The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-11-10
A HEAVENLY GUARD.
DR.. TALMAGE ON THE MISSION OF THE
ANGELS.
They Have Much To DO With the Ev-
eryday Affairs OF Life, Says h Dis
tinguished Preacher A Guardian
Angel for Every One.
copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1892

in this sermon shown to be real ana 10
have much to do with our everyday life
The text is, Judges xiii, IL, Ana the
angel did w~ondrously."
Fire built on a rock. Manoah and his
wife had there kindled the flames for
sacrifice in praise of God and in honor
of a guest whom they supposed to De a
man. But as the fame rose higher and
higher their stranger guest stepped
into the fame and by one red leap as
cended into the skies. Then they knew
that he was an angel of the Lord. The
angel did w~ondrously."
Two hundred and forty eight times
does the Bible refer to the angels, yet 1
never heard or read a sermon on angel
~logy. The whole subject is RELOCATED
to the realm mythical, weird, spectral
and unknown. Sue adjournment Is
un-Scriptural and wicked. OF their life.
their character, their habits, their ac-
lions, their ~velocities, the Bible gives
us full length portraits, and why this
prolonged and absolute silence concern
ing them? Angelology is by theme.
There are two nations Of angels, and
they are hostile to each other-the ma
ton of good angels and the nation OF
bad angels. OF the former I chiefly
speak today. Their capital, their head
quarters, their grand rendezvous, Is
heaven, but their empire is the uni
verse. They are a distinct race of crea-
lures. 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 gratified. They are superhu-
man, but they are of different grades
and ranks, not all on the same level OF
the same height. They have their SUI
periors and interiors and equals. / pro
pose no guessing on this subject, but
AXE the Bible for my only authority
Plate, the philosopher, guessed and oil
vided angels into supercelestial, celes
tial and subcelestial. Dionysius, the
Areopagite, guessed and wide them
into three classes, the supreme, the
middle and the last, and each of these
into three other classes, making mir in
all. Philo said hat the angels were re
lated to God, as the rays to the sun.
Fulgentius said that they were com
posed of body and spirit. Clement said
that they had been in danger of falling,
but now are beyond being tempted.
But the only authority on this subject
that / respect says they are divided into
eherubim, Seraphim, thrones, dom1na-
lions, municipalities, pOwers. Then
commander in chief is Michael. Daniel
called him Michael. st. John called
I'LL AlACllnCl' odPCl 4ol pCAiSo -
more thoroughly organized than any
army that ever marched. They ar
sWifter than any cyclone that ever
swept the sea. They are more radiant
than any morning hat ever came down
the sky. They have more to do with
your destiny and mine than any being
in the universe except God. May thf
Angel Of the New Covenant, who is the
Lord Jesus, open cur eyes and touch
our tongue and rouse our soul while
we speak of their deathlesness, theil
intelligence, their numbers, theil
strength, their achievements.
A CRADLE, BUT NO GRAVE.
Yes, deathless. They had a cradle,
but will never have a grave. The Lore
remembers when they were born, but
no one shall ever see their eye eXtin-
suiShed or their momentum slow UP o.
their existence terminate. The oldes
of them has not a wrinkle or a decrepi-
tude or a hindrance, as young afte
5000 years as at the close of their first
hour Christ said of the good in heav-
en-. Neither can they die any more, for
they are equal unto the angels" Yes
deathleSS are those wonderful creatures
of whom l speak. They will see World
after world go out, but there shall be
no fading of their own brilliance. Yea,
after the last world has taken it's las.
flight they will be ready for the wides,
circuit through immensely, taking a
quadrillion of miles in one sweep as
easy as a pigeon circles a dovecot. They
are never sick. They are never exhaust
ed. They need no sleep for they are
never tired. At Gods they
smote with death in one night 1876, 00O
OF SennaCherib's host, but no fatality
can smite them. Awake, agile, multi
potent. deathless. immortal!
A further characteristic of these ra-
diant folk is intelligence. The woman
of TekOIn WAS right Whan cho cnnLa fo
King David of the wisdom of an angel.
We mortals take in what little we know
through eye and ear and nostril and
touch, but those beings nave no physic-
Al encasement, and hence they are all
senses. A wall five feet thick is not solid
40 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
sorb 1t. They gather it up without any
Underwent. Nc need of literature for
them. The letters of their books are
stars. The dashes of their books are
meteors. The words of their books are
consultations. The paragraphs of their
books are galaxies. The pictures of
their books are sunrises and sunsets and
midnight auroras and the Conqueror on
the white horse with the moon under
MS feet. Their library is an open uni
verse. Ne need Of telescope to see some
thing millions of miles away, for in
Stantiy they are there to inspect and
explore it. All ASTRONOMERS. all geol-
ogies, all. ~botanies, all PHILOSOPHERS. at
their feet. What an opportunity for i'm
t~elligence is theirs! What facilities fol-
knowing everything land knowing il
right! away.
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 through the
ages and yet L warrant they have not
fully grasped 1.-THE wonders of re-
demption. The wonders are so high,
50 deep. so grand. so ~stupendous, So
magnificent, hat ever the intelligence
OF angelhood is COMPOUNDED before it.
The apostle says, Which things the
angels desire to look into" That is a
subject thatexcites inquisitiveness on
their part. That is a theme that strains
their faculties to the utmost. That is
higher than they can climb, deeper
than they can dive. They have a desire
for something too big for their compre-