Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-09-09
REV. DR.. TiLMiGE.
THE BROOkLYS DININE.'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "SERAPHC PosTuREs AND
HUMAN INTERSECTIONS"

TFxp with ttcain he corered his face,
tcith tedin he covered his feet, aud iUiti
GiCdiH he did HV"-lsaiah Vi. >.
In a hospital of leprosy good King Uzz ah
had died, and the whole Ian was shadowel
with solemnity, aud theo.O sicll ami prUpn-
etic Isaiah was thinking auout religious
things as one is apt TO do IN time OF great
national bereavement, and forgetting the
presence of his wife and two sons, who made
up his family, he had dream, not like the
creams Of ordinary character, which gem
orally come from indigestion, but a vision
most instructive, and under the touch OF
the hand OF the Almighty.
Tho place-the ancient temple: building
grand, awful, ma jestic Within that
temple a throne higher and grander than
that occupied by any car. or sultan or em-
peror. On that throne the eternal Christ.
In lines surrounding that throne the bright
est celestials, net the cherubm, but hi her
than they, the most exquisite and radiant
OF the heavenly inhabitants, the seraphm.
Tn are called burners because they look
like fire. Lips OF fire eyes o. fire feet OF
fire. In addition TO the features AMI the
limbs, which suggest human being. there
are pnions which su Sgest the lightest, the
swittest, the most buoyant and most in
spring of all intelligent creation-a bird.
Each seraph had SIX wings, each two OF the
| wings Tor a different purpose. lsslah's
dream quivers and flashes with these
pinions. Now folded, now spread, now
beaten in locomotion. with twain he GOV.
cred his feet with twain he covered his face,
ami with twain he did hy."
The probability is that these wings were
not all used at opce. The seraph standing
there near the throne overwhelmed at the In.
significance Of the paths his feet had trodden
as compared with the paths trodden by the
feet OF God, and with the lamepeSs OF his
locomotion amounting almost TO decrepituds
as compared with the divine velocity, with
feathery veil Of angelic mo lesty hides the
feet. with twain he did cover his feet"
Standing there overpoW cred by the over-
matching splendors OF Coils glory, AMI un-
ah.e longer with the eyes TO loo upon them,
and wishing those eyes shaded from the in.
suf .rable glory, IN" pln;ons gather over the
| count enance. "N lth twaia ne did cover the
| lace" Then as God tolls this seraph 10 go to
the farthest outpost Of immensely on message
OF light and love and joy, and get back be
| fore the first anthem, 1t does not taie the
seraph great while 10 spread himself upon
the air with unlmagined celebrity; one stroke
OF the wing equal to ten thousand leagues Of
air. with twain he did hv.'
| The most practical ami useful lesson for
| you and me, when we see the seraph
spreading his wings over the feet, Is lesson
| OF humility at lmperi ection. Inc bright st
angels OF Col are 70 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
| aggard they have been in the divine servicei
Our feet, how many mssteps they hav5
takenl Our feet, in how many paths OF
wnrldnesS and folly thev have wllSedi
Neither God nor seraph inten led TO put
any dishonor upon that which IS one OF th9
masterpieces OF Almighty Goi-the human
loot. Ply siologist and anatomist ar, over
whelmed at the wonders of its organization.
The Bridgewater Treatise" written by Sir
| Charles Bell on the wisdom and goodness of
! God as illustrated in the human hand, was
ii result OF the $4O, 90 bequeatned in the last
will and testament Of the Earl OF Bridge
water for the encnurangemen OF Christian
| literature. The world could afford to for
give his eccentricities, though he had two
dogs seated at his table and though he put
SIX dogs alone in an equpage drawn by four
horses and attended by two footmen.
With his iarge btquest inducing Sir
| Charles Bell 10 write 80 valuable book on
the vision OF God in tue structure OF this
| human hand, the world could afford to for
give his oddities. And the world could now
afford to have another Earl of Brldgewater.
however ldiosyncratic, II he would induce
some other Sir Charles Bell TO write booS
on the wisdom and goodness OF God in the
construction OF the human foot-the ar
tiCuiation OF its bones, the lubrIcatlon OF lti
| JOINTS, the gracetulness OF its lines, the IN
genulty OF its cartilageS, the delicacy or Its
VEINS, the rapidlty OF It's muscular contrao-
tlun, the sens. .tiveueSS OF its nerves.
| sound the praises OF the human foot
With that we halt or climb or march. 1t Is
the foundation OF the physical taorlc. IL Is
the base o. God poised column. With II
the warrior braces himself for battle. With
IL the orator plants himself tor euogium.
With it the toiler reaches his WORK. With
1t the outraged stamps his indignation IL
loss an lrreparable disa ster. Its health an
invaluable equipment. IL you want to
know its va.ue, ask the man whose foot
paralysis natn shrlveled, or machinery hath
crushed, or surgeons knite hatn amputated
The Biule honors 1t. Espec.ai care, Les
thou dash tiny foos against a stone;" "h'
will not suffer thy foot TO Oe moved;' tiny
feet shall not stumble" Especial charge
''keep thy loot when thon goest TO tn'
house Of God" Especial peril, "lhelr fee
snail slide in due time" Connected witt
the worlds dissolution, ale shall set on
loot on the sea and the other on the earth e.
Give me the history of your foot ami VII
give YOU the history Of your lifetime le
me up what steps it haei gon,, down wins
declivities. and in what roa Is and in wins
directions, aud will know more about yo
than want to know. None OF US coul ell
dure the scrutiny. Our feet not always il
paths OF God. Sometimes in paths o
worldliness. Our feet, divine an gloriou
machinery for usefulness AMI work, so ofte
making missteps, 50 often going in tn
wrong direction Go knowing every stel
the patriarch saying, srhou settest prin
on the heels OF my feet " Grimes OF th
hand, crimes OF the tongue, crimes OF tb
eye, crimes OF the ear not worse than th
crimes OF the foot. Oh, we want the wine
of humility to cover the feet. Ought we nj
TO go into self abegnation before tho u
searching, all scrutinizing, all trying eye {
GodH The serapns do. How much NOR
WEI "With twain he covered tho feet"
All this talk about the dignity Of huma
nature is braggadocio and sin. Our ma
ture started at the hand of God reg II, bu
it has been pauper erzed. There is a well
Belgium which once had very pure water
and it was stoutly masonet with stone an
brick, but that well attsrward became tn
centre of tho battle OF Waterloo. At tn
opening of the battle the soldiers with thei
sabers compelled the gardener. William Vo
kylsom, to draw water out OF the we'll fC
them, and 1t was very pure water.
But the battle ragged, and three hundre
dead aud half dead were flung into the we
for quick and easy burial, 50 that the we
Of retreshment became the we'll OF deatl
and long after people looked down into tt
; we'll, and they saw the beached skulls, bl
, no water. 40 the human soul was a we'll {
good, but tho armies OF sin have fougt
I around 1t, and fought across it and bee
slain, and 1t has become we'll Of skeleton
. Dead hopes dead resolutions, dead oppo
I tunities, dead ambitious. An abanione
we'll unless Christ shall reopen and purit
and fill it as the well OF Belgium never wa
Unclean, unclean
Another seraphic posture In the tex
"With twain he covered the face" Th
means reverence Godward. Never 30 nut
irreverencs abroa in the world as to-da
You see 1t in the defaced statuarY, in Il
J, cutting out Of figures from fine painting
in the chipping OF monuments for a m