Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-05-23

knowing, adoring, worshipful. When
painter or sculptor tried in temple at
Jerusalem or in marble of Egypt to rep
resent the cherubim, he made them part
lion, or part OK, or part eagle. But
much of that is an unintended Dur-
lesque of the cherubim, whose majesty
and speed and splendor we will never
know until lifted into their presence we
behold them for ourselves, as pray by
the pardoning 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 f1oated In
earthly atmosphere. Condor in flight
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 cherubim
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 or
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 of the
Adirondacks, while the wing with
few strokes puts the highest crags far
beneath claw and beak. But the birds
wing is only a feeble suggestion OF
cherubims 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:
1.-THE likeness of the hands of a man
was under the wings" We have all no
tiCed the wing of the cherubim, but no
one seems yet to have noticed the hum
an hand under the wing. There are
whole sermons, whole anthems, whole
doxologies, 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 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
the terrestrial and the celestial; the
in the construction of the Bible. The
wing of inspiration is in every chapter.
What realms of the ransomed earth did
Isaiah fly over? Over what battlefelds
for righteousness; what coronations;
what dominions of gladness; what rain
bows 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 Com
mandments, the foundation of all good
legislation. Amos, the herdsman, show
ing his hand in SMILES drawn from
fields and flocks; the fishermen apostles
showing their hand when writing about
Gospel nets; Luke, the physician, show
ing his hand by giving especial atten-
ton to diseases cured; Paul showing
his scholarly hand by quoting from
heather poets, and making arguments
about the resurrection 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
fire; Scores of hands writing the par
ables, the miracles, the promises, the
hosannas, the raptures, the consola-
tions, the woes of ages. Oh, the Bible
is so human; so full of heart-beats; so
sympathetic; so wet with tears; so tri-
umphant with palm branches, that it
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 instrument
tally. The likeness of the hands of a
man was under the wings"
Again, behold this combination of nv
text in all successful Christian work.
We stand or kneel in our pulpits and So
cial meetings, and reformatory associ-
atoms, offering prayer Now, if any
thing has wings, it is prayer. 1t can fly
farther and faster than anything 1 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 second of time from where you sit
in India. 1t can girdle the earth in a
shorter time than you can seal a let
ter, or clasp belt, or hook an eye.
Wings, whether that prayer starts from
an infants tongue or the trembling lip |
of centenarian, rising from the heart |
of farmers wife standing at the dash |
ing churn. or before the hot breath of a |
country oven, they soar away, and
pick out all the shipping on the earth, |
on all seas, the craft on which her |
sailor boy is voyaging. Yea, prayer can !
fly clear down into the future. When |
the father of Queen Victoria was dy- |
ing he asked that the infant Victoria |
might be brought while he sat up in |
bed; and the babe was brought, and the |
father prayed: IF this child should live |
to become queen of England, may she |
rule in the fear of Godp' Having ended |
his prayer, he said: Take the child |
away" But all who know the history |
of England for the last fifty years know
that the prayer for that infant more
than seventy years ago has been an
swered, and with what emphasis and |
affection millions of the queens subjects
have this day in chapels and cathe-
drals, on land and sea, duplicated: