The Opelousas courier., 1892-10-22
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
THE BROOKLYN D1VINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.

train he did fy.'-lsaiah VIZ, 2.
In a hospital of leprosy good King Uzzjah
had died, and the whole land was Swallowed
with solemnity, and theological and proph-
etc Isaiah was thinking about 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 a dream, not like the
Creams of ordinary character, which gen.
orally core from indigestion, but a vision
most instructive, and under the touch of
the hand of the Almighty.
The place-the ancient temple; building
grand, awful, majestic. Within that
temple a throne higher and grander than
that occupied by any car, or sultan or EN-
peror. On that throne the eternal Christ.
In lines surrounding that throne the bright
est celestials, not the cherubim, but higher
than they, the most exquisite ana RADIANT
of the heavenly inhabitants, the seraphlm.
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 plnions, which suggest the lishtest, the
s~wiftest, the most buoyant and most liz
spring OF all intelligent creation-a bird.
Each seraph had six wings, each two of the
wings Tor a different purpose. isaiah's
dream quivers and flashes with these
pinions. Now folded, now spread, now
beaten in locoinotion. with twain he COW
cred his feet, with twain he covered his face,
and with twain he did fly"
The probability is that these wings were
not all used at once. 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 Iameress of his
locomotion amounting almost to decrepitude
as compared with the divine velocity, with
feathery veil of angelic moiesty hides the
feet. with twain he did cover his feet"
Standing there overpowered by the over
matching splendors of Gods glory, AMI IN
able longer with the eyes TO loo upon them,
and wishing those eyes shaded from the in
siderable glory, the pinlons gather over the
countenance. with twain he did cover the
face" Then as God tells this seraph to go to
the farthesto outpost OF immensely on message
of light and love and joy, and get back be-
fore the first anthem, 1t does not take the
seraph d great while TO spread himself upon
the air with un~inagined celebrity; one stroke
of the wing equal 10 ten thousand leagues of
air. with twain he did fly"
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 imperiection. The bright st
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 servicei
Our feet, how many missteps they have
taken! Our feet, in how many paths of
worldliness and folly they have Walked
Neither God nor saraph Intended to put
any dishonor upon that which is one of the
masterpieces OF Almighty God-the human
foot. Physiologist and anatomista 19 over
whelmed at the wonders OF its organization.
1.-The Bridgewater Treatise" written by Sir
Charles Bell, on the wisdom and goodness of
Goo, as illustrated in the human hand, was
q result OF the $40, 900 bequeathed in the last
will and testament of the Earl OF Bridge
water for the encouran cement OF Christian
literature. The world could afford to for
give hissccentricities, though he had two
dogs seated at his table, and though he put
six dogs alone in an equIpage drawn by tour
horses and attended by WI footmen.
With his large bequesG inducing Sir
Charles Bell to write SO valuable d book ON
the wisdom o. God in the structure of ths
human hand, the word coult afford to for
give his oddities. And the world could now
afford to have another Earl Of Bridgewater,
however ~idiosyncratic, if he would induce
some other Sir Charles Bell to write a BOOK
on the wisdom and goodness Of God In the
construction OF the human foot-the ar
ticuiation Of its bones, the fabrication OF It's
joints, the gr~acefuiness of its lines, tue In
genuity OF its cartilageS, ths delicacy of its
veins, the rapidity OF its muscular contrac-
ton, the sensttiveuess OF its nerves.
l sound the praises of the human foot.
With that we halt OF climb or march. It's
the foundation of the physical fabric. Ie Is
the base OF a God poised column. With 1t
the warrior braces himself for battle. With
it the orator plants himself for euioglum.
With it the toiler reaches his Wor1. VITA
it the outraged stamps his Indignation. It's
loss an irreparable disaster. Its healtn an
invaluable equipment. 1t you want to
know its yaiue, ask the man whose foot
paralysis hath shriyeied, or machinery hath
crushed, or surgeons knife hath ampntated.
The Bible honors it. Especial care, Lest
thou dash thy foo5 against a stone" his
will not suffer thy foot to pe moved tiny
feet shall not stumble" Especial charge,
Keep thy foot when thon goest to the
house of God" Especial peril, Their feet
shall slide in due time" Connected with
the worlds dissolution, "He shall set one
foot on the sea and the other on the ear6h.;
Give me the historyof your foot II l VIII
give you the history Of your lifetime. Iei'
me up what steps 1t hath gona. down wat
declivities, and in what roads anl IN what
directions, and | will know mora about you
than I want to know. None of us could err
dure the scrutiny. Our feet not always In
paths of God. Sometimes in paths Of
worldliness. Our feet, a divine AMI glorious
machinery for usefulness and work, so often
making missteps, so often going in the
wrong direction. Col knowing every step,
the patriarch saying, tEhou settes6 a print
on Che heals of my feet" Crimes OF the
hand, crimes of the tongue, crimes of the
eve. crimes of the ear not worse than the
crimes OF the foot. Oh, we want the wings
of humility to cover the feet. Ought we not
to go into self abegnation before the all
searching, all scrutinizing. all trying eye OF
God? The seraphs do. How mucn more
we? with twain he covered the feet"
All this talk about the dignity of human
nature is braggadocio and a sin. Our ma
t1re started at the hand of God regal, but
it has been pauperized. There is a well iu
Belgium whica once had very pure water,
and it was stoutly masone1 with stone and
brick: but that well aftsrward became the
centre of the battle of Waterloo. At the
opening of the battle the soldiers vita their
sabers compelled the gardener. William Von
Kylsou, to draw water out of the wen Tor
them, and it was very pure water.
But the battle ragged, and three hundred
dead and half dead were flung into the well
for quick and easy burial, SO that the well
of refreshment became the well OF death,
and long after people looked down into the
well, and they saw the bIeached skulls, but
nc water. So the human soul was q well OF
good, but the armies OF sin haye fought
around it. and fought across it and been
| sIain, anu II mas become Weli OF skeletons.
Dead hopes, dead resolutions, dead oppor-
tunities, dead ambitions. An abandoned
well unless Christ shall reopen and purify
and fill it as the wellof Belgium never was.
Unclsan, u~nclean!
Another seraphic posture in the text,
"With twain he covered the face That
means reverence Coward. Never so much
irreverenee abroa1i III the world as to-day.
You see it in the defaced statuary. in the
cutting out Of figures from fine paintings.
in the chipping of monuments for a me-
mento, in the fact that a military guard
must stand at the graves OF Grant and Gar
field, and that old shade trees must be cut