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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Angels' Song + +Author: Thomas Guthrie + +Release Date: April 10, 2007 [EBook #21024] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGELS' SONG *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 362px;"> +<img src="images/tas_01.jpg" width="362" height="600" +alt="Cover of “The Angels’ Song” by Thomas Guthrie D.D." +title="Cover of “The Angels’ Song”" /> +</div> + + + + +<h1>THE ANGELS’ SONG.</h1> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">ALEXANDER STRAHAN</p> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="30%" summary="Publisher locations"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">148 <i>Strand</i>,</td> + <td class="tdrsc">London</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">178 <i>Grand Street</i>,</td> + <td class="tdrsc">New York</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<h2>THE ANGELS’ SONG</h2> +<h3><span class="smcap">By</span> THOMAS GUTHRIE, <span class="smcap lowercase">D.D.</span></h3> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF “MAN AND THE GOSPEL,” ETC.</h4> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 169px;"> +<img src="images/tas_02.jpg" width="169" height="200" +alt="" +title="Publisher’s device" /> +</div> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">ALEXANDER STRAHAN, PUBLISHER<br /> +LONDON AND NEW YORK<br /> +1866</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="50%" summary="Table of contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="smcap lowercase">PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">PART I.,</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">I.</td> + <td class="tdl">THAT REDEMPTION YIELDS THE HIGHEST GLORY TO GOD,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">PART II.,</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">II.</td> + <td class="tdl">REDEMPTION GLORIFIES GOD IN THE SIGHT OF HOLY ANGELS,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">III.</td> + <td class="tdl">REDEMPTION GLORIFIES GOD THROUGHOUT ALL THE UNIVERSE,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">IV.</td> + <td class="tdl">THE REDEEMER AND REDEMPTION ARE WORTHY OF OUR HIGHEST PRAISE,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">PART III.,</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">V.</td> + <td class="tdl">THEY WERE MEN OF A PEACEFUL CALLING,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">VI.</td> + <td class="tdl"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +THEY WERE MEN OF HUMBLE RANK,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">VII.</td> + <td class="tdl">THEY WERE MEN ENGAGED IN COMMON DUTIES,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">PART IV.,</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">VIII.</td> + <td class="tdl">JESUS RESTORES PEACE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">PART V.,</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">IX.</td> + <td class="tdl">JESUS BRINGS PEACE TO THE SOUL,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">X.</td> + <td class="tdl">JESUS SHALL BRING PEACE TO THE WORLD,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">PART VI.,</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XI.</td> + <td class="tdl">THE PERSONS TO WHOM GOOD WILL IS EXPRESSED,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XII.</td> + <td class="tdl">THE PERSON WHO EXPRESSES “GOOD WILL,”</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"><!-- unnumbered page --></a></span></p> + +<h2><i>PART I.</i></h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +<span class="dropcapt"><span class="dropcap">T</span></span>he birth of an heir to the throne +is usually accompanied by circumstances +befitting so great +an event. No place is deemed +worthy of it but a royal palace; and there, +at the approach of the expected hour, high +nobles and the great officers of state assemble, +while the whole country, big with +hope, waits to welcome a successor to its +long line of kings. Cannons announce +the event; seaward, landward, guns flash +and roar from floating batteries and rocky +battlements; bonfires blaze on hill-tops; +steeples ring out the news in merry peals; +the nation holds holiday, giving itself up +to banqueting and enjoyments, while +public prayers and thanksgivings rise to +Him by whom kings reign and princes +decree justice. With such pomp and +parade do the heirs of earthly thrones +enter on the stage of life! So came not +He who is the King of kings and Lord +of lords. On the eve of His birth the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +world went on its usual round. None +were moved for His coming; nor was +there any preparation for the event—a +chamber, or anything else. No fruit of +unhallowed love, no houseless beggar’s +child enters life more obscurely than the +Son of God. The very tokens by which +the shepherds were taught to recognise +Him were not the majesty but the extreme +meanness of his condition: “This +shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find +the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, +lying in a manger.” In fact, the Lord of +heaven was to be recognised by his +humiliation, as its heirs are by their humility. +Yet, as we have seen a black and +lowering cloud have its edges touched +with living gold by the sun behind it, so +all the darkest scenes of our Lord’s life +appear more or less irradiated with the +splendours of a strange glory. Take that +night on Galilee when a storm roared over +land and lake, enough to wake all but the +dead. The boat with Jesus and His disciples +tears through the waves, now whirling +on their foaming crests, now plunging<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +into their yawning hollows; the winds +rave in His ear; the spray falls in cold +showers on His naked face; but He +sleeps. I have read of a soldier boy who +was found buried in sleep beneath his +gun, amid the cries and carnage of the +battle; and the powers of nature in our +Lord seem to be equally exhausted. His +strength is spent with toil; and with wan +face and wasted form He lies stretched +out on some rude boards—the picture of +one whose candle is burning away all too +fast, and whom excess of zeal is hurrying +into premature old age and an untimely +grave. Was the sight such as to suggest +the question, Where is now thy God?—how +soon it changed into a scene of magnificence +and omnipotent power! He +wakes—as a mother, whom louder sounds +would not stir, to her infant’s feeblest +wail, He wakes to the cry of His alarmed +disciples; and standing up, with the lightning +flash illumining His calm, divine +face, He looks out on the terrific war of +elements. He speaks; and all is hushed. +Obedient to His will, the winds fold their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +wings, the waves sink to rest; and there +is a great calm. “Glory to God in the +highest!” How may His people catch +up and continue the strain which falls +from angels’ lips? In disciples plucked +from the very jaws of death, and pulling +their boat shoreward with strong hands +and happy hearts over a moonlit glassy +sea, Jesus shows us how He will make +good these sayings, “Fear not, for I am +with thee; be not afraid, for I am thy +God”—“I have given unto them eternal +life, and they shall never perish.”</p> + +<p>The divine glory of that scene is not +peculiar to it. For as an eagle, so soon +as she has stooped from her realm to the +ground, mounts aloft again, soaring into +the blue skies of her native heavens, our +Lord never descends into the abasement +of His meanest circumstances without +some act which bespeaks divinity, and +bears Him up before our eyes into the +regions of Godhead. The grave, where +He weeps like a woman, gives up its +prisoner at His word. Athirst by Jacob’s +well, like any other wayfaring, way-worn +traveller, He begs a draught of water from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +a woman there, but tells her all she ever +did. Houseless and poor, His banquet +hall is the open air, His table the green +grass, His feast five barley loaves and +a few fishes from the neighbouring lake, +yet this scanty fare supplies the wants of +five thousand guests. His birth and life +and death, His whole history, in fact, resembles +one of those treasure-chests which +double locks secure; for as that iron safe +yields its hoards of gold, silver, pearls, and +precious stones to none but Him who +brings to each lock its own appropriate +key, so the riches of divine truth, redeeming +love, and saving mercy are open only +to such as come to Jesus with a belief in +His divinity on the one hand, and a belief +in His humanity on the other;—who +behold in the child, whose birth was sung +by angels, the son of Mary, and worship +the only begotten, well beloved, and +eternal Son of God.</p> + +<p>Now this mingling of divine and human +characters distinguished Christ’s birth as +much as His death. The halo of glory +that surrounded His dying, crowned His +infant head. His sun rose, as it afterwards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +set, behind a heavy bank of clouds; +but the divinity they screened, touched +their edges alike with burning gold; so +that He at whose death the rocks were +rent, and the sun eclipsed, and graves +deserted of their dead, no more entered +than He left our world as a common son +of Adam. Not that a world which was +to reject Him went out to meet its King +with homage and royal honours. Omen +of coming events, it received Him in sullen +silence. But the heavens declared His +glory, the skies sent out a sound; and +the tokens of His first advent—unlike the +thunders which shall rend the skies when +He comes the second time to judgment—were +all in beautiful harmony with its object. +It was love and saving mercy; there +were light, music, and angel forms. With +this object all things indeed were in perfect +keeping,—the serene night—the shining +stars—the pearly dews glistening on +the grass—snowy flocks safely pasturing—and +the shepherds themselves, to whom +the annunciation was made; men who, +whether going before their charge, or +carrying the lambs in their arms, or gently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +leading those that were with young, or +standing bravely between their flocks and +the roaring lion, were the choicest emblems +and types of Him who, dying to +save us, gave His life for the sheep. To +them there suddenly appeared a multitude +of the heavenly host, turning night into +day, and shedding on the soft hills around +a bright but gentle radiance. As guard +of honour, they had swept in their downward +flight by many a sun and star, escorting +the Son of God to our nether +world. And now—ere they left Him to +tread the wine-press alone, and returned +on upward wings to their native heavens, +and their service before the throne of God—these +celestials bent their loving eyes +on the stable; and in anticipation of +Jesus’ triumphs, of men saved, death +conquered, graves spoiled, and Satan +crushed, they sang “Glory to God in +the highest, and on earth peace, good +will toward men.”</p> + +<p>This hymn, sung perhaps in parts by different +bands of these heavenly choristers +consists of three parts; and we now proceed +to the illustration of these.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<h2>I.</h2> + +<h3>THAT REDEMPTION YIELDS THE HIGHEST +GLORY TO GOD.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcapi"><span class="dropcap">I</span></span> say the highest; for though His +<i>absolute</i> glory, like His eternal +being and infinite perfections, +admits of no degrees, and is +affected by no circumstances whatever, it +is otherwise with His <i>declarative</i> glory, as +old theologians called it. This, which I +speak of, and which angels sung of, consists +in the manifestation of His attributes. +Whatever it be, though only the drop of +water, which appears a world of wonders +to the eyes of a man of science, any work +is glorious which reflects the divine character +in any measure, and still more glorious +or glorifying which exhibits it in a +greater measure. God’s glory expands +and unfolds itself as we rise upward in +the study of His works—from inanimate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +to living objects; from plants to animals; +from animals to man; from man to angels; +from these to archangels, upward and still +upward, to the Being who, bathed in the +full blaze of divine effulgence, tops the +pyramid, and stands on the highest pinnacle +of Creation. That Being is God +manifest in the flesh, our Lord Jesus +Christ—the redemption which He wrought +for us, through blood and suffering and +death, being the work which reveals God +most fully to our eyes, and forming a looking-glass, +so to speak, to reflect the whole +measure of divinity. This will appear if +we look at—</p> + +<p>The Redeemer.—One of His many +titles is the <i>Wonderful</i>. Anticipating the +royal birth at Bethlehem, and speaking of +Christ in terms which no other key can +open but the doctrine of His divinity, +Isaiah says, “Unto us a child is born, +unto us a son is given; and the government +shall be upon his shoulder: and his +name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, +The mighty God, The everlasting +Father, The Prince of Peace.” With<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +pencils of sunlight God paints the rose; +by arts of a divine chemistry He turns +foul decay into the snow-white purity and +fragrant odours of a lily; He fashions the +infant in the darkness of the mother’s +womb; He inspires dead matter with the +active principle of life; in man He unites +an ethereal spirit to a lump of clay—wonders +these which have perplexed the +wisest men, and remain as incomprehensible +to philosophers as to fools. Yet, as +if there was no mystery in these but what +our understanding could fathom—as if +there was nothing in these to teach proud +man humility and rouse his admiration—as +if there was indeed no wonder but +Christ himself in all this great and glorious +universe, He is called by way of eminence +the <i>Wonderful</i>. And why? Because, as +the stars cease to shine in presence of the +sun, quenched by the effulgence, and +drowned in the flood of his brighter +beams, these lose all their wonders beside +this little Child. To a meditative man it +is curious to stand over any cradle where +an infant sleeps; and, as we look on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +face so calm, and the little arms gently +folded on the placid breast, to think of +the mighty powers and passions which are +slumbering there; to think that this feeble +nursling has heaven or hell before it; that +an immortal in a mortal form is allied to +angels; that the life which it has begun +shall last when the sun is quenched, enduring +throughout all eternity. Much +more wonderful the spectacle the manger +offers, where shepherds bend their knees, +and angels bend their eyes! Here is present, +not the immortal, but the eternal; +here is not one kind of matter united to +another, or a spiritual to an earthly element, +but the Creator to a creature, divine +Omnipotence to human weakness, the +Ancient of Days to the infant of a day. +What deep secrets of divine wisdom, +power, and love lie here, wrapped up in +these poor swaddling-clothes! Mary holds +in her arms, in this manger with its straw, +what draws the wondering eyes, and inspires +the loftiest songs of angels. If that +be not God’s greatest, and therefore most +glorifying work, where are we to seek it?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +in what else is it found? “The depth +saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, +It is not in me!” Were we to range the +vast universe to find its rival, we should +return, like the dove to its ark, to the +stable-door, and the swaddled babe, there +to mingle human voices with the heavenly +choir—singing, Glory to God in the +highest!</p> + +<p>The fact that redemption yields God +the highest glory will appear also if we +look at—</p> + +<p>The Redeemed.—It is in them, in sinners +saved, not in the happy and holy +angels, that God stands out fully revealed +as in a mirror; long and broad enough, if +I may say so, to show forth all His attributes. +To vary the figure; the cross of +Christ is the focus in which all the beams +of divinity, all the attributes of the Godhead, +are gathered into one bright, burning +spot, with power to warm the coldest and +melt the stoniest heart. No man hath +seen God at any time, otherwise than in +His works; and though created things are +immeasurably inferior to their Creator,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +they may still help us to form some conception +of His character. A drop of +water is an ocean, a spark of fire is a sun, +every grain of sand on the sea-shore is a +world, in miniature; and as those who +have never seen ocean, or sun, or world, +may form some idea of their appearance +by magnifying these their miniatures millions +of millions of times, so, by immensely +magnifying the age, the power, the wisdom, +the holiness of an angel, we could +form some dim conception of God. Not +that we would not have still to ask, “Who +can by searching find out God? who can +find out the Almighty to perfection?”—not +that when we had exclaimed, in the +sublime words of Job, “Hell is naked +before him, and destruction hath no covering. +He stretcheth out the north over +the empty place, and hangeth the earth +on nothing. He bindeth up the waters +in his thick clouds. He holdeth back the +face of his throne. The pillars of heaven +tremble and are astonished at his reproof. +He divideth the sea with his power. By +his spirit he hath garnished the heavens;”—we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +would not have to add with the +patriarch, “These are parts of his ways; +but how little a portion is heard of him? +but the thunder of his power who can understand?”</p> + +<p>Study Him, for example, in the angels +who sung this birth-song! They are holy, +and we may conclude that their Maker is +infinitely holy; they are wise, and He +who made them must possess infinite wisdom; +they are powerful, and He must be +omnipotent; the God of good angels must +be infinitely good, as the avenger of sin +and evil ones must be infinitely just. This +is sound reasoning—for, as David says, +“He that planted the ear, shall he not +hear? He that formed the eye, shall he +not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, +shall not he correct? He that teacheth +man knowledge, shall not he know?” +Still, however lofty and worthy were the +conceptions which we thus formed of +God, He had never been discovered in +the full glory of His gracious character by +this or any corresponding process. Unspeakable +honour to man and unspeakable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +grace in God, the fulness of His character +is revealed, not by seraphs but by saints—in +redeemed and ransomed sinners. And +so Mary Magdalene, as reflecting His attributes +more fully than angels, wears in +heaven a brighter glory than crowns their +unfallen heads. She, and all with her, +who have washed their robes in the blood +of the Lamb, are trophies of free, saving +mercy; monuments of that love which, +when stern justice had dragged us to the +mouth of the pit, and angels, who had seen +their fellows punished by one awful act of +vengeance, stood in dread and silent expectation +of another, graciously interposed, +saying, “Deliver from going down to the +pit, I have found a ransom.” Then, blessed +Son of God, thou didst step forward to +say, And I am that ransom! From that +day heaven was happier. It found a new +joy. Angels tuned their golden harps to +higher strains; and now, these blessed +spirits, above the mean jealousies of earth’s +elder brothers, whenever they see Christ +born anew in a soul—a sinner born again, +called, converted, apparelled in Jesus’<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +righteousness, rejoicing in His arms, or +even weeping at His feet, wake up the +old, grand birth-song, singing, “Glory to +God in the highest!” “There is joy,” said +Jesus, “in the presence of the angels of +God over one sinner that repenteth—joy +shall be in heaven over one sinner that +repenteth, more than over ninety and nine +just persons, which need no repentance.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"><!-- unnumbered page --></a></span></p> + +<h2><i>PART II.</i></h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +<span class="dropcapn"><span class="dropcap">N</span></span>o man hath seen God at any +time; so saith the Scriptures. +He who is confined to no +bounds of space cannot in the +nature of things have any visible form. +God has however occasionally made revelations +of Himself; and such are described +in language which seems opposed +alike to the declarations of Scripture and +the deductions of reason. It is said, for +instance, of Moses and Aaron, when they +ascended Mount Sinai, that “they saw +the God of Israel;” and Isaiah tells how +he “saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, +high and lifted up, and his train filled the +temple.” Believing with the Jews that if +any man saw God he could not survive, +but would die as by a flash of lightning, +the prophet was struck with terror, and +cried, in expectation of immediate death, +“I am undone; for mine eyes have seen +the Lord of hosts.”</p> + +<p>The object seen in these and also other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +cases was no doubt the Schekinah—that +holy and mysterious flame whereby God +made His presence known in the days of +old. We know little concerning it beyond +this, that it was of the nature of light. The +fairest, purest, oldest of created things, +passing untainted through pollution, turning +gloomy night into day, and imparting +their varied beauties to earth and air and +ocean, this of all material elements was +the fittest symbol of God. A circumstance +this to which we probably owe the +ancient practice of worshipping the Divinity +by fire, and certainly such figures as +these: “God is light;” “He clothes +himself with light as with a garment;” +“He dwelleth in light that is inaccessible +and full of glory.” This light, said to +have been intensely luminous, brighter +than a hundred suns, was not always nor +even usually visible; although, like a lamp +placed behind a curtain, it may have +usually imparted to the cloud which concealed +it a tempered and dusky glow. +There were occasions when the veil of +this temple was rent asunder; and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +the light shone out with intense splendour—dazzling +all eyes, and convincing +sceptics that this cloud, now resting on +the tabernacle, and now, signal for the +host to march, floating upward in the +morning air, was not akin to such as are +born of swamps or sea; and which, as +emblems of our mortality, after changing +from rosy beauty into leaden dullness, +melt into air, leaving the place that once +knew them to know them no more for +ever. This symbol and token of the Divine +presence was of all the types and +figures of Jesus Christ in some respects +both the most apposite and glorious: a +cloud with God within, and speaking from +it—going before to guide the host—placing +Himself for their protection between +them and their enemies—by day their +grateful shade from scorching heat, by +night their sun amid surrounding darkness.