Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-11-02
GUARDED BY ANGELS.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE SAYS THEY KEEP
WATCH OVER MORTALS.
supcrnnI Beings who Give Warning
when Evil Approaches - Next to
God, They Control the Destiny of
tho Human Race.
copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1891

lCopyright, Louis klOpSch, 1S9g
WASHINGTON, Oct 20.-The brilliant
beings supposed by some to be magma
ry are by DR.. Talmage in his sermon
shown to be real and to have much to do
with our everyday life. The text is
Judges xiii, 10, "And the angel did won
drcusly."
Fire built on rock. Manoah and his
wifc had there kindled the flames for
sacrifice in praise of God and in honor
of guest whom they supposed to be
a man. But as the flame rose higher and
higher their stranger guest stepped into
the flame and by one red leap assembled
into the skies Then they knew that was
IN angel of the Lord. "The angel did
wondrously.'
Two hundred and forty-cight times
does the Bible refer TO the angels, yet |
never heard or read n sermon ON angel
ology. The whole subject is rclcgatcd
to the realm mythical weird spectral
and unknown. Such adjournment is
un-Scriptural and wicked. or their life,
their character their habits, their ac-
tions. their velocities, the Bible gives us
full length portraits, and why this pro-
longcd and absolute silence concerning
them? Angclology is my theme.
There are two nations of angels, and
of good angels and the nation of bad an
gels. or the former | chiefly speak to-
day Their capital, their headquarters,
their grand rendezvous, is heaven, but
their empire is the universe. They are
distinct race Of creatures. No human
being can ever join their confraternity.
The little child who in the Sabbath
school sings, 81 want to be an angel"
will never have her wish gratihed. They
are superhuman, but they are of different
grades and ranks, not all on the same
level or the same height. They have
their superors and interiors aud equals.
1 propose no guessing on this subject,
but take the Bible for my own authority.
Plato, the philosopher, guessed and Iii
vided angels into superceestial, coles
tial and subcelestial. Dionysius, the
Areopagite, guessed and divided them
into three classes, the supreme, the mid
die and the last, and each Of these into
three other classes, making nine in all.
philo said that angels were related To
God, as the rays to the sun Eulgcntius
said that they were composed of body
and spirit. Clement said they were
incorporeal. Augustine said that they
had been in danger of falling, but now
are beyond being tempted. But the
spect says they are divided into chcru-
him, seraphim, thrones, Nominations,
principalities, powers. Their commander
in chief is Michael Daniel called him
Michael. St John called him Michael.
These supernal beings are more thor
Oughly organized than any army that
ever marched. They are swiftcr than
any cyclone that ever swept the sea.
They are more radiant than any morn
ing that ever came down the sky. They
have more to do with your destiny and
mine than any being in the universe eX-
Cept God. May the Angel of the New
Covenant, who is the Lord Jesus, open
our eyes and touch our tongue aud rouse
our soul while we speak of their death
lessness, their intelligence, their num-
bers, their strength, their achievements.
The DeathIess Angels.
Yes, deathless. They had cradle but
will never have a grave. The Lord re-
members when they were born, but no
one shall ever see their eye extinguishcd
or their momentum slow up or their cX-
istence terminate. The oldest of them
has not a wrinkle or a decrcpitude or a
hindrance, as young after G,OOO years
as at the close of their first hour.
Christ said to the good in heaven. "Nei-
ther can they die any more, for they are
equal unto the angels" Yes, dcathless
are these wonderful creatures of whom
speak. They will see world after
world go out but there shall be no fad
ing of their own brilliance Yra, after
the last world has taken its last flight,
they will be ready for the widest circuit
through immensely, taking quadrillion
of miles in one sweep as easy as n pi-
geon circles a dovecot. They are never
sick, They are never exhausted. They
need no sleep, for they are never tired.
At Gods command they smote with
death, in one night, $4,000 Of Scnnach-
cribs host, but no fatality can Smite
them. Awake, agile, mutipotent, DEATH
less immortal.
a further characteristic of these radi-
ant folk is intelligence. The woman Of
Tekoah was right when she spoke to
King David of the wisdom of an angel.
We mortals take in what little we know
through the eye and ear and nostril and
touch, but those beings have no physical
incasement, and hence they are all
senses. A wall five feet thick is not solid
to them. Through it they go without
disturbing flake Of mortar or crystal Of
sand. knowledge! 1t flashes on them.
They take it in at all points. They alb
bOID IT, Hts Edlutl IL up NllHbul any
Underwent. No need of literature for
them. The letters of their books are
stars. The dashes Of their books are mete-
ors. The words of their books are constel-
lations. The paragraphs of their books are
galaxies. The pictures of their books
are sunrises and sunsets and midn hit
auroras and the COnqueror on the white
horse with the moon under his feet. Their
library is an open universe. No need Of
telescope to see something millions Of
miles away, for instantly they are there
to inspect and explore it. All astrono-
mics, all geologies all botanes, all phi
losophies, at their feet What an oppor-
tunity for Intelligence is theirs, What
facilities for knowing everything and
knowing it right away!
wonders of RI demptiOn.
There is only one thing that puts them
to their wits end, and the Bible says
they have to study that. They have been
studying it all drought the ages, and yet
] warrant they have not fully graspcd il
the wonders of redemption. These
wonders are SO high, so deep, so grand,
so stupendous, so magnificent, that even
the intelligence of angelhood is confound-
ed before it. The apostle says, (Which
;.,:.sasA: y: s :.s,.,s
81 Nn,re VI