200. A Seraphic Diet

A Seraphic Diet

Psa_78:25 : ’93Man did eat angels’92 food.’94

Somewhat risky would be the undertaking to tell just what was the manna that fell to the Israelites in the wilderness; of what it was made, how it was made, and who made it. The manna was called angels’92 food, but why so called? Was it because it came from the place where angels live; or because angels compounded it; or because angels did eat it; or because it was good enough for angels? On what crystal platter was it carried to the door of heaven, and then dropped to earth? How did it taste? We are told there was in it something like honey, but if the saccharine taste in it had been too strong, many would not have liked it, and so it may have had a commingling of flavors’97this delicacy of the skies. It must have been nutritious, for a nation lived on it for forty years. It must have been healthful, for it is so inspiringly applauded. It must have been abundant, because it avoided the need of commissariat for a great army. Each person had a ration of three quarts a day allowed to him, and so fifteen million pounds were necessary every week. Those were the times of which my text speaks, when ’93man did eat angels’92 food.’94 If the good Lord, who has helped me so often, will help me now, I will first tell you what is angels’92 food, and then how we may get some of it for ourselves.

In our mortal state we must have for mastication and digestion and assimilation the products of the earth. Corporeity, as well as mentality, and spirituality, characterizes us. The style of diet has much to do with our well-being. Light and frothy food taken exclusively results in weak muscle and semi-invalidism. The taking of too much animal food produces sensuality. Reasonable selection of the farinaceous and the solid ordinarily produces physical stamina.

But we have all occasionally been in an ecstatic state where we forgot the necessity of earthly food. We were fed by joys, by anticipations, by discoveries, by companionships that dwindled the dining hour into insignificance, and made the pleasures of the table stupid and uninviting. There have been cases where from seemingly invisible sources the human body has been maintained, as in the remarkable case of our invalid and Christian neighbor, Mollie Fancher, known throughout the medical and Christian world by the strange experience that she was seven weeks without earthly food, fed and sustained on heavenly visions. Our beloved Dr. Iren’e6us Prime, the editor and theologian, recorded the wonders concerning this girl. Professor West, the great scientist, marveled over it, and Willard Parker, of world-wide fame in surgery, threw up his hands in amazement at it. There are times in all our lives when the soul asserts itself, and says to the body, ’93Hush! Stand back! Stand down! I am at a banquet where no chalices gleam, and no viands smoke, and no culinary implements clatter. I am feeding on that which no human hand has mixed, and no earthly oven baked. I am eating angels’92 food.’94 If you have never been in such an exalted state, I commiserate your leaden temperament, and I dismiss you from this service as incompetent to understand the thrilling and glorious suggestiveness of my text when it says: ’93Man did eat angels’92 food.’94

Now, what do the supernatural live on? They experience none of the demands of corporeity, and have no hindrance or environment in the shape of bone and muscle and flesh, and hence that which may delectate our palate, or invigorate our poor, dying frames would be of no use to them. But they have a food of their own. My text says so. There may be other courses of food in the heavenly menu, but I know of five or six kinds of food always on celestial tables when cherubim and seraphim and archangel gather for heavenly repast: the mystery of redemption; celestialized music; the heavenly picturesque; sublime colloquy; eternal enterprises; saintly association; Divine companionship; celebrative jubilance.

There is one subject that excites the curiosity and inquisitiveness of all those angels. St. Peter says, ’93Which thing the angels desire to look into:’94 That is, why did Christ exchange a palace for a barn? Why did he drop a scepter from his right hand to take a spear into his left side? Why quit the anthem of the worshiping heavens to hear the crooning of a weary mother’92s voice? Was a straw better than a garland? ’93Could it not have been done in some other way?’94 says angel the first. ’93Was the human race worth such a sacrifice?’94 says angel the second. ’93How could heaven get along without him for thirty-three years?’94 says angel the third. ’93Through that assassination may sinful man rise into our eternal companionship?’94 says angel the fourth. And then they all bend toward each other and talk about it and guess about it and try to fathom it and prophesy concerning it. But the subject is too big, and they only nibble at it. They only break off a piece of it. And then one angel cries: ’93Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!’94 And another says, ’93Unsearchable!’94 And another says, ’93Past finding out!’94 And another says, ’93Alleluia!’94 And then they all fill their cups of gold with the ’93new wine of the kingdom.’94

