Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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%■ THE LEDGE1?: GAF^^EY, S. C. 4, 1897/ IMta iEHAPHIM. t'S PRACTICAL SERMON AN EXALTED THEME. Urges Jlis fpw»r<l r loltlng S<v. i .j !. Near Christ. ‘ ’j’in- to Kly : Is but the : r.ul — I.lvlng Washington, Fch as.—It; this dis- loarso Dr. Tnlrti;.;. • :i most exalte d theme and inn];.: ii i ractieal and useful to the last derirec. Tht> subject is "Wings of Seraphim, ” and the text is Isaiah vi, 2, “With iv.aln he covered his face, and with t ,vain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. ” In a hospital of leprosy «nod KinK Uzzinh had died, and the whole land was shadowed with solemnity, and the ological ;tud prophetic Isaiah whs think ing about religious things, iis one is apt to do in time of g;v»t rational bereave ment, and forg> iting the juei^uee of his wife and two r ns, who made up his family, he lias a dro- m not like the dreams of ordinary character, which generally come i : • i indigestion, hut a Vision most inHtrie ti' , and under the touch of the hand of the Almighty. The place, the awi. nt temple—build ing grand, awful, r. stic. Within that temple a three Ir 'her end grander than that occupied by any czar or sul tan or emperor. On that throne, the eternal Christ. In lines surrounding that throne, the eriylbest celt stials, not the cherubim, hut higher than they, the most exquisite and radiant of the heav enly inhabitants—flu seraphim. They are called buriu rs because they look like fire—lips of tire, eyes of fire, feet of lire. In addition to the features and the limbs, which suggest a human being, there are pinions u Inch suggest the lithest, the swiftest, the mo ; buoyant and the most aspiring of all uninb Uigent creation—a bird. Each seraph had six wings, each two of the wing s for a different purpose. Isaiah’s dream quivers and flashes with these pinions, now folded, now spread, now bcat(*i in lot omotion. * ‘With twain he covered his fed, with twain he cov ered his face, and with twain he did fly” The probability is that these wings were net all used at onee. The seraph standing there near the throne, over whelmed at the insignificance of the paths his feet had trodden as compared dth the paths ti: . ;<i« bv the feet of GotJSSJid with the lameness of his loeo- motionrtfKfiJw'-ii"" utmost to decrepitude as compared VJ 1 i! tl " «l ; vine velocity, with feathery' f un.gelie modesty hides the feet. ^NUth twain he did cover the feet. ’ ’ Standing there, overrstV/ered by the overmatehing si'leiulo's of li'jd’s glory and unable longer with the eye* y(i look upon them and wishing those Vj''* shaded from the insufferable glory, the’ pinions gather o” - the countenance. “With twain he did covrr the face. ” Then, as God i< :1s ’ is seraph to go to the farthest out; t of immensity on message of light anlove and joy and get hack before tb nrst anthem, it does not take the seraph a great while to spread himself up ; the air with unim agined celerity, ui ' . iroke of the wing equal to 10.i. r .• s > f air. “With twain he did lly. ’ Humility u:i I Junie/Tectlon. Tho most prietd al and useful lesson for you and me, v.. ■ ti w see th< seraph spreading his win s ( ver the feet, is tho lesson of hnmility at imperfection. The brightest angels of (bxl are so far be neath God that he charges them with folly, the seraph so far beneath God and wo so far beneath tho seraph in service we ought to 1 e plunged in hu mility, utter n id complete. Our feet, how laggard they h ive been in the di vine service! Our feet, how many mis steps they have taken! Our feet, in how many paths of wciidlincss and folly they have walked! Neither God nor seraph intended to put any dishonor upon that which is one of the masterpief ■ of Almighty God— the human foot, i d . iologist and anat omist are overwhclimd at the won ders of its org. nr/.ation. The Bridge- water treatise, written bv Mir Charles Bell, on the w i dnm and goodness of God as illustrated in the human hand, was a result of the i?40,000 bequeathed in the lust will and testament of tho Earl of Bridgewater for the tueourage- meut of Christian literature. The world could afford to forgive his eccentricities, though he had two dogs seated at his