The Banner-Democrat., 1897-04-24
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Divine's Sermon, De.
livered In Washington.
Subject. wings of seraphim."


In a hospitalof leprosy good King uzziah
had died and the whole land was shadowed
with solerpity, and theological ana pro-
pietis Isaiah was thinking about religious
things, az one is apt to DO IN time OF great
national bereavement, and forgetting Inc
presence of his wife and Two sons, VINO MAZE
up his family. he has dream not IKE tne
dreams OF ordinary character, Waich ssn,
orally come from indigestion, but vision |
most instructive. and under the touch OF the |
hand of the Almighty.
The place, the ancient temple-buliding |
grad. awful. majestic. Within that temple |
a tAone higher and -grander than that oc-
cupie,t by any car or sultan or emperor.
Oatbat throne, the eternal Christ. In lines
surrounding that ihr ,ne, the brightest celes-
tials. not the chernbim but higher han they,
the most exquisite and radiant OF the heav-
enly inhabitants the ssraphim. They are
called burners because they look like lire
lips Of fire, eyes Of fire, feet OF lire. In adj
di.ion TO the features and the limbs, when
suggest n human being, there are pinions
which suggest the lithest, the swiftest, the
most buoyant and the most aspiring oil All
unintelllgent creation--a bird. Each seraph
had six wings. each two OF the wings for
different purpose Isaah's dream quivsrs
and Hashesswith these pinions, now folded,
now spread, now beaten IN locomouon.
.With twain he covered his feet, with twain
n.y."
The probability is that these wings were
| nor ALI used al once The seraph standing
| there near the throne, overwhelmed at the
| insigniflcance OF the paths his ieet had
| trodSen us compared with the paths trodden
| by the feet of God, and with the lameness OF
| his locomotion amounting almost to decrepI-
| tude as compared with the divine velocity,
| with feathsry veil of angelic modesty hides
] the feet. s'With twain he did cover the
/ feet"
Standing there, overpowered ty the over
| matching spendors OF Gods glory aud un-
1 q lie longer with the eyes TO look upon them
| and wishing those eyes shaded from the in
| sufferable glory. the pinions gather over the
1 countenance. ''With twain he did cover ne
face Then. as God tells this seraph to go
4 10 the farthest outpost OF immensely. on
| message OF light AMI love and JOY and get
back before the first anthem, 1t does not take
the seraph u great while to spread himself
| upon the air with unimagined celebrity, one
stroke OF the wing equal 10 10000 leagues OF
cir. with twain he did n.y.
The most practical aud useful. lesson for
| you and ne, when we see the seraph spread
| ing his wings over the feet, is the lesson OF
humility at imperfcctiop. The brightest
| angels ofGod 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 in
! humility, utter and complete. Our feet, how
iaggard they have been in the divine ser
vicei Our feet, how many missteps they
have taken! Our feet, in how many, paths
OF worlaliness 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 IL God poised column. With II
the warrior braces himself for battle. With
it the orator plants mself for eulogium,
With ii the toiler reaches his work. With 1t
| The outraged stamps his indignations, its loss
an irreparable disaster, its health an inval-
uable equipment. II you want to know its
value, ask the man whose foot paralysis hath
shrivelei, or machinery hath crushed, or
surgeons knife hath amputated. The Bible
honors it. Especial care, "Lest thou dash
thy foot against u stone, ""He will not suffer
stumble" Especial charge, keep thy foot
when thou goest 10 the house OF God.
Especial peril, '.Their feet shall slide in due
time" Connected with the worlds dissolu-
ton, ''He shall set one foot ON the sea and
The other on the earth.
Give me the history Of your foot and will
give YOU the history of your lifetime. Tel
me up what steps it hath gone, down what
decliviiies and in what roads and in what
directions, and will know more about you
than / want to know. None OF us could en-.
dure the scrutiny. Our feet not always IN
paths of God. sometimes in paths OF woridli.
/. ness. Our feet, a divine and glorious ma
chinery for usefulness and work, so otter
making missteps, 80 often going In the wrong
direction. God knowing every step, ths
patriarch saying, .'Thou settest a print OF
| the heels of my feet" Crimes OF the hand
crimes of the tongue, crimes OF the eye
crimes OF the ear not worse than crimes O
the foot Oh. we want the wings ofhumil'l,
to cover the feet, Ought we not to go into
:. | hat {ho ollc rob bin0 oil
} scrutinizing, all trying eye OF God? The
, | seraphs do. How much more We? "Witf
twain be covered his feet"
All this talk about the dignity OF human
nature is braggadocio and sin. Our nature
started at the hand OF God regal, but it ha!
| | been pauperized. There Is well In Bel
gium which once had very pure water, and
it was stoutly masoned witifstone and brick
but that well afterward became the centrs
| of the battle of Waterloo. At the opening o
. the battle the soldiers with their sabers com
PEELED the gardener, William Won Kysom, t
draw wator out of the we'll for them, and j
| was very pure water. But the battle ragged
and 800 dead and half dead were flung into
the well for quick and easy burial, SO tha
tho we'll OF refresbment became the we'll o
death. and long after people looked dowl
into the well and they saw the bleachet
skulls, but no water. SO the human sou
was a well OF good. but the armies OF SIN hav
fought around it and fought across 1t AM
been slain, and 1t has become well OF skele
tons. Dead hopes, lead resolutions, deat
] opportunities, dead ambitions. An aban
doned well unless Christ shall reopen an,
purify and fil it as the well OF Belgium
never was. Unclean, unclean.
Another serapnic posture In the text
"With twain he covered the face" Tina
, means reverence Godward. Never so mucl
irreverence abroad IN the world as to-day
!. You see 1t In the defaced statuary. in tn
cutting out OF figures from fine paintings. II
the chipping of monuments for q memento
In the fact that military guard must stand a
the grave Of Lincoln and Garfield, and tha
Old shade trees must be cut down for fire
wood, though fifty George p. Morrises be
the woodmen 10 spare the tree. and that call
a corpse a cadaver. and that speaks OF dealt
!, as going over to the majority, and substi
j tutes for the reverent terms father an
mother "ihe old man and 'the old woman,
|. and finds nothing impressive In the ruins c
Baalbee or the columns Of Karnac, and see
; | no difference in the sabbath from other day
: | except it allows more dissipation. and read
!, | the Billie in what IS called higher criticism
|, making it not the word of God, but goo
| | book with some fine things in 1t.
: Irreyerenee never so much abroad Ho'
: | many taks the name of God in vain, ho
5 | many trivial things said about the Almighty
$ Not wi ling to have GOD in the world. the
roll up an idea of sentimentality and b,
a manltarianism and impudence and ini5ecl
2 | ity and cali it God. No wings OF reverend
! oyerthe face. no taking off OF shoes on ho
1 ground. You can tell from The way they tai
: they could have made better world tha
, this. and that the God of the Bible shocl
. | .,rsrx- Sopcsa of rro n~fpfrv They talk of III