Unlike the beakers of earth, which poison, these glow with immortal health, the wine pressed from the grapes of the heavenly Eschol; and they all drink to the memory of manger and cross, shattered sepulcher and Olivetic ascension. Oh, that rapturous, inspiring, transporting theme of the world’92s ransom! That makes angels’92 food. The taking of that food gives stronger pulse to their gladness; adds several mornings of radiance to their foreheads; gives vaster circle to the sweep of their wings on mission interconstellation. Some of the crumbs of that angels’92 food fall all around our wilderness camp today, and we feel like crying with Paul, ’93Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!’94 or with expiring Stephen, ’93Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’94 or with many an enraptured soul, ’93None but Christ! None but Christ!’94 Pass around this angels’92 food. Carry it through all these aisles. Climb with it through all these galleries. Take it among all the hovels, as well as among all the palaces, of the great town. Give all nations a taste of this angels’92 food.

Now, in the emerald palace of heaven, let the cupbearers and servants of the King remove this course from the banquet, and bring on another course of angels’92 food, which is Celestialized Music. You and I have seen at some concert or oratorio a whole assemblage to whom the music was a feast. Never anything that they took in at the lips of the mouth was so delightful to their taste as that which they took in at the lips of the ear. I have seen, and you have seen people actually intoxicated with sweet sounds. Oratorios which are always too protracted for those of us who have not had our faculties cultivated in that direction, were never long enough for them. As at eleven o’92clock at night the leader of the orchestra gave the three taps of his baton to again start the music, they were as fresh and alert as when three hours before, and at eight o’92clock, the curtain first lifted. Music to them is food for body, food for mind, and food for soul. From what I read in my Bible, I think celestialized music will make up a large part of angels’92 food.

Why do I say ’93celestialized music’94? Because, though music may have been born in heaven, it had not all its charms until it came to earth and took a baptism of tears. Since then it has had a pathos and a tenderness that it could not otherwise have possessed. It had to pass under the shadows and over stormy seas and weep at sepulchers and to be hummed as lullaby over the cradle of sick children, before it could mount to its present altitudes of heavenly power. No organ on earth would be complete without the stop, ’93tremolo,’94 and the stop ’93vox humana.’94 And no music of heaven would be complete without the ’93tremolo’94 of earthly sorrow comforted, and the ’93vox humana’94 of earthly sympathies glorified.

Just take up the New Testament and find it a notebook of celestialized music. It says Jesus sang a hymn before he went to the Mount of Olives, and if he could sing on earth with Bethlehem humiliation close behind him and sworn enemies close on both sides of him and the torments of Golgotha just before him, do you not suppose he sings in heaven? Paul and Silas sang in midnight dungeon, and do you not suppose that now they sing on the Delectable Summits? What do the harps and trumpets and choirs of Revelation suggest, if not music? What would the millions of good singers and players upon instruments who took part in earthly worship do in heaven without music? Why, the mansions ring with it. The great halls of eternity echo with it. The worship of unnumbered hosts is enwrapped with it. It will be the only art of earth that will have enough elasticity and strength to leap the grave and take possession of heaven. Sculpture will halt this side the grave, because it chiefly commemorates the forms of those who in heaven will be reconstructed, and what would we want of the sculptured imitation, when we stand in the presence of the resurrected original? Painting will halt this side the grave, because the colors of earth would be too tame for heaven, and what use to have pictured on canvas the scenes which shall be described to us by those who were the participants? One of the disciples will tell us about the ’93Last Supper’94 better than Titian, with mighty touch, portrayed it in art gallery. The plainest saint by tongue will describe the ’93Last Judgment’94 better than Michael Angelo, with his pencil, put it upon the ceiling of the Vatican. Architecture will halt this side the grave, for what use would there be for architect’92s compass and design in that city which is already built and garnished until nothing can be added; all the Tuileries and Windsor Castles and St. Clouds of the earth piled up not equaling its humblest residences; all the St. Pauls and St. Peters and St. Izaaks and St. Sophias of the earth built into one cathedral not equaling the Heavenly Temple. But music will pass right on, right up, and right in, and millions in heaven will acknowledge that, under God, she was the chief cause of their salvation.