table and though ho put six dogs alone in an equipage drawn by four horses and attended by two footmen. With his largo bequest inducing Sir Charles Bell to writ o valuable a book on the wisdom of God in the structure of the human hand, the world could af ford to forgive 1 is oddities. And the world could now afford to have another Earl of Bridgewab r, however idiosyn cratic, if he would induce some other Sir Charles Bell to write a hook on the wisdom and goodness of Godin the con struction of the human foot, the artic ulation of its bones, tho lubrication of its joints, tho gracefulness of its lint's, the ingenuity of its cartilages, the deli cacy of its veins, the rapidity of its muscular contraction, the sensitiveness of its nerves. I sound tho pruisi s of tho human foot. With that we halt or climb or march. It is the foundation of the physical fab ric. It is the base of a God poised col umn. With it the warrior braces him self for battle. With it the orator plants himself for eulogium. With it the toiler reaches his work. With it the outraged stumps his indignation, its loss an irrep arable disaster, its health an invah able equipment. If you want to know its value, ask the man whose foot pa ralysis hath hriveled, or machinery hath crushed, or surgeon’s Irtiife hath amputated. The Bi le honors it. Espe cial can', “Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone,” “He will not suffer thy foot to be mov d, ” “Thy feet shall not stumble. ” 1. pi eiol charge, “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God. ” “Especial peril, “Their feet 1 shall slide in due time.” Connected ‘ with the world’s dissolution, "Ho shall set one foot on the sea and the other on tho earth.’’ WIur# <.-f neinlllty. Give r> tiv hi p ; -pf yom foot, and I will give yen ■!. hirfery of your life time. Toll n.e un ■' hat steps it hath gone, down v.h.'ii •!( t li . it'es and in lvhat roads .and m . kef t r • vions, and I will know more .'•him: you than I want to know. None of r.s could ©n- fiuro the s< rutiny. Or.r fi : not always in paths of God, sometimes in paths of worldlimss. Our feet, a divine and glorious machinery for usefulness and work, ::o often making mi.asteps, ro often going in the wrong direction. God knowing every step, the patriarch say ing, “Thou sette r a print on the heels of my feet ” Grimes of the hand, erinu-s of the tongue, erinx s of th.c eye, erinieH of the ear not worse than crimes of tho foot. Oh, wo want the wings of humil ity to cover the feet! Ought we not to go into self abnegation before the all searching, all rerutinizing, all trying eye of God? The seraphs do. How much more we? “With twain he covered the feet.” All this talk about the dignity of hu man nature is braggadocio and sin. Our nature started at the hand of God regal, but it lias been pauperized. There is a well in Belgium which once had very pure water, and it. wrs stoutly masoned wi'h stone and brick, but that well aft erward became the center of the battle of Wati rloo. At the opening of the bat tle tho soldiers w ith their sabers com pelled tho gardener, William von Kyl- eom, to draw water out of the well for them, and it was very pure water. But the battle raged, and 300 dead and half dead were flung into the well for quick and easy burial, so that the well of re freshment became the well of death, and long after people looked down into the well and they saw the bleached skulls, but no water. Mo the human soul was a well of good, hut the armies of sin have fought around it and fought across it and been slain, and it lias become a well of skeletons. Dead hopes, dead res olutions, dead opportunities, dead am bitions. An abandoned well unless Christ shall reopen and purify and fill it as the well of Belgium never was. Unclean, unclean. Irreverence. Another seraphic po -ture in tho text, “With twain ho covered the face. ” That means reverence Gcdward. Never so much irreverence abroad in the world as today. You see it in the defaced statuary, in the cutting out of figures from line 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 be cut down for firewood, though oO George P. Morrises beg the woodmen to spare the tree, and that calls a corpse a cadaver, and that speaks of death at; going over to the ma jority, and