Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-03-10
REV. DIR. TALMAGB.
The Eminent Divlne's Sunday
Discourse.
Subject. "Winxs Of Seraphim."

ph6t1c Isaiah was thinking hDOut Iohsio~S
things. as one is apt to do In time OF great
national bereavement, and forgetting the
presence of his wife and Two sons, VINO mane
up his family, he has dream not like tne
dreams of ordinary character, wnicn gen
erally come from indigestion, but VISION
most Instructive. and under the toucn OF the
hand Of the Almighty.
The place. the ancient temple-building
grand, awful, majestic. Within that Temps
u throne higher and grander than tnat oc'
cupied by any car or sultan or emperor.
On that throne, the eternal Christ. In lines
surrounding that throne, the brightest ceies'
tials not the cherubim, but higher than tneys
the most exquisite and radiant Of the heav-
emily Inhabitants tho seraphfm. They arc
called burners because they look like fire
lips of fire, eyes OF fire, feet Of fire. In ad-
dition TO the features and the limbs, Wnicn
suggest a human being, there are pinions
which suggest the lithest, the swiftest, the
most buoyant and the most aspiring OF all
unintelligent creation-a bird. Each seraph
had six wings, each two OF the wings for .
different purpose. Issiah's dream quivers
and flashes with these pinions, now folded,
now spread, now beaten In locomotion.
with twain he covered bis feet, with twain
he covered his face, and with twain he did
hy."
The probability is that these wings were
not all used at once. The seraph standing
there near the throne, overwhelmed at the
insignificance OF the paths his feet hao
trodden as 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 feathery veil Of angelic nodesty hides
the feet. with twain he did cover the
feet"
Standing there, oyerpowered ty the over
matching splendors OF Gods glory and un.
able longer with the eyes to look upon them
and wishing those eyes shaded from the in
sufferable 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 immensity on
message of light ami love and Joy and get
back before the first anthem, 1t does not take
the seraph q great while to spread himself
upon the air with unimagtned celebrity, one
stroke of the wing equal TO 10 600 leagues OF
air. With twain he did fiy.'
The most practical and useful lesson for
you and me, when We see the seraph spread
ing 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 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!
l sound the praises of the human foot.
With that We halt or climb or march. 1t is
tadation of the physical fabric. 1t is
the I a GGaa poised column. With it
the VI lor braces klm:elf for battle. With
u the forator plants hmseit for eulogium.
7Wtth-.t the tofssi- reaches hss WORK With II
the outraged stamps his indignations, It's loss
an tfreparabfs disaster, its health an tnval-
liable equipment. II you want to know its
value, ask the man whose foot paralysis hath
shriveled, or machinery hath crushed, or
surgeons knife hath amputated. The Bible
honors it. Especial care. LEST thou dash
thy foot to be moved, &" sThy feet shall not
stumble" Especial charge, keep thy foot
when thou goest to 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. Tell
me up what steps il hath gone, down what
declivities and in what roads and in what
directions and will know more about you
than l want TO know. None of US could en-
dure the scrutiny. Our feet not always in
paths of God. sometimes In paths OF worldli-
ness. Our feet, a divine and glorious ma
chinery for usefulness and work, so often
making missteps so often going in the wrong
direction. God knowing every ster the
patriarch saying, Thou settest print on
q.
crimes Of the tongue, crimes of the eye,
crimes of the ear not worse than crimes OF
the foot Oh. we want the wings OF humilii y
to cover the feet! Ought We not to 90 into
self abnegaiion before the all searching, all
scruiiuizing all trying eye Of God? The
seraphs do. How much more we? with
twain he covered his feet
All this talk about the dignity of human
ure Is braggadocio and sin. Our nature
started at the hand of God regal, but ii has
been pauperized. There is we'll in Bel
gium which once had very pure water, and
1t was stoutly masoned with stone and brick
but that well afterward became the centre
of the battle of Waterloo. At the opening o
the battle the soldiers with their sabers com
PEELED the gardener, William von Kylsom, Il
draw water out of the we'll for them, and Il
was very pure water. But the battle ragged
and SEQ dead and half dead were flung into
the we'll for quick and easy burial, 30 tha
death, and long after people looked dowr
into the we'll and they saw the bleacheC
skulls, but no water. 80 the human SOU
was q we'll of good. but the armies Of SIN hav,
fought around it and fought across it an,
been slain, and it has become a well of skele
tons. Dead hopes, lead resolutions, deaf
oppor. unitits, dead ambitions. An aban
doned we'll unless Christ shall reopen ant
purify and fil it as the we'll Of Belgium
never was. Unclean, unciean.
Another seraphic 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 SEQ it in the defaced statuary. in tn
cutting out of figures from fine paintings. il
the chipping of monuments for memento
in the fact that military guard must stand a
the grave of Lincoln and Garfield, and ths
old shade trees must be cut down for fire
wood, though fifty George P. Morrises be-
tho rrnnimap IN m h.Af rp and thar n "a III
a corpse a cadaver. and that speaks Of dealt
as going over to the majority, and substi
tutes for the reyerent terms father an
mother 'the old man" aud 'the old woman,
and finds nothing impressive in the ruins G
Baalbec or the columns Of Karnac, and see
no difference in the Sabbath from other day
except il allows more dissipation, and read
| the Billie in what Is called higher criticism
making it not the word of God, but a goo
! book with some fine things in 1t.
Irreverence never so much abroad. How
many take the name Of God in vain, no,
many trivial things sail about the Almighty
Not wi ling to have God in the world, the
| roll up an idea of sentimentRlity and hr
| manitarianism and impudence and in5eci
| ity and call 1t God No wings of reverenc
overthe face, no taking of OF shoes on hol
{ ground. You can tell from the way they tai
they could have made a better world tina
this. and that the God Of the Bible shock
every sense OF proprietry. They talk Of th
/ love of God in Il way that show you they b.
! lie, G t does not make any difference no
ba a man is here he will come in ut tn
shining gate. They talk of the love OF Go
| in n way which shows you they think II is
| general Jail delivery for all the absndone
| and The scoundreiiy of the universe.
punishment hereafter for any wrong dor
| here.
Reverence for sham, reverence for the o.
merely because it is old. reverence for stl
| pInty ,wev-r leirned, reverence for II
| capacity however finely inaugurats sd, hav
| none. But We want more reverence Il
God, more reverence for the sacrament
more reverence for the Bible. more reve
ence Tor the pure, more reverence FOR tt
| good, Reverence a characteristic of a
| great Latures. Iou hear it in the roll OF tt
master c-atorios. You see it in the Raphae
and Titi. ms an Ghirlandaois. You study
| in thu lrohita.tr,ra IL tho AhnIiaha al