Fourth Sermon for the First Sunday in November: On the Wings of the Seraphim

“The one had six wings, and the other had six wings ; with two they covered His face, and with two they covered His feet, and with two they flew.” —Is. vi. 2.

After telling us that the two Seraphim stood upon the Lord’s high and elevated throne, the Prophet goes on to say, “The one had six wings, and the other had six wings.” But, my brethren, how are we to understand these seraphic wings? Must we suppose that when the winter is over and gone, and when the King sits upon His throne, the Seraphim, even the Seraphim, will still have occasion to fly from their post of honour in order to succour various individuals in their various necessities, to rescue them from imminent dangers, to assist them in their toils, and to console them in their sorrows? But God forbid that in those realms of bliss there should beany necessities, or dangers, or toils, or sorrows requiring succour or assuagement ! What therefore shall we say is the purpose of the wings? As for me, I love that standing before the throne; I desire that it should continue always thus; I will admit nothing whatever which would deprive me of that standing. Nevertheless, I know that thou art a prophet, O holy Isaias, and that thou hast the Spirit of Him, the abundance of Whose loving-kindness exceeds not alone the merits of mortals but even their desires. But leave me that standing which

ON THE WINGS OF THE SERAPHIM 363 delights me so much. As for the wings, if they contribute aught to the happiness of their owners, I refuse them not. It is my belief that as the standing signifies immutability, so do the wings used for flying represent and promise vivacity, lest otherwise the standing should be considered as of something lifeless and statuesque. But it may be said: granting the necessity of wings, what need is there for so many? What use can be found for so great a number of pinions? Attend to the Prophet, who answers these questions in the words which follow: “ With two they covered His face, and with two they covered His feet, and with two they flew.” It seems to me that in these words what has been said of the standing is more fully explained by the flying. For whither do the Seraphim fly if not towards Him with the love of Whom they are all inflamed? See the material flame, how it is flying, as it were, and standing at the same time: and do you still wonder that the Seraphim are able to stand whilst they fly, and to fly whilst they stand ?

But because I have told you whither they fly, your pious curiosity seems to demand of me now an explanation of the wings wherewith they fly. He who was privileged to behold them could give you a more certain and a more reliable testimony. Yet I think we may not unreasonably take those two wings to signify knowledge and devotion, wherewith the Seraphim are carried towards Him Who sits above them. The wing of knowledge lifts them up, yet it is not sufficient of itself to sustain them aloft. He who attempts to fly on one wing must speedily fall ; and the higher he soars, the more severely shall he be bruised by his fall. This was the experience of those pagan philosophers, ‘‘ who when they knew God, did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened”’ (Rom. i. 21). For, “delivered up to a reprobate sense” (ibid. 28), they fell so low as to be enslaved to the most ignominious vices. So true are the words of the Holy Spirit shown to be, “ To him who knoweth to do good and doth it not, to him it is sin” (James iv. 17). So, too, does zeal without knowledge fall the more heavily in proportion to the headlong precipitancy with which it rushes forward, impinging upon obstacles and rebounding with violence. But he flies securely whosoever combines love with understanding, and zeal with knowledge; and he shall fly on for ever, because he flies towards eternity.

Now, with regard to the preceding words, “ With two they covered His face and with two they covered His feet,” the interpretation approved by some of the fathers is this: The covering of the head and the covering of the feet of God with the wings of the Seraphim symbolise respectively the mystery of His life before the creation of the world and our ignorance of what shall be after the final consummation.* This interpretation is accommodated to the reading of the Latin codices which have distinctly, “His face and His feet.” Our Translator,t however, informs us that the Hebrew text can be rendered either ‘‘ His face and His feet,” or “their own face and their own feet.’’ Hence, according to the ambiguity of the original, the Seraphim may be said to cover with their wings either the

ON THE WINGS OF THE SERAPHIM 365 face and feet of God, or their own face and feet. It may therefore seem surprising that the Author of our Latin version selected in his own translation that one of the two readings which appears to be hardly consistent with the other details of the Prophet’s vision: which represents the Seraphim as flying at the same time that they cover with their wings the head and face of Him Who sitteth upon the throne. But I suppose he was influenced in making this choice by Origen’s expositicn of the same passage.

But if we may understand the face and feet to be those of the Seraphim themselves, we must consequently picture these latter with head and feet covered, and with only the middle part of their bodies visible, yet not altogether visible, because of the other pair of wings wherewith they are said to fly. Thus, I perceive my head, so to speak, and my body and my feet described in the words of the Apostle, ‘‘ For whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of His Son . . . And whom He predestinated, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified ” (Rom. viii. 29, 30). Therefore, my beginning has been exclusively the work of grace, and I can find nothing that I may attribute to myself in my vocation or predestination. But I am not equally excluded from the work of justification : this also is the work of grace, wrought out, however, with my co-operation. Do you observe, my brethren, how something of the Seraphim is disclosed about the middle? Furthermore, the consummation, too, belongs to grace alone, and here again I have no ground for glorying either in grace or with grace, so as to appear its coadjutor or co-operator.* The human Seraphim, accordingly, cover their heads with two wings when they truly know and humbly acknowledge that they have been prevented by the mercy of God. They also cover their feet with two wings when they are neither ignorant of nor ungrateful for that other mercy which, shall follow and consummate them. Even now we must not neglect to cover our head and feet in this manner; but it is then most especially we must do so when the Judge will sit upon His throne and will thoroughly enlighten the Seraphim standing before Him with the knowledge of truth, and powerfully inflame them with the fire of charity. May He vouchsafe to give us, unworthy servants of His holy name, a place amongst these Seraphim, through that mercy whereof I have been speaking, “ which is from eternity and unto eternity ” upon His elect (Ps. cii. 17), discovering to us at the centre something of free-will in the grace of merit, but claiming as its own, exclusively, the beginning and the end. Therefore is the Lord our God Alpha and Omega to us (Apoc. i. 8), so that we have a double cause to cry out, “ Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory” (Psr exi OX:

receive it, but we can never claim it at His hand.”—Cardinal Manning, The Love of Jesus to Penitents, pp. 104-5.