substitutes for the reverent terms father and mother “the old man” and “tho old woman,” and finds noth ing impressivi in the ruins of Baalbcc or the columns of Karmic, and sees no difference in the Mabhnth from other days except It allows more dissipation and reads the Bible in what is called higher criticism, making it not the word of God, but a goon book with -cine fine things in it. Irreverence never so much abroad. How many take the name of God in vain, how many trivial things said about the Almighty! Not willing to have God in the world, they roll up an idea of sentimentality and humanitari- auism and impudi mo and imbecility and call it No wings of reverence over tho face, no taking oil of shoes on holy ground. Yon cun tell from the way they talk they could havi made a better world than this, and that the God of the Bible shot k< every sense of propriety. They talk of the love of God in a way that shows you they believe it does not make any difference how bail a man is here In v, ill come in at the shin ing gate. They talk of the love of God in a way which shows you they think it is a general jail delivery for nil the abandoned and the scoundrelly of tho universe. No punish mi nt hereafter for any wrong done here. Tho Bible gives two descriptions of God, and they are just opposite, and they are both true. In one place the Bible says God is love. In another place tho Bible says God is a consuming lire. The explanation is plain as plain can he. God through Christ is love. God out of Christ is lire. To win the one and to escape the other w e have only to throw ourselves, body, mind and soul, into Christ’s keeping. “No,” says ir reverence, ‘ I want no atonement; I want no pardon; I want no interven tion; I will go up and face God, and I will challenge him, and I will defy him, and I will ask him what he wants to do with me. ” Mo the finite confronts the Infinite; so a tuck hummer tries to break a thunderbolt; so tho breath of human nostrils defies the everlasting God, while the hierarchs of heaven l>ow tho head and bend the kmv as the King’s chariot goes by, and the arch angel turns away In i ause he cannot en dure the splendor, and the chorus of all tho empires of hruvin comes in with full diapason, “Holy, holy, holy!” A UrcHKiiig N«'. U. Reverence for sham, reverence for the old merely because it is old, reverence for stupidity however humid, reverence for incapacity however finely inaugu rated, I have iioix ■. But we want more reverence for God, more reverence for the sacraments, more reverence for tho Bible, more reverence for the pure, more reverence for the good. Reverence a characteristic of all great nature*. You hear it in the roll of the master oratorios. You see it in the Raphaels and Titians and Ghirlandaios. You study it in the architecture of the Aho- liabs and Christopher Wrens. Do not be flippant about God. Do not joke almut death. Do not make fun of the Bible. Do not deride the Eternal. The bright est and mightiest seraph cannot look unabashed upon him. Involuntarily the wings come up. “With twain he covered his face. ’ ‘ Who is this God before whom the ar rogant and intractable refuse reverence? There was an engine r by the name of Btrasicrates who v • i in the employ of Alexander the Great, and Jo* offend to hew a mountain in lie sheno of his master, (ho emperor, tki monnous fig ure to hold in the 1< C h .tl a city of 10,000inhabitant: v M, v uh the right hand it was to hold a basin large enough to collect all the mcuntuiii torrents. Alexander applauded him for his in genuity, hut forbade the enterprise be cause of its costliness. Yet I have to tell you that our King holds in one hand all the cities of the earth, and all tho cccaus, while he has the stars of heaven for his tiara. Earthly power goes from luind to hand from Eeury I to Henry II and Henry HI, from Charles I to Charles II, from Louis I to Louis II and Louis III, but from everlasting to everlasting is God. God the first, (Rid tho last, God ! the only. Ho has one telescope, with J which he sees everything—his omnis cience. He has one bridge, with which ho crosses everything—his omnipres ence. He has one hummer, with which he builds everything—his omnipotence. Put two tablespoonfuls of water in the palm of your