Oh, I would like to be present when all the great Christian singers and the great Christian musicians of all the ages shall congregate in heaven. Of course, they must, like all the rest of us, be cleansed and ransomed by the blood of the slain Lamb. Alas! that some of the great artists of sweet sound have been as distinguished for profligacy as for the sweetness with which they warbled the song or fingered the keyboard or trod the organ pedal. Some who have been distinguished bassos and sopranos and prima donnas on earth, I fear will never sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, or put the lip to the trumpet with sounds of victory before the throne. But many of the masters who charmed us on earth will more mightily charm us in heaven. Great Music Hall of Eternity! May you and I be there some day to acclaim when the ’93Hallelujah Chorus’94 is wakened.

As on earth there have been harmonies made up of other harmonies, a strain of music from this cantata and a strain of music from that overture and a bar from this and a bar from that; but one great tune, or theme, into which all the others were poured as rivers into a sea, so it may be given to the mightiest soul in the heavenly world to gather something from all the sacred songs we have sung on earth, or which have been sung in all the ages, and roll them on in eternal symphony: but the one great theme, and the one overmastering tone that shall carry all before it, and uplift all heaven from central throne to furthest gate of pearl, and to highest capstone of amethyst, will be, ’93Unto him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God and his Father: to him be glory!’94 That will be manna enough for all heaven to feed on. That will be a banquet for immortals. That will be angels’92 food.

Now, in the emerald palace of heaven, let the cupbearers and servants of the King remove this course from the banquet, and bring on another course of angels’92 food, which is, Laying Out of Mighty Enterprise. The Bible lets us know positively that the angels have our world’92s affairs on their heart. They afford the rapid transit from world to world. Ministering spirits, escorting spirits, defending spirits, guardian spirits. Yea, they have all worlds on their thought. We are told they sang together at the Creation, and that implied not only the creation of our world but of other worlds. Shall they plan only for our little planet, and be unconcerned for a planet three hundred times larger? No. They have all the galaxies under their observation; mighty schemes of helpfulness to be laid out and executed; shipwrecked worlds to be towed in; planetary fires to be put out; demoniac hosts riding up to be hurled back and down.

These angels of light unhorse an Apollyon with one stroke of battle-ax celestial. They talk these matters all over. They bend toward each other in sublimest colloquy. They have cabinet meetings of winged immortals. They assemble the mightiest of them in holy consultation. They plan out stellar, lunar, solar, constellated achievement. They vie with each other as to who shall do the grandest thing for the eternities. They compose doxologies for the Temple of the Sun. They preside over coronations. If in the great organ of the universe one key gets out of tune, they plan for its retuning. No undertaking is so difficult; no post of duty is so distant; no mission is so stupendous, but at God’92s command they are gladly obedient. When they sit together in the heavenly places, Gabriel and Michael, the archangel; and the angel that pointed Hagar to the fountain in the desert and the angel that swung open the vision door of delivered Peter and the angels who are to be the reapers at the end of the world and the angel that stood by Paul to encourage him on the foundering corn-ship of Alexandria and the two angels that sentineled the tomb of Christ and the four angels that St. John saw in Apocalypse at the four corners of the earth and the twelve angels that guard the twelve swinging pearls and the twenty thousand charioted angels that the Psalmist described; and, more radiant than all of them put together and mightier than all and lovelier than all, ’93The Angel of the Covenant’94; the cadences of his voice, the best music that ever entranced mortal or immortal ears, his smile another noon risen on mid-noon; his presence enough to make a heaven if there were no other attraction’97I say, when they meet together in the council chambers close to the Throne, ah! that will be regalement infinite. That will be a repast supernal. That will be angels’92 food. And one of my exciting anticipations of heaven is the prospect of seeing and talking with some of them. Why not? What did they come out for on the balcony on that Christmas night and sing for our world, if they did not want to be put in communication with us? I know the serenade was in Greek, but they knew that their words would be translated in all languages. If they thought themselves too good to have anything to do with us, would they have dropped Christmas carols upon the shepherds, some of them as bad as any of us have ever been? Ay! if they sang for mortals, will they not sing for us when we become immortals?