</p> + +<p>It was one, and not the least singular +of its aspects, that this cloud always grew +light when the world grew dark—the +cloudy pillar of the day blazing forth at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +night as a pillar of fire. So shone the +divinity in Him who was “Emmanuel, +God with us,” His darkest circumstances, +His deepest humiliations, being the occasions +of His greatest glory. He was +buried, and being so, was greatly humbled; +but angels attended His funeral, and +guarded His tomb. He was crucified, +condemned to the death of the vilest +criminal, and being so, was greatly humbled; +but those heavens and earth which +are as little moved by the death of the +greatest monarch as by the fall of a withered +leaf, expressed their sympathy with +the august Sufferer—the sun hid his face, +and went into mourning, the earth trembled +with horror at the deed. He was +born, and in like manner He was greatly +humbled, and had been, though His birth +had happened in a palace and His mother +had been a queen; but with a poor woman +for His mother, a stable for His birthplace, +a manger for His cradle, and straw +for His bed, these meannesses, like its spots +on the face of the sun, were lost in a blaze +of glory. Earth did not celebrate His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +advent, but Heaven did. Illumining her +skies, she sent herald angels to proclaim +the news, and lighted up a new star to +guide the feet which sought the place +where man’s best hopes were cradled. +The most joyful birth that ever happened, +it was meet that it should be sung by +angel lips,—and all the more because, +redemption glorifies God in the sight of +holy angels.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<h2>II.</h2> + +<h3>REDEMPTION GLORIFIES GOD IN THE SIGHT +OF HOLY ANGELS.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcapt"><span class="dropcap">T</span></span>hey take a lively interest in the +affairs of our world, as the Scriptures +show, and as Jacob saw in +his vision; for what else means +that ladder where they appeared to his +dreaming eye ascending and descending +between earth and heaven? To the care +of John our dying Lord committed his +mother; but God, when He sent His Son +into the world, committed Him to their +care,—“He hath given his angels charge +over thee, that thou dash not thy foot +against a stone.” The care which their +Head enjoyed is extended to all the members. +How happy are the people that are +in such a case! Think of the poor saint +who has none to wait on him, or the pious +domestic who serves a table, and humbly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +waits on others, having angels to wait on +her! Are they not said in Scripture to be +“ministering spirits sent forth to minister +to them who are heirs of salvation?”—however +the world may despise them, +“this honour have all his saints.” However +lowly their earthly state, the saints +are a kingly race; and as our highest +nobles deem it an honour to wait on the +princes of the blood, accepting and soliciting +offices at court, the angels are happy +to serve such as, through their union with +His incarnate Son, stand nearer the throne +of God than themselves. Unseen by him, +these celestials guard the good man’s bed; +watch his progress; wait on his person; +guide his steps; and ward off many a blow +the devil aims at his head and heart. They +are the nurses of Christ’s babes; the tutors +and teachers of His children. A belief in +guardian saints is a silly Popish superstition; +but we have good authority in Scripture +for believing that in this our state of +pupilage and probation, along all the way +to Sion, in the conflicts with temptation, +and amid the thick of battle, God commits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +His saints to angels’ care; and that, as it +is in their loving arms that the soul of an +aged saint is borne away to glory, every +child of God has its own celestial guardian, +and sleeps in its little cradle beneath the +feathers of an angel’s wing. What said +our Lord? On setting a child before the +people as a pattern for them to copy, +“Take heed,” He said, “that ye despise +not one of these little ones; for I say unto +you, That in heaven their angels do always +behold the face of my Father which is in +heaven.”</p> + +<p>But whether we are, or are not, the +happier for angels, there is no question +that they are the happier for us. They +always loved God; but since man’s redemption +they love Him more, and employ +higher strains and loftier raptures to praise +His wisdom, power, holiness, justice, and +love. It has disclosed to them new views +of God, and opened up in heaven new +springs of pleasure. Heaven has grown +more heavenly, and though they might +have deemed it impossible to add one +drop to their happiness, they are holier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +and happier angels. There is joy among +the angels of heaven over every sinner +that repenteth; and to the joyful cry, My +son that was dead is alive again, they +respond, as they receive the returned penitent +from the Father’s arms into their own, +My brother that was dead is alive again, +that was lost is found! Never from surf-beaten +shore or rocky headland do spectators +watch with such anxious interest +the life-boat, as, now seen and now lost, +now breasting the waves and now hurled +back on the foaming crest of a giant billow, +she makes for the wreck, as they watch +those who, with the Bible in their hearts +and hands, go forth to save the lost. And +when the poor perishing sinner throws +himself into Jesus’ arms, what gratulations +among these happy spirits! “There is +joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, +more than over ninety and nine just +persons.” The event is one which I can +fancy was in the prophet’s eye, when, fired +with rapture, he cried, “Sing, O ye heavens; +for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower +parts of the earth; break forth into singing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +ye mountains, O forest, and every tree +therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, +and glorified himself in Israel!” And the +heavens do sing. While the saints, descending +from their thrones, cast their +sparkling crowns at Jesus’ feet, and ten +times ten thousand harps sound, and ten +times ten thousand angels sing, “Worthy +is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, +and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and +honour, and glory, and blessing.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<h2>III.</h2> + +<h3>REDEMPTION GLORIFIES GOD THROUGHOUT +ALL THE UNIVERSE.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcapw"><span class="dropcap">W</span></span>ith a small band of fishermen +at His side, and no place on +earth where to lay His head, +Jesus pointed to the sun, riding +high in heaven or rising over the hill-tops +to bathe the scene in golden splendour, +and said, “I am the Light of the world.” +A bold saying; yet the day is coming, however +distant it appears, when the tidings +of salvation carried to the ends of the +earth, and Jesus worshipped of all nations, +shall justify the speech; and the wishes +shall be gratified, and the prayers answered, +and the prophecies fulfilled, so beautifully +expressed in these lines of Heber:</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Waft, waft, ye winds, His story,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">And you, ye waters, roll,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Till, like a sea of glory,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">It spreads from pole to pole.”</span><br /> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +But shall our world be the limits of the +wondrous tale? Though ever and deeply +interesting as the scene of redemption, +just as to patriots is the barest moor where +a people fought and conquered for their +freedom, our earth holds in other respects +but a very insignificant place in creation. +In a space of the sky no larger than a +tenth part of the moon’s disc, the telescope +discovers many thousands of stars, each a +sun, attended probably by a group of +planets like our own: their number indeed +is such that many parts of the heavens +appear as if they were sprinkled with gold-dust; +and probably there are as many +suns and worlds in the universe as there +are leaves in a forest, or rather, sands on +the ocean shore.</p> + +<p>Boldly venturing out into the regions of +speculation, some have thought that, if +sin defile any of these worlds, its inhabitants +may share in the benefits of the +atonement which Christ offered in ours; +and that beings further removed than we +from the scenes of Calvary, and differing +more from us than we from the Jews of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +whom the Messiah came, may, as well as +we, find a Saviour by faith in Jesus; and +that for this end the work of redemption +has perhaps been revealed to such as, removed +from our earth many millions of +miles, never even saw the planet that was +its theatre and scene. There may be +nothing in this. I dare not say it is impossible; +but these speculations touch the +deep things of God, and we would not +attempt to be wise above that which is +written. Still, Scripture affords ground +for believing, for hoping, at least, that the +story of redemption has been told in other +worlds than ours, and that the love of God +in Christ—that fairest, fullest manifestation +of our Father’s heart—links all parts +of creation together, and links all more +closely to the throne of God. “He that +hath seen me, Philip,” said our Lord to +that disciple, “hath seen the Father also;” +and as I believe that He who delights to +bless all His unfallen creatures would not +withhold from the inhabitants of other +spheres the happiness of knowing Him in +His most adorable, gracious, and glorious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +character, I can fancy them eagerly searching +their skies for a sight of our world,—the +scene of that story which has conveyed +to them the fullest knowledge of +Him they love, their deepest sense of His +ineffable holiness and unspeakable mercy. +Not from pole to pole, but from planet to +planet, and from star to star, the love of +Christ deserves to be proclaimed; and it +is a thought as grand as it is probable, that +the story of Calvary, not yet translated +into all the tongues of earth, is told in the +ten times ten thousand tongues of other +worlds, and that the Name which is above +every name—the blessed Name which +dwells in life in a believer’s heart and +trembles in death on his lips—is known +in spheres which his foot never trod and +his eye never saw. Such honours crown +the head man once crowned with thorns; +and therefore did David, with the eye of +a seer and the fire of a poet, while calling +for praise from kings of the earth and all +people, princes and all judges, young men +and children, rise to a loftier flight,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +exclaiming: “Praise Him in the heights. +Praise ye Him, all ye angels: praise ye +Him, all His hosts. Praise ye Him, sun +and moon: praise Him, all ye stars of +light.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<h2>IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE REDEEMER AND REDEMPTION ARE +WORTHY OF OUR HIGHEST PRAISE.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcapl"><span class="dropcap">L</span></span>et us bend the head, and, in +company of the shepherds, enter +the stable. Heard above the +champing of bits, the stroke of +hoofs, the rattling of chains, and the lowing +of oxen, the feeble wail of an infant +turns our steps to a particular stall: here +a woman lies stretched on a bed of straw, +and her new-born child, hastily wrapped +in some part of her dress, finds a cradle +in the manger. A pitiful sight!—such a +fortune as occasionally befalls the Arabs +of society—such an incident as may occur +in the history of one of those vagrant, +vagabond, outcast families who, their +country’s shame, tent in woods and sleep +under hedges, when no barn or stable +offers a covering to their houseless heads.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +Yet princes on their way to the crown, +brides on their way to the marriage, bannered +armies on their way to the battle, +and highest angels in their flight from star +to star, might stop to say of this sight, as +Moses of the burning bush, “Let me turn +aside, and see this great sight!”</p> + +<p>The prophet foretells a time when the +wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the +leopard shall lie down with the kid; and, +bound in the same stall, and fed at the +same manger, the lion shall eat straw with +the ox. Here is a greater wonder! This +stable is the house of God, the very gate +of heaven: under this dusty roof, inside +those narrow walls, He lodges whom the +heaven of heavens cannot contain: the +tenant of this manger is the Son, who, +leaving the bosom of His Father to save +us, here pillows His head on straw; of +this feeble babe the hands are to hurl +Satan from his throne, and wrench asunder +the strong bars of death; this one tender +life, this single corn-seed is to become the +prolific parent of a thousand harvests, and +fill the garners of glory with the fruits of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +salvation. Mean as it looks, yet more +splendid than marble palaces,—more +sacred than the most venerable and hallowed +temples, here the Son of God was +born, and with Him were born Faith, +Hope, and Charity—our Peace, our +Liberty, and our Eternal Life. Had He +not been born, we had never been born +again; had He not lain in a manger, we +had never lain in Abraham’s bosom; +had He not been wrapped in swaddling-clothes, +we had been wrapped in everlasting +flames; had His head in infancy not been +pillowed on straw, and in death on thorns, +ours had never been crowned in glory. +But that He was born, better we had +never been; life had been a misfortune to +which time had brought no change, and +death no relief, and the grave no rest. +“Glory to God in the highest” that He +was born: we had otherwise been lifting +up our eyes in torment with this unavailing, +endless cry, “O that my mother had been +my grave! Cursed be the day wherein I +was born?”</p> + +<p>If language cannot express the love and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +gratitude we owe to the Saviour, let our +lives do so. Shallow streams run brawling +over their pebbly beds, but the broad, +deep river pursues its course in silence to +the sea; and so is it with our strongest, +deepest feelings. Great joy like great +sorrow, great gladness like great grief, +great admiration like great detestation, +take breath and speech away. On first +seeing Mont Blanc as the sun rose to +light up his summit and irradiate another +and another snow-clad pinnacle, I remember +the silent group who had left their +couches to witness and watch the glorious +scene: before its majesty and magnificence +all were for awhile dumb, opening +not the mouth. I have read, when travellers +reached the crest of the hill, and first +looked down on Jerusalem,—the scene of +our Saviour’s sorrow, the garden that +heard His groans, the city that led Him +out to die, the soil that was bedewed with +His tears and crimsoned with His blood,—how +their hearts were too full for utterance. +If a sight of the city where He +died so affects Christians, as the scenes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +of His last hours rush on their memory +and rise vividly to their imagination, how +will they look on that scene where, surrounded +by ten times ten thousand saints +and thousands of angels, He reigns in +glory! I can fancy the saint who has +shut his eyes on earth to open them in +heaven, standing speechless; and as the +flood of music fills his ear, and the blaze +of glory his eye, and the thought of what +he owes to Jesus his heart,—I can fancy +him laying the crown, which he has received +from his Saviour’s hands, in silent +gratitude at His feet; and as he recovers +speech, and sees hell and its torments +beneath him, earth and its sorrows behind +him, an eternity of unchequered, unchanging +bliss, before him,—I can fancy +the first words that break from his grateful +lips will be, “Glory to God, glory to +God in the highest!” Never till then, +nowhere but there, will our praise be +worthy of Jesus and His redemption. +Meanwhile, let Him who demonstrates +God’s highest glory and fills heaven’s +highest throne, hold the highest place in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +our hearts. Let us surround His name +with the highest honours; and, laying our +time and talents, our faculties and our +affections, our wealth, and fame, and +fortunes at His feet, crown Him Lord of +all.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"><!-- unnumbered page --></a></span></p> +<h2><i>PART III.</i></h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +<span class="dropcaps"><span class="dropcap">S</span></span>ome years ago the question +which agitated the heart of +Europe was, Peace or War? +The interests of commerce, the +lives of thousands, the fate of kingdoms, +trembled in the balance. Navies rode at +anchor, and opposing armies, like two +black thunder-clouds, waited for statesmen +to issue from the council-chamber, +bearing the sword or the olive-branch. +Esteeming the arbitrament of battle one +which necessity only could justify, Britain +longed for peace; but, with ships ready +to slip their cables, and soldiers standing +by their guns, she was grimly prepared +for war. Had ambassadors from the nation +with which we were ready to join +issue approached our shores at this crisis, +what eager crowds would have attended +their advent, and how impatiently would +they have waited the course of events! +And had peace been the result of the +conference, how would the tidings, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +they passed from mouth to mouth, and +were flashed by the telegraph from town +to town, have filled and moved the land! +The pale student would have forgot his +books, the anxious merchant his speculations, +the trader his shop, the tradesman +his craft, tired labour her toils, happy children +their toys, and even the bereaved +their griefs; and like the whirlpool, which +sucks straws and sea-weed, boats and gallant +ships—all things, big or small—into +its mighty vortex, the news would have +absorbed all other subjects. The one +topic of conversation at churches and +theatres, at marriages and funerals, in +halls and cottages, in crowded cities and +in lonely glens; ministers had carried it +in their sermons to the pulpit, and devout +Christians in their thanksgivings to the +Throne of Grace.</p> + +<p>In a much greater crisis, where the +stakes were deeper, the question being +not one of peace or war between man +and man, but between man and God, an +embassy from heaven reached the borders +of our world. Unlike Elijah, rough in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +dress, of aspect stern and speech severe, +whose appearance struck Ahab with terror, +and wrung from the pale lips of the conscience-stricken +king the cry, “Hast thou +found me, O mine enemy?”—unlike Jonah +as he walked the wondering streets, and +woke their echoes with his doleful cry, +“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be +destroyed,”—the ambassadors were “a +multitude of shining angels.” Leaving +the gates of heaven, they winged their +flight down the starry sky to descend and +hover above the fields of Bethlehem, and +in the form of a song, as became such +joyful tidings, to proclaim news of Peace—their +song, “Glory to God in the highest, +on earth peace, good-will toward men.” +Nothing presents a more remarkable example +of “much in little” than these few +but weighty words. In small crystals, +that coat, as with shining frost-work, the +sides of a vessel, we have all the salts +which give perpetual freshness to the +ocean, their life to the weeds that clothe +its rocks, and to the fish that swim its +depths and shallows. In some drops of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +oil distilled from rose-leaves of Indian +lands, and valued at many times their +weight in gold, we have enclosed within +one small phial the perfume of a whole +field of roses—that which, diffused through +ten thousand leaves, gave every flower its +fragrance. Essences, as they are called, +present, in a concentrated form, the peculiar +properties of leaves or flowers or +fruits, of the animal, vegetable, or earthly +bodies from which they are extracted; and, +like these, this hymn presents the whole +gospel in a single sentence. Here is the +Bible, the scheme of redeeming love, that +grand work which saved a lost world, +gladdened angels in heaven, confounded +devils in hell, and engaged the highest +attributes of the Godhead, summed up in +one short, glorious, glowing paragraph. +For what so much as the gospel, what, indeed, +but the gospel, yields Jehovah the +highest glory, blesses our earth with peace, +and expresses Heaven’s good-will to the +sons of men? Such were the ambassadors, +and such the embassage!</p> + +<p>When the king of Babylon, hearing how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +the shadow had travelled back ten degrees +on the dial of Ahaz, sent ambassadors to +Hezekiah to inquire about this strange phenomenon, +Hezekiah received them with +the greatest respect; paid them honours, indeed, +which cost both him and his country +dear. The news of an embassy having +come to Joshua spread like wildfire among +the Israelites, moving the whole camp. +Seized with eager curiosity, all ran to hear +what the strangers had to say, and gaze +with wonder on their soiled and ragged +dress, their clouted shoes and mouldy +bread. The herald angels, though arrayed +in heavenly splendours, and bringing glad +tidings of peace, were received with no +such honours, excited no such interest. +Strange and sad omen of the indifference +with which many would hear the gospel! +While angels sung, the world slept; and +none but some wakeful watchers heard +their voices or beheld this splendid vision. +They were humble shepherds, to whom +the ambassadors of heaven delivered their +message; and it may be well to pause and +look at those who were privileged and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +honoured to hear it. We do not pretend +to know certainly the reasons why God, +who giveth no account of His ways, conferred +an honour so distinguished on them +rather than on others. But we may guess; +and in any case may find the employment +profitable and instructive, if we are wise +enough to find “sermons in stones, books +in the running brooks, and good in everything.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<h2>V.</h2> + +<h3>THEY WERE MEN OF A PEACEFUL CALLING.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcapt"><span class="dropcap">T</span></span>he highest view of the profession +of arms is, that the soldier, deterring +evil-doers and maintaining +order at home, on the one +hand, and prepared, on the other, to resist +hostile invasion, is in reality, notwithstanding +his deadly weapons and warlike garb, +an officer or instrument of peace. A day +is coming—alas! with the roar of cannon +booming across the ocean, how far distant +it seems!—when Christianity shall exert +a paramount influence throughout all the +world: then, tyrants having ceased to +reign, and slaves to groan, and nations to +suffer from the lust of gold or power, this +beautiful picture of the prophet shall become +a reality: “The whole earth,” said +the seer, “is at rest, and is quiet; they +break forth into singing.” Till then,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +paradoxical though it appears, the cause of +peace may be pled with most effect by the +mouths of cannon. Fitness for war is often +the strongest security for peace; and a +nation whose wishes and interests both run +in the direction of peace, may find no way +of warning restless and unprincipled and +ambitious neighbours that it is not to be +touched with impunity, but by showing +itself, thistle-like, all bristling over with +bayonets. “Necessity,” said Paul, “is +laid on me to preach.” It may be laid on +a people to fight. Nor, when the sword +has been drawn in a good cause, has God +refused His sanction to that last, terrible +resort. It was He who imparted strength +to the arm before whose resistless sweep +the Philistines fell in swathes, like grass to +the mower’s scythe. It was He who guided +the stone that, shot from David’s sling, +buried itself in the giant’s brow. It was +He who gave its earthquake-power to the +blast of the horns which levelled the walls +of Jericho with the ground. And when +night came down to cover the retreat of +the Amorites and their allies, it was He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +who interposed to secure the bloody fruits +of victory—saying, as eloquently put by a +rustic preacher, “‘Fight on, my servant +Joshua, and I will hold the lights;’ and +‘the sun stood still on Gibeon, and the +moon in the valley of Ajalon.’” Admitting +war to be an awful scourge, these cases +show that the duties of a soldier are not +inconsistent with the calling of a Christian.