THE QUIET HOUR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 27 September 1924, Page 14

THE QUIET HOUR.

(1 üblished by Arrangement with the Hawera Ministers’ Association).

“ANGELS ON THE BATTLEFIELD.”

Men say they saw angels. Some mnv doubt, And others may explain; But when strong foe men gather round about, Whoi says that faith is vain?

That which a man hath sown his hand must reap. The choice may be his o,wn ; I heir watch the hosts of heaven still shall keep When men seem most alone.

Some clearly saw, some wonder :'f they saw, Not trusting human sight; Clinging more closely to' the common law, ■' Dazed by a sudden light.

But in those hours of peril aud of prayer, Vision or sight or dream; Seen or unseen, the angel hosts are there, And God is still supreme.

THE WINGS OF THE SERAPHIM. In the majestic vision of Isaiah the Lord Jehovah sits upon His throne, and around Him as He sits there stand mighty figures such as do not appear in just the same guise anywhere else in Scripture. Isaiah calls "them “the Seraphim.” They are not angels; they are rather the expressions of the forces of the universe waiting there beside the throne of God. They are titanic beings, in whom is embodied everything of strength and obedience which anywhere, in any of the world of God, is doing His will. Since man is the noblest type of obedient power, these majestic seraphim seem to be human in shape; but as if farther to express their meaning, there are added to each, of them three pairs .of wiiigs, whose use and disposition are l with particularity described. It is from what is said of these wings of the seraphim that I want to take m.y subject. You can see what right we have to treat the seraphim themselves as types and specimens of strength offering itself obediently to God. And if the highest attitude of any man’s life is to stand waiting for what use God will chose to make of him, then we have a fight to seek for something in the- fullest life of consecrated manhood.

How shall man stand, then, in a world where Gcd sits in the centre on His throne This is the question for which I seem to find some answer in the picture of the mighty creatures, each with his six wings, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did covered his face, and with two he did fly. W>e gather so. many of our impressions of humanity from poor stunted human eeratures, poor wingless things who strut or grovel in their insignificance, that .it will surely he good if we can turn- for once and see the noblest image of consecrated power, and say to ourselves: “That is what man is meant to he.” Each of the three pairs of wings, then, it is said that the living creature standing before God “covered his face.” There was a glory which was not his to see. There was a splendour and exuberance of life, a richness of radiance coming from the very central source of all existence, which, although to .keep close to it and to bathe his being in its abundance was his necessity and joy, he could not search and examine and understand. His brightness overwhelms them • they cover their faces with their wings, and their hearts are filled with reverence, which is the first of the conditions of complete, human life which they represent. . Reverence must not seem to he the strange prerogative of sainfs and cranks;-if- must not seem to be the sign of exceptional weakness or of exceptional strength; it must not be the element in which all lives go on, and which has its own ministry for each. The child must have it, feel his little actions touch the Infinite as his feet upon the beach delight in the waves out of the boundless sea that strikes them. The mechanic must have it, feeling how his commonest tools are ministers of elemental forces, and raise currents in the air that run out .instantly beyond his ken. The; scientist needs it as he cleal.s with the palpable and material which hangs in the impalpable and spiritual, and cannot be known without the knowledge of the mystery in which it floats. Every true scientist has it. Newton or Tyndal pauses a. moment .in his description of the intelligible, and some psalm of delight comes bursting from his scientific lips. Every man holds his best knowledge of himself bosomed on an ignorance about himself, a perception of the mystery of his own life, which gives it all its value. You can know nothing which you do not reverence. You can see nothing before which you do not veil your eyes. But now take on© step farther. All of the mystery which surrounds life and pervades life is really one mystery: It is God. Called by His name, taken -up into, His being, it is filled with graciousness. It is no longer cold or hard; it is all warm and soft and palpitating. It- is love. And of this personal mystery of love, of God, it is supremely true that only by reverence, only by the hiding of the eves, can He be seen. H© who thinks to look God full in the face and question Him about His existence blinds himself thereby, and cannot se© God. Would you grow rich in reverence? Go work, work, work with all your strength: so let life deepen around you and display its greatness. Poor is the soul which lias not reverence. You may have many powers and gifts, but if you .have- not reverence there is a blight upon them all. Only he sure you seek for reverence aright. Not by shutting your eyes to God or any of his -ruth, but by spreading your wings before your eyes, by putting your active powers in th© forefront of your life, by doing your work a.s deeply in as true a sense of obedience to God as possible so shall you touch the Infinite, and live in a seren© and cheerful awe. The veiling of the intelligence with obedience shall give it light and not darkness. The reverene© which comes in service shall not' he paralysis, but strength. —Phillips Brooks. A.A. A PRAYER,

0 Everlasting God, Who has ordained and constituted the services of angels and men in a wonderful order, mercifully grant that as Thy holy angels alvav do Thee service in heaven, so hv Thv appointment they may succour and us on earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.