Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-05-24
THE WONDR0US HAND
REV. 7. De WITT TALMAGE IN THE
METROPOLITAN PULPIT.

Toilers' Everlasting Rest.
NEW YORK, May 19.-Rev. Dr.. Tai
mage's sermon in the Academy Of Mu-
sic this afternoon was powerful and
eloquent plea for practical Christianity
The subject, as announced, was, wing
and Hand, the text being Ezekiel K, 2l,
1.-THE likeness of the hands Of a man
was under their wings
While tossed on the sea between Aus
tralia and Ceylon first particularly
noticed this text, of which then ard
there 1 made memorandum This chap
ter is all afiutter 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 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 un-
intended burlesque Of the cherubim
whose majesty and speed and splendor
we will never know until lifted into
their presence we behold them for our
selves, as pray by the pardoning grace
of God we all may. But all the accounts
Biblical and all the suppositions human
represent the cherubim with wings, each
wing about seven feet long, vaster, more
imposing than any plumage that ever
foated in earthly atmosphere.
Condor in flight above Chimborazo,
or Rocky mountain eagle aiming for the
MONDAY sun, or albatross in play with
ocean tempests, 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 Of making itself more light
or more heavy, Of expansion and con-
traction; defying ali 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 high
est crags far beneath claw and beak.
But the birds wing is only feeble sug-
gestion Of cherubim's wing. The great
ness Of that, the rapidity Of that, the
radiance Of that, the Bible again and
again sets forth.
The Wing Of Inspiration.
Nv attention is not more attracted by
those wings than by what they reyea
when lifted In two places in Ezekle
we are told there were hands under the
wings-human hands, hands like ours,
1.-THE likeness Of the hands Of mar
was under the wings" We have all no
ticed the wing Of the cherubim, but nc
one seems yet to have noticed the hu
man hand under the wing. There are
whole sermons, whole anthems, whole
doxologies, whole millenniums in thai
combination Of hand and wing. II this
world is ever brought to God, it will b'
By appreciation Of the fact that super
natural and human agencies are to g
tooether-that which scars and tina
which practically works, that which
ascends the heavens and that which
reaches forth to earth, the joining o
the terrestrial and the celestial, tn
hand and the wing.
We see this union in the constructor
of the Bible The wing Of inspiration
in every chapter. What realms Of tn
, ransomed earth did Isaiah fly over
Over what battlefelds for Righteousness
what coronations, what dominions o
gladness, what rainbows around tn
throne did St John hover But IN ever
book of the Bible you just as certainl
see the human hand that wrote 1t. Nc
p ses, the lawyer, showing his hand L
( the Ten Commandments, the foundatlo
, of all good legislation; Amos, the herds
man, showing his hand in SMILES draw
b, from fields and hocks; the fisherme
3 apostles showing their hand when writ
ing about Gospel nets; Luke, the phys
clan, showing his hand by giving espt
D cial attention to diseases cured; Pau
showing his scholarly hand by quotin
from heather poets, and making argr
ments about the resurrection that stan
i. as firmly as on the day he planted then
e and st. John shows his hand by takin
II his imagery from the appearance Of tn
bright waters spread around the islam
of Patmos at hour Of sunset, when b
speaks Of the sea Of glass mingled VIII
, fire; scores Of hands writing the par'
= bles, the miracles, the promises, the h'
;. sannas, the raptures, the consolation
o the woes Of ages Oh, the Bible is
human. so full Of heartbeats, so sympi
thetic, so wet with tears, so trlun
Q phant with palm branches. that it taxi
t hold Of the human race as nothing Ell
-. ever can take hold Of it, each writer
his own style-Job, the scientific; Sol
'' mon, the royal blooded; jeremiah, Il
" despondent; Daniel, the abstemious an
), heroic-why. we know their style
we'll that we need not look to the top
the page to see who is the author. \
more conspicuous the uplifting wing
n inspiration than the hand. the war
hand, the flexible hand, the shlf
hand of human instrumentality. I'll
y likeness of the hands Of a man was N
I, der the wings
a The Speed Of Prayer.
- Again, behold this combination
nv text in all successful Christian wor
, We stand or lmeel in our pulpits and
le cial meetings and reformatory associ
NJ tions Offering prayer Now, if anythil
has wings, it is prayer 1t can fly farth
10 and faster than anything l can nc
)f think of. In one second Of time fro
Il where you sit it can fly to the throne
God and alight in England In one SC
. Ond of time from where you sit it c.
il fiy TO the throne Of God and aiight
r. India 1t can girdle the earth IN
shorter time than you can seal a lett'
"a or clasp belt, or hook an eye. WINS
b. whether that prayer starts from an
10 fant's tongue or the trembling lip OF
- centenarian, rising from the heart OF
" farmers wife standing at the dashl
u. churn, or before the hot breath OF
70 country oven. they soar away and pi
or out Of all the shipping Of the earth
all the seas the craft on which her sail
he l,oy is yoyaging. Yea, prayer can
Id clear down into the future. When !
IA father Of Queen Victoria was dying,
a. 4