</p> + +<p>Yet it was over no battle-field, the most +sacred to truth and liberty, these angels +hovered; no blazing homesteads nor +burning cities shed their lurid gleam on +the skies they made radiant with light; +nor was it where their sweet voices +strangely mingled with the clash of arms +and the shouts of charging squadrons that +they sang of glory, good-will, and peace. +This had been out of keeping with the +congruity which characterises all God’s +works of nature, and which will be found +equally characteristic of His works of +providence and grace. As was meet, the +glad tidings of peace were announced to +men who were engaged in an eminently +peaceful occupation; who passed tranquil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +lives amid the quietness of the solemn +hills, far removed alike from the ambitious +strife of cities and the bloody spectacles +of war. Lying amid the solitudes of the +mountains, where no sounds fall on the +ear but the bleating of flocks, the lowing +of cattle, the hum of bees, the baying of +a watch-dog from the lonely homestead, +the murmur of hidden rills, the everlasting +rush of the waterfall as it plunges flashing +into its dark, foaming pool, pastoral are +eminently peaceful scenes. Indeed, the +best emblem of peace which a great painter +has been able to present he owes to them—it +is a picture of a quiet glen, with a +lamb licking the rusty lips of a dismounted +gun, while the flocks around crop the grass +that waves above the slain.</p> + +<p>Apt scholars of the devil, wicked men +have used Holy Scripture to justify the +most impious crimes. Others, with more +fancy than judgment, have drawn the most +absurd conclusions from its facts; but we +seem warranted to conclude, that by selecting +shepherds to receive the first tidings +of Jesus’ birth, apart from the circumstance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +that they were Christ’s own favourite +types of Himself, God intended to +confer special honour on the cause, and +encourage the lovers and advocates of +peace. Deer are furnished by nature with +horns, dogs with teeth, eagles with talons, +serpents with poison, and bees with stings; +but men have no weapons of offence. Yet, +acting under the dominion of their lusts, +men have a passion for fighting, and, easily +fired with the spirit, and dazzled with the +glory of war, are ready to abandon arguments +for blows; and I cannot but think +that He who would not permit David, the +man after His own heart, to build Him a +house because he had been a man of +blood, conferred this honour on these +humble shepherds because they were men +of peace. Whether it be with Himself or +our own consciences, in the midst of our +families, among our neighbours, or between +nation and nation, He enjoins us to cultivate +peace: in His own emphatic words, +we are to “seek peace and pursue it.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<h2>VI.</h2> + +<h3>THEY WERE MEN OF HUMBLE RANK.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcapm"><span class="dropcap">M</span></span>any in humble, as well as in +more coveted circumstances, +are discontented with their +position. They repine at their +lot, and murmur against the Providence +which has assigned it. This is not only +wicked but absurd, since true happiness +lies much less in changing our condition +than in making the best of it, whatever it +be. Besides, God says, “I will make a +man more precious than fine gold; even a +man than the golden wedge of Ophir;” and +the estimate which He forms of us turns in +no respect whatever on the place we fill. +One artist paints a grand, another a common, +or even a mean, subject; but we +settle their comparative merits, praising +this one and condemning that, not by the +subjects they paint, but by the way they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +paint them. To borrow an illustration +from the stage, (as Paul did from heathen +games,) one player, tricked out in regal +state, with robes, and crown, and sceptre, +performs the part of a king, and another +that only of a common soldier or country +boor; yet the applause of the audience is +not given to the parts the actors play, but +to the way they play them. Even so, it +is not the place that man fills, whether +high or humble, but the way he fills it to +which God has, and we should have, most +regard.</p> + +<p>Not that we would reduce the inequalities +of society any more than those of the +earth, with its varied features of swelling +hill and lovely dale, to one dull, long, +common level. Death, the great grim +leveller, does that office both for cottagers +and kings. Let it be left to the sexton’s +spade. The mountains which give shelter +to the valleys, and gather the rains that +fill their rivers and fertilise their pastures, +have important uses in nature, and so +have the corresponding heights of rank +and wealth and power in society. Setting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +our affections on things above, let us be +content to wait for the honours and rest +of heaven; let us seek to be good rather +than great; to be rich in faith rather than +in wealth; to stand high in God’s esteem +rather than in man’s; saying, with Paul, +“I have learned in whatsoever state I am, +therewith to be content;”—or singing +with the boy in the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” +who, meanly clad, but with “a fresh and +well-favoured countenance,” fed his father’s +sheep,—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“He that is down needs fear no fall;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">He that is low, no pride;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He that is humble ever shall</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Have God to be his guide.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“I am content with what I have,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Little be it or much;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And, Lord, contentment still I crave,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Because thou savest such.”</span><br /> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>“Do you hear him?” said the guide. +“I will dare to say that this boy lives a +merrier life, and wears more of that herb +called heart’s-ease in his bosom, than he +that is clad in silk and velvet.”</p> + +<p>Why should a man blush for his humble +origin? The Saviour’s mother was a poor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +woman; and no head ever lay in a meaner +cradle than the manger where Mary laid +her first-born—the Son of the Most High +God. Why should any be ashamed of +honest poverty? Men of immortal names, +the apostles, were called from the lowest +ranks, and went forth to conquer and convert +the world without a penny in their +purse. Was not our Lord himself poor? +He earned His bread, and ate it, with the +sweat of His brow, while others lay luxuriously +on down; He had often no other +roof than the open sky, or warmer bed +than the dewy ground; and never had else +to entertain His guests than the coarsest +and most common fare—barley-loaves and +a few small fishes. Though rich in the +wealth of Godhead, with the resources of +heaven and of earth at His sovereign command, +poverty attended His steps like +His shadow, along the way from a humble +cradle to a bloody grave. He made Himself +poor that He might make us rich; +and it seemed meet that to poor rather +than to rich men God should reveal the +advent of Him who came to enrich the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +poor, whether kings or beggars, peers or +peasants. As if to censure the respect +paid to rank apart from merit, or to wealth +apart from worth, He who has no respect +for persons honoured in these shepherds +honest poverty and humble virtue. They +received ambassadors not accredited to +sovereigns; as cottages, not palaces, housed +Him whom the heavens have received, and +the heaven of heavens cannot contain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<h2>VII.</h2> + +<h3>THEY WERE MEN ENGAGED IN COMMON +DUTIES.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcapm"><span class="dropcap">M</span></span>others cumbered with a load +of domestic cares, merchants +worried with business, statesmen +charged with their country’s +affairs, and thousands who have a +daily fight to keep the wolf from the +door, fancy that, if they enjoyed the leisure +some have, and could bestow more time +on divine things, they would be more religious +than they are, and, rising to higher, +calmer elevations of thought and temper, +would maintain a nearer communion with +God. It may reconcile such to their +duties to observe how the men were +employed on whom God bestowed this +unexpected and exalted honour. They +were engaged in the ordinary business of +their earthly calling; of a hard and humble<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +one. Types of Him to whose care His +people owe their safety amid the temptations, +and their support amid the trials of +life, these shepherds were watching their +flocks; peering through the gloom of +night; listening for the stealthy step of +the robber; ready, starting to their feet, +to beat off the sneaking wolf, or bravely +battle with the roaring lion.</p> + +<p>He whose sun shines as brightly on the +lowliest as on the stateliest flower, regards +with complacency the humblest man who +wins his daily bread, and discharges the +duties of his station, whatever they be, in +such a way as to glorify God and be of +advantage to his fellow-creatures. Heaven, +as this case brilliantly illustrates, is never +nearer men, nor are they ever nearer it, +than in those fields or workshops, where, +with honest purpose and a good conscience, +they are diligently pursuing their +ordinary avocations. No doubt—for God +does not cast His pearls before swine—these +shepherds were pious men. One +passing a night in their humble dwellings +would have seen the father with reverent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +mien gather his household to prayer; and +one passing these uplands, where they +held their watch, might have heard their +voices swaying on the midnight air, as +they sang together the psalms of David +amid the very scenes where he tuned his +harp and fed his father’s flocks. But +people are too apt to suppose that religion +lies mainly, if not exclusively, in prayers, +reading the Bible, listening to sermons, +and attending on sacraments; in time +spent, or work done, or offerings made, +or sacrifices endured, for what are called, +in common language, religious objects. +These are the means, not the end. He +who rises from his knees to his daily task, +and, with an eye not so much to please +men as God, does it well, carries divine +worship to the workshop, and throws a +sacred halo around the ordinary secularities +of life. That, indeed, may be the highest +expression of religion; just as it is the +highest expression of devoted loyalty to +leave the precincts of the court and the +presence of the sovereign, to endure the +hardships of a campaign, and stand in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +soiled and tattered regimentals by the +king’s colours amid the deadly hail of +battle. He who goes to common duties +in a devout and Christian spirit proves his +loyalty to God; and, as this case proves, +is of all men the most likely to be favoured +with tokens of the Divine presence—communications +of grace which will sustain +his patience under a life of toil, and fit +him for the rest that remaineth for the +people of God.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"><!-- unnumbered page --></a></span></p> + +<h2><i>PART IV.</i></h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +<span class="dropcapm"><span class="dropcap">M</span></span>ingled with its rattling shingle, +the sea-beach bears hazel-nuts +and fir-tops—things which once +belonged to the blue hills that +rise far inland on the horizon. Dropped +into the brooks of bosky glens, they have +been swept into the river, to arrive, after +many windings and long wanderings, at +the ocean; to be afterwards washed ashore +with shells and wreck and sea-weed. The +Gulf Stream, whose waters by a beautiful +arrangement of Providence bring the heat +of southern latitudes to temper the wintry +rigour of the north, throws objects on the +western coasts of Europe which have performed +longer voyages—fruits and forest-trees +that have travelled the breadth of +the Atlantic, casting the productions of the +New World on the shores of the Old.</p> + +<p>Like these, the record of events which +happened in the earliest ages of the world +has been carried along the course of time,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +and spread by the diverging streams of +population over the whole surface of the +globe. The facts are, as was to be expected, +always more or less changed, and +often, indeed, fragmentary. Still, like old +coins, which retain traces of their original +effigies and inscriptions, these traditions +possess a high historic value. Their remarkable +correspondence with the statements +of the Bible confirms our faith in +its divinity; and their being common to +nations of habits the most diverse, and of +habitations separated from each other by +the whole breadth of the earth, proves the +unity of our race. If they cannot be regarded +as pillars, they are buttresses of +the truth; being inexplicable on any +theory but that which infidelity has so +often, but always vainly, assailed, namely, +that all Scripture is given by inspiration +of God, and that He has made of one +blood all the nations of the earth.</p> + +<p>To take some examples. Look, for instance, +at a custom common among the +Red Indians, ages before white men had +crossed the sea and carried the Bible to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +their shores! At the birth of a child, as +Humboldt relates, a fire was kindled on +the floor of the hut, and a vessel of water +placed beside it; but not with the murderous +intent of those savage tribes who +practise infanticide, and, pressed by hunger, +destroy their children to save their food. +The infant here was first plunged into the +water—buried, as we should say, in baptism; +and afterwards swept rapidly and +unharmed through the flaming fire. A +very remarkable rite; and one that, as +we read the story, recalled to mind this +double baptism, “He shall baptize you,” +said Jesus, “with the Holy Ghost and +with fire;” “Except a man be born of +water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the +kingdom of God.” Its administration to +infants, to such as had committed no sin, +nor knew, indeed, their right hand from +their left, implied a belief in the presence, +not of acquired, but of original impurity. +It is based on that; and without it this +rite is not only mysterious, but meaningless. +Blind is the eye which does not see +in this old pagan ceremony a tradition of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +the primeval Fall, and dull the ear which +does not hear in its voice no faint echo of +these words, “I was shapen in iniquity, +and in sin did my mother conceive me.... Create +in me a clean heart, O God; +and renew a right spirit within me.”</p> + +<p>Like the Fall, the Flood also was an +event which, though it may have worn no +channel in the rocks, has left indelible +traces of its presence on the memory of +mankind. The Greeks had strange traditions +of this awful judgment; so had the +Romans; and so had almost all the +heathen nations of antiquity—strange +legends, to which the Bible supplies the +only key. Its account of the Deluge +explains the traditions, and the traditions +corroborate it; and by their general +mutual correspondence we are confirmed +in our belief that its authors were holy +men of old, who spoke as they were +moved by the Holy Ghost. To evade +this argument, infidels may trace these +legends to Jews, who, led captive of the +heathen, related to them the Mosaic story, +and took advantage of man’s love of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +marvellous to practise on his credulity. +The attempt is vain; since, on turning +from the Old World to the New, we find +the very same traditions there; and there, +long ages before Jew or Christian knew of +its existence, or had landed on its shores. +Those paintings which were to Mexicans +and Peruvians substitutes for history, for +a written or printed language, embody +the story of the Flood. One of these +pictures, for example, shows us a man +afloat with his family in a rude boat on a +shoreless sea; in another, the raven of +Bible story is cleaving on black wing the +murky sky; in a third, the heads of the +hills appear in the background like islands +emerging from the waste of waters, while, +with such confusion as is inseparable from +traditionary lore, the raven is substituted +for the dove, and appears making its way +to the lone tenants of the boat with evidence +of the subsidence of the waters—a +fir-cone in its bloody beak. Rolled +down the long stream of ages, the true +history is more or less changed, and even +fragmentary, like a water-worn stone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +Still, between these traditionary records +and Bible story there is a remarkable +agreement. They sound like its echo. +In them pagan voices proclaim the holiness +of God. Lest we also should perish +with those who, looking on the placid sea +and starry sky of the Old World’s last +night, asked, “Where is the promise of +His coming?” they warn us to flee from +wrath to come.</p> + +<p>Of all these venerable legends painted +in colours or embalmed in verse, written +in story or sculptured on stone, none are +more remarkable than those where the +serpent appears. Old divines imagined +that the creature whose shape Satan borrowed +for the temptation had originally no +malignant aspect; neither the poisoned +fangs, nor eyes of fire, nor cold, scaly, +wriggling form which man and beast recoil +from with instinctive horror. They fancied +that the curse, “Upon thy belly shalt thou +go, and dust shalt thou eat,” was followed +by a sudden metamorphosis, and that till +then the appearance of the serpent was as +lovely as it is now loathsome. They gave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +the words of the curse a literal interpretation. +They bear a deeper meaning, no +doubt; yet the fancy of these old divines +may have approached nearer to fact than +many perhaps suppose. Science reads the +history of remote ages as she finds it inscribed +on the rocks; and, on turning over +these stony leaves, we find that the earliest +form of the serpent was different from that +which, as it crawls and wriggles along the +ground, so forcibly recalls the very words +of the curse. Though they have now only +such powers of motion as belong to the +meanest worm, those skeletons which the +rocks entomb show that the serpent tribe +had once feet to walk with, and even wings +to spurn the ground and cleave the air. +Such is the testimony of the rocks! And, +taking the words of Scripture in their +literal sense, there is, to say the least of +it, a very curious coincidence between the +voices of the rocks and the voice of +revelation. But, be that as it may, what +else but fragmentary traditions of Eden +and the Fall are the forms of serpent +worship among the heathen, who acted, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +they still often act, on the principle of +propitiating the powers of evil, the many +old monuments on which its figure is sculptured, +and the many old legends in which +it plays a conspicuous part? What else +was the belief of our pagan fathers, that +within a dark cave in the bowels of the +earth there sat a great scaly dragon, brooding +on gold? What else was the fabled +garden of the Hesperides, where the trees, +guarded by a fierce and formidable serpent, +bore apples of gold? What else was +the tragic story of a father and his sons +dying by the bites and crushed within the +scaly folds of a coil of serpents; and on +which, as touchingly represented in the +sculptured marble, we have never looked +without recalling the fate of Adam and his +unhappy offspring? And what else is the +old legend of him who with rash hand +sowed serpent’s teeth, and saw spring from +the soil, not clustering vines, or feathery +palms, or stalks of waving corn, but a crop +of swords, and spears, and armed men? +Read that fable by the light of the Bible, +and the wild legend stands out the record of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +an awful fact. To the serpent the world +owes it wars, and discords, and the sin +which is their source. Disguised in its +form, Satan brought in sin; and when sin +entered on the scene, peace departed—peace +between God and man, peace between +man and man, peace between man +and himself—the peace which, with all its +blessings, He descended from heaven to +restore who is our Peace, and whom +angels ushered on the scene of His toils +and triumphs, of His atoning death and +glorious victory, with songs of “Glory to +God in the highest, and on earth peace, +good-will toward men.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<h2>VIII.</h2> + +<h3>JESUS RESTORES PEACE BETWEEN GOD +AND MAN.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcapt"><span class="dropcap">T</span></span>here are things which God cannot +do—which it were not to honour +but dishonour Him to believe +He could. He can neither +tempt, nor be tempted, to sin. The sinner +He may love, but not his sin; that is +impossible; as the prophet expresses it, +“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold +evil, and canst not look on iniquity.” +Indeed, I would as soon believe that God +could condemn a holy spirit to the pains +of hell, as admit a guilty one, unjustified +and unsanctified, to the joys of heaven. +In that terrible indictment which God +thunders out against Israel by the mouth +of Ezekiel, He says, “Thou art the land +which is not cleansed. Her princes in the +midst thereof are like wolves ravening the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, +to get dishonest gain. Her prophets have +daubed them with untempered mortar, +saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when +the Lord hath not spoken. The people +of the land have used oppression, and +exercised robbery, and have vexed the +poor and needy; therefore have I poured +out mine indignation upon them; I have +consumed them with the fire of my wrath: +their own way have I recompensed upon +their heads, saith the Lord.” So he arraigns +this and the other class. And how +of the priests? “Her priests have violated +my law, and have profaned mine +holy things: they have put no difference +between the holy and profane, neither +have they showed difference between the +unclean and the clean.” He censures +His servants for not separating between +the clean and unclean; and it insults Him +to suppose that He could do in His own +practice what He condemns in theirs. +Events, such as old murders brought to +light, ever and anon occur to show that +God’s mill, as runs the proverb, though it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +grinds slow, grinds sure; yet because He +does not execute judgment speedily on +workers of iniquity—giving them space to +repent; because He often seems, like one +far remote from earth, to treat its crimes +and virtues with equal indifference, men +have not believed these solemn words, +“There is no peace, saith my God, to the +wicked.” But let the wicked hear His +words, and take the warning, “Thou hatest +instruction; thou castest My words behind +thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou +consentedst with him. Thou hast been partaker +with adulterers. Thou givest thy +mouth to evil, and thy tongue practiseth +deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against +thy brother; thou slanderest thine own +mother’s son. These things hast thou +done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest +that I was altogether such an one as thyself: +but I will reprove thee, and set +them in order before thine eyes. Consider +this, ye that forget God, lest I tear +you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.”