the full concurrence of David and of the priests of the Lord, substituted for theae cherubim, or else added to them, two others of colossal size, whose wings, stretching overhead, filled the most holy place in his new and gorgeous temple (1 Kin3t1 vi 23). Besides this, the figures of cherubim were multiplied in the varied forlll9 oC gold work and tapestry which were aboa.t the temple. Woven int.o curtains, placed as irupports of the priests' laver at the entrance of the sanctuary, they were found on all sides, although they certainly seemed like plain contradiction and disobedience t.o ihe law which forbade the making of all such images. But we have no clear idea what they were like. We are told only of their wings, their faces, and their posture-not anything more. And the command against graven images helps us, I think, t.o under• stand partly what they were not. For that command coutemplates only objects, regarded as sacred, which migM be used as idols and for worship. And these cherubim fulfilled the very letter as well as the spirit of the Law. They were unlike "anything in heaven above," etc. If you seek to put together the various descriptions given of them in the Bible, you get an impossible combination, an unnatural union of bodily parts and organs, such as no known creature of God ever possessed. And still less were they designed t.o represent the supreme God. They were simply symbols diyinely appointed, the meaning of which it is ours t.o discover. Then : 3. Isaiah', and Eukiel's visiona. (Isa. vi.; Ezck. i. 10.) Ezekiel describe,; certain "living ones" that he saw in vision. In eh. x. he sees again, but now in Jerusalem, thes6 "living ones;" and he says," This is the living one that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebe.r, and I knew that they were the cherubim." And then he pro. ceeds (eh. L) t.o describe them. And: 4. In. the vision. of St. John.. (Cf. eh, iv. 6~.) With slight modifications, it is evident that we have the aame mysterious beings referred to. Therefore inquire- II. WHoll DO TREY BEPRESl!!NT? They are called "living ones," and therefore not the mere elemental forces of nature. This has been argued from Ps. xviii, 1-0, where it i1 written, "He rode upon a cherub, and did fiy ~ yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind." But the swiftness of movement attributed t.o these being11, their many wings, 80 that Ezekiel compare& their going to "a fiash of lightning," is sufficient t.o account for what we read in the psalm. But now, gathering together the scattered notices of them which we have reviewed, we learn: I. They represenl aervant, <i/ God. Every passage that speaks of them shows this. In Eden; in the tabernacle and temple; in Isaiah's vision in the temple, and in Ezekiel's; so, too, in St. John's. 2. (Jhi,ef ministw, of God. Bee how near they are to him, standing t.o represent him or in closest attendance upon him. 3. But human., nfJt merely creatural and sentient. From the creature forms, or rather qountenances, ascribed to these" living oues," they have been regarded as representations of God's sentient creation (cf. homily on vers. 1-11). But they worship God; they join in the song, "Worthy is the Lamb;• they are 1n sympathy with God's servants here on earth, bearing golden censera "full of odoura, which are the prayers of saints." So, then, 88 they ·are chosen and chief unongst the servants of God, so aleo are they human. But : 4. Holy ale,. These "living ones,. represent, not humanity as we see it, but as it shall be in the presence of God by-and-by. Their position in Eden, where no sin might be, and in the most holy place, and in closest attendance upon the throne and upon him that sat upon it,- all prove how holy, how sinless, they must be. And: 5. Redeffned. They could only be where they are in consequence of.redemption. We know that sinful man was not allowed to enter Eden, whence he had been driven out, nor the most holy place, nor the presence of God. Therefore something must have been done, in a.nd upon and for them. Moreover, their song, "Worthy is the Lamb" ( eh. T,.12), and their stand- ing on the mercy-seat over the ark of the covenant-that mercy-seat which was sprinkled with the blood of atonement-show that it is to r8G8mption they, 88 we .and all the saved, owe their alL And : 6. PerfBCteiJ. See the ereatural 11ymbole, the lion, ox, etc. (cf. former homily), which tell of those qualities which go t.o make up the perfected character of the 11aints of God-courage and submission, aspiration 1LDd thought. Of such service and servants do the cherubim, tb6118 "Jiving ones," tell. III. T:1111:m HINIIITBY TO MAN Now. It is full of interest to observe the seasons •when the visions of the cherubim were given. These occasions have all one common eharacteristio-the, were 1rhea the way man had to take wu very dark aDd ~ - cu. IV, 1--lLJ THE REVELATION OF ST• .JOHN THE DIVINE. Jo7
As when our first parents went forth from the blessed Eden to the thorns and thistles of the wilderness which was to be their future home. So, too, when " that great and terrible wilderness," amid which the Israel of God had to wearily wander for so many years. And when Isaiah was called to his ministry of sorrow because of his people's sin (Isa. vi 9, 10). And Ezekiel, when in the sore captivity at Babylon he strove to comfort and cheer the hearts of his countrymen. And St. John saw them in the midst of the tribulations and persecutions which befell the Church of his day. So that the ministry of the cherubim seems to have been, besides all else that it was, a ministry of con• solation to troubled and sorrowful men. To tell them what and where one day they should surely be, whatever their hard lot may be now; that they should be redeemed, holy, in the presence of God, serving him day and night in his temple-- serving him, too, with perfect service, and he who " dwelt between the cherubim " should dwell among them for evermore. It WM as a" Sunium corda" to the dejected, downcast children of God, bidding them be of good cheer and "hope in the Lord." And this is the purpose of this revelation stilL-S. C.