The Wicket-Gate; Or, Sermons to Children

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1879. Excerpt: ... XII. No. 4--THE FACE OF A MAN. THE FOURFACED CHERUBIM. IV. The Face Of A Man. "The face of a man."--Ezekiel i. 10. 'HIS is the fourth and last sermon about the wonderful cherubim. You know in that beautiful hymn of praise called the "Te Deum," beginning-- "We praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord," there are these words: "To Thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth." Now these cherubim and seraphim are wonderful living beings. But it is very doubtful if they are angels, as we understand that word. Angels are messengers, single-faced spirits, heavenly sons of God. But all through the Bible, from the cherubim with flaming swords who kept the gate of Eden, after Adam was driven from it, as described in the book of Genesis, all the way down to the "beasts," or "living creatures," which were before the throne of God as St. John describes them in the book of the Kevelation, these cherubim are spoken of as wonderful living beings, with all forms of life in them; they are not angels, with only one face or form to them. We have seen three of these faces or forms of life: the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle. To-day we come to the last of them all--the highest and the best--"The face of a man." The face of a man, then, shows us two kinds of knowledge, or two kinds of power,-- for knowledge is power,--and these are: The power of knowing ourselves, and the power of knowing God. I. First of all, is this power of knowing ourselves. A looking-glass is a very wonderful thing. It shows us ourselves, and just the way we appear to others. There are some glasses which show us the back of our heads, and our side faces, so that we can see ourselves all the way round. But we forget how we appear to others; we don't re...