</p> + +<p>The universal conscience of mankind is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +stricken with a sense of guilt. Alarmed +by an instinctive sense of danger, men +have felt the need of reconciliation; and, +under a sense of His displeasure, have +everywhere, and in all ages, sought to +make their peace with God. For this end +altars were raised and temples built; sacrifices +offered, and penances endured. If +the colossal structures of Egypt, and the +lovely temples of Greece and Rome, were +erected, as well to adorn the state as to +please the gods, it was less to please approving, +than to appease angry divinities, +that their courts resounded with the cries +of victims, and smoking altars ran red with +blood. So much did the heathen feel +their need of peace, such store did they +set by it, that many of them sought it at +any price. They would buy peace at any +cost; nor did they shrink from giving +all their fortune, even the fruit of their +body, for the sin of their souls. For peace +with God the Hindoo walked to his distant +temples in sandals that, set with +spikes, pierced his flesh at every step, and +marked all the long, slow, painful journey<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +with a track of blood; for peace with +God the Syrian led his sweet boy up to +the fires of Moloch, and, unmoved in purpose +by cries, or curses, or passionate entreaties, +cast him shrieking on the burning +pile; for peace with God the Indian mother +approached the river’s brink with +streaming tears and trembling steps, and, +tearing the suckling from her bursting +heart, kissed it, to turn away her eyes, and +fling it into the flood. We pity their ignorance. +But how do they rebuke the indifference +of many; their unwillingness to +submit to any sacrifice whatever for the +honour of Jesus and the interests of their +souls? These heathens may pity thousands +whom they shall rise up in judgment +to condemn. Neglecting the great +salvation, preferring the pleasures of sin, +what a contrast do these offer to a poor +Hindoo, who, hearing a missionary tell of +the blood of Christ, sprang from the +ground, and, loosing his bloody sandals, +flung them away to exclaim, “Now, now +I have found what I want!”</p> + +<p>The peace which he found all men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +want, and shall find in Jesus, if they seek +it honestly, earnestly. God has no pleasure +in the death of the wicked. He never had. +We pronounce him an unnatural father, +who, on a breach occurring between him +and his child, though he is the injured and +not the injurer, does not long to be reconciled—is +not the first to make advances +and overtures of peace. In this feature of +the parental character God has stamped +upon our hearts the beautiful image of His +own. Yearning over them as the kind old +man over his wayward prodigal, his exiled +child, God was willing to receive back +sinners to His arms; to reinstate them in +His family, and restore them to His favour. +But how was this to be done?—done without +dishonour to His holy law, and with +due regard to His character as a God of +truth. He had said, “The soul that sinneth +shall die;” nor could peace be restored +between Him and man but on such +terms as maintained His truth. A father +or mother punishes one child, and allows +another, guilty of the same offence, to go +free. But had God cast fallen angels into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +hell, and, without any regard to His word, +admitted fallen men to heaven, what had +angels, what had devils, what had men +themselves thought of a God who conducted +his government with such caprice—playing +fast and loose with His most solemn +words? “The way of the Lord,” said +ancient Israel, “is not equal;” and in +such a case there had been ground for the +charge, and none for the indignation with +which He repels it, saying, “Hear now, +O Israel, is not my way equal? are not +yours unequal?”</p> + +<p>There was only one way of restoring +peace; but it involved a sacrifice on God’s +part which the most sanguine had never +dared to hope for. If the Lord of heaven +and earth, veiling His glory, would assume +our nature, would take the form of a servant, +would stoop to the work of a subject, +would die the death of a sinner, we might +be saved—not otherwise; if He would +leave heaven, we might enter it—not otherwise; +if He would die, we might live—not +otherwise; if He would enter the grave its +captor, we might leave it its conquerors—not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +otherwise; if He, as our substitute, +would fulfil the requirements of the law, +both in doing our work and discharging our +debt, both obeying and suffering in our +stead, peace could be restored—not otherwise. +For these ends God did not spare +His Son, but gave Him up to death, “that +whosoever believeth in him might not perish, +but have everlasting life;” and the +“set time” having come at length, Jesus +descended on our world, to make peace +through the blood of His cross—His angel-train, +ere they returned to heaven, holding +a concert in the skies.</p> + +<p>Dying, the just for the unjust, He has +made peace; and these are the easy terms, +“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and +thou shalt be saved.” How gladly should +we accept them? If men reject peace, +what chance for them in war? “Hast thou +an arm like God? Canst thou thunder +with a voice like him?” “Let the potsherds +strive with the potsherds of the +earth; but woe to the man who striveth +with his Maker!” He has proclaimed a +truce—granting a suspension of arms, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +offering most generous proposals of peace. +How should men improve the pause, and +accept the overtures!—as eagerly seizing +salvation through the cross of Christ as a +drowning man life through the rope some +kind hand flings within his reach. In +warfare patriots have stood up gallantly +against overwhelming odds, and, closing +their broken ranks, have said, “Better fall +on the field, better lose life than honour;” +but when sinners, dropping the weapons +of rebellion, yield themselves up to God, +honour is not lost, but won, in a crown +that fadeth not away. Brave men have +said, “Better fight to the last, die with our +swords in our hands, than become captives +to pine away a weary, ignoble life within +the walls of a prison;” but when the sinner +gives himself up to God, he goes not to +exile but home; not to chains and a dungeon, +but to glorious freedom, a palace, +and a throne. God asks you to give up +your sins that they, not you, may be slain. +It is of them, not of you, He says, “But +those mine enemies which would not that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +I should reign over them, bring hither, +and slay them before me!”</p> + +<p>In these circumstances, oh for the wisdom +of her who showed herself on the city +walls in the thick of the assault, crying to +Joab, “Hear, hear, come near hither, I +pray you, that I may speak with thee!” +A woman’s figure there, her voice sounding +above the thunder of the captains and the +shouting, suspends the attack. Assailants +and assailed alike rest on their arms; and +as one marked as a leader by his plume +and bearing, covered with the dust and +blood of battle, steps forward, she bends +over the battlements to ask, “Art thou +Joab?” “I am he,” is the reply. “Then +hear the words of thy handmaid,” she cries; +“I am one of them that are peaceable and +faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy +a city and a mother in Israel!” He solemnly +repudiates the charge. “Far be it +from me,” he answers, “that I should +swallow up and destroy. The matter is not +so: but a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba, +the son of Bichri, hath lifted up his hand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +against the king, against David: deliver +him only, and I will depart from the city.” +She accepts the terms; and saying “Behold, +his head shall be thrown to thee +over the wall”—vanishes. Prompt in +action as wise in counsel, she goes to the +people, deals with them, sways the multitude +to her will; and ere the last hour of +the brief truce has closed, a bloody head +goes bounding over the wall. It rolls like +a ball to the feet of Joab; and in its grim +and ghastly features they recognise the +face of the son of Bichri. So Joab blows +the trumpet, and the host retires from the +walls, every man to his own tent. So let +men deal with their sins. Let them die +with the son of Bichri: they have “lifted up +their hand against the King.” Why should +we spare them, and lose our souls? By +His precious blood Jesus has opened up +a way to peace. He has come, but not +“to swallow up and destroy.” Blessed +Lord, He came to save, not to destroy. +“O earth, earth, earth,” cried the prophet, +“hear the word of the Lord;” and be it +known to the world’s utmost bounds that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +God willeth not the death of the sinner, +but rather that he would turn to Him and +live. With her flaming sword, red with +the blood of men and angels, Justice holds +to us no other language but that of Joab, +“Deliver up your sins only, and I will +depart!” and, inspired of God with the +wisdom that chooseth the better part, and +maketh wise unto salvation, let us say, +“Better my sins die than I; better Satan +be cast, than Jesus be kept out of it; +better strike off the heads of a thousand +sins that have lifted up their hands against +the King, than that I should fall—sparing +my sins to lose my soul!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"><!-- unnumbered page --></a></span></p> + +<h2><i>PART V.</i></h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +<span class="dropcapa"><span class="dropcap">A</span></span>hab and Jezebel, two of the +worst characters in sacred story, +had a son; and with such blood +as theirs in his veins, no wonder +that Joram, on succeeding to the +throne of one parent, exhibited the vices +of both. His mother does not seem to +have had a drop of human-kindness in +her breast. Yet he was not altogether +dead to humanity, as appears by an incident +which occurred during the siege that +reduced his capital to the direst extremities. +The ghastly aspect of a famished +woman who throws herself in his way with +a wild, impassioned, wailing cry of “Help, +my lord, O king!” touches him; and he +asks, “What aileth thee?” Stretching out a +skinny arm to one pale and haggard as +herself, she replies, with hollow voice, +“This woman said unto me, Give thy +son, that we may eat him to-day, and we +will eat my son to-morrow. So we boiled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +my son, and did eat him: and I said unto +her on the next day, Give thy son, that +we may eat him; and she hath hid her +son.” Struck with horror at the story, +Joram rent his clothes. He had pity, but +no piety.</p> + +<p>“Why should ye be stricken any more? +ye will but revolt more and more.” Never +were these words, never was the fact that +unsanctified afflictions have the same hardening +effect on men which fire, that +melts gold, has on clay, more strikingly +illustrated than on this occasion. So far +from rending his heart with his garment, +and humbling himself before the Lord, +Joram flares up into fiercer rebellion; and +turning from these victims of the famine +to his courtiers, he grinds his teeth to +profane God’s name and vow vengeance +on his prophet, saying, “God do so and +more also to me, if the head of Elisha the +son of Shaphat shall stand on him this +day.” Impotent rage against the only man +who could have weathered the storm, and +saved the state! The prophet’s head +stood on his shoulders when that of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +son of a murderer—as Elisha called him—lay +low in death in the dust of Naboth’s +vineyard. The day arrives which sees the +cup of Joram’s iniquity full, and that of +God’s patience empty—drained to the last +drop. The chief officers of the army are +sitting outside their barrack, when one +wearing a prophet’s livery approaches them. +Singling out Jehu from the group, he says, +I have an errand to thee, O captain! +The captain rises; they pass in alone; +the door is shut; and now this strange, +unknown man, drawing a horn of oil from +his shaggy cloak, pours it on Jehu’s head. +As if it had fallen on fire, it kindled up +his smouldering ambition—so soon at +least as this speech interpreted the act, +“Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I +have anointed thee king over the people +of this land. Thou shall smite the house +of Ahab thy master; dogs shall eat Jezebel +in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall +be none to bury her.” Having spoken so, +the stranger opens the door, and flies. +But faster flies God’s vengeance. Ere his +feet have borne the servant to Elisha’s<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +door, the banner of revolt is up, unfurled; +troops are gathering to the sound of +trumpets; and soldiers, eager for change +and plunder, are making the air ring to +the cry, Jehu is king!</p> + +<p>Launched like a thunderbolt at the +house of Ahab, Jehu makes right for +Jezreel with impetuous, impatient speed. +A watchman on the palace tower catches +afar the dust of the advancing cavalcade, +and cries, I see a company! Guilt, which +sleeps uneasy even on downy pillows, +awakens, on the circumstance being reported +to him, the monarch’s fears. A +horseman is quickly despatched with the +question, Is it peace? Thus, pulling up +his steed, he accosts the leader of the +company, who, drawing no rein, replies, +in a tone neither to be challenged nor +disobeyed, What hast thou to do with +peace? Get thee behind me! Failing +the first’s return, a second horseman gallops +forth to carry the same question and +meet the same reception. Sweeping on +like a hurricane, the band is now near +enough for the watchman to tell, “He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +came near unto them, and cometh not +again;” and also to add, as he marks how +their leader is shaking the reins and lashing +the steeds of his bounding chariot, +“The driving is like the driving of Jehu, +the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.” +Displaying a courage that seemed +his only redeeming quality, or bereaved of +sense, according to the saying, Whom God +intends to destroy He first makes mad, +Joram instantly throws himself into his +chariot, advances to meet the band, and +demands of its leader, Is it peace, Jehu? +What peace, is the other’s answer, so long +as the whoredoms of thy mother and her +witchcrafts are so many? With the words +that leave his lips an arrow leaves his +bow to transfix the flying king—entering +in at his back and passing out at his +breast; and when he is cast, a bloody +corpse, into Naboth’s vineyard, and dogs +are crunching his mother’s bones, and +Jehu has climbed the throne, and Elisha +walks abroad with his head safe on his +shoulders, and the curtain falls on the +stage of these tragic and righteous scenes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +it was a time for the few pious men of that +guilty land to sing, “Lo thine enemies, O +Lord, lo thine enemies shall perish; but +the righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: +they shall grow like a cedar of +Lebanon.”</p> + +<p>Such was the mission of Jehu, the son +of Nimshi. How different that of Jesus, +the Son of God! They might have been +identical; presented at least grounds of +comparison rather than grounds of striking +contrast. Yet so remarkable is the contrast +that Jehu’s mission—and therefore +have we related the story—forms as effective +a background to Christ’s, as the black +rain-cloud to the bright bow which spans +it. The cause of the difference lies in +God’s free, gracious, sovereign mercy—in +nothing else; for had mankind, at the +tidings that the Son of God, attended by +a train of holy angels, was approaching, +met Him on the confines of our world +with Joram’s question, “Is it peace?” that +question might justly have met with Jehu’s +answer, “What hast thou to do with +peace?”—what have you done to obtain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +it, or to deserve it? Yet, glory be to God +in the highest, it is peace—peace more +plainly and fully announced in these most +gracious words, “It pleased the Father +that in him should all fulness dwell; and, +having made peace through the blood of +his cross, by him to reconcile all things to +himself, whether they be things on earth, +or things in heaven.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<h2>IX.</h2> + +<h3>JESUS BRINGS PEACE TO THE SOUL.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcaph"><span class="dropcap">H</span></span>aving reconciled us to God by +the blood of His cross, Christ +is “our Peace,” as the apostle +says. He is called so, first, because +He restores us to a state of friendship +with God; and, secondly, because a +sense of that fills the whole soul with a +peace which passeth understanding. So, +speaking of the righteousness which Christ +wrought out for us, the prophet says, +“The work of righteousness is peace”—His +righteousness being the root, and our +peace the fruit—that the spring, and this +the stream. To describe for the comfort +of the Church the constancy of the last +and the fulness of the first, another prophet +borrows two of nature’s grandest +images, “Thy peace shall be like a river, +and thy righteousness like the waves of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +the sea”—the believer’s peace flowing +like a broad, deep stream, with life in its +waters and smiling verdure on its banks; +and a Saviour’s righteousness covering all +his sins, as the waves do the countless +sands of their shore, when, burying them +out of sight, the tide converts the whole +reach of dull, dreary sand into a broad +liquid mirror, to reflect the light of the +sky and the beams of the sun.</p> + +<p>Christ’s imputed righteousness is bestowed +equally on all believers—none, +the least any more than the greatest +sinner, being more justified than another. +Feeling assured or not of their salvation, +all His are equally safe—“those whom +Thou hast given me I have kept, and +none of them are lost.” There is no +such equal enjoyment among believers of +peace in believing; some walking all +their days under a cloud, and some who +walk in darkness and have no light, only +reaching heaven, like a blind man guided +homewards by the hand of his child, by +their hold of the promise, Who is he that +feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +of His servant, that walketh in darkness +and hath no light; let him trust in the +name of the Lord, and stay himself in his +God. But where there is peace springing +from a sense of forgiveness, of all the +fruits of the Spirit that grow in Christ’s +fair garden, this is sweetest. Among the +blessings enjoyed on earth, it has no +superior, or rival even. It passeth understanding, +says an apostle. Nor did David +regard any as happy but those who enjoyed +it—pronouncing “blessed,” not the +great, or rich, or noble, or famous, but +“the man,” whatever his condition, “whose +transgression is forgiven, whose sin is +covered.” And so he might. With this +peace the believer regards death as the +gate of life: enters the grave as a quiet +anchorage from seas and storms; and +looks forward to the scene of final judgment +as a prince to his coronation, or a +happy bride to her marriage day. A sense +of forgiveness lays the sick head on a +pillow softer than downs; lightens sorrow’s +heaviest burdens; makes poverty rich<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +beyond the wealth of banks; spoils death +of his sting; arms the child of God against +the ills of life; and, lifting him up above +its trials, makes him like some lofty mountain, +at whose feet the lake may be lashed +into foaming billows, and adown whose +seamed and rugged sides clouds may fall +in gloomy folds, but whose head, shooting +up into the calm blue heavens, reposes +in unbroken peace, rejoices in perpetual +sunshine.</p> + +<p>Happy such as obtain a firm hold of +Christ, and, having made their calling and +election sure, enjoy unclouded peace! +Feeling that there is now no more condemnation +for them, because they believe +in Jesus, and walk not after the flesh but +after the spirit, they see a change come on +objects such as imparts pleasure and surprise +in what are called dissolving views. +Where death, with grim and grisly aspect, +stood by the mouth of an open grave, +shaking his fatal dart, we see an angel +form opening with one hand the gate of +heaven, and holding in the other a shining<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +crown—from the face of God we see the +features of an angry, stern, inexorable +judge melt all away, and in room of an +object of terror we behold the face and +form of a kind, loving, forgiving Father, +with open arms hastening to embrace us. +The God of hope give you joy and peace +in believing, is the prayer of the apostle—a +prayer in many cases so fully answered +that the dying saint has been borne away +from all his earthly moorings; and, ready +to part from wife and children, has exclaimed +with Simeon when he held the +infant Saviour in his joyful arms, “Now, +Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in +peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”</p> + +<p>“Be at peace among yourselves,” is a +blessed injunction which an apostle lays +on families, on friends, and on churches. +In happy contrast to the storm which, +hurtling through the troubled air, and +shaking doors and windows, goes raving +round every corner of the house, let peace +reign on the domestic hearth, and also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +within the church, when, like the ark of +old, she drifts on the billows of a shoreless +sea—God only at the helm.</p> + +<p>It is good to be at peace with our brethren, +but to be at peace with one’s-self is +better. At peace with conscience, one +can afford, if God will have it so, to be at +war with all men. It is painful, when we +cannot be at peace with all men—to have +enemies without; but his case is infinitely +worse who lodges an enemy in his own +breast—in a guilty, uneasy conscience, in +self-reproaches, in terror of death, in the +knowledge that God and he are not +friends, nor can be so, so long as he +cherishes his sins. There is no peace, +saith my God, to the wicked. There +cannot be. Drugged with narcotics, you +may sleep as quietly on a bed of thorns +as of roses. Drugged with narcotics, you +may lie down on the cold pavement, and +fancy as you throw your arms around the +curbstone that it is the wife of your bosom. +Drugged with narcotics, you may go to +sleep in a cell with visions of home playing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +round the head that shall be capped +for hanging to-morrow. But no more +than I call these peaceful sights, can I +apply the name of peace to the insensibility +of a conscience seared by sin; to the +calmness, or rather callousness of one who +has allowed the devil to persuade him that +God is too merciful to reckon with us for +our transgressions. The peace we are to +seek, and, seeking to pursue, is not that +of death, but life,—not that the lake presents +in winter, when no life appears on +its shores, nor sound breaks the silence of +its frozen waters; but that of a lake +which, protected from tempests by lofty +mountains, carries life in its waters, beauty +on its banks, and heaven mirrored in its +unruffled bosom. Being justified by faith +we have peace with God through our Lord +Jesus Christ. Such is the peace which +we are to seek—a peace which, springing +from a sense of reconciliation through the +blood of the Lamb and wrought within +the soul by the in-dwelling of the Holy +Spirit, has so raised the saint above all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +fears of death, and shed such a flood of +glory around his dying head, that wicked +men have turned from the scene to exclaim, +May I die the death of the righteous, +and may my last end be like his!