hand, and it will over flow, but Isaiah indicates that God puts the Atlantic, and the Pacific, and the Arctic, and the Antarctic, and the Med iterranean, and the Black sea, and all the waters of the earth in the hollow of his hand. The fingers the beach on one side, the wrist the beach on the other. “He holdeth tho water iu the hollow of his hand. ” The Blue Klhbon. As you take a pinch of salt or powder between your thumb and two fingers, so Isaiah indicates God takes up the earth. He measures the dust of the earth, the original there indicating that God takes all the dust of all tho continents be tween the thumb and two fingers. You wrap around your hand a blue ribbon five times, ten times. You say it is five band breadths or it is ten hand breadth*. Bo indicates the prophet God winds the blue ribbon of the sky around his hand. “He meteth out the heavens with a span.” You know that balances are made of a beam suspended in the mid dle, with two basins at the extremity of equal heft. In that way what vast heft has been weighed! But what are all the balances of earthly manipulation com pared with the bulanei» that Isaiah saw suspended when he saw God putting into tho scales the Alps and the Apen nines and Mount Washington and the Sierra Nevadas? You see the earth had to bo ballasted. It would not do to have too much weight in Europe, or too much weight in Asia, or too much weight in Africa or in America, so when God made the mountains he weighed them. The Bible distinctly says so. God knows the weight of the great ranges that cress the continents, the tons, tho pounds avoirdupois, the ounces, the grains, the mi lie grume— just how much they weight d then and just how much they weigh now. “He weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance.” Ol), what a God to run against! Oh, what a God to dis obey! Ob, what a Ood to dishonor! Oh, what a God to di fy! The brightest, the mightiest aiig.d takes no familiarity with God. Tin wings of reverence are lifted. “Witk twain kc- covered the face.” Another seraphic posture in the text. The seraph must not always stand still. He must move, and it must be without clumsiness. There must be celerity and beauty in the movement. “With twain he did fly.” Correction, exhilaration. Correction at our slow gait, for we only crawl in the service when we ought to lly at the divine bidding. Exhilaration in the fact that the soul has wings as the seraphs have wings. What is a wing? An instrument of locomotion. They may not be like seraphs’ wing, they may not ho like birds’ wing, but the soul has wings. God says so “He shall mount np on wings as eagles.” We are made in the divine image, and God has wings. The Bible says so. “Healing in his wings.” “Under the shadow of his wings.” “Under whose wings bast then come to trust.” The soul with folded wing now, wonnded wing, broken wing, bleeding wing, caged wing. Aye, I have it now! Caged within bars of bone and under curtains of flesh, but one day to be In e. I hear tho rustle of pinions in Beagrave’s poem which we sometimes sing: Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wind’s. I hear the rustle of pinions in Alex ander Pope’s stanza, where he says; 1 mount, I fly. O death, whero i» thy victory? On Wings to JKtcralty. A dying Christian not long ago cried out, “Wings, wings, wings!” The air is full of them, coming and going, rein ing and going. You have seen how the dull, sluggish chrysalid Incomes the bright butterfly; the dull and the stupid and the lethargic turned into the alert and the beautiful. Well, my friends, iu this world we are in the chrysalid state. Death will unfurl the wings. Oh, if we could only realize what a grand thing it will be to get rid of this old clod of the body i-.ud mount the heavens, neither seagull nor lark nor albatross nor falcon nor condor pitching from highest range of Andes .so buoyant or so majestic of stroke. Bee that eagle in the mountain nest. It looks so sick, so ragged feathered, so worn out and so half asleep. Is that eagle dying? No. The ornithologist will tell you it is the molting season with that bird. Not dying, but molting. Yon see that Christian sick and weary and worn out mid seeming about to ex pire on what is called his deathbed. The world says ho b’ dying. I sny it is the molting season for bis soul—the body dropping away, the celestial pinions coming on. Not dying, but molting. Molting out of darkness and sin and struggle into glory and into God. Why do you not shout? Why do yon sit shiv ering at the thought of death and trying to hold hack and wishing you could stay here forever, and speak of departure sis though the subject were tilled with skel eton* and tho varnish of coffins, and as though you preferred lame foot to nwift wing? Ob, people of God, let us stop playing tho feolandprnpareforraptnror.fi fliglff. When your soul stands on tho verge of this life, and there are vast precipices beneath and sapphired dome? above, which way will yon fly? Will yon r.voop, or will you soar? Will yon fly downward, cr will you fly upward? Everything on the wing this day bid ding us aspire. Holy Spirit on the wing. Angel of the New Covenant on the wing. Time on the wing, flying away from us. Eternity on the wing, flying toward u» Wings, wings, wings! Live so near to Christ that when you are dead people standing by your life less body will not soliloquize, saying: “What a disappointment life was to him! How averse ho was to departure! What a pity it was be hud to die! What an awful calamity!” Rather standing there may they see a sign more vivid on your still face tlnm tho vestiges of pain, something that will indicate that it was a happy exit, the clearance from oppressive quarantine, the cast off chrys alid, the molting of the faded and the useless, and the ascent from malarial valleys to bright.shining mountain tops, and be led to say, as they stand there contemplating your humility and your reverence in life and your happiness in death, “With twain he covered the feet, with twain ho covered the face, with twain he did fly. ” Wings, wings, wings! Firefly Lantern Clubs. Genius has given fashionable folks a new plaything with which to amuse themselves. It is iu literal obedience to the Biblical injunction regarding a lamp unto the feet, for that is exactly where the new light is to be worn. It consists of a tiny lantern with sides of very stout glass, mounted upon a stirrup which straddle* the foot of the user, a tongue resting on the toe of the foot and acting as a part of the support. This queer idea has taken strong hold upon the minds of the smart set, and as a result has sprung into instant favor. It is particularly valuablr to persons who are given to walking about in places where roads and sidewalks are not well kept, for in such cases there are always holes of various dimensions and in unexpected places, in which the pedestrian is sure to trip np if he is not exceedingly careful. There are several means of furnishing light for this curious lamp. Electricity and oil are the most common. The former is likely to be the most popular methcsl from the fact that there is no danger of grease leaking out upon the shoe. A tiny storage buttery has been constructed to be used iu furnishing the light. It is ordinarily carried iu the pocket, and a flexible wire, insulated and covered with chamois skin, passes from the battery and through the pocket down to tho lamp upon the foot. In this way a bright light is situ ml, the little buttery furnishing sufficient electricity for a walk of half a dozen hours. It is also a great convenience iu horse back riding by night, for the jolting will not affect tho lamp of the battery. An equestrian parade has been planned, to be given before long at one of the winter resorts near New York, in which every participant will have a lump at tached to each foot. The projectors of this parade believe that an effect will be produced such as bus never been wit nessed before. It is a very odd sight to see a lantern club tramping about the country roads on a dark evening with a lamp on the foot of each member. They look like a company of giant fireflies, and the effect on the eye is weird iu the extreme. All sorts of curious combimuion.s of color can be made by varying the color of the glass.