Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-05-25
WITH HAND ANDWING
REV. DR.. TALMAGE CHOOSES A cuRI-
ouSLY UNIQUE TEXT.
"The Likeness Of the Hands of n Man Was
Under Their wings"-A Powerful Hor-
tatory Discourse by tho Worlds Great
Preacher.

Under Their wings"-A Powerful Hor-
Preacher.
NEW YORK, May l9.-Rcv. DIR. Tai
magc's sermon In the Academy Of Music
this afternoon was powerful and eloquent
plea for practical Christianity. The sub
jcct aS announced was. Wing and Hand"
the text being Ezekiel Z, 81, THE like
hess of the hands Of n man was under their
wings"
While tossed on the sea between Austria
lin and Ccylon first particularly noticed
this text. Of which then and there made
memorandum. This chapter is all a-fiutter
with chcrubim. Who arc the chcrubim?
An order of angels. radiant, mighty, all
Knowing, adoring worshipful. When
paintcror sculptor tried In temple Mt Jcru-
salem or In marble OF Egypt to represent
tho chcrubim he made them part lion, or
part OK or part eagle. But much of that
is an unintcndcd burlcsquc OF the cheru-
him whose majesty and speed and SPLEEN
dor we will never know until, lifted into
their presence, we behold them for our
selves, rs pray by the parioning grace Of
God We all may. But all the accounts
Biblical, and nll the suppositions human,
represent the chcrubim with wings, each
wing about feet long, vastcr, more i'm
posing than any plumage that ever fioatcd
I'm earthly atmosphere. Condor In flight
above Chimborazo, OF Rocky mountain
eagle aiming for tho noon,lay son, or alba
tross In play with ocean tempest presents
no such glory. We can get an imperfect
idea Of tho wing Of chcrubim by the only
wing we sec-thc birds pinion-which Is
tho 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 contraction, defy
Ing all attitudes and all abysms; the bird
looking down with pity upon boasting
man rs he tolls up the sides of the Adiron-
dacks, while the wing, with few strokes
puts the highest crags far beneath claw
and bcak. But the birds wing Is only n
feeble suggestion of cherubim's wing. The
greatness of that, the rapidity of that, tho
radiance Of that the Bible again and again
sets forth.
The Wing of Inspiration.
My attention is not more att-actcd by
those wings than by what they reveal when
lifted. In two places In Ezekiel wc arc
told there We're hands under the wings,
human hands, hands like ours, Tho
likeness uf the hands of n man was under
the wings. We have all noticed the wing
of the chcruhim, but no one seems yet to
have noticed the human hand under tho
wing. There are whole sermons, whole an
thcms, whole doxologies, whole millcnni-
ums in that combination of hand and wing.
II this world Is ever brought to God, 1t
Will he by appreciation Of the fact that su-
pcrnatural and human agencies are to go
together; that which scars and that which
practically works; that which asccnds tho
heavens and that which reaches forth to
earth; the joining of the terrestrial and
the celestial: the hand and the wing We
sec this union In the construction of the
Bible. The wing of inspiration Is in every
chapter. What realms of the ransomed
earth did Isaiah fly Overt Over what bat
tlcticlds for Righteousness, what corona
tionS, what dominions Of gladncss, what
rainbows around the throne did st. John
hoycrl But in every book of the Bible
you just rs certainly see the human hand
that wrote IL. Moses, the lawyer, show
ing his hand in the Ten Commandments
the foundation of all good legislation;
Amos, the hcrdsman, showing his hand in
SMILES drawn from fields and flocks; the
fishermen apostles showing their hand
when writing about gospel nets: Luke the
physician. showing his hand by giving es-
pccial attention To diseases cured; Paul
showing his scholarly hand by quoting
from hcathcn poets and making arguments
about the resurrection that stand rs firmly
aS on the day he planted them. and ST.
John shows his hand by taking his imagery
from tho appearance Of tho bright waters
spread around the island of Patmos mt
hour Of sunset, when hc speaks of the sea
of glass mingled with fire. Scores of hands
writing the parallels. the miracles, the
promises, the hosannas the rapturcs, the
consolations the woes OF ages. Oh, the
Bible In So human, so full of hcartbeats
so sympathetic. so wet with tears SD tri-
umphant with palm branches, that IL
takes hold Of the human race as nothing
else ever can take hold of it-cach writer
in his own stylc-.Iob, the scientific; Solo
mon, tho royal bloodcd; Jeremiah, the de-
spondcat; Daniel the abstcmious and he
roic-why, We know their style SO well that
we need not look To the top Of tho page to
sec who Is the author. No more conspicu-
ous the uplifting wing of inspiration than
the hand. the warm hand, the flexible
hand, the skillful hand of human instru-
mentality. The likeness Of tho hands of
man was under the wings"
Quality of Prayer.
\ n