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<h2>X.</h2> + +<h3>JESUS SHALL BRING PEACE TO THE WORLD.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcaph"><span class="dropcap">H</span></span>ow many pages of history are +written with the point of the +sword—not with ink, but tears +and blood? It is chiefly taken +up with the recital of wars. What +age has not been the era, what country +the scene of bloody strifes? What soil +does not hold the dust of thousands that +have fallen by brothers’ hands? Our +glebes have been fattened with the bodies +of the slain? On those fields where, with +the lark carolling overhead, the peasant +drives his ploughshare, other steel than the +sickle has glanced, and other shouts have +risen than those of happy reapers bearing +some blushing, sun-browned maid on their +broad shoulders at the Harvest Home. +The tall gray stones, the hoary cairns, tell +how on other days these quiet scenes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +were disturbed by the roar of battle, and +lay red with another dye than that of +heath or purple wild flowers. Go wherever +our foot may wander, we find tokens +of war; and select what age soever we +may, since Abel fell beneath a brother’s +hand, we find in man’s first death, and the +earth’s first lone grave, a bloody omen of +future and frequent crimes. What a commentary +is human history on these words +of Holy Scripture, “The whole creation +groaneth, and travaileth in pain till now!—nor +shall it cease to groan, or hail the day +of its redemption, till the Prince of Peace +is enthroned in the heart of all nations, +and the labours of missionaries have extended +that kingdom to the ends of the +earth, whose triumphs are bloodless—whose +walls are Salvation and her gates +Praise.”</p> + +<p>Without disparagement to the happy +influence of education, the extension of +commerce, and the efforts of benevolent +men, the real Peace Society is the Church +of God; the olive branch which the Spirit, +dove-like, is bearing on blessed wing to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +troubled world, is the Word of God; and +the gospel’s is the voice which, like Christ’s +on Galilee’s waves, shall speak peace to a +distracted earth, and change its wildest +passions into a holy calm. Till all nations +receive the Bible in its integrity and +own it as their only rule of policy, till +kings reign for Christ and lay their crowns +at His feet, a lasting peace is an idle +dream. Treaties will no more bind nations +that lie under the influence of unsanctified +passions, that chains him who +dwelt among the tombs, and within whom +dwelt a legion of devils. Till other and +better days come, the best cemented peace +is only a pause—a truce—an armistice; +the breathing-time of exhausted combatants. +Alas, that it should be so: yet true +it is, that that nation dooms itself to disaster, +if not destruction, which, pursuing +only the arts of peace, leaves its swords to +rust, and its navies to rot, and forts with +empty embrasures to moulder into ruins. +The trumpet of the world’s Jubilee has +not yet sounded, nor have all the vials of +the Apocalypse been emptied of the wrath<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +of God. And so, till the nations have +emerged from spiritual darkness; till +God’s Word is an open book, and duly +honoured in all lands; till immorality +has ceased to weaken the bonds of social +happiness, discontent to rankle in the +bosom of the people, and ambition to fire +the breasts of kings, the world may expect +ever and anon to hear the voice of Joel +sounding out this trumpet call, “Prepare +ye war; wake up the mighty men; let all +the men of war draw near—beat your +ploughshares into swords and your pruning-hooks +into spears—put ye in the +sickle, for the harvest is ripe.”</p> + +<p>Better days are coming—some think +near at hand. Turning a seer’s eye on +futurity, Isaiah descried them in the far +distance—saw the reign of the Prince of +Peace—Jesus crowned King of kings and +Lord of lords—swords beaten into ploughshares +and spears into pruning-hooks—every +man, whether at hall or cottage +door, sitting under the shade of his vine +and fig-tree—the whole earth quiet, and +at rest. And glad is the Church, as,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +weary of strife and sin and sorrow, she +looks up into the darksome sky, and cries, +Watchman, what of the night? to get a +hopeful response,—to catch any sign, in +break, or blush, or gray gleam however +feeble, that seems to reply, The morning +cometh! Come blessed morn, come +Prince of Peace—come Lord Jesus—come +quickly! Let wars cease unto the +ends of the earth! Scatter Thou the +people that delight in war.</p> + +<p>The vision tarries, but come it shall. +In answer to the cry of blood that rises +to heaven with a different voice from that +of Abel’s, peace shall reign and wars shall +cease. By the hands that men nailed to +a cross God will break the bow, the battle, +and the spear—burning the chariot in the +fire. And though any peace which our +age may enjoy should be only a breathing-time, +but a pause in the roar of the bloody +tempest, let us improve it to remedy all +wrongs at home; to educate our ignorant +and neglected masses; to eradicate the +vices that disgrace and degrade our nation; +to build up the Church wherever it lies in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +ruins; to extend not so much Britain’s +empire as Christ’s kingdom abroad, and +so hasten forward the happy time when +the Song of the Angels shall be echoed +from every land, and the voices of the +skies of Bethlehem shall be lost in the +grander, fuller, nobler chorus of all nations, +singing, Glory to God in the highest, peace +on earth, good will toward men!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"><!-- unnumbered page --></a></span></p> + +<h2><i>PART VI.</i></h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +<span class="dropcapt"><span class="dropcap">T</span></span>hough the last to be dropped +into its place, the keystone +is of all the stones of an arch +the first in importance; the +others span no flood, carry no weight, are +of no value, without it. It gives unity to +the separate parts, and locking all together, +makes them one. Of such consequence +to the other parts of the Angels’ Song is +its last clause. It was not simply Glory +to God, nor peace on earth, but good +will toward men, which made the angels +messengers of mercy, and the news they +brought tidings of great joy. Glory to +God! Amid the rush of the waters that +drowned the world, and the roar of the +flames that laid Sodom in ashes, they sang +glory to God. God is glorious in acts of +judgment as well as in acts of mercy—“the +God of Glory thundereth.” So on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +shores strewn with the corpses of the dead, +beside a sea which opened its gates for +the escape of Israel and closed them on +Egypt, burying king and bannered host +beneath its whirling waves, Moses and +Miriam cried, Sing ye to the Lord, for He +hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and +his rider hath He cast into the sea! +Then the deep lifted up its voice, and all +the waves of the sea sang Glory to God! +as, bearing the dead in on their foaming +crests, they laid them at Moses’ feet. And +when that judgment comes to which these +are but as the big drops that prepare us for +a burst of thunder and the rushing rain, +when the great white throne is set, and +the books are opened, and the Judge +rises in awful majesty to pronounce words +of doom, the voices of ten times ten +thousand saints shall add, Amen; and +in an outburst of praise that drowns +the wail of the lost, the whole host of +angels shall sing, Glory to God! With +such ascription of praise Christ’s heralds +would have announced His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +advent, had He come not to save, but to +destroy.</p> + +<p>“Glory to God,” the first clause of this +song, does not, therefore, necessarily involve +good will towards men; and no +more does the second, “peace on earth.” +Peace! Peace was in the valley where +the prophet stood with the grim wrecks of +war around him,—friend and foe sleeping +side by side, skeletons silently turning to +dust, and swords to rust. Peace is in the +battle-field when the last gun is fired, and, +the last of the dying having groaned out +his soul in a gush of blood, the heaving +mass is still. Peace was on the sea and +the storm suddenly became a calm, when +the waves leaping up against the flying +ship obtained their prey, and from the +deck where he stood summoned by the +voice, Arise, O thou that sleepest, and +call upon thy God, Jonah was flung into +the jaws of death. Peace was in that land +he had ravaged of whom men said, “He +made a solitude, and called it peace,”—all +its homesteads lay in ashes, and its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +cities stood in silent ruins. Peace was in +Israel, when, provoked by their sins, God +cast His people out: swept them all into +captivity. The land had its Sabbaths +then. The Angels’ Song might have announced +a similar, but greater, judgment—that, +as a landlord clears his estate of +turbulent, lawless, bankrupt tenants, God, +who had repented long ago that He had +made man, was at length coming to clear +the earth of his guilty presence, and make +room for better tenants; a purer, holier +race. It is the last clause of this hymn, +therefore, that gives it an aspect of mercy—the +revenue of glory which God was to +receive, and the peace which earth was to +enjoy, flowing from that fountain of redeeming +love which had its spring in God’s +good will. Of this Christ was the divine +expression, and angels were the happy +messengers.</p> + +<p>Happy messengers indeed! No wonder +they hastened their flight to earth, and having +announced the good tidings, lingered +over the fields of Bethlehem, singing as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +they hovered on the wing. To announce +bad news is the unenviable office often +imposed on ministers of the gospel; and +recollecting with what slow, reluctant steps +my feet approached the house where I had +to break to a mother the tidings of the +wreck, and how her sailor boy with all +hands had perished; or, in the news of a +husband’s sudden death, I had to plant a +dagger in the heart of a young, bright, +happy wife. I never have read the story +of Absalom’s tragic end, without wondering +at the race between Ahimaaz and +Cushi who should first carry the tidings to +David. It had been easier, I think, to +look the foe in the face and hear the roar +of battle than see the old man’s grief, and +hear that heart-broken cry, “O Absalom, +my son, my son Absalom, would God I +had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, +my son!” I can enter into the feelings +of the two Marys, when, to quote the +words of Holy Scripture, “they departed +quickly from the sepulchre with fear and +great joy, and did run to bring the disciples<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +word.” I see them, as, regardless of appearances, +and saluting no one, they press +on, along the road, through the streets, +with panting breath and gleaming eye and +streaming hair and flying feet, striving who +shall be first to proclaim the resurrection, +and burst in on the disciples with the glad +tidings, crying, “The Lord is risen!” +Teaching the Churches how to strive, their +only rivalry who shall first carry the tidings +of salvation to heathen lands, I dare +to say those holy women never took such +bounding steps, nor sped on their way +with such haste before. And never, I +fancy, did angels leave the gates of heaven +so fast behind them, pass suns and stars +in downward flight on such rapid wing, as +when they hasted to earth with the tidings +of great joy. May we be as eager to accept +salvation as they were to announce +it! May the love of God find a responsive +echo within our bosoms! Would that our +wishes for His glory corresponded to His +for our good, and that His good will toward +us awoke a corresponding good will +toward Him—felt in hearts glowing with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +zeal for Christ’s cause, and expressed in +lives wholly consecrated to His service.</p> + +<p>In studying this, we shall now consider +the persons to whom good will is expressed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XI.</h2> + +<h3>THE PERSONS TO WHOM GOOD WILL IS +EXPRESSED.</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcapi"><span class="dropcap">I</span></span>t is expressed to men—to all +men; so that if we are finally +lost, the blame as well as the +bane is ours. God has no ill +will to us, or to any. He has no pleasure +in the death of the wicked; nor is He +willing that any should perish, but that all +should come to Him, and live. His good +will embraces the world.</p> + +<p>“When I consider thy heavens, the +work of thy fingers, the moon and the +stars which thou hast ordained; what is +man, that thou art mindful of him? and +the Son of man, that thou visitest him?” +So said the royal psalmist. And, in a +sense, time should only have deepened +the astonishment which this question<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +expresses. For man’s ideas of the magnificence +of the heavens have grown with +the course of ages; and though the stars +in the transparent atmosphere of Palestine +shone with a brilliancy unknown to us, +our conceptions of the heavens are grander +and more true than David’s—thanks to +the discoveries of modern science. As +navigators, so soon as by help of the +mariner’s compass they could push their +bold prows into untravelled seas, were +ever adding new continents to the land +and new islands to the ocean, so, since +the invention of the telescope, science has +been discovering new stars in the heavens; +filling up their empty spaces with stellar +systems, and vastly enlarging the limits of +creation. And since every new orb has +added to the lustre of Jehovah’s glory, +another world to His kingdom, another +jewel to His crown, these discoveries, by +exalting God still higher, have added point +and power to the old question, “What +is man, that thou art mindful of him? +and the Son of man, that thou visitest +him?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +Yet, apart from man’s sinfulness, I cannot +feel that he is beneath the regards of +the Maker and Monarch of the starry +heavens. I can fancy that an earthly +sovereign who, dwelling apart from his +people, is jealous of their intrusion within +his palace gates, and sits enthroned amid +an exclusive though brilliant circle of proud +and powerful barons, may neither know +nor care about the fortunes of lowly cottagers; +but there could be no greater mistake +than out of such a man’s character +to weave our conceptions of God, or fancy +that because we are infinitely beneath His +rank, we are therefore beneath His notice. +A glance at the meanest of His creatures +refutes and rebukes the unworthy thought. +It needs no angels from heaven to inform +us that God cherishes good will to all the +creatures of His hand, nor deems the least +of them beneath His kind regards. Look +at bird, or butterfly, or beetle! Observe +the lavish beauty that adorns His creatures, +the bounty that supplies their wants, the +care taken of their lives, the happiness, +expressed in songs or merry gambols or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +mazy dances, which He has poured into +their hearts. The whole earth is full of +the glory of God’s infinite benignity and +good will. Insignificant as I—a speck on +earth, and earth itself but a speck in creation—seem +to myself when, standing below +the starry vault, I look up into the +heavens, yet, apart from the thought that +I am a sinner, I cannot say, What is man, +that thou art mindful of him? How can +I, when I see Him mindful of the brood +that sleep in their rocking nest, of the +moth that flits by my face on muffled +wing, of the fox that howls on the hill, of +the owl that hoots to the pale moon from +ivy tower or hollow tree? Are you not of +more value than many sparrows? said our +Lord. Fashioned originally after the +divine image, with a soul outweighing in +value the rude matter of a thousand +worlds, able to rise on the wings of +contemplation above the highest stars +and hold communion with God himself, +man, apart from his sinfulness, was every +way worthy of divine good will; that God +should be mindful of him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +But we are sinners—sinners by nature +as well as practice; polluted; unholy; +so unclean that our emblem is that hideous +form which, from the crown of the +head to the soles of the feet, is wounds +and bruises and putrifying sores; and the +news that God cherishes good will to such +guilty creatures may well evoke the old, +wondering cry, Hear, O heavens; be +astonished, O earth! On recalling the +happy days of early life, when, a child, he +lay in his father’s arms; a boy, he sat on +his knee; a youth, he walked by his side—the +tears that at parting streamed over +the old man’s cheeks—his kind counsels, +his tender warnings, his warm kisses, and +how he had stood and watched his departing +steps till the brow of a hill or a turn +of the road hid him from view, the poor +prodigal ventured to hope that his father +would not turn him from his door; for +the sake of the past and of his mother in +the grave, would grant him at least a +servant’s place. Weighed down by a sense +of guilt, his hopes rose to no higher flight—expected +nothing beyond a menial’s office.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +To be received with open arms, to be welcomed +back again like some youth who +has gone abroad to win a fortune or be +crowned with laurels—that his should be +the fairest robe, the finest ring, the fatted +calf—that instead of stealing in under +the cloud of night to be concealed from +strangers’ eyes, the old house on his return +should ring to the sound of music, and +floors should shake to the dancers’ feet, +and the whole neighbourhood should be +called to rejoice with a father whose +shame and sorrow he had been, was a turn +of fortune he never dreamt of; never +dared to hope for. On the part of that +loving, forgiving father, what amazing good +will! But how much more amazing this +which God proclaimed by the lips of +angels, and proved by the death of His +beloved Son!</p> + +<p>I have known fathers and mothers who +were sorely tried by wayward, wicked +children—I have seen their gray hairs go +down with sorrow to the grave. With +hearts bleeding under wounds from the +hands of one they loved, I have seen them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +welcome the grave; saying as they descended +into its quiet rest, “the days of my +mourning are ended.” It is a horrid crime +to wring tears from such eyes, to crush such +hearts: but was ever patient, hoping, loving +parent tried as we have tried our +Father in heaven? Not without reason +does He ask, “If I be a father, where is +mine honour? if I be a master, where is +my fear?” And who that thinks of his +sins, their guilt, their number, and, as +committed against infinite love and tender +mercy, their unspeakable atrocity, but +will acknowledge the truth of these words, +“Because I am God, and not man, therefore +the children of men are not consumed”—just +as it is because the ship +rides by a cable, and not a cobweb, that, +when sails are rent, and yards are gone, +and breakers are foaming on the reef, she +mounts the billows and survives the storm. +That we are not suffering the pains of +hell, that we have hopes of heaven and +ever shall be there, we owe not to our +good works, but to God’s good will; to +that only. Till converted, man does not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +desire this good will; and never deserves +it. We have no claim to it whatever. It +is “not by works of righteousness which +we have done, but according to his mercy +God saves us, by the washing of regeneration +and the renewing of the Holy Ghost”—therefore +His good will has no root in +any good works of ours. A sacred mystery, +we may apply to it the words which +Job, contemplating the grand mysteries of +nature, applied to our earth when, seeing +this great globe floating in ethereal space, +sustained by no pillars, nor suspended by +any chain that linked it to the skies, he +said, Thou hast hung it upon nothing!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XII.</h2> + +<h3>THE PERSON WHO EXPRESSES “GOOD +WILL.”</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcapt"><span class="dropcap">T</span></span>he person is God—He who +spake by holy men of old, +speaking here by the lips of +angels. Where there is a will, +there is a way, is a brave and admirable +proverb. Yet, though comparatively true +in most cases, to some it is altogether +inapplicable. Look, for example, at the +women who, when the men had turned +cowards, boldly follow our Lord to Calvary, +bewailing and lamenting Him! +What tears they shed, what a wail they +raise, when the door opens, and, surrounded +by armed guards, Jesus comes +forth from the Judgment Hall, bleeding, +bound, crowned with thorns. When He +sank down on the street under the weight +of the cross, and His blessed head lay low<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +in the dust, had there been a chance of +saving Him, how had they rushed to His +help; and, giving their naked breasts to +the Roman spears, burst through the circle +to rescue Him; to die with Him rather +than desert Him. But they were helpless. +Their good will availed the loved object +nothing—beyond this, that the sympathy +flowing in their tears and expressed in +their looks, somewhat soothed the sorrows +of His heart, and fell like balm drops on +His smarting wounds.</p> + +<p>Again, what good will did David bear +to Jonathan! Did Jonathan love David +as his own soul? and under circumstances +calculated to dissolve all common friendships, +and work such change on the heart +as wine suffers when it turns into vinegar, +did Jonathan’s sentiments continue unchanged, +his affection unabated to the +last? His love was strong as death; many +waters could not quench it. But it was +amply requited. David proved that with +his harp; had he been present on that +fatal field where the bow of Jonathan was +broken, he had proved it with his sword.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +With what a lion spring had he answered +Jonathan’s cry for help; how had he bestrode +his fallen friend, covering him with +his battered shield; mowing a way through +the ranks of the Philistines, how had he +borne him off to a place of safety, or falling +in the attempt, left others to compose +their elegy, and sing, They were pleasant +in their lives, and in death they were not +divided! God is a very present help in +time of trouble; but there was no help for +Jonathan in David. Far away from that +bloody field, his good will availed Jonathan +nothing—beyond embalming his rare +virtues in immortal song, and in an imperishable +lament raising an imperishable +monument to the memory of a man whose +love to him was wonderful, passing the +love of women.</p> + +<p>Again, what good will in his father’s +heart to Esau? But the old man’s hands +are tied. Fresh from the chase, and +ignorant of what has happened in his +absence, Esau approaches Isaac, saying, +Let my father arise and eat of his son’s +venison, that thy soul may bless me!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +Who art thou? says the blind old man—astonished +that any should ask what he +has already given away. Recognising the +beloved voice which replied, I am thy +son, thy first-born Esau, and dreading +some dire calamity, Isaac trembled exceedingly, +crying, “Who? where is he +that hath taken venison and brought it +me; and I have eaten of all before thou +camest, and have blessed him? yea, and +he shall be blessed.” By the basest, +cruelest fraud, Jacob has possessed himself +of the blessing; and if their mother, +his own partner in guilt, was watching the +issue of this perfidious plot, how had it +pierced her heart to hear Esau, when the +truth flashed on his mind and he saw the +treasure stolen, cry, “with a great and +exceeding bitter cry, Bless me, even me +also, O my father!” The strong man, +the bold hardy hunter, lifted up his voice +and wept; seeking repentance, as the +apostle says—to get Isaac to undo the +deed—with tears but found it not. What +availed his father’s good will to him, his +favourite son? What was done must stand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +The blessing was gone; and Isaac, though +he had the will, had no way to recall it.