The Penn's Grove record., 1897-03-05
REV. DIR. TAIMAGE
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject. "wlns, of seraphlm."

TEXT: 'FWIth twain he covered his face,
and with twain he covered his feHt, And with
twain he did fiY. '~Isaiah VII Z.
In a hospital Of leprosy good King Uzziah
had died, aud the whole land was Swallowed
with eoiemnlty, and theological and pros
phetic Isaiah was thinking about religious
things. as 1ne Is apt to do In time bf great
natlo1ai bereavement, and forgetting the
Tresenco of bis wife and two sons. who ma ie
up bis family, he has q dream not like the
dreams Of ordinary character, which gen.
orally come from Indigestion, but a 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 grandor than that oc.
cupied by any car or sultan or emperor.
On that throne, the eternal Christ. 10 lines
surrounding that throne, the brightest celes-
tials, not the cherubim, but higherihan they,
the most exquisite and radiant OF the heav-
emily inhabitants the s~eraphim. They are
called burners because they look like fire
lips OF fire, eyes OF fire, feet OF fire. In adj
dition TO the features and the limbs, which
suggest = human being. there are pinions
which suggest the lithest, the sw. ftest, the
most buoyant and the most aspiring OF all
unintelligent creation-a bird. Each seraph
had six wings, each two OF the wings for a
different purpose. Isalah's dream qnivers
u AsiAN IN AuCoo plhtObFt now OtNSAh
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 ut the
inslgniicance OF the paths his feet had
trodden rs 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 modesty hides
the feet. ''Wlth twain he did cover the
feet,b
Standing there, overpowered ty the over
matching splendors OF Gois 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 90
TO 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 n great while to spread himself
Upon the air with unimagined celebrity, one
stroke of the wing equal 10 10000 leagues of
air. with twain he did 1y."
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
duktl5 vi 1Dl dIb 81 IUE DSuCtlu uOu lutt
He charges them with folly, the seraph 50
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 lave been in the divine SER
vice! Our feet, how many missteps they
have takenl Our feet, in how many paths
OF worldliuess and folly have they walked
l u the praises OF the human foot.
With that we halt or climb or march. 1t is
the foundation Of the physical fabric. It is
the base OF Il God poised column. With 1t
the warrior braces himself for battle. With
1t the orator plants himself for eulogium.
With 1t the toiler reaches his work. With 1t
the outraged stamps his ~indignations, its loss
nm irrsparable disaster, its health an inval-
liable equipment. If 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 1t. Especial care, "Lest thou dash
thy foot against a stone, ""He will not suffer
thy foot to be moved" THY feet shall not
stumble" Especial charge, "Reep 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 ofyour foot and I will
give you the history of your lifetime. Tell
me up what steps 1t hath gone, down what
uCCiISllIoS huu iu WIltt IOhuS huu III Wudt
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 worldli-
ness. Our feet, a divine and glorious ma
chinery for usefulness n work, 30 often
making missteps, so often going in the wrong
direction. God knowing every step, the
patriarch saying, Thou settest q print on
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 Of
the foot. oh. we want the wings OF humility
to cover the feet! Ought we not to go into
self a~bnegaiion before the all searching, all
scruiinizing, 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
nature is b~raggadocio and sin. Our nature
started at the hand of God regal, but 1t has
been pauperized. There is a well In Bel
GUM 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 OF
the battle the soldiers with their sabers com
PEELED the gardener, William o Kylsom, to
draw water out of the we'll for them, and 1t
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 that
the well OF refreshment became the well Of
ucotHs uuu iODB hittf ptOpl6 lOOktu uOWl
Into the we'll and they saw the bleRched
skulls, but no water. SO the human soul
was a we'll Of good. but the armies OF sin have
fought around 1t and fought across 1t and
been slain, and 1t has become a well OF skele-
tons. Dead hopes, dead resolutions, dead
opportunities. dead ambitions. An aban-
doned well unless Christ shall reopen and
purify and ftl 1t as the well Of Belgium
never was. Unclean, unclean.
Another seraDhie posture in the feyt
with twain he covered the face" That
means reverence Godward. Never SO much
irreverenee abroad In the world as to-day.
You see 1t In the defaced statuary. in the
cutting out OF figures from fine paintings. In
the chipping OF monuments for a memento,
In the fact that military guard must stand at
the grave of Lincoln and Garfield, and that
old shade trees must bs cut down for fire.
wood, though fifty George p. Morrises beg
the woodmen to spare the tree. aud that calls
a corpse q cadaver. int that speaks OF death
as going over to the majority, md substi-
tutes for the reverent terms father and
mother s'the old man" and "the old woman
md finds nothing impressive in the ruins Of
Baalbec or the columns OF Karnac, and sees
no difference In the Sabbath from other DAYS
except 1t allows more dissipation, and reads
the Billie in what Is called higher criticism,
making it not the word of God, but a good
book with some fine things in 1t.
lTTONclcuCO never SO IDucu hOTOIu. HOW
many take the name of God in vain, how
many trivial things sail about the Almightyl
Not wi ling to have God in the world, thew
roll up IN idea OF sentimentality and hu-
manitarianism and impudence and im5ecil-
ity and cali it God. No wings OF reverence
oyerthe face, no taking off OF shoes on holy
ground. You can tell from the way theytalk
they could have made a better world than
this. and that the God OF the Bible shocks
every sense OF proprietary. They talk of the
love Of God in a way that shows you they be-
Level does not make any difference how
ba | n man Is here no will come in at the
shining gate. They talk of the love OF God
In a way which Shows you they think it is a
general jail delivery for all the abandoned
and The scoundrelly of the universe. No
punishment hereafter for any wrong lone
here.
Reverence for sham. reverence for the old
merely because 1t is old, reverence for stu
pidity however learned, reverence for In.
capacity however finely inaugural sd, l have
none. But We want more reverence for
God, more reverence for the
more reverence for the Bible, more reyer-
ence for the pure, more reverence for the
good. Reverence u characteristic OF all
great Latures. You hear it In the roll OF the
master oratorios. You see 1t in the Raphael.
and Tffiaua oni nhfFlanduais Va, a.I. n