The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-05-30
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
UNION OF SUPERNATURAL AND
HUMAN IN THE BIBLE.
The Wing of Inspiration No Less
Evident than the Human Hand
Which Wrote It-Practical Chris
tinnity.

IMAGES sermon in the academy of
music was a powerful and eloquent
plea for practical Christianity. The
subject as announced was ewing and
Hand the text being Ezekiel n, p:
1.-THE likeness OF the hands of a man
was under their wings"
While tossed on the sea between
Australia and Ceylon, first particu-
larry noticed this text, of which then
and there made memora ndum. This
chapter is all a-flutter with cherubim.
Who are the cherubim? An order OF
angels, radiant, mighty, all-knowing,
adoring, worshipful. When painter or
sculptor tried in temple at Jerusalem,
or in marble Of Egypt to represent the
cherubim he made them part lion, OF
part on, or part eagle. But much OF
that is an unattended burleSQue OF the
cheruDim whose majesty and speed
and SplendOr we will never know until
lifted into their presence we behold
them for ourselves, as l pray by the
pardOning grace of God we all may.
But all the accounts Biblical, and all
the SuppOSitiOnS human, represent the
ChCruDm with wings, each wing about
seven feet long, VaSter, more imposing
thar any plumage that ever tloated in
eartnty atmosphere. Condor in flight
above Chimborazo, or Rocky Noun
tain eagle aiming for the monday sun,
or albatross in play with ocean tenn
pest. presents no such glory. We can
get an imperfect idea of the wing OF
cherubim by the only wing we see
the birds piniOn-W hich 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 con-
traction; defying all attitudes and all
abysms; the bird looking down with
pity upon bCaSting man as he tolls up
the sides of tile AdirOndackS, while
the wing with a few strokes puts the
highest cragS far beneath claw and
heak. But the birds wing is only q
feeble suggestion of 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 re-
veal when lifted. In two places in
Ezekiel we are told there We're hands
under the wings; human hands;
hands like ours: THE like ness of the
hands of man was under the
wings" We have all noticed the wing
of the cherubim, but no one seems yet
to have noticed the human hand under
the wing. There are whole sermons,
whole anthems. whole doXOlogies,
whole millenniumS in that cOmbina-
ton of hand and wing. If this world
is ever 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
aSceIdS the heavens and that which
reaches forth to earth; the joining 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 in every chapter
What realms of the ransOmed earth
did Isaiah fly over? Over what battle
fields for righteousness what corona
lions what dOminiOnS Of gladness:
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.
Moses, the lawyer, showing his hand
in the ten commandments, the founda-
ton of all good legislation Amos, the
herdsman, showing his hand in smiles
drawn from fields and focks; the
fishermen apostles showing their hand
when writing about gospel nets Luke,
the physician, showing his hand by
giving especial attention to diseases
cured; Paul showing bis scholarly
hand by quoting from heather poets,
and making argun ents about the re-
SllrrectiOn that stard as firmly as 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 fire; scores of hands writing the
parallels, the miracles, the promises,
the hosannas, the raptures, the conso-
lations, the woes of ages. Oh, the
Bible is so human; so full of heart
beats; so sympathetic; so wet
with tears; so triumphant with palm
branches, that it takes hold OF the
human race as nothing else ever can
take hold Of teach writer in his own
style: Job, the scientific; Solomon,
the royal-bloot'ed; jeremiah, the de-
spondent; Daniel, the abstemious
and heroic-Why, we know their style
so we'll that we need not look to the
top Of the page to see who is the au-
thor. No more conspit uous the uplift-
ing wing of inspiration than the hand,
the warm hand, the flexible hand, the
sllillful hand Of human Instrumental
ity. "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 pull
pits, and social meetings, and reform
atory associations, offering prayer.
Now, If anything has wings, it is
prayer. 1t can fly farther and faster
than anything can now think Of. In
one second Of time from where YOU
now sit it can fly to the throne Of
God and alight i'll England. In one
second Of time from where you sit it
can fly to the throne of God and alight
in India. 1t can Circle the earth in a
shorter time than you can seal Letter.
or clasp a belt, or hook an eve.
Wings, whether that prayer starts
from an infants tongue, or the trem-
Cling liD Of q centena rian RISING from