</p> + +<p>But what need to ransack old history +for examples? How often have our hearts +overflowed with good will, yet we could +only weep with them that wept—pity +sorrows we could not soothe, wants we +were powerless to relieve? Tears we +might give, but they could not clothe the +naked, or feed the hungry, or save the +dying, or recall the dead, or close the +wounds which death had made. In +dying chambers how are we made painfully, +bitterly to feel that man’s power is +not commensurate with his will? What +good will, what tender affection toward +some dear, beloved object! yet, as we +hung over the dying couch, all we could +do was to moisten the speechless lips, to +wipe the clammy sweat from death’s cold +brow and watch the sinking pulses of life’s +ebbing tide. What would we not have +done to meet the wishes of the eye that, +when speech was gone, turned on us +imploring, never-to-be-forgotten looks! +Alas, our good will availed them nothing!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +Such recollections, by the contrast +which they present to God’s good will, +greatly enhance its preciousness. “His +favour is life, his loving-kindness is better +than life.” Where God has a will, God +always has a way. At the throne of divine +grace, none had ever to shed Esau’s tears, +or cry with him, Hast thou but one +blessing, O my father? Our father in +heaven is affluent in blessings, plenteous in +redemption, abundant in goodness and in +truth. Who ever turned an imploring eye +on God, and brought to prayer the earnestness +of him that bends the knee to yon +blind old man, but became in time the +happy object of God’s loving, saving mercy. +Let men trust in the Lord. In the name +of Christ let them throw themselves on +His mercy. What though they cannot +see it? It is around them, like the invisible +but ambient air on which the eagle, +with an awful gulf below, throws herself +from her rocky nest in fearless freedom, +and with expanded wings. So let men, +trusting in God’s faithful word, spread out +the wings of faith, and cast them on His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +good will. Wrapping the world round in +an atmosphere of mercy, it shall sustain +their weight, and bear them aloft, till, +ascending into the calm regions of Christian +hope, they bathe their eyes in the +beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and +feel their feet firmly planted on the Rock +of Ages.</p> + +<p>But let one thing be remembered, this, +namely, that God will not save any against +their will. Let us therefore seek, and seek +till we obtain, a change of heart. He +draws, not drives—will not force any into +heaven—nor be served by the hands of a +slave. If I would not have a sullen, +crouching slave wait at my table, work in +my house, stand in my poor presence, +much less He who says, Give me thy +heart, my son! He makes His people +willing in the day of His power. Softened +in the flames of Divine love, their stubborn +wills yield to His, and, under the hand of +His Holy Spirit and the hammer of His +mighty word, take the fashion and form +of His own. Thus, His will and their +wills being brought into perfect harmony,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +His people feel their duty to be their +delight, and regard His holy service as no +irksome bondage, but the truest liberty +and highest honour.</p> + + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center"><b>THE END.</b></p> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Ballantyne, Roberts, & Co., Printers, Edinburgh.</i></p> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<p><b>Transcriber’s Note:</b></p> + +<p>Minor printer errors (omitted letters or punctuation) have been corrected +without note. Any variations in spelling or hyphenation have been left as +they appeared in the original.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Angels' Song, by Thomas Guthrie + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGELS' SONG *** + +***** This file should be named 21024-h.htm or 21024-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/0/2/21024/ + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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b/21024.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8a7a15 --- /dev/null +++ b/21024.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2354 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Angels' Song, by Thomas Guthrie + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Angels' Song + +Author: Thomas Guthrie + +Release Date: April 10, 2007 [EBook #21024] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGELS' SONG *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE ANGELS' SONG. + + + ALEXANDER STRAHAN +148 _Strand_, London +178 _Grand Street_, New York + + + + + THE ANGELS' SONG + + + BY THOMAS GUTHRIE, D.D. + + AUTHOR OF "MAN AND THE GOSPEL," ETC. + + + [Illustration: Publisher's device] + + + ALEXANDER STRAHAN, PUBLISHER + LONDON AND NEW YORK + 1866 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +PART I., 5 + + I. THAT REDEMPTION YIELDS THE + HIGHEST GLORY TO GOD, 14 + +PART II., 23 + + II. REDEMPTION GLORIFIES GOD IN + THE SIGHT OF HOLY ANGELS, 30 + + III. REDEMPTION GLORIFIES GOD + THROUGHOUT ALL THE UNIVERSE, 35 + + IV. THE REDEEMER AND REDEMPTION + ARE WORTHY OF OUR HIGHEST + PRAISE, 40 + +PART III., 47 + + V. THEY WERE MEN OF A PEACEFUL + CALLING, 55 + + VI. THEY WERE MEN OF HUMBLE + RANK, 60 + + VII. THEY WERE MEN ENGAGED IN + COMMON DUTIES, 65 + +PART IV., 69 + + VIII. JESUS RESTORES PEACE BETWEEN + GOD AND MAN, 80 + +PART V., 93 + + IX. JESUS BRINGS PEACE TO THE SOUL, 102 + + X. JESUS SHALL BRING PEACE TO THE + WORLD, 110 + +PART VI., 117 + + XI. THE PERSONS TO WHOM GOOD + WILL IS EXPRESSED, 126 + + XII. THE PERSON WHO EXPRESSES + "GOOD WILL," 134 + + + + +_PART I._ + + +The birth of an heir to the throne is usually accompanied by +circumstances befitting so great an event. No place is deemed worthy +of it but a royal palace; and there, at the approach of the expected +hour, high nobles and the great officers of state assemble, while the +whole country, big with hope, waits to welcome a successor to its long +line of kings. Cannons announce the event; seaward, landward, guns +flash and roar from floating batteries and rocky battlements; bonfires +blaze on hill-tops; steeples ring out the news in merry peals; the +nation holds holiday, giving itself up to banqueting and enjoyments, +while public prayers and thanksgivings rise to Him by whom kings reign +and princes decree justice. With such pomp and parade do the heirs of +earthly thrones enter on the stage of life! So came not He who is the +King of kings and Lord of lords. On the eve of His birth the world +went on its usual round. None were moved for His coming; nor was there +any preparation for the event--a chamber, or anything else. No fruit +of unhallowed love, no houseless beggar's child enters life more +obscurely than the Son of God. The very tokens by which the shepherds +were taught to recognise Him were not the majesty but the extreme +meanness of his condition: "This shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall +find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." In +fact, the Lord of heaven was to be recognised by his humiliation, as +its heirs are by their humility. Yet, as we have seen a black and +lowering cloud have its edges touched with living gold by the sun +behind it, so all the darkest scenes of our Lord's life appear more or +less irradiated with the splendours of a strange glory. Take that +night on Galilee when a storm roared over land and lake, enough to +wake all but the dead. The boat with Jesus and His disciples tears +through the waves, now whirling on their foaming crests, now plunging +into their yawning hollows; the winds rave in His ear; the spray falls +in cold showers on His naked face; but He sleeps. I have read of a +soldier boy who was found buried in sleep beneath his gun, amid the +cries and carnage of the battle; and the powers of nature in our Lord +seem to be equally exhausted. His strength is spent with toil; and +with wan face and wasted form He lies stretched out on some rude +boards--the picture of one whose candle is burning away all too fast, +and whom excess of zeal is hurrying into premature old age and an +untimely grave. Was the sight such as to suggest the question, Where +is now thy God?--how soon it changed into a scene of magnificence and +omnipotent power! He wakes--as a mother, whom louder sounds would not +stir, to her infant's feeblest wail, He wakes to the cry of His +alarmed disciples; and standing up, with the lightning flash +illumining His calm, divine face, He looks out on the terrific war of +elements. He speaks; and all is hushed. Obedient to His will, the +winds fold their wings, the waves sink to rest; and there is a great +calm. "Glory to God in the highest!" How may His people catch up and +continue the strain which falls from angels' lips? In disciples +plucked from the very jaws of death, and pulling their boat shoreward +with strong hands and happy hearts over a moonlit glassy sea, Jesus +shows us how He will make good these sayings, "Fear not, for I am with +thee; be not afraid, for I am thy God"--"I have given unto them +eternal life, and they shall never perish." + +The divine glory of that scene is not peculiar to it. For as an eagle, +so soon as she has stooped from her realm to the ground, mounts aloft +again, soaring into the blue skies of her native heavens, our Lord +never descends into the abasement of His meanest circumstances without +some act which bespeaks divinity, and bears Him up before our eyes +into the regions of Godhead. The grave, where He weeps like a woman, +gives up its prisoner at His word. Athirst by Jacob's well, like any +other wayfaring, way-worn traveller, He begs a draught of water from +a woman there, but tells her all she ever did. Houseless and poor, His +banquet hall is the open air, His table the green grass, His feast +five barley loaves and a few fishes from the neighbouring lake, yet +this scanty fare supplies the wants of five thousand guests. His birth +and life and death, His whole history, in fact, resembles one of those +treasure-chests which double locks secure; for as that iron safe +yields its hoards of gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones to none +but Him who brings to each lock its own appropriate key, so the riches +of divine truth, redeeming love, and saving mercy are open only to +such as come to Jesus with a belief in His divinity on the one hand, +and a belief in His humanity on the other;--who behold in the child, +whose birth was sung by angels, the son of Mary, and worship the only +begotten, well beloved, and eternal Son of God. + +Now this mingling of divine and human characters distinguished +Christ's birth as much as His death. The halo of glory that surrounded +His dying, crowned His infant head. His sun rose, as it afterwards +set, behind a heavy bank of clouds; but the divinity they screened, +touched their edges alike with burning gold; so that He at whose death +the rocks were rent, and the sun eclipsed, and graves deserted of +their dead, no more entered than He left our world as a common son of +Adam. Not that a world which was to reject Him went out to meet its +King with homage and royal honours. Omen of coming events, it received +Him in sullen silence. But the heavens declared His glory, the skies +sent out a sound; and the tokens of His first advent--unlike the +thunders which shall rend the skies when He comes the second time to +judgment--were all in beautiful harmony with its object. It was love +and saving mercy; there were light, music, and angel forms. With this +object all things indeed were in perfect keeping,--the serene +night--the shining stars--the pearly dews glistening on the +grass--snowy flocks safely pasturing--and the shepherds themselves, to +whom the annunciation was made; men who, whether going before their +charge, or carrying the lambs in their arms, or gently leading those +that were with young, or standing bravely between their flocks and the +roaring lion, were the choicest emblems and types of Him who, dying to +save us, gave His life for the sheep. To them there suddenly appeared +a multitude of the heavenly host, turning night into day, and shedding +on the soft hills around a bright but gentle radiance. As guard of +honour, they had swept in their downward flight by many a sun and +star, escorting the Son of God to our nether world. And now--ere they +left Him to tread the wine-press alone, and returned on upward wings +to their native heavens, and their service before the throne of +God--these celestials bent their loving eyes on the stable; and in +anticipation of Jesus' triumphs, of men saved, death conquered, graves +spoiled, and Satan crushed, they sang "Glory to God in the highest, +and on earth peace, good will toward men." + +This hymn, sung perhaps in parts by different bands of these heavenly +choristers consists of three parts; and we now proceed to the +illustration of these. + + + + +I. + +THAT REDEMPTION YIELDS THE HIGHEST GLORY TO GOD. + + +I say the highest; for though His _absolute_ glory, like His eternal +being and infinite perfections, admits of no degrees, and is affected +by no circumstances whatever, it is otherwise with His _declarative_ +glory, as old theologians called it. This, which I speak of, and which +angels sung of, consists in the manifestation of His attributes. +Whatever it be, though only the drop of water, which appears a world +of wonders to the eyes of a man of science, any work is glorious which +reflects the divine character in any measure, and still more glorious +or glorifying which exhibits it in a greater measure. God's glory +expands and unfolds itself as we rise upward in the study of His +works--from inanimate to living objects; from plants to animals; from +animals to man; from man to angels; from these to archangels, upward +and still upward, to the Being who, bathed in the full blaze of divine +effulgence, tops the pyramid, and stands on the highest pinnacle of +Creation. That Being is God manifest in the flesh, our Lord Jesus +Christ--the redemption which He wrought for us, through blood and +suffering and death, being the work which reveals God most fully to +our eyes, and forming a looking-glass, so to speak, to reflect the +whole measure of divinity. This will appear if we look at-- + +The Redeemer.--One of His many titles is the _Wonderful_. Anticipating +the royal birth at Bethlehem, and speaking of Christ in terms which no +other key can open but the doctrine of His divinity, Isaiah says, +"Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government +shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, +Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of +Peace." With pencils of sunlight God paints the rose; by arts of a +divine chemistry He turns foul decay into the snow-white purity and +fragrant odours of a lily; He fashions the infant in the darkness of +the mother's womb; He inspires dead matter with the active principle +of life; in man He unites an ethereal spirit to a lump of +clay--wonders these which have perplexed the wisest men, and remain as +incomprehensible to philosophers as to fools. Yet, as if there was no +mystery in these but what our understanding could fathom--as if there +was nothing in these to teach proud man humility and rouse his +admiration--as if there was indeed no wonder but Christ himself in all +this great and glorious universe, He is called by way of eminence the +_Wonderful_. And why? Because, as the stars cease to shine in presence +of the sun, quenched by the effulgence, and drowned in the flood of +his brighter beams, these lose all their wonders beside this little +Child. To a meditative man it is curious to stand over any cradle +where an infant sleeps; and, as we look on the face so calm, and the +little arms gently folded on the placid breast, to think of the mighty +powers and passions which are slumbering there; to think that this +feeble nursling has heaven or hell before it; that an immortal in a +mortal form is allied to angels; that the life which it has begun +shall last when the sun is quenched, enduring throughout all eternity. +Much more wonderful the spectacle the manger offers, where shepherds +bend their knees, and angels bend their eyes! Here is present, not the +immortal, but the eternal; here is not one kind of matter united to +another, or a spiritual to an earthly element, but the Creator to a +creature, divine Omnipotence to human weakness, the Ancient of Days to +the infant of a day. What deep secrets of divine wisdom, power, and +love lie here, wrapped up in these poor swaddling-clothes! Mary holds +in her arms, in this manger with its straw, what draws the wondering +eyes, and inspires the loftiest songs of angels. If that be not God's +greatest, and therefore most glorifying work, where are we to seek +it? in what else is it found? "The depth saith, It is not in me; and +the sea saith, It is not in me!" Were we to range the vast universe to +find its rival, we should return, like the dove to its ark, to the +stable-door, and the swaddled babe, there to mingle human voices with +the heavenly choir--singing, Glory to God in the highest! + +The fact that redemption yields God the highest glory will appear also +if we look at-- + +The Redeemed.--It is in them, in sinners saved, not in the happy and +holy angels, that God stands out fully revealed as in a mirror; long +and broad enough, if I may say so, to show forth all His attributes. +To vary the figure; the cross of Christ is the focus in which all the +beams of divinity, all the attributes of the Godhead, are gathered +into one bright, burning spot, with power to warm the coldest and melt +the stoniest heart. No man hath seen God at any time, otherwise than +in His works; and though created things are immeasurably inferior to +their Creator, they may still help us to form some conception of His +character. A drop of water is an ocean, a spark of fire is a sun, +every grain of sand on the sea-shore is a world, in miniature; and as +those who have never seen ocean, or sun, or world, may form some idea +of their appearance by magnifying these their miniatures millions of +millions of times, so, by immensely magnifying the age, the power, the +wisdom, the holiness of an angel, we could form some dim conception of +God. Not that we would not have still to ask, "Who can by searching +find out God? who can find out the Almighty to perfection?"--not that +when we had exclaimed, in the sublime words of Job, "Hell is naked +before him, and destruction hath no covering. He stretcheth out the +north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth on nothing. He +bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds. He holdeth back the face of +his throne. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his +reproof. He divideth the sea with his power. By his spirit he hath +garnished the heavens;"--we would not have to add with the patriarch, +"These are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of +him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?" + +Study Him, for example, in the angels who sung this birth-song! They +are holy, and we may conclude that their Maker is infinitely holy; +they are wise, and He who made them must possess infinite wisdom; they +are powerful, and He must be omnipotent; the God of good angels must +be infinitely good, as the avenger of sin and evil ones must be +infinitely just. This is sound reasoning--for, as David says, "He that +planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he +not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that +teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?" Still, however lofty and +worthy were the conceptions which we thus formed of God, He had never +been discovered in the full glory of His gracious character by this or +any corresponding process. Unspeakable honour to man and unspeakable +grace in God, the fulness of His character is revealed, not by seraphs +but by saints--in redeemed and ransomed sinners. And so Mary +Magdalene, as reflecting His attributes more fully than angels, wears +in heaven a brighter glory than crowns their unfallen heads. She, and +all with her, who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, +are trophies of free, saving mercy; monuments of that love which, when +stern justice had dragged us to the mouth of the pit, and angels, who +had seen their fellows punished by one awful act of vengeance, stood +in dread and silent expectation of another, graciously interposed, +saying, "Deliver from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom." +Then, blessed Son of God, thou didst step forward to say, And I am +that ransom! From that day heaven was happier. It found a new joy. +Angels tuned their golden harps to higher strains; and now, these +blessed spirits, above the mean jealousies of earth's elder brothers, +whenever they see Christ born anew in a soul--a sinner born again, +called, converted, apparelled in Jesus' righteousness, rejoicing in +His arms, or even weeping at His feet, wake up the old, grand +birth-song, singing, "Glory to God in the highest!" "There is joy," +said Jesus, "in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that +repenteth--joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more +than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance." + + + + +_PART II._ + + +No man hath seen God at any time; so saith the Scriptures. He who is +confined to no bounds of space cannot in the nature of things have any +visible form. God has however occasionally made revelations of +Himself; and such are described in language which seems opposed alike +to the declarations of Scripture and the deductions of reason. It is +said, for instance, of Moses and Aaron, when they ascended Mount +Sinai, that "they saw the God of Israel;" and Isaiah tells how he "saw +the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train +filled the temple." Believing with the Jews that if any man saw God he +could not survive, but would die as by a flash of lightning, the +prophet was struck with terror, and cried, in expectation of immediate +death, "I am undone; for mine eyes have seen the Lord of hosts." + +The object seen in these and also other cases was no doubt the +Schekinah--that holy and mysterious flame whereby God made His +presence known in the days of old. We know little concerning it beyond +this, that it was of the nature of light. The fairest, purest, oldest +of created things, passing untainted through pollution, turning gloomy +night into day, and imparting their varied beauties to earth and air +and ocean, this of all material elements was the fittest symbol of +God. A circumstance this to which we probably owe the ancient practice +of worshipping the Divinity by fire, and certainly such figures as +these: "God is light;" "He clothes himself with light as with a +garment;" "He dwelleth in light that is inaccessible and full of +glory." This light, said to have been intensely luminous, brighter +than a hundred suns, was not always nor even usually visible; +although, like a lamp placed behind a curtain, it may have usually +imparted to the cloud which concealed it a tempered and dusky glow. +There were occasions when the veil of this temple was rent asunder; +and then the light shone out with intense splendour--dazzling all +eyes, and convincing sceptics that this cloud, now resting on the +tabernacle, and now, signal for the host to march, floating upward in +the morning air, was not akin to such as are born of swamps or sea; +and which, as emblems of our mortality, after changing from rosy +beauty into leaden dullness, melt into air, leaving the place that +once knew them to know them no more for ever. This symbol and token of +the Divine presence was of all the types and figures of Jesus Christ +in some respects both the most apposite and glorious: a cloud with God +within, and speaking from it--going before to guide the host--placing +Himself for their protection between them and their enemies--by day +their grateful shade from scorching heat, by night their sun amid +surrounding darkness. + +It was one, and not the least singular of its aspects, that this cloud +always grew light when the world grew dark--the cloudy pillar of the +day blazing forth at night as a pillar of fire. So shone the divinity +in Him who was "Emmanuel, God with us," His darkest circumstances, His +deepest humiliations, being the occasions of His greatest glory. He +was buried, and being so, was greatly humbled; but angels attended His +funeral, and guarded His tomb. He was crucified, condemned to the +death of the vilest criminal, and being so, was greatly humbled; but +those heavens and earth which are as little moved by the death of the +greatest monarch as by the fall of a withered leaf, expressed their +sympathy with the august Sufferer--the sun hid his face, and went into +mourning, the earth trembled with horror at the deed. He was born, and +in like manner He was greatly humbled, and had been, though His birth +had happened in a palace and His mother had been a queen; but with a +poor woman for His mother, a stable for His birthplace, a manger for +His cradle, and straw for His bed, these meannesses, like its spots on +the face of the sun, were lost in a blaze of glory. Earth did not +celebrate His advent, but Heaven did. Illumining her skies, she sent +herald angels to proclaim the news, and lighted up a new star to guide +the feet which sought the place where man's best hopes were cradled. +The most joyful birth that ever happened, it was meet that it should +be sung by angel lips,--and all the more because, redemption glorifies +God in the sight of holy angels. + + + + +II. + +REDEMPTION GLORIFIES GOD IN THE SIGHT OF HOLY ANGELS. + + +They take a lively interest in the affairs of our world, as the +Scriptures show, and as Jacob saw in his vision; for what else means +that ladder where they appeared to his dreaming eye ascending and +descending between earth and heaven? To the care of John our dying +Lord committed his mother; but God, when He sent His Son into the +world, committed Him to their care,--"He hath given his angels charge +over thee, that thou dash not thy foot against a stone." The care +which their Head enjoyed is extended to all the members. How happy are +the people that are in such a case! Think of the poor saint who has +none to wait on him, or the pious domestic who serves a table, and +humbly waits on others, having angels to wait on her! Are they not +said in Scripture to be "ministering spirits sent forth to minister to +them who are heirs of salvation?"