The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1895-05-31
GIVING AND HAND"
Rev. DR.. Talmage Talks on the HUI
man and Supernatural
As Seen in the Bible-The Human Hand
that Wrote nc shows the Accom-
Paniment OF the Wing OF
Inspiration.

4
The likeness OF the hands OF = man was IN
/ der their wings--Ezekiel l., 81
While tossed on the sea between
Australia and Ceylon, 1 first particu-
larly noticed this text, of which then
and there I made memorandum This
chapter is all a-fIutter with cherubim-
Who are the cherubim2 An order of
angels, radiant, mighty, an-knOwing,
adoring, worshipfuL When painter or
sculptor tried i'm temple at Jerusalem,
or in marble OF Egypt to represent the
cherubim, he made them part lion, or
part OK, or part eagle. But much of
that Is an unattended burlesque of the
cherEbim 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 suppositions human, represent the
cherubim with wings, each wing about
seven feet long, vaster, more imposing
than any plumage that ever fQated 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 cheru-
bin by the only wing we see-the
birds pinion-which is the arm of the
bird, but in some respects more won
derous than the human ARIA; with
power of making itself more light, or
more heavy; of expansion or contrac-
ton; defying all attitudes and all
abysms; the bird looking down with
pity upon Boosting 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 cherubim's wing.
The greatness 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 were hands
under the wings; human hands; hands
like ours. 1.-The likeness of the hands
of a man 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 an
thems, whole doxologies, whole millen-
NUNS in that combination of hand and
wing. IL this world is ever brought to
God, it will be by appreciation of the
fact that supernatural and human
agencies are to 60 together; that which
scars, and that which practically
works; that which ascends the heav-
ems, 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 con-
structions of the Bible. The wing of
inspiration is in every chapter. What
realms of the ransomed earth did
Isaiah fly over? Over what battle
fields for righteousness; what corona
tiOns; what dominions of gladness;
what rainbows around the throne did
st. John hoverl 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 fish
ermen apostles showing their hand
when writing about Gospel nets; Luke,
the physician, showing his hand by
giving especial attention TO diseases
cured; Paul showing his scholarly
hand by quoting from heather poets.
and making arguments about the re-
surrection 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 parallels, the miracles, the
promises, the hosannas, the raptures,
the consultations, the woes of ages. Oh,
the Bible is SO human; so full of heart
beats; so sympathetic; 50 wet with
tears; so triumphant with palm
branches, thSt it takes hold of the hu-
man race as nothing else ever can take
hold of teach writer in his own
style: Job, the scientific; Solomon, the
royal-bloOdcd; jeremiah, the despond-
emit; Daniel, the abstemious and heroic
why, we know their style 20 well that
we need not look to the toA 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 fundamentally. 1.-The
likeness of the hands of a man was I'M
der the wings"
Again, behold the combination of my
text in all successful Christian work.
We stand or kneel in our pulpits, and
social meetings, and reformatory asso-
Citations, offering prayer. Now, if any
thing 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 sit it can fly to
the throne of God and alight in En-
gland. In one second of time from
where you sit it can fly to the throne of
God and alight in India. 1t can girdle
the earth in a shorter time than you
can seal n letter, or clasp a belt, or
hook an eye. Wings, whether that
prayer starts from an infants tongue,
or the trembling lip of a centenarian,
rising from the heart of farmers
wife standing at the dashing churn. or
before the hot breath of a country
oven, they soar away, and pick out of
all the shipping of the earth, on
all the seas, the craft on which
her sailor boy is voyaging. Yea,
prayer can fly clear down into the fu-
ture. When the father of Queen Vic
toria was dying, he asked that the in
FAINT Victoria might be brought while
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