Connecticut western news., 1895-05-23
THE WONDROUS HAND
REV. '. DE WITT TAIMAGE IN THE METROPOLITAN PULPIT.

REV. r. DE WITT TAIMAoE IN THE
 METROPOLITAN PULPIT.
 cArAs& was Divine and Also Very Human.
 rAs Religion of Some Christians Is All
 wSne-0ood Wrought In Cities-The
 realers' Everlasting Rest.
 NKw YORK, May 19.-Rev. Dr. Tal- mAge's sermon in the Academy of Mu- rio this afternoon was 8 powerful and eloquent plea for practical Christianity. The subject, as announced, was, "Wing and Hand, the text being Ezekiel X, 21, ''The likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings"
 While tossed on the sea between Aus tralia and Ceylon I first particularly noticed this text, of which then and there made memorandum. This chap ter is all afutter with cherubim- Who gro the cherubimY An order of angels radiant, mighty, all knowing, adoring, When painter or sculptor tried in temple at Jerusalem or in mar ble of Egypt to represent the cherubim hs made them part lion or part OK or part eagle But much of that is an un- intended burlesque of the cherubim whose majesty and speed and splendor we will never know until lifted into their presence we behold them for our selves, as pray by the pardoning grace of God we all may. But all the accounts Biblical and all the suppositions human represent the cherubim with wings, each wing about seven feet long, vaster, more than any plumage that ever doated in earthly atmosphere.
 Condor in flight above Chimborazo, or Rocky mountain eagle aiming for the monday sun, or albatross in play with ocean tempests, presenes no such glory. We can get an imperfect idea of the wing of chesubim by the only wing we sse-the birds pinion-which is the arm of the bird, but in some respects moro wondrous than the human arm; with power of making itself more light or moro heavy, of expansion and con- traction; defying all attitudes and all abysms; the bird looking down with pity upon boosting man as he tolls up tho sides of the Adirondacks, while the wing with few strokes puts the high est crags far beneath claw and beak. But the birds wing is only feeble sug gestion of cherubim' s wing. The great ness of that, the rapidity of that, the radiance of that, the Bible again and again sets forth.
 The Wing of Inspiration.
 ,o ,<,k ol 1x, those wings than by what they reveal when lifted In two places in Ezekiel we are told there were hands under the hands, hands like ours, "The likeness of the hands of 8 man was under the wings" We have all no- tioed the wing of the cherubim, but no ono seems yet to have noticed the hu- man hand under the wing. There are whole sermons, whole anthems, whole whole millenniums in that of hand and wing If this world is over brought to God, it will be by appreciation of the fact that super natural 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 joining of tho 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 earth did Isaiah fly overi Over what battlefelds for righteousness, what ooronations, what dominions of gladne@, what rainbows around the throne did St John hover But in every book of the Bible you just as certainly see the human hand that wrote it. Mo ses. the lawyer, showing his hand in the Ten Commandments, the foundation q all good legislation; Amos, the herds man, showing his hand in similes drawn from fields and flocks; the fishermen apostles showing their hand when writ ing about Gospel nets; Luke, the physi- oian. showing his hand by giving espe- cial attention to diseases cured; Paul showing his scholarly hand by quoting from heathen poets, and making argu- ments about the resurrection that stand - 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 1t hour of sunset, when he speaks of the sea of glass mingled with fire; scores of hands writing the para oles. the miracles. the promises, the ho- sannas, the raptures, the consultations, the woes of ages. Oh, the Bible is so human, 60 full of heartbeats, SO sympa- thetio. 90 wet with tears, so trium- phant with palm branches, that it takes hold of the human race as nothing else ever can take hold of it, each writer in his own style-Job, the scientific; Solo mon. the royal blooded; Jeremiah, the despondent; Daniel, the abstemious and heroio-why, we know their style so we'll that we need not look to the top of tho 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 instrumentality. "The likeness of the hands of a man was un- der the winga"
 The Speed of Prayer.
 Again, behold this combination of my text in all successful Christian work. We stand or neel in our pulpits and so- ciAl meetings and reformatory associa- tions offering prayer. Now, if anything has wings, it is prayer. It can fly farther and faster than anything I can now think of. In one second of time from where you sit it can fly to the throne of God and alight in England In one sec ond of time from where you sit it can fly to the throne of God and alight in India It can girdle the earth in a shorter time than you can seal letter, oe clasp belt, or hook an eye. Wings, whether that prayer starts from an in fAnt's tongue or the trembling lip of @ oentenarian, rising from the heart of a farmers wife standing at the dashing ohurn, or before the hot breath of a country oven. they soar away and pick
 out of all the shipping of the earth on
 all tho seas the craft on which her sailor hrv Ia vova0inU Yea Drayer can f1v