--however the world may despise them, +"this honour have all his saints." However lowly their earthly state, +the saints are a kingly race; and as our highest nobles deem it an +honour to wait on the princes of the blood, accepting and soliciting +offices at court, the angels are happy to serve such as, through their +union with His incarnate Son, stand nearer the throne of God than +themselves. Unseen by him, these celestials guard the good man's bed; +watch his progress; wait on his person; guide his steps; and ward off +many a blow the devil aims at his head and heart. They are the nurses +of Christ's babes; the tutors and teachers of His children. A belief +in guardian saints is a silly Popish superstition; but we have good +authority in Scripture for believing that in this our state of +pupilage and probation, along all the way to Sion, in the conflicts +with temptation, and amid the thick of battle, God commits His saints +to angels' care; and that, as it is in their loving arms that the soul +of an aged saint is borne away to glory, every child of God has its +own celestial guardian, and sleeps in its little cradle beneath the +feathers of an angel's wing. What said our Lord? On setting a child +before the people as a pattern for them to copy, "Take heed," He said, +"that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, +That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father +which is in heaven." + +But whether we are, or are not, the happier for angels, there is no +question that they are the happier for us. They always loved God; but +since man's redemption they love Him more, and employ higher strains +and loftier raptures to praise His wisdom, power, holiness, justice, +and love. It has disclosed to them new views of God, and opened up in +heaven new springs of pleasure. Heaven has grown more heavenly, and +though they might have deemed it impossible to add one drop to their +happiness, they are holier and happier angels. There is joy among the +angels of heaven over every sinner that repenteth; and to the joyful +cry, My son that was dead is alive again, they respond, as they +receive the returned penitent from the Father's arms into their own, +My brother that was dead is alive again, that was lost is found! Never +from surf-beaten shore or rocky headland do spectators watch with such +anxious interest the life-boat, as, now seen and now lost, now +breasting the waves and now hurled back on the foaming crest of a +giant billow, she makes for the wreck, as they watch those who, with +the Bible in their hearts and hands, go forth to save the lost. And +when the poor perishing sinner throws himself into Jesus' arms, what +gratulations among these happy spirits! "There is joy in heaven over +one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just +persons." The event is one which I can fancy was in the prophet's eye, +when, fired with rapture, he cried, "Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord +hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into +singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord +hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel!" And the heavens +do sing. While the saints, descending from their thrones, cast their +sparkling crowns at Jesus' feet, and ten times ten thousand harps +sound, and ten times ten thousand angels sing, "Worthy is the Lamb +that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, +and honour, and glory, and blessing." + + + + +III. + +REDEMPTION GLORIFIES GOD THROUGHOUT ALL THE UNIVERSE. + + +With a small band of fishermen at His side, and no place on earth +where to lay His head, Jesus pointed to the sun, riding high in heaven +or rising over the hill-tops to bathe the scene in golden splendour, +and said, "I am the Light of the world." A bold saying; yet the day is +coming, however distant it appears, when the tidings of salvation +carried to the ends of the earth, and Jesus worshipped of all nations, +shall justify the speech; and the wishes shall be gratified, and the +prayers answered, and the prophecies fulfilled, so beautifully +expressed in these lines of Heber: + + "Waft, waft, ye winds, His story, + And you, ye waters, roll, + Till, like a sea of glory, + It spreads from pole to pole." + +But shall our world be the limits of the wondrous tale? Though ever +and deeply interesting as the scene of redemption, just as to patriots +is the barest moor where a people fought and conquered for their +freedom, our earth holds in other respects but a very insignificant +place in creation. In a space of the sky no larger than a tenth part +of the moon's disc, the telescope discovers many thousands of stars, +each a sun, attended probably by a group of planets like our own: +their number indeed is such that many parts of the heavens appear as +if they were sprinkled with gold-dust; and probably there are as many +suns and worlds in the universe as there are leaves in a forest, or +rather, sands on the ocean shore. + +Boldly venturing out into the regions of speculation, some have +thought that, if sin defile any of these worlds, its inhabitants may +share in the benefits of the atonement which Christ offered in ours; +and that beings further removed than we from the scenes of Calvary, +and differing more from us than we from the Jews of whom the Messiah +came, may, as well as we, find a Saviour by faith in Jesus; and that +for this end the work of redemption has perhaps been revealed to such +as, removed from our earth many millions of miles, never even saw the +planet that was its theatre and scene. There may be nothing in this. I +dare not say it is impossible; but these speculations touch the deep +things of God, and we would not attempt to be wise above that which is +written. Still, Scripture affords ground for believing, for hoping, at +least, that the story of redemption has been told in other worlds than +ours, and that the love of God in Christ--that fairest, fullest +manifestation of our Father's heart--links all parts of creation +together, and links all more closely to the throne of God. "He that +hath seen me, Philip," said our Lord to that disciple, "hath seen the +Father also;" and as I believe that He who delights to bless all His +unfallen creatures would not withhold from the inhabitants of other +spheres the happiness of knowing Him in His most adorable, gracious, +and glorious character, I can fancy them eagerly searching their +skies for a sight of our world,--the scene of that story which has +conveyed to them the fullest knowledge of Him they love, their deepest +sense of His ineffable holiness and unspeakable mercy. Not from pole +to pole, but from planet to planet, and from star to star, the love of +Christ deserves to be proclaimed; and it is a thought as grand as it +is probable, that the story of Calvary, not yet translated into all +the tongues of earth, is told in the ten times ten thousand tongues of +other worlds, and that the Name which is above every name--the blessed +Name which dwells in life in a believer's heart and trembles in death +on his lips--is known in spheres which his foot never trod and his eye +never saw. Such honours crown the head man once crowned with thorns; +and therefore did David, with the eye of a seer and the fire of a +poet, while calling for praise from kings of the earth and all people, +princes and all judges, young men and children, rise to a loftier +flight, exclaiming: "Praise Him in the heights. Praise ye Him, all ye +angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts. Praise ye Him, sun and moon: +praise Him, all ye stars of light." + + + + +IV. + +THE REDEEMER AND REDEMPTION ARE WORTHY OF OUR HIGHEST PRAISE. + + +Let us bend the head, and, in company of the shepherds, enter the +stable. Heard above the champing of bits, the stroke of hoofs, the +rattling of chains, and the lowing of oxen, the feeble wail of an +infant turns our steps to a particular stall: here a woman lies +stretched on a bed of straw, and her new-born child, hastily wrapped +in some part of her dress, finds a cradle in the manger. A pitiful +sight!--such a fortune as occasionally befalls the Arabs of +society--such an incident as may occur in the history of one of those +vagrant, vagabond, outcast families who, their country's shame, tent +in woods and sleep under hedges, when no barn or stable offers a +covering to their houseless heads. Yet princes on their way to the +crown, brides on their way to the marriage, bannered armies on their +way to the battle, and highest angels in their flight from star to +star, might stop to say of this sight, as Moses of the burning bush, +"Let me turn aside, and see this great sight!" + +The prophet foretells a time when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, +and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and, bound in the same +stall, and fed at the same manger, the lion shall eat straw with the +ox. Here is a greater wonder! This stable is the house of God, the +very gate of heaven: under this dusty roof, inside those narrow walls, +He lodges whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain: the tenant of +this manger is the Son, who, leaving the bosom of His Father to save +us, here pillows His head on straw; of this feeble babe the hands are +to hurl Satan from his throne, and wrench asunder the strong bars of +death; this one tender life, this single corn-seed is to become the +prolific parent of a thousand harvests, and fill the garners of glory +with the fruits of salvation. Mean as it looks, yet more splendid +than marble palaces,--more sacred than the most venerable and hallowed +temples, here the Son of God was born, and with Him were born Faith, +Hope, and Charity--our Peace, our Liberty, and our Eternal Life. Had +He not been born, we had never been born again; had He not lain in a +manger, we had never lain in Abraham's bosom; had He not been wrapped +in swaddling-clothes, we had been wrapped in everlasting flames; had +His head in infancy not been pillowed on straw, and in death on +thorns, ours had never been crowned in glory. But that He was born, +better we had never been; life had been a misfortune to which time had +brought no change, and death no relief, and the grave no rest. "Glory +to God in the highest" that He was born: we had otherwise been lifting +up our eyes in torment with this unavailing, endless cry, "O that my +mother had been my grave! Cursed be the day wherein I was born?" + +If language cannot express the love and gratitude we owe to the +Saviour, let our lives do so. Shallow streams run brawling over their +pebbly beds, but the broad, deep river pursues its course in silence +to the sea; and so is it with our strongest, deepest feelings. Great +joy like great sorrow, great gladness like great grief, great +admiration like great detestation, take breath and speech away. On +first seeing Mont Blanc as the sun rose to light up his summit and +irradiate another and another snow-clad pinnacle, I remember the +silent group who had left their couches to witness and watch the +glorious scene: before its majesty and magnificence all were for +awhile dumb, opening not the mouth. I have read, when travellers +reached the crest of the hill, and first looked down on +Jerusalem,--the scene of our Saviour's sorrow, the garden that heard +His groans, the city that led Him out to die, the soil that was +bedewed with His tears and crimsoned with His blood,--how their hearts +were too full for utterance. If a sight of the city where He died so +affects Christians, as the scenes of His last hours rush on their +memory and rise vividly to their imagination, how will they look on +that scene where, surrounded by ten times ten thousand saints and +thousands of angels, He reigns in glory! I can fancy the saint who has +shut his eyes on earth to open them in heaven, standing speechless; +and as the flood of music fills his ear, and the blaze of glory his +eye, and the thought of what he owes to Jesus his heart,--I can fancy +him laying the crown, which he has received from his Saviour's hands, +in silent gratitude at His feet; and as he recovers speech, and sees +hell and its torments beneath him, earth and its sorrows behind him, +an eternity of unchequered, unchanging bliss, before him,--I can fancy +the first words that break from his grateful lips will be, "Glory to +God, glory to God in the highest!" Never till then, nowhere but there, +will our praise be worthy of Jesus and His redemption. Meanwhile, let +Him who demonstrates God's highest glory and fills heaven's highest +throne, hold the highest place in our hearts. Let us surround His +name with the highest honours; and, laying our time and talents, our +faculties and our affections, our wealth, and fame, and fortunes at +His feet, crown Him Lord of all. + + + + +_PART III._ + + +Some years ago the question which agitated the heart of Europe was, +Peace or War? The interests of commerce, the lives of thousands, the +fate of kingdoms, trembled in the balance. Navies rode at anchor, and +opposing armies, like two black thunder-clouds, waited for statesmen +to issue from the council-chamber, bearing the sword or the +olive-branch. Esteeming the arbitrament of battle one which necessity +only could justify, Britain longed for peace; but, with ships ready to +slip their cables, and soldiers standing by their guns, she was grimly +prepared for war. Had ambassadors from the nation with which we were +ready to join issue approached our shores at this crisis, what eager +crowds would have attended their advent, and how impatiently would +they have waited the course of events! And had peace been the result +of the conference, how would the tidings, as they passed from mouth +to mouth, and were flashed by the telegraph from town to town, have +filled and moved the land! The pale student would have forgot his +books, the anxious merchant his speculations, the trader his shop, the +tradesman his craft, tired labour her toils, happy children their +toys, and even the bereaved their griefs; and like the whirlpool, +which sucks straws and sea-weed, boats and gallant ships--all things, +big or small--into its mighty vortex, the news would have absorbed all +other subjects. The one topic of conversation at churches and +theatres, at marriages and funerals, in halls and cottages, in crowded +cities and in lonely glens; ministers had carried it in their sermons +to the pulpit, and devout Christians in their thanksgivings to the +Throne of Grace. + +In a much greater crisis, where the stakes were deeper, the question +being not one of peace or war between man and man, but between man and +God, an embassy from heaven reached the borders of our world. Unlike +Elijah, rough in dress, of aspect stern and speech severe, whose +appearance struck Ahab with terror, and wrung from the pale lips of +the conscience-stricken king the cry, "Hast thou found me, O mine +enemy?"--unlike Jonah as he walked the wondering streets, and woke +their echoes with his doleful cry, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall +be destroyed,"--the ambassadors were "a multitude of shining angels." +Leaving the gates of heaven, they winged their flight down the starry +sky to descend and hover above the fields of Bethlehem, and in the +form of a song, as became such joyful tidings, to proclaim news of +Peace--their song, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, +good-will toward men." Nothing presents a more remarkable example of +"much in little" than these few but weighty words. In small crystals, +that coat, as with shining frost-work, the sides of a vessel, we have +all the salts which give perpetual freshness to the ocean, their life +to the weeds that clothe its rocks, and to the fish that swim its +depths and shallows. In some drops of oil distilled from rose-leaves +of Indian lands, and valued at many times their weight in gold, we +have enclosed within one small phial the perfume of a whole field of +roses--that which, diffused through ten thousand leaves, gave every +flower its fragrance. Essences, as they are called, present, in a +concentrated form, the peculiar properties of leaves or flowers or +fruits, of the animal, vegetable, or earthly bodies from which they +are extracted; and, like these, this hymn presents the whole gospel in +a single sentence. Here is the Bible, the scheme of redeeming love, +that grand work which saved a lost world, gladdened angels in heaven, +confounded devils in hell, and engaged the highest attributes of the +Godhead, summed up in one short, glorious, glowing paragraph. For what +so much as the gospel, what, indeed, but the gospel, yields Jehovah +the highest glory, blesses our earth with peace, and expresses +Heaven's good-will to the sons of men? Such were the ambassadors, and +such the embassage! + +When the king of Babylon, hearing how the shadow had travelled back +ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz, sent ambassadors to Hezekiah to +inquire about this strange phenomenon, Hezekiah received them with the +greatest respect; paid them honours, indeed, which cost both him and +his country dear. The news of an embassy having come to Joshua spread +like wildfire among the Israelites, moving the whole camp. Seized with +eager curiosity, all ran to hear what the strangers had to say, and +gaze with wonder on their soiled and ragged dress, their clouted shoes +and mouldy bread. The herald angels, though arrayed in heavenly +splendours, and bringing glad tidings of peace, were received with no +such honours, excited no such interest. Strange and sad omen of the +indifference with which many would hear the gospel! While angels sung, +the world slept; and none but some wakeful watchers heard their voices +or beheld this splendid vision. They were humble shepherds, to whom +the ambassadors of heaven delivered their message; and it may be well +to pause and look at those who were privileged and honoured to hear +it. We do not pretend to know certainly the reasons why God, who +giveth no account of His ways, conferred an honour so distinguished on +them rather than on others. But we may guess; and in any case may find +the employment profitable and instructive, if we are wise enough to +find "sermons in stones, books in the running brooks, and good in +everything." + + + + +V. + +THEY WERE MEN OF A PEACEFUL CALLING. + + +The highest view of the profession of arms is, that the soldier, +deterring evil-doers and maintaining order at home, on the one hand, +and prepared, on the other, to resist hostile invasion, is in reality, +notwithstanding his deadly weapons and warlike garb, an officer or +instrument of peace. A day is coming--alas! with the roar of cannon +booming across the ocean, how far distant it seems!