—Exchange. That heritage of rich and poor, has saved many a life. For Throat and Lung affections it is invaluable. It never fails to cure Cough, Cold, Croup and Whooping-Cough. DR. BULL’S COUGH SYRUP is the best. Price 25 cents. Chew LANGE’S PLUGS. The Great Tobacco Antidote,10c. Dealers or mail.A.C.Meyer A Co., Balto.,M4. LIMESTONE * SPRINGS * LIME * WORKS, CARROLL & CO., Lessees. Manufacturers of BUILDING, * . * AND * * LIME, And Dealers In Coal, Shingles, Lathes and Plater Hair. Oymamite. Blasting Powder, Fuse and Dynamite Caps. CARROLL 0 CARPENTER. -.THIS AD ANNOUNCES OUR GREAT CLARENCE SALE FOR JANUARY. Prices Have Been Cut On All Goods Throughout the House. All Winter Goods Must Go. 200 Ladies’ Hats worth from $ 1.25 down, going at 50 cents for choice. The Father of the IImi*<*. Thomas Brackett Reed will be "the father of the house” in the Fifty-fifth congress, having served continuously for 10 yesirs, or since his election to tho Forty-fifth congress in 1877. Judge Cul berson of Texas was elected iu 1875, and was “father of the houAc” iu the session of the last, congress, but he has given way to another Democrat, John W. Crawford. Congressman Harmer of Philadelphia was elected in 1871, but he was out in 1875. General Bingham of Philadelphia was elected iu 1879, two years later than Mr. Reed. Benton McMillin of Tennessee was elected in 1879. Joseph Cannon of Illinois was dieted iu 1873, but he failed to be re turned for tho Fifty-second congress. Galnsha A. Grow of Pennsylvania was a member of congress us long ago us 1851 and was speaker of the house in 18fil. Mr. Grow, however, was out of politics from the Thirty-seventh to the Fifty-third congress. If Mr. Reed is chosen speaker again this term, he will be the first “father of the house” to be at the same time speaker of the house. Mr. Reed’s period of sendee is a short one when compared with that of the “father of the house, of commons,” the Right Hon. C. P. Villiers, Unionist member from Wolverhampton, whose record runs back without interruption for 01 years.—New York Times. Are Your Biscuits like a door knobs and your other eatables proportionately out of tune? Nine cases out of ten the cook nor the house wife is to blame when tilings taste wrong. The fault gen erally lies in the quality of the GiOc?ries. If you buy your Groceries from us you get PALITY AS WELL AS QUANTITY. We study our business. Our business is selling Groceries. We can and do please; so if you want good goods call on BYARS & SPARKS, Exclusive Grocers. Ac STA.CY, Bankers Tro.UHa.ct o Oeneral Hanking; lIuHinenH. 0 department. Having opened up a Savings Department in our bank, beginning July 1st. Ifflfl. we will receive deposits of fl.tw and upwards and allow Interest thereon at 4 percent, per annum, payable quarterly when left in hank 3 months or longer. Safety De posit Ito.xes for rent. Your patronage solicited. CARROLL & STACY. Mylc-liTrent and Khodes. On the isle of Man there is grief at the death of Joseph Mylchreest, gold Becker, diamond miner and philanthro pist, and Hall Caine writes that “his life was an inspiration to honest, faith ful and upright effort. ” Mylchreest sold his share iu the claims of the De Beers Consolidated company to Cecil Rhod< s for $600,000. Then, putting large gangs of men to work night and day, he I cleaned up all he could—"a fabulous | amount of material”—before tho time when the contract was to go into effect. His Card. Voltaire and Piron were enemies. To their embarrassment they met one day at the country house of a friend. Piron got up early, went to Voltaire’s door and wrote upon it the word “Rogue.” At breakfast Voltaire smilingly said to him, “I thank you for showing your in terest in my welfare by leaving your card nt my door this morning.” W: •V f5~ kV— AH /// jfl /• Say the main thingfto do is to keep the stomarh, liver and bowels in order if you want to live long and keep well. Good physicians say ) the same thing, too. The remedy called RIPANS TABILES while not mysterious or miraculous in its curative qualities, is a simple formula • described by the best physicians for disorders of the digestive organs. Just little tablets, easy to take, easy to buy and quick to act. If vour trouble is Dyspepsia, biliousness. Dizziness. Headache, Constipation, Heartburn, and the like, no need of calling a physician. Kipans Tabules t contain exactly what he would tell you to take. ONE TABULE GIVES RELIEF. WVWWAVT-VT CURB FOLLOWS A FAIR TRIAL. NO UNCERTAINTY ABOUT IT. iff aiifiB'i /■