Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-06-05
REV. DR.. TaLuaGE.
The Brooklyn Divine's Sunday
Sermon.
Subject 4" Wing and Hand"

text, Of which then and there made memoj
randum. This chapter Is all afiutter with
cherubim. Who are the cherubim? An or.
der Of angels radiant, mighty, all knowing,
adorlng, worshipful. When painter or sculp-
tor tried in temple ut Jerusalem or In mar
BILE of Egypt to represent the cherubim 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 pray by the pardon.
ing grace of God we all may. But ali the ac-
counts Biblical and all the suppositions hu-
man represent the cherubim with wings,
each wing about seven feet long, vaster,
more imposing than any plumage that evei
foated in earthly atmosphere.
Condor In flight shove Chimborazo, o.
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 hu-
man arm; with power of making itself more
light or moro heavy, Of expansion and con.
traction; defyinS all attitudes and all abysms,
the bird looking down with pity upon boast
ing man as he toils up the sides Of the Adj
rondacks, while the wing with few strokes
puts the highest crags far beneath claw and
UChhs Dul tHc biIu Why ID Ouly q lccuto
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 wings-human hands,
hands like ours. 1.-THE likeness Of the hands
OF a 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 ser
mons, whole anthems, whole doxologies, whole
millenniums in that combination of hand
and wing. II this world is ever brought to
God, 1t will be by appreciation Of the fact
that supernatural and human agencies are to
20 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 oi
the Bible. The wing OF inspiration is in
every chapter. What realms of the ran
somed earth did Isaiah fly over! Over what
baitleflelds for righteousness. what corona.
tions, what dominions ofgladness. 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 Comm andments, the foundation of al
good legislation; Amos, the herdsman, show.
ing his hand IN SMILES drawn from fields
and focKS: the fishermen apostles showing
their hand when writing about Gospel nets
Luke, the physicians; showing his hand by
giving especial attention to diseases cured
Paul showing his scholarly hand by quoting
from heather poets, ahd making arguments
about the resurrection that stand as
St. John shows his hand by taking
his imagery from the appearance OF the
bright waters spread around the island oi
Patnaos at hour of sunset, when he speaks oi
the sea Of glass mingled with fire; scores OF
hands writing the parallels, the miracles,
the promises, the hosannas, the raptures, tie
consultations, the woes Of ages. oh, the
sympathetic, 40 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 1t. each writer In his own style
Job, the scientific; Solomon, the royal
blooded; Jeremiah, the despondent; Daniel
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 oi
inspiration than the hand, the warm hand
the flexible hand, the skillful hand of hu.
man instrumentality. ''The likeness Of thu
hands of man was under the wings"
Again, behold this combination of my tex,
In all successful Christian work. We stand
or kneel in our pulpits and social meetings
and reformatory associations Offering prayer
Now, if anything has wings, 1t Is prayer. Il
can fly farther and faster than anything
can now think of. In one second Of time
from where you sit 1t can fly to the throne Of
God aud alight in England. In one second
OF tim s'frJm where on sit it can fly to the
throne of God and alight in India. 1t car
grille the earth in ashorter time than you car
zeal letter. or clasp belt, or hook an eye
Wings, whether that prayer starts from al
infants tongue or the trembling lip of cen.
tenarian, rising from the heart of a farmer:
wife standing at the dashing churn, or be-
fore the hot breath OF country
oven, they soar away and pick
out Of all the shipping Of the earth on al
the seas the craft on which her sailor boy
is voyaging. Yea, prayer can fly clear down
into tho future. When the father of Queer
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
father prayed, II this child should live e
become Queen Of England, may she rule ir
the fear Of Godw Having ended his prayer
he said, "Take the child awsy." But
ALI who know the history OF Eng
land fer the last fifty years know that
the PRAYER for that infant more than seventy
years ago has been answered, and with wha,
EN- phasis and affection millions of the
Queens subjects have this day In chapel.
and cathedrals, and sea, supplicated, "God
cave the Queen!''
Prayer fiies not only across continents. bui
across centuries. II prayer had only feet, II
might run here and there and do wonders,
But it has wings, and they are as radiant Of
plume and as swift to rise or swoop or dar,
or circle as the.cherubim's wings which
swept through Ezekiel's vision. But, oh, my
friends, the prayer must have the hand un.
der the wing, or it may amount to nothing.
The mothers hand, or the fathers hand,
must write to the wayward boy as soon as
you can hear how to address him. Christian
souls must contribute to the evangelism oi
that far Off land for which they have been
praying. Stop singing ely abroad, thou
mighty Gospel" unless you are willing to
give something Of your own means to make
It fly. Have you been praying for the saliva.
but also extend tho hand of invitation tc
some to religious meeting.
1t always excites our sympathy to see a
man with his hand In sling. We ask him,
.'What is the natter7 Hope it is not q
ie,on or, Have & yogt O., fingers Il, e cb been
tians are going their life long with theil
hand in a sling. They have been hurt by In
oluerence .or wrong IDEAS OF what Is best,
or 1t Is injured Of conventionalties. and they
never put forth that hand to lift or help OF
rescue any one. They pray, and their prayer
has wings, but there is no hand under the
wings. From the very structure of the hand
we might make up our mind as to some oi
the things 1t was made for-to hold fast, to
lift, to pufh, topull, to help and to rescue
And endowed with two hands, We might take
the broad hint that for others as we'll as fol
ourselves We were to hold fast, to lift. tc
push, to pull, to help, to rescue. Wondrou:
handI You know something Of the "Bridge
water Treatises." When Rev. Francis Henry
Bridgewater in his will left S40,0 for es
says on 1.-The Power, Wisdom and Goodnes:
of God, as Manifested in the Creation" ant
Davis Gilbert, the President Of the Society
chose eight persons to write eight books. Sit
Charles Bell, the scientist, chose as the SUB
lect OF his great book, 1.-The Hand: Its Me
lhantsm and Vital Endowments as Evincinl
Design" Oh, the hand! Its machinery be
ginning at the shoulder, and working
through shafts Of bone. upper arm and fore
arm, down to the eight bones Of the wrist
and the five bones Of the palm, and the four
teen bones Of the fingers and thumb. ess