The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-09-02
TALMAGE In EUROPE.
IMMENSE CONGREGATIONS IN BlR-
MlNGHAM, AND OTHER PLACES.

The Wonderful Powers and Beauties OF
the seraphim-Yet They Were So Far
Beneath God That He Charged Them
with Folly.
LONDON, Aug. 2s.-During the past
week DIR. Talmage has been preaching
TO enormous audiences in the great man
ufacturing towns of the English mid
land counties. In Birmingham, In spite
of the great size Of the churches placed
at his disposal, it was necessary to en-
gage the town hall, the spacious build
ing in which John Bright delivered his
famous speeches to the electors, and
even this editice would not contain half
the people who tried to get entrance. At
Leicester, Cardiff and Swansea there
was the same eagerness to hear him, and
he was received with unbounded en-
thusiasm. The sermon selected for pub
LEGATION this week is on Isaiah vi, Q,
with twain he covered 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 thee.
logical and prophetic Isaiah was think
ing about religious things, as one Is apt
to do in time of great national bereave-
ment, and forgetting the presence of his
| wife and two sons, who made up his
| family, he had dream, not like the
dreams of ordinary character, which
| generally come from indigestion, but
vision most instructive, and under the
touch of the hand of the Almighty.
The place-the ancient temple; build
ing-grand, awful, majestic. Within
that temple a throne higher and grand
| er than that occupied by any car or
| sultan OF emperor. On that throne the
| eternal Christ. In lines surrounding
that throne the brightest celestials, not
the cherubim, but higher than they; the
most exquisite and radiant of the heav-
emily 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 be-
ing, there are pinions, which suggest the
| lithest, the swiftest, the most buoyant
and most inspiring of all intelligent
creation-a bird. Each seraph had six
wings, each two of the wings for diff
ferent purpose. Isaiah's dream quivers
and flashes with these pinions Now
folded, 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 probability is that these wings
were not all used at once. The seraph
standing there near the throne over
whelmed at the insignifcance of the
| paths his feet had trodden as compared
| with the paths trodden by the feet of
| God, and with the lameness of his loco
motion amounting almost to decrepitude
as compared with the divine velocity,
with feathery veil of angelic modesty
hides the feet. with twain he did
cover the feet"
Standing there overpowered by the
overwhelming splendors of Gods glory,
and unable longer with the eyes to look
upon them, and wishing those eyes
shaded from the insufferable glory, the
pinions gather over the countenance.
with twain he did cover the face"
Then as God tells this seraph to go to
the farthest outpost Of immensely on
message of light and love and joy, and
get back before the first anthem, it does
not take the seraph a great while to
spread himself upon the air with unim-
| agined celebrity; one stroke of the wing
equal to ten thousand leagues of air.
"With twain he did fly"
HUMILITY THE PROPER STATE OF MAN.
The most practical and useful lesson
| for you and me, when we see the seraph
spreading his wings over the feet, is q
lesson of humility at imperfection. The
brightest angels of God are so far be-
meath God that he charges them with
folly. The seraph so far beneath God,
and we SO far beneath the seraph in serv-
ice VIC ought to be plunged in humility.
utter and complete. Our feet, how lag
gard 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
of the masterpieces of Almighty Cod
the human foot. Psychologist and anat-
omist are overwhelmed at the wonders
Of its organization. 1.-THE Bridgewater
Treatise" written by Sir Charles Bell,
on the wisdom and goodness of God, as
illustrated in the human hand, was
result of the $40, 1000 bequeathed in the
! last will and testament of the Earl of
Bridgewater for the encouragement of
Christian literature. The world could
afford to forgive his eccentricities,
though he had two dogs seated at his
table, and though he put six dogs alone
in an equipage drawn by four horses
/ and attended by two footmen.
| With his large bequest inducing Sir
! Charles Bell to write SO valuable book
! on the wisdom of God in the structure
of the human hand, the world could af-
| ford to forgive his oddities. And the
world could now afford to have another
Earl of Bridgewater, however idiosyn-
cratic, if lie would induce some other
Sir Charles Bell to write book on the
wisdom and goodness of God in the con-
struction of the human foot-the ar
ticulation of its bones, the fabrication of
its joints, the gracefulness of its lines,
the ingenuity of its cartridges, the deli
cacy of its veins. the rapidity of its mus
cular contraction. the sensitiveness 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
fabric. 1t is the base of God poised
column. With it the warrior braces
himself for battle. With it the orator
plants himself for euiogiuin. With it
the toiler reaches his work. With it
the outraged stamps his indignation.
Its loss an irreparable disaster. Its
health an Invaluable equipment. Ifyou
want to ks.ow its value. ask the man
whose foot paralysis hath shriveled,
or machinery hath crushed, or sur
geon's knife hath amputated. The
Bible honors it. Especial care, Lest
a 4 a