The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-09-14
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Seraphic Pastures and
Human Imperfections."

.:sai1, he did J1y."-Isaiah vi, 2.
In 4 hospital of leprosy good King UzzIat
had died, and the whole land was shadowed
with solemnity, and theological and proph
etic Isaiah was thinking about rellglous
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
Iup his family, he had dream, NOT like the
dreams of ordinary character. which gen.
orally core from indigestion, but 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 cz4r, or sultan or en-
peror. On that throne the eternal Christ.
In lines surrounding that throne the bright
lest cslestials, not the cherubim, but higher
than they, the most exquisite and radiant
of the heavenly inhabitants, the saraphlm.
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 human being, there
are pnions which suggest the liehtest. the
swittest, the most ouoyant and most IN
spring of all intelligent creation-a bird.
Each seraph had six wings, each two Of the
wings tor a different purpose. Isalaas
dream quivers and flashes with these
pinions. Now folded, now spread, now
beaten in locomotion. with twain be COW
cred his feet, with twain he covered his race,
AMI 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 lamepess OF his
locomotion amounting almost to decrepltude
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 splencors OF God's glory, AMI TN
able longer with the eyes TO looS upon them,
and wishing those eyes shaded from the In
sufferable glory, the pinionS gather over the
counrenance "Wlth twain he did cover the
face Then as God tells this seraph to go to
the farthest outpost OF immensty on message
of light and love and joy, and get back be-
fore the first anthem, 1t does not take the
seraph great while TO spread himself upon
the air with unImagined celebrity; one stroke
of the wing equal to ten thousand leagues OF
air with twain he did fy."
The most practical AMI useful lesson for
YOU and me, when we see the serapn
spreading his wings over the feet, IS lesson
OF humility at imperi ection. The bright st
angels OF God are 30 Tar beneath God that
He coargeS them with folly. The seraph so
far beneath God, and we so far beneath the
serapn 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 Inissteps they have
taken! Our feet, in how many paths OF
worldliness and folly they have walked!
Neither God nor seraph iuIenied to put
any dishonor upon that which Is one OF the
masterpieces or Almighty God-the human
foot. Physiologist and anatomist ara over
~l,o oF
1.-THE Bridgewater Treatise" written by Sir
Charles Bell, on The wisdom and goodness OF
God. as illustrated in the human hand, was
q result Oh the S4U. .00O bequearned in the last
will and testament OF the Earl OF Bridge
water Tor the encouragement OF Christian
literature. The worlo could afford to for
give his eccentricities, though he had TWO
Gogs seated at his tab.e. and though he put
six cogs alone in an eQuipage drawn by tour
horses and attended by TWO footmen.
With his large bequesr lnaucing Sir
Cbar.es Bell to write so valuable book on
the wisoom o. God in the structure or the
human hand, the world could afford to Tor
give his oddities. And the world could now
afford to have another Earl Of Bridgewater,
however ldiosyncratic, if he would induce
some other Sir Charles Bell to write EooG
on the wisdom and goouness OF God IN the
. construction OF the human foot-the ar
Joints, the gracetulueSs Of its lines, the ln-
genulty or its cartlages, the delicacy OF It's
veins, the rapidity or its muscular contrac-
tion, the sensitiveaeSS OF its nerves.
/ sound tile praises of the human foot.
With tnat we halt or climb or march. 1t is
the foundation OF the physical fabric. 1t IS
the base OF God poised column. With 1t
the warrior braces himself for battle. With
it the orator plants himself tor euloglum.
With it the toiler reaches his WORK. With
it the outraged stamps his Indignation. Its
loss an irreparable disa ster. It's health an
invaluable equipment. II you want to
know its value, ask the man whose fooG
paralysis hath shriveied, or machinery hath
crushed, or surgeons knife hath ainputated.
The Bible honors it Especial care. LEST
thou dash thy foot against stones" "hs
will not suffer thy foot to be moved" THY
feet shall not stumble" Especial charge.
house of God" Especial peril, Their feet
shall slide in due time" Connected WIN
the worlds dissolution, "He shall set one
foot on the sea and the other on thr eartn.
Give me the history Of your foot aBd VIII
give you the history OF your lfetlmA Ien
me uu what steps 1t natn gone, down what
declivities and in what roads and in what
directions, and will know mora about you
than want to know. None Of us coull en-
paths of God. Sometimes in paths OF
'worldliness. Our feet divine an glorious
machinery for usefulness and work, so often
making missteos 80 often going in the
wrong direction. Col knowing every step.
the patriarch saying. "fhou settest print
on the heels of my feet" Crimss of the
hand, crimes OF the tongus crimes Of ths
eye. crimes Of the ear not worse than ths
crimes OF thu loot. Oh, we want the wings
- l,,, st,,yAS fho foot mi
to 90 into self aoegnation before the all
searching, all scrutinizing, all trying eye o;
God! The seraphs do. How mucl mora
WEI "With twain he covered the feet"
All this talk about the dignity OF human
nature is braggadocio and u sin. Our ma
ture started az the hand Of God reg al, but
it has been pauperizs1. There is we'll in
Belgium which once had very pure water,
and it was stously masonei with seoas and
brick; but that we'll atterwari became tbs
centre OF the battle Of Waterloo. At the
opening of the battle the soldiers with their
sabers compellei the gardener. William Won
Kylsoul, to draw water out Of the we'll for
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 toe we'll
Of rsfreshment became the we'll OF death,
and long after people loosei down into the
well, ana they saw the hleachei skulls, but
no water. So the human soul was we'll OF
good, but the armies Of sin have fought
around 1t, AMI fought across it and been
slain, and it has become we'll of skeletons.
Dead hopes, dead resolutions, dead oppor..
tunities, dead ambitions. An abandoned
well unless Christ shall reopen and purity
and fill it as the well Of Belgium never was.
Uncleau, unclean!
Another .seraphic posture in the text