The Penn's Grove record., 1895-05-24
REV. DR.. TaLugGE.
The Brooklyn Divine'sl Sunday
Sermon.
Subject : !" Wing and Hand"

TEXT: "The likeness Of the hands Of |
man was under their w~ings."-Ezektel K, Il,
While tossed on the sea between Australia
and Ceylon I first particularly noticed this
text, Of which then n there l made memo
randum. This chapter is all ~aflutter with
cherubim. Who are the cherubim2 An or
der of angels radiant, mighty, all knowing,
adorlng, worshipful. When painter or sculp-
tor tried in temple at Jerusalem or In mar
BILE Of Egypt to represent the chsfubim he
made them part lion or part Ok or part
eagle. But much of that Is an unintended
burlesque of the cherubim whose majesty
and speed and splendor we will never know
until lifted into their presence we behold
them for ourselves, as 1 pray by the pardon-
ing grace Of God we all may. But all the ac-
counts Biblical and all the suggestions hu-
man represent the cherubim with wings,
each wing about seven feet long, vaster,
more imposing than any plumage thai eve'
foated In earthly atmosphere.
Condor In flight shove Chimborazo, OF
Rocky Mountain eagle aiming for the noon
day sun, or albatross in play with ocean
tempests, 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 huf
man arm; with power Of making itself more
light or more heavy, of expansion and con-
traction: defying all attitudes and all abysms;
1 INV J. Oohlh bVWh WhNo pa eRSAA S@1
ing man as he tolls up the sides OF the Adj
rondaeks, while the wing with q few strokes
puts the highest crags far beneath claw and
beak. But the birds wing Is only q feeble
suggestion Of cherubim's wing. The great
ness OF that, the rapidity Of that, the
radiance OF that, the Bible again and agar
vets 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 w~ings-human hands,
hands like ours. ''The Likeness of the hands
of q man was under the wings" We have
all noticed the wing Of the cherublm, but no
one seems yet to have noticed the human
hand under the wing. There are whole ser
mons, whole anthems, whole oxologies who'll
millenniums in that combination OF hand
and wing. II 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 soars and that which
practically works, that which ascends the
heavens and that which reaches forth to
earth. the joining Of the terrestrial and thu
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 overl Over what
bsttlefelds for righteousness. what corona
lions, what dominions OF glsdness, what rain.
bows around the throne did st. John hover
Il 1ul ALI VNoI1 bOoh VI AbS 4ttDAO W. nov G[
certainly see the human hand that wrote it
Moses, the lawyer, showing his hand in the
Ten Commandments, the foundation of all
good legislation; Amos, the herdsman, show.
ing his hand IN SMILES drawn from fleldi
and focks. the fishermen apostles showing
their land when writing about Gospel nets
Luke, the Physician showing his hand by
giving especial attention to diseases curedj
Paul showing his scholarly hand by quoting
from heather poets, b making arguments
about the resurrection that stand as
firmly as on the day he planted them, M
bis 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 fire; scores Of
hands writing the parallels, the miracles,
the promises, the h%osannas, the raptures, the
cancellations, the woes OF ages. oh, the
Bible is 80 human, so full Of heartbeats, so
sympathetic, 30 wet with tears, 30 tdum-
phant with palm branches, that 1t takes hold
Of the human race as nothing else ever can
lake hold OF 1t. each writer In his wi style
job, the scientific, Solomon, the royal
blooded; Jeremiah, the respondent; Daniel,
the abstemious and heroic-why, We know
their style so well that we need not look to
the top of the age 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 hui
l mhu luStI uulcutdiitys AAhouoos Va tns
hands OF a man was under the WINGS" +
Again, behold this combinatior
In all successful Christie
Or 1neel in our pulpitf0r Scholarship
and reformatory asso
Now II anything has w:sey c by sSs 81 me IN LIE r.
can now think Of. In one x y: =; An AT g
from where you sit 1t can iyto u. nj. in ii
God and alight in England. In osasted shou
Of time from where you sit 1t can fly
throne OF God and alight in India. It less
girdlethe earth in ashorter time than you c.
seal a letter, or clasp a belt, or hook an eye.
Wings, whether that prayer starts from an
infants tongue or the trembling lip Of a Gems
tenarian, rising from the heart OF a farmers
wife standing at the dashing churn, or be-
fore the hot breath of a country
oven, they soar away and pick
the seas the craft on which her sailor boy
Is v~oyaging. Yea, prayer can fly clear down
into the future. When the father OF Queen
Victoria was dying, he asked that the infant
Victoria might be brought while he sat up in
bed, and the babe was brought, and the
become Queen of England, may she rule In
the fear of God" Having ended his prayer,
he said, '"Take the child away" But
all who know he history Of Eng,
land for the last fifty years know thai
the prayer for that infant more than seventy
| years ago uhS DccH al WoEouf ANU Will Wuht
emphasis and affection millions OF the
Queens subjects have this day In ohapels
and cathedrals, and sea, duplicated, "God
save the QueenG'
Prayer flies not only across continents, but
across centuries. II prayer had only feet, II
might run here and there and do wonders
But 1t has wings, and they are as radiant OF
plume and as swift to rise or swoop or dart
or circle as the cherubim's wings which
swept through Ezekiels vision. But, oh, my
friends, the prayer must have the hand un-
der the wing, or 1t may amount to nothing.
The mothers hand, or the fathers hand,
must write to the Maynard boy as soon as
you can hear how to address him. Christian
souls must contribute to the evangelism Of
that far of land for which they have been
praying. Stop singing ely abroad, thou
mighty Gospel" unless you ere willing to
give something Of your own means to make
It fy. Have you been praying for the saliva
ton OF a young mans soulf That Is right,
but also extend the hand OF invitation to
some to a religious meeting.
1t always excites our sympathy to SEQ a
man with his hand in sling. We ask himi
, sWnss is IT the . natter v Hope s = l. mot Ss.s !
crushed7' But min out Of ten Of all Chris.
tians are going their life long with theif
hand in a sling. They have been hurt by in.
difference :or wrong Ideas Of what IL best,
or it is injured Of oonventionslties, and they
never put lOEtu thab MANU- W LII OF uclp u
rescue any one. They pray, and their prayer
has wings, but there Ia no hand under the
wings. From the very structure Of the hand
We might make up our mind as to some Of
the things 1t was made for-to hold fast, to
Lin, to push, topuli, to help and to- rescue.
And endowed with two hands, we might take
the broad hint that for others as well as fol
ourselves We were to hold fast, TO lift. to
push, to pull, to help, to rescue. Wondroua
handt You know something Of the "Brdge-
water TreatisesL" When Rev. Francis Henry
B~ridgewater In his will LEFT Gao, 900 for es-
says on '.The Power, Wisdom md Goodness
OF God, as Manifested in the Creation" and
Davis Gilbert, the President OF the Society,
chose eight persons to write eight books. Rn
Charles Bell, the scientist, chose az the sub
ect OF his great book, ''The Handi It's Me
khanism and Vital EndowInents as EvincinS
Design Oh, the handl Its machinery be
thinning at the shoulder, zad woskinS
through shafts of bone. upper arrhN Nre