The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-03-04
DR. IlIMlGE'S SUNDAY SERMON.
4 GOSPEL MESSAGE
Subject; "wings of Scraphim."

Text: "with twain he covered his face,
and with twain he covered his feet, and With
twain he did ~fiy.'-Isalah vi. 2.
In n hospital OF leprosy good King Uzziah
had died, and the whole land was Swallowed
with solempity, and theological and pro-
phetic Isaiah was thinking about religious
things. rs one is apt TO do In time OF great
national bereavement, and forgetting the
presence OF his wife and Two sons, who maize
up his hmily, he has u dream not like the
dreams Of ordinary character, which gen.
orally come from indigestion, but u vision
most Instructive. and under the touch Of the
hand OF the Almighty.
The place, the ancient temple-building
grand, awful, majestic. Within that temple
a throne higher and grander than that oc.
crpied by any car or sultan or emperor.
0nthat throne, the eternal Christ. In lines
surrounding that throne, the brightest celes.
tials, not the cherubim, but hiSher,han they,
the most exquisite and radiant OF tho heav-
emily inhabitants tho seraphim. They are
called burners because they look like lire
lips of fire, eyes OF fire, feet OF fire. In adj
dition 10 the features and the limbs, which
suggest a human being. there are plnions
which suggest ths lithest, the swlltest, the
most buoyant and tho most aspiring of all
unlntelligent c%reation-a bird. Each seraph
had six wings, each two OF the wings for Il
different purpose. Isaiah's dream q%uivers
and flashes with these pinions, now folded,
now spread, now beaten In locomotion.
with twain he covered his feet, with twain
he covered his face. and with twain he did
fly"
The probability is that these wings were
not all used at once. The seraph standing
there near the throne, overwhelmed Mt tho
insigniticance OF the paths his feet had
trodden rs compared with the paths trodden
by the feet of God. and with the lamoncss of
his locomotion amounting almost to decrepi-
u d as compared with the divine velocity,
with ieathcry veil OF angelic modesty hide,
the feet. ''With twain he did cover tho
feet"
Standing there, o~verpowered ly the over
matching splendors OF Gods glory and un.
ale longer with the eyes to look upon them
and wishing those eyes shaded from tho in
suiferable glory, the pinions gather over the
countenance. with twain he did cover the
face" Then. us God tells this soraph to 70
10 tho tarthcst outpost Of immensely on
message OF light ant love and Joy and get
back before the first anthem. it does not ,ako
the seraph u great while to spread himself
upon the air with unimNGlnoh celebrity. one
stroke OF the wing equal to lO, 1000 leagues OF
air. with twain he did fly"
Tho most practical and useful lesson for
you and ne, when we SEQ the scraph spread
ing his wings over the feet, is the lesson OF
humility at impcrfcction. Tho brightest
angels Of God are SO far beneath God that
He charges them with folly, tho scrauh so
fur beneath God and We so far beneath the
seraph in service we ought to hc plugged in
humility, utter and complete. Our feet, how
lagGard they have been in the divine SER
vice! Our feet, how many missteps they
have taken! Our feet, In how many paths
OF worldliness and FOLLY have they walked.
| sound the praises OF the human foot.
With that we halt or climb or march. 1t is
the foundation OF the physical fabric. Ii Is
the base OF II God poised column. With it
tho warrior braces himself for battle. With
1t the orator plants himself for euIogium.
With 1t the toiler reaches his work. With it
tho outraged stamps his indignations, its loss
an irreparable disaster, its heath an inyal-
uablo equipment. II you want to know its
value. ask the man whose foot paralysis hath
shriveled, or machinery hath crushed, or
surgeons knife hath amputntcd. The Bible
honors 1t. Especial care, "Lest thou dash
thy foot against u stone, ""He will not suffer
thy foot TO be moved" "Thy feet shall not
STUMBLE" Especial charge, "Keep thy foot
when thou go5st to tie house OF God"
Especial peril, ''rheir feet shall slide In duo
tiHlc. SOHntCItu WIN lNt WOrlu 3 ulsSOIu-
ton. "He shall set one foot on tho sea and
the other on the earth"
Give me the history ofyour foot, and / will
give YOU tho history OF your lifetime. Tell
mo up what steps 1t hath gone, down what
declivitie5 and In what roads and In what
directions, and | Will know moro about you
than | want TO know. Mono OF us could en-
dure the scrutiny. Our feet not always in
paths Of God, sometimes In paths OF worldli- |
ness. Our feet, n divine md glorious ma
chinery for usefulness and work, 20 often
making missteps, so often going in the wrong
direction. God knowing every step, the
patriarch saying. Thou settest n print ON
the heels Of my feet" Crimes OF tho hand,
crimes OF the tongue, crimes of the eye,
crimes OF the ear not worse than crimes OF
the foot. Oh, we want tho wings Of humility
to cover the feet! Ought we not To 20 into
self ]abnegaion before the all searching, all
scrutinizing, all trying eye OF Goh2 The
seraphs do. How much more WEI "With
twain he covered his feet"
All this talk about the dignity OF human
nature is braggadocio and sin. Our nature
started mt the hand OF Cod regal, but II has
been pauperlzsd. There is Il we'll in Boz
GUM which once had very pure water, and
II was stoutly masoned with stoue and brick,
but TINT well afterward became the centre
OF Tho battle Of Waterloo. At the opening OF
tho battle the soldiers with their snbers COM
PEELED the gardener, william Won Kylsom, to
draw water out Of the we'll for them, aud II
was very pure water. But the battle ragged, |
and 500 dead and half dead were flung into
the well for quick and easy burial. so that
the well OF refreshment became the we'll OF
death. and long after people looked down
Into the well and they saw tho bleached
skulls, but no water. SO the human soul
was u we'll OF good. but the armies OF SIN have
fought around 1t and fought across 1t and
been slain. aud II has become a we'll OF skele-
tons. Dead hopes, lead resolutions, dead
oppor, unitles dead ambitions. An aban-
doned we'll unless Christ shalt reopen and
purify and m 1t rs the well Of Belgium
never was. Unclean, u~nrIean.
Another seraph!c posture In the text.
"With twain he covered the face" That
means reverence 9odwarj. Never so much
reverence abroad In the world as to-day.
You see 1t In tho deiaced statuary. in the
cutting out OF figures from fine paintings. in
H. -..- II