Now, in the emerald palace of heaven, let the cupbearers and servants of the King remove this course from the banquet, and bring on another course of angels’92 food’97the last course, and the best’97the dessert; the culmination of the feast, which is, Celebrative Jubilance. You and I have known people who prided themselves on never getting excited. They have cultivated the phlegmatic. You never saw them cry; you never heard them in a burst of laughter. They are monotonous, and to me intolerable. I am afraid of a man or a woman that cannot cry; I am afraid of a man or a woman who cannot laugh. Christ says in the book of Revelation that such people are to him nauseating, and cause regurgitation. (Rev_3:16.) ’93Because thou are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.’94

But the angels in heaven have no stolidity or unresponsiveness. There is one thing that agitates them them into holy mirth. When that happens if their harp be hung up they take it down, and with deft fingers pull from among the strings a canticle. They run in to their neighbors on the same golden street and tell the good news. If Miriam has there cymbals anything like those with which she performed on the banks of the Red Sea, she claps them in triumph, and there is a festal table spread, and the best of the angels’92 food is set on it. When is it? It is when a man or woman down in the world who was all wrong, by the grace of God is made all right. (Luk_15:10.) ’93There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.’94 Why are they so happily agitated? Because they know what a tremendous thing it is to turn clear around from the wrong road, and take the right road. It is because they know the difference between a swine’92s trough with nothing but husks, and a King’92s banquet with angels’92 food. It is because they know the infinite, the everlasting difference between down and up. And then, their festivity is infectious. If we hear the bells of a city ring, we say, ’93What is that for?’94 If we hear rolling out from an auditorium the sound of a full orchestra, we say, ’93What is happening here?’94 And when the angels of God take on jubilance over a case of earthly repentance, your friends in heaven will say, ’93What new thing has happened? Why full diapason? Why the chime from the oldest towers of eternity?’94

The fact is, there are people in heaven who would like to hear from you. Your children there are wondering when father and mother will come into the Kingdom, and with more glee than they ever danced in the hallway at your coming home at eventide, they will dance on the floor of the heavenly mansion at the tidings of father and mother saved. Besides that, the old folks want to hear from you. They are standing at the head of the celestial stairs waiting for the news that their prayers have been answered, and that you are coming on to take from their lips a kiss better than that which now they throw you. Calling you by your first name, as they always did, they are talking about you and saying: ’93There is our son,’94 or, ’93There is our daughter down in that world of struggle, battling, suffering, sinning, weeping. Why can they not see that Christ is the only one who can help and comfort and save?’94

That is what they are saying about you. And if you will this hour in one prayer of surrender that will not take more than a second to make, decide this, then, swifter than telegraphic despatch the news would reach them, and angels of God who never fell would join your glorified kindred in celebration, and the caterers of heaven would do their best, and saints and seraphs side by side would take angels’92 food. Glory be to God for such a possibility! Oh, that this moment there might be a rush for heaven!

’91The Spirit and the bride say, Come,

Rejoicing saints re-echo, Come;

Who faints, who thirsts, who will, may come;

Thy Saviour bids thee Come.

Autor: T. De Witt Talmage