
Neither God nor seraph intended to
put any dishonor upon that which is
one o. the masterpieces of Almighty
God-the human foot. Physiologist
and anatomist are overwhelmed at the
wonders of it's organization. Give me
the history of your foot, and Twill give
you the history OF your lifetime. Tell
nleup what stepsit hath gone, down
what declivities and in what roads
and in what directions, and I will
know more about you than / want
to know. None Of us could endure
the scrutiny.
All this talk about the dignity of
human nature is braggadocio and
sin. Our nature started at the hand
OF God regal, but it has been pauper-
lied.
Another seraphic posture in the
text: with twain he covered thetace.:'
That means reverence Godward. New
er SO much irreverence abroad in the
world as today. You see it in the de-
faced statuary, in the cutting out OF
figures from fine paintings, in the chip
ping Of monuments for momento, in
the fact that military guard must
stand at the grave OF Grant and Gar
field, and that old shade trees must
be cut down for frewood, though SO
George P. Morrises beg the woodsmen
to spare the tree, and that calls a
corpse a cadaver, and that speaks of
death as going over to the majority,
and substitutes for the reverent term
father and mother, "the old man."
and the ''old woman" and finds moth
ing impressive in the ruins Of Baal-
bee or the columns of Karnac, and see
no difference in the Sabbath from
other days except it,
ALLOWS MORE DISSIPATION,
and reads the Bible in what is called
higher criticism, making it not the
Word Of God but a good book with
some fine things in it. Jrreverence
never SO much abroad. How many
take the name of God in vain, how
many trivial things said about the
Almighty. Not willing to have God
in the world, they roll up an idea Of
sentimentality and humanitarianism
and impudepce and imbecility, and
call it God. No wings ofreverence
over the face, no taking off OF shoes
on holy ground. You can tell from
the way they talk they could have
made q better world tuan this, and
that the God OF the Bible shocks every
sense Of propriety. They talk OF the