Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1895-06-06

Eov. Talmage Makes a Plea n,
Practical Christianity.
me Hand and Its Power to Aid in C,v,rn
IHect to Prayer Human Sympathy
Needed in Dealing with Earthlv
Trials and Temptations.


IMAGES sermon, preached in the New
iork Academy of Music, was swing
ana hand the text being Ezekiel
x, 81, "The likeness of the hands. az .
man was under their wings" He said:
When tossed on the sea between Ans
traiia and Ceylon, | first particularly
nooiceo this text, Of which then and
there l made memorandum. This chap
Ter IS all a.futter with cherubim. Who
are the cherubim? An order of angels
RADIANT mighty, all-knowing, adoring,
worshipful. When painter or sculptor
crieo IN temple at Jerusalem, or in
marble OF Egypt to represent the cheru-
Dim, ne made them part lion, or part
OK, or part eagle. But much of that is
an unattended burlesque of the cheru-
olm whose majesty, and speed, and
splendor we will never know until
lifted into their presence we behold
them for ourselves, as Ipray by the par
doning grace of God we all may. But
all the accounts Biblical, and all the
suggestions human, represent the
cherubim with wings, each wing about
seven feet long, vaster, more imposing
than any plumage that ever foated in
earthly atmosphere. Condor in fight
above Chimborazo, or Rocky Mountain
eagle aiming for the MONDAY sun, or
albatross in play with ocean tempest,
presents no such glory. We can get an
imperfect idea of the wing of cheru-
bin by the only wing we see-the birds
pinion-which is the arm of the bird,
but in some respects more wondrous
than the human arm; with power of
making itself more light, or more
heavy; of expansion and contraction;
defying all attitudes and all abysms;
the bird looking down with pity upon
boasting man as he tolls up the sides
If the Adirondacks, while the wing
with few strokes puts the highest
crags far beneath claw and beak. But
the birds wing is only feeble sugges-
ton of the cherubim's wing. The
greatness of that, the rapidity of that,
the radiance of that, the Bible again
and again sets forth.
My attention is not more attracted by
those wings than by what they reveal
when lifted. In two places in Ezekiel
we are told there were hands under the
wings: human hands; hands like ours:
THE likeness of the hands of a man
was under the wings" We have all
noticed the wing of the cherubim, but
no one seems to have noticed the hui
man hand under the wing. There are
whole sermons, whole anthems, whole
1oxologies, whole millenniums in that
combination of hand and wing. If this
world is ever brought to God, it will
be by appreciation Of the fact that
supernatural and human agencies are
to go together; that which scars, and
that which practically works; that
which ascends the heavens, and that
which reaches forth to earth; the join
ing Of the terrestrial and the celestial;
the hand and the wing. We see this
union in the construction Of the Bible.
The wing of inspiration is in every
chapter. What realms of the ran
somed earth did Isaiah fly over? Over
what battlefelds for righteousness;
what coronations; what dominions OF
gladness; what rainbows around the
throne did st. John hover? But in
every book of the Bible you just as GER
tainly see the human hand that wrote it.
Moses, the lawyer, showing his hand
in the Ten Commandments, the foun-
tain of all good legislation; Amos, the
showing his hand in Smiles
drawn from fields and focks; the fish
ermen apostles showing their hand
when writing about gospel nets; Luke,
the physician, showing his hand by
giving especial attention to diseases
cured; Paul showing his scholarly hand
by quoting from heather poets, and
making arguments about the resurrec-
ton that stand as firmly as on the day
he planted them; and st. John shows
his hand by taking his imagery from
the appearance of the bright waters
spread around the island Of Patmos
at hour of sunset, when he speaks OF
the sea of glass mingled with ire;
scores Of hands writing the parallels,
the miracles, the promises, the hosan-
mas, the raptures, the consultations, the
woes Of ages. 0, the Bible is SO hui
man; SO full of heart-beats, SO sympa-
thetic; SO wet with tears; SO trium-
plant with palm branches, that 1t
takes hold Of the human race as moth
ing else ever can take hold of teach
writer in his own style; Job, the scien-
tific; Solomon, the royal-blooded; Jere-
miah, the Respondent; Daniel, the alb
stemious and heroic-why, we know
their STYLE so well that we need not
look to the top of the page to see who
is the author. No more conspicuous
the uplifting wing of inspiration than
the hand, the warm hand, the flexible
hand. the skillful hand of human in
strumentality. "The likeness OF the
hands of a.man was under the wings. !"
Again. behold this combination OF my
text in all successful Christian work.
we stand or kneel in our pulpits, and
social meetings, and reformatory asso-
Citations, offering prayer. Now, II any
thing has wings, it is prayer. 1t can
tlv further and faster than anything !
can now think of. In one second OF
time from where you sit it can fly to
The throne of God, and alight in India.
= can pirdle the earth in shorter Time
ott n "a.