The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-04-08
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Lessons From Isaiah's Description
of the Seraphims Wings.
Humility at Imperfection and Reverence
Toward God-We Must Keep Nov
ing-God Gives the Soul
Wings for Flight.

| of Seraphlm," baSlng IT on the text:
| With twain he covered his face. with twain he
| covered his feet, and with twain he did fly
| Isaiah vi, ?.
In hospital of leprosy good King
Uzziah had died, and the whole land
was Swallowed with solemnity, and
theological and prophetic Isaiah was
thinking about religious things, as one
is apt to do in time of great national
bereavement, and, forgetting the pres
ence of his wife and two sons, who
made up his family, he has dream,
not like the dreams of ordinary char
acter, which generally come from indi-
gestion, but a vision most Instructive
and under the touch Of the hand of the
Almighty.
The place, the ancient temple; build
ing grand, awful, ma jestic. Within
that temple throne higher and grand
er than that occupied by any car or
sultan or emperor. On that throne the
eternal Christ. In lines surrounding
that throne, the brightest celestials,
not the cherubim, but higher than
they, the most exquisite and radiant of
the heavenly inhabitants the seraph-
i'm. They are called burners because
they look like fire. Lips of fire, eyes
of fire, feet of fire. In addition to the
features and the limbs which suggest
human being, there are pinions which
suggest, the lithest, the swiftest, the
most buoyant and the most inspiring
of all unintelligent creation-a bird.
Each seraph had six wings, each two
of the wings for a different purpose.
Isaiah's dream quivers and flashes with
these pinions. Now folded, now spread,
now saten in lOcomOtion. with twain
he covered his feet, with twain he COW
cred his head, 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, over
whelmed at the insignifcance of the
paths his feet had trodden as compared
with the paths trodden by the feet of
God, and with the lameness of his
locomotion amounting almost to de-
rrepitude as compared with the Divine
velocity, with feathery veil Of angelic
modesty hides the feet. with twain
he did cover the feet"
Standing there overpowered by the
overwhelming splendors of Gods glory,
and unable longer with the eyes to look
upon them, and wishing those eyes
shaded from the insufferable glory, the
pinions gather over the countenance.
"With twain he did cover the face"
Then, as God tells this seraph to go to
the farthest outpost of immensely on
message Of light and love and Joy, and
get back before the first anthem, it
does not take the seraph great while
to spread himself upon the air with un-
imagined CELEBRITY, one stroke of the
wing equal to 10000 leagues of air.
"With twain he did fly"
The most practical and useful lesson
for you and me-when we see the seraph
spreading his wings over the feet-is
the lesson of humility at imperfection.
The brightest angels of God are SO far
beneath God that He charges them
, with folly. The seraph so far beneath
God, and we so far beneath the seraph
In service, we ought to be plunged into
humility, utter and complete. Ou1
feet, how laggard they have been in
the Divine service. Our feet, how
many missteps they have taken. Our
feet, in how many paths of worldliness
and folly they have walked.
Neither God nor seraph intended tc
put any dishonor upon that which is
one OF the masterpieces of Almighty
God-the human foot. Physiologist
: and anatomist are overwhelmed at the
1 wonders of its organization. The
''Bridgewater Treatise written by Sil
( Charles Bell, on the wisdom and good
: ness of God as illustrated in the hui
man hand, was the result of the $40,
900 bequeathed in the last will ant
8 testament of the earl of Bridgewate1
for the encouragement of Christian
\ literature. The world could afford t,
: forgive his eccentricities, though h,
1 had two dogs seated at his table, ant
though he put six dogs alone in al
!: equipage drawn by four horse
I and attended by two footmen
3 With his large bequest inducing ST
y Charles Bell to write SO valuable
book on the wisdom of God in the struc
ture Of the human hand, the world coul,
afford to forgive his oddities And tn
world could now afford to have anothe
earl of Bridgewater. however idiosyn
cratic, If he would induce some othe
Sir Charles Bell to write a book on tn
Z wisdom and goodness of God in tn
l. construction of the human foot. TIL
articulation of It's bones, the lubricn
5 ton of its joints, the gracefulness O
Its lines, the ingenuity of its carriages
the delicacy of its veins, the rapidity Q
/ Its muscular contraction, the sensitive
ness of its nerves.
| sound the praises Of the huma!
foot. With that we halt o. climb O
march 1t is the foundation Of the phys
ical fabric. 1t is the base of God
poised column. With ii the warrio
braces himself for battle With it tn
orator plants himself for eulogiun
+ With it the toiler reaches his work
With 1t the outraged stamps his indie
nation. Its loss ar irreparable disas
{. ter. Its health IN invaluable equiv
is ment- If You want to know its value
:. ask the man whose foot paralysi
hath shriveled, Or machinery hat
ha1 70 ~ g. L