--when Christianity +shall exert a paramount influence throughout all the world: then, +tyrants having ceased to reign, and slaves to groan, and nations to +suffer from the lust of gold or power, this beautiful picture of the +prophet shall become a reality: "The whole earth," said the seer, "is +at rest, and is quiet; they break forth into singing." Till then, +paradoxical though it appears, the cause of peace may be pled with +most effect by the mouths of cannon. Fitness for war is often the +strongest security for peace; and a nation whose wishes and interests +both run in the direction of peace, may find no way of warning +restless and unprincipled and ambitious neighbours that it is not to +be touched with impunity, but by showing itself, thistle-like, all +bristling over with bayonets. "Necessity," said Paul, "is laid on me +to preach." It may be laid on a people to fight. Nor, when the sword +has been drawn in a good cause, has God refused His sanction to that +last, terrible resort. It was He who imparted strength to the arm +before whose resistless sweep the Philistines fell in swathes, like +grass to the mower's scythe. It was He who guided the stone that, shot +from David's sling, buried itself in the giant's brow. It was He who +gave its earthquake-power to the blast of the horns which levelled the +walls of Jericho with the ground. And when night came down to cover +the retreat of the Amorites and their allies, it was He who +interposed to secure the bloody fruits of victory--saying, as +eloquently put by a rustic preacher, "'Fight on, my servant Joshua, +and I will hold the lights;' and 'the sun stood still on Gibeon, and +the moon in the valley of Ajalon.'" Admitting war to be an awful +scourge, these cases show that the duties of a soldier are not +inconsistent with the calling of a Christian. + +Yet it was over no battle-field, the most sacred to truth and liberty, +these angels hovered; no blazing homesteads nor burning cities shed +their lurid gleam on the skies they made radiant with light; nor was +it where their sweet voices strangely mingled with the clash of arms +and the shouts of charging squadrons that they sang of glory, +good-will, and peace. This had been out of keeping with the congruity +which characterises all God's works of nature, and which will be found +equally characteristic of His works of providence and grace. As was +meet, the glad tidings of peace were announced to men who were engaged +in an eminently peaceful occupation; who passed tranquil lives amid +the quietness of the solemn hills, far removed alike from the +ambitious strife of cities and the bloody spectacles of war. Lying +amid the solitudes of the mountains, where no sounds fall on the ear +but the bleating of flocks, the lowing of cattle, the hum of bees, the +baying of a watch-dog from the lonely homestead, the murmur of hidden +rills, the everlasting rush of the waterfall as it plunges flashing +into its dark, foaming pool, pastoral are eminently peaceful scenes. +Indeed, the best emblem of peace which a great painter has been able +to present he owes to them--it is a picture of a quiet glen, with a +lamb licking the rusty lips of a dismounted gun, while the flocks +around crop the grass that waves above the slain. + +Apt scholars of the devil, wicked men have used Holy Scripture to +justify the most impious crimes. Others, with more fancy than +judgment, have drawn the most absurd conclusions from its facts; but +we seem warranted to conclude, that by selecting shepherds to receive +the first tidings of Jesus' birth, apart from the circumstance that +they were Christ's own favourite types of Himself, God intended to +confer special honour on the cause, and encourage the lovers and +advocates of peace. Deer are furnished by nature with horns, dogs with +teeth, eagles with talons, serpents with poison, and bees with stings; +but men have no weapons of offence. Yet, acting under the dominion of +their lusts, men have a passion for fighting, and, easily fired with +the spirit, and dazzled with the glory of war, are ready to abandon +arguments for blows; and I cannot but think that He who would not +permit David, the man after His own heart, to build Him a house +because he had been a man of blood, conferred this honour on these +humble shepherds because they were men of peace. Whether it be with +Himself or our own consciences, in the midst of our families, among +our neighbours, or between nation and nation, He enjoins us to +cultivate peace: in His own emphatic words, we are to "seek peace and +pursue it." + + + + +VI. + +THEY WERE MEN OF HUMBLE RANK. + + +Many in humble, as well as in more coveted circumstances, are +discontented with their position. They repine at their lot, and murmur +against the Providence which has assigned it. This is not only wicked +but absurd, since true happiness lies much less in changing our +condition than in making the best of it, whatever it be. Besides, God +says, "I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than +the golden wedge of Ophir;" and the estimate which He forms of us +turns in no respect whatever on the place we fill. One artist paints a +grand, another a common, or even a mean, subject; but we settle their +comparative merits, praising this one and condemning that, not by the +subjects they paint, but by the way they paint them. To borrow an +illustration from the stage, (as Paul did from heathen games,) one +player, tricked out in regal state, with robes, and crown, and +sceptre, performs the part of a king, and another that only of a +common soldier or country boor; yet the applause of the audience is +not given to the parts the actors play, but to the way they play them. +Even so, it is not the place that man fills, whether high or humble, +but the way he fills it to which God has, and we should have, most +regard. + +Not that we would reduce the inequalities of society any more than +those of the earth, with its varied features of swelling hill and +lovely dale, to one dull, long, common level. Death, the great grim +leveller, does that office both for cottagers and kings. Let it be +left to the sexton's spade. The mountains which give shelter to the +valleys, and gather the rains that fill their rivers and fertilise +their pastures, have important uses in nature, and so have the +corresponding heights of rank and wealth and power in society. +Setting our affections on things above, let us be content to wait for +the honours and rest of heaven; let us seek to be good rather than +great; to be rich in faith rather than in wealth; to stand high in +God's esteem rather than in man's; saying, with Paul, "I have learned +in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content;"--or singing with +the boy in the "Pilgrim's Progress," who, meanly clad, but with "a +fresh and well-favoured countenance," fed his father's sheep,-- + + "He that is down needs fear no fall; + He that is low, no pride; + He that is humble ever shall + Have God to be his guide. + + "I am content with what I have, + Little be it or much; + And, Lord, contentment still I crave, + Because thou savest such." + +"Do you hear him?" said the guide. "I will dare to say that this boy +lives a merrier life, and wears more of that herb called heart's-ease +in his bosom, than he that is clad in silk and velvet." + +Why should a man blush for his humble origin? The Saviour's mother was +a poor woman; and no head ever lay in a meaner cradle than the manger +where Mary laid her first-born--the Son of the Most High God. Why +should any be ashamed of honest poverty? Men of immortal names, the +apostles, were called from the lowest ranks, and went forth to conquer +and convert the world without a penny in their purse. Was not our Lord +himself poor? He earned His bread, and ate it, with the sweat of His +brow, while others lay luxuriously on down; He had often no other roof +than the open sky, or warmer bed than the dewy ground; and never had +else to entertain His guests than the coarsest and most common +fare--barley-loaves and a few small fishes. Though rich in the wealth +of Godhead, with the resources of heaven and of earth at His sovereign +command, poverty attended His steps like His shadow, along the way +from a humble cradle to a bloody grave. He made Himself poor that He +might make us rich; and it seemed meet that to poor rather than to +rich men God should reveal the advent of Him who came to enrich the +poor, whether kings or beggars, peers or peasants. As if to censure +the respect paid to rank apart from merit, or to wealth apart from +worth, He who has no respect for persons honoured in these shepherds +honest poverty and humble virtue. They received ambassadors not +accredited to sovereigns; as cottages, not palaces, housed Him whom +the heavens have received, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain. + + + + +VII. + +THEY WERE MEN ENGAGED IN COMMON DUTIES. + + +Mothers cumbered with a load of domestic cares, merchants worried with +business, statesmen charged with their country's affairs, and +thousands who have a daily fight to keep the wolf from the door, fancy +that, if they enjoyed the leisure some have, and could bestow more +time on divine things, they would be more religious than they are, +and, rising to higher, calmer elevations of thought and temper, would +maintain a nearer communion with God. It may reconcile such to their +duties to observe how the men were employed on whom God bestowed this +unexpected and exalted honour. They were engaged in the ordinary +business of their earthly calling; of a hard and humble one. Types of +Him to whose care His people owe their safety amid the temptations, +and their support amid the trials of life, these shepherds were +watching their flocks; peering through the gloom of night; listening +for the stealthy step of the robber; ready, starting to their feet, to +beat off the sneaking wolf, or bravely battle with the roaring lion. + +He whose sun shines as brightly on the lowliest as on the stateliest +flower, regards with complacency the humblest man who wins his daily +bread, and discharges the duties of his station, whatever they be, in +such a way as to glorify God and be of advantage to his +fellow-creatures. Heaven, as this case brilliantly illustrates, is +never nearer men, nor are they ever nearer it, than in those fields or +workshops, where, with honest purpose and a good conscience, they are +diligently pursuing their ordinary avocations. No doubt--for God does +not cast His pearls before swine--these shepherds were pious men. One +passing a night in their humble dwellings would have seen the father +with reverent mien gather his household to prayer; and one passing +these uplands, where they held their watch, might have heard their +voices swaying on the midnight air, as they sang together the psalms +of David amid the very scenes where he tuned his harp and fed his +father's flocks. But people are too apt to suppose that religion lies +mainly, if not exclusively, in prayers, reading the Bible, listening +to sermons, and attending on sacraments; in time spent, or work done, +or offerings made, or sacrifices endured, for what are called, in +common language, religious objects. These are the means, not the end. +He who rises from his knees to his daily task, and, with an eye not so +much to please men as God, does it well, carries divine worship to the +workshop, and throws a sacred halo around the ordinary secularities of +life. That, indeed, may be the highest expression of religion; just as +it is the highest expression of devoted loyalty to leave the precincts +of the court and the presence of the sovereign, to endure the +hardships of a campaign, and stand in soiled and tattered regimentals +by the king's colours amid the deadly hail of battle. He who goes to +common duties in a devout and Christian spirit proves his loyalty to +God; and, as this case proves, is of all men the most likely to be +favoured with tokens of the Divine presence--communications of grace +which will sustain his patience under a life of toil, and fit him for +the rest that remaineth for the people of God. + + + + +_PART IV._ + + +Mingled with its rattling shingle, the sea-beach bears hazel-nuts and +fir-tops--things which once belonged to the blue hills that rise far +inland on the horizon. Dropped into the brooks of bosky glens, they +have been swept into the river, to arrive, after many windings and +long wanderings, at the ocean; to be afterwards washed ashore with +shells and wreck and sea-weed. The Gulf Stream, whose waters by a +beautiful arrangement of Providence bring the heat of southern +latitudes to temper the wintry rigour of the north, throws objects on +the western coasts of Europe which have performed longer +voyages--fruits and forest-trees that have travelled the breadth of +the Atlantic, casting the productions of the New World on the shores +of the Old. + +Like these, the record of events which happened in the earliest ages +of the world has been carried along the course of time, and spread by +the diverging streams of population over the whole surface of the +globe. The facts are, as was to be expected, always more or less +changed, and often, indeed, fragmentary. Still, like old coins, which +retain traces of their original effigies and inscriptions, these +traditions possess a high historic value. Their remarkable +correspondence with the statements of the Bible confirms our faith in +its divinity; and their being common to nations of habits the most +diverse, and of habitations separated from each other by the whole +breadth of the earth, proves the unity of our race. If they cannot be +regarded as pillars, they are buttresses of the truth; being +inexplicable on any theory but that which infidelity has so often, but +always vainly, assailed, namely, that all Scripture is given by +inspiration of God, and that He has made of one blood all the nations +of the earth. + +To take some examples. Look, for instance, at a custom common among +the Red Indians, ages before white men had crossed the sea and carried +the Bible to their shores! At the birth of a child, as Humboldt +relates, a fire was kindled on the floor of the hut, and a vessel of +water placed beside it; but not with the murderous intent of those +savage tribes who practise infanticide, and, pressed by hunger, +destroy their children to save their food. The infant here was first +plunged into the water--buried, as we should say, in baptism; and +afterwards swept rapidly and unharmed through the flaming fire. A very +remarkable rite; and one that, as we read the story, recalled to mind +this double baptism, "He shall baptize you," said Jesus, "with the +Holy Ghost and with fire;" "Except a man be born of water and of the +Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Its administration to +infants, to such as had committed no sin, nor knew, indeed, their +right hand from their left, implied a belief in the presence, not of +acquired, but of original impurity. It is based on that; and without +it this rite is not only mysterious, but meaningless. Blind is the eye +which does not see in this old pagan ceremony a tradition of the +primeval Fall, and dull the ear which does not hear in its voice no +faint echo of these words, "I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did +my mother conceive me.... Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew +a right spirit within me." + +Like the Fall, the Flood also was an event which, though it may have +worn no channel in the rocks, has left indelible traces of its +presence on the memory of mankind. The Greeks had strange traditions +of this awful judgment; so had the Romans; and so had almost all the +heathen nations of antiquity--strange legends, to which the Bible +supplies the only key. Its account of the Deluge explains the +traditions, and the traditions corroborate it; and by their general +mutual correspondence we are confirmed in our belief that its authors +were holy men of old, who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. +To evade this argument, infidels may trace these legends to Jews, who, +led captive of the heathen, related to them the Mosaic story, and took +advantage of man's love of the marvellous to practise on his +credulity. The attempt is vain; since, on turning from the Old World +to the New, we find the very same traditions there; and there, long +ages before Jew or Christian knew of its existence, or had landed on +its shores. Those paintings which were to Mexicans and Peruvians +substitutes for history, for a written or printed language, embody the +story of the Flood. One of these pictures, for example, shows us a man +afloat with his family in a rude boat on a shoreless sea; in another, +the raven of Bible story is cleaving on black wing the murky sky; in a +third, the heads of the hills appear in the background like islands +emerging from the waste of waters, while, with such confusion as is +inseparable from traditionary lore, the raven is substituted for the +dove, and appears making its way to the lone tenants of the boat with +evidence of the subsidence of the waters--a fir-cone in its bloody +beak. Rolled down the long stream of ages, the true history is more or +less changed, and even fragmentary, like a water-worn stone. Still, +between these traditionary records and Bible story there is a +remarkable agreement. They sound like its echo. In them pagan voices +proclaim the holiness of God. Lest we also should perish with those +who, looking on the placid sea and starry sky of the Old World's last +night, asked, "Where is the promise of His coming?" they warn us to +flee from wrath to come. + +Of all these venerable legends painted in colours or embalmed in +verse, written in story or sculptured on stone, none are more +remarkable than those where the serpent appears. Old divines imagined +that the creature whose shape Satan borrowed for the temptation had +originally no malignant aspect; neither the poisoned fangs, nor eyes +of fire, nor cold, scaly, wriggling form which man and beast recoil +from with instinctive horror. They fancied that the curse, "Upon thy +belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat," was followed by a +sudden metamorphosis, and that till then the appearance of the serpent +was as lovely as it is now loathsome. They gave the words of the +curse a literal interpretation. They bear a deeper meaning, no doubt; +yet the fancy of these old divines may have approached nearer to fact +than many perhaps suppose. Science reads the history of remote ages as +she finds it inscribed on the rocks; and, on turning over these stony +leaves, we find that the earliest form of the serpent was different +from that which, as it crawls and wriggles along the ground, so +forcibly recalls the very words of the curse. Though they have now +only such powers of motion as belong to the meanest worm, those +skeletons which the rocks entomb show that the serpent tribe had once +feet to walk with, and even wings to spurn the ground and cleave the +air. Such is the testimony of the rocks! And, taking the words of +Scripture in their literal sense, there is, to say the least of it, a +very curious coincidence between the voices of the rocks and the voice +of revelation. But, be that as it may, what else but fragmentary +traditions of Eden and the Fall are the forms of serpent worship among +the heathen, who acted, as they still often act, on the principle of +propitiating the powers of evil, the many old monuments on which its +figure is sculptured, and the many old legends in which it plays a +conspicuous part? What else was the belief of our pagan fathers, that +within a dark cave in the bowels of the earth there sat a great scaly +dragon, brooding on gold? What else was the fabled garden of the +Hesperides, where the trees, guarded by a fierce and formidable +serpent, bore apples of gold? What else was the tragic story of a +father and his sons dying by the bites and crushed within the scaly +folds of a coil of serpents; and on which, as touchingly represented +in the sculptured marble, we have never looked without recalling the +fate of Adam and his unhappy offspring? And what else is the old +legend of him who with rash hand sowed serpent's teeth, and saw spring +from the soil, not clustering vines, or feathery palms, or stalks of +waving corn, but a crop of swords, and spears, and armed men? Read +that fable by the light of the Bible, and the wild legend stands out +the record of an awful fact. To the serpent the world owes it wars, +and discords, and the sin which is their source. Disguised in its +form, Satan brought in sin; and when sin entered on the scene, peace +departed--peace between God and man, peace between man and man, peace +between man and himself--the peace which, with all its blessings, He +descended from heaven to restore who is our Peace, and whom angels +ushered on the scene of His toils and triumphs, of His atoning death +and glorious victory, with songs of "Glory to God in the highest, and +on earth peace, good-will toward men." + + + + +VIII. + +JESUS RESTORES PEACE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN. + + +There are things which God cannot do--which it were not to honour but +dishonour Him to believe He could. He can neither tempt, nor be +tempted, to sin. The sinner He may love, but not his sin; that is +impossible; as the prophet expresses it, "Thou art of purer eyes than +to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Indeed, I would as +soon believe that God could condemn a holy spirit to the pains of +hell, as admit a guilty one, unjustified and unsanctified, to the joys +of heaven. In that terrible indictment which God thunders out against +Israel by the mouth of Ezekiel, He says, "Thou art the land which is +not cleansed. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves +ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get +dishonest gain. Her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, +saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken. The +people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and +have vexed the poor and needy; therefore have I poured out mine +indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: +their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord." So +he arraigns this and the other class. And how of the priests? "Her +priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they +have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they +showed difference between the unclean and the clean." He censures His +servants for not separating between the clean and unclean; and it +insults Him to suppose that He could do in His own practice what He +condemns in theirs. Events, such as old murders brought to light, ever +and anon occur to show that God's mill, as runs the proverb, though +it grinds slow, grinds sure; yet because He does not execute judgment +speedily on workers of iniquity--giving them space to repent; because +He often seems, like one far remote from earth, to treat its crimes +and virtues with equal indifference, men have not believed these +solemn words, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." But +let the wicked hear His words, and take the warning, "Thou hatest +instruction; thou castest My words behind thee. When thou sawest a +thief, then thou consentedst with him. Thou hast been partaker with +adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue practiseth +deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest +thine own mother's son. These things hast thou done, and I kept +silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: +but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. +Consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and +there be none to deliver." + +The universal conscience of mankind is stricken with a sense of +guilt. Alarmed by an instinctive sense of danger, men have felt the +need of reconciliation; and, under a sense of His displeasure, have +everywhere, and in all ages, sought to make their peace with God. For +this end altars were raised and temples built; sacrifices offered, and +penances endured. If the colossal structures of Egypt, and the lovely +temples of Greece and Rome, were erected, as well to adorn the state +as to please the gods, it was less to please approving, than to +appease angry divinities, that their courts resounded with the cries +of victims, and smoking altars ran red with blood. So much did the +heathen feel their need of peace, such store did they set by it, that +many of them sought it at any price. They would buy peace at any cost; +nor did they shrink from giving all their fortune, even the fruit of +their body, for the sin of their souls. For peace with God the Hindoo +walked to his distant temples in sandals that, set with spikes, +pierced his flesh at every step, and marked all the long, slow, +painful journey with a track of blood; for peace with God the Syrian +led his sweet boy up to the fires of Moloch, and, unmoved in purpose +by cries, or curses, or passionate entreaties, cast him shrieking on +the burning pile; for peace with God the Indian mother approached the +river's brink with streaming tears and trembling steps, and, tearing +the suckling from her bursting heart, kissed it, to turn away her +eyes, and fling it into the flood. We pity their ignorance. But how do +they rebuke the indifference of many; their unwillingness to submit to +any sacrifice whatever for the honour of Jesus and the interests of +their souls? These heathens may pity thousands whom they shall rise up +in judgment to condemn. Neglecting the great salvation, preferring the +pleasures of sin, what a contrast do these offer to a poor Hindoo, +who, hearing a missionary tell of the blood of Christ, sprang from the +ground, and, loosing his bloody sandals, flung them away to exclaim, +"Now, now I have found what I want!" + +The peace which he found all men want, and shall find in Jesus, if +they seek it honestly, earnestly. God has no pleasure in the death of +the wicked. He never had. We pronounce him an unnatural father, who, +on a breach occurring between him and his child, though he is the +injured and not the injurer, does not long to be reconciled--is not +the first to make advances and overtures of peace. In this feature of +the parental character God has stamped upon our hearts the beautiful +image of His own. Yearning over them as the kind old man over his +wayward prodigal, his exiled child, God was willing to receive back +sinners to His arms; to reinstate them in His family, and restore them +to His favour. But how was this to be done?--done without dishonour to +His holy law, and with due regard to His character as a God of truth. +He had said, "The soul that sinneth shall die;" nor could peace be +restored between Him and man but on such terms as maintained His +truth. A father or mother punishes one child, and allows another, +guilty of the same offence, to go free. But had God cast fallen angels +into hell, and, without any regard to His word, admitted fallen men +to heaven, what had angels, what had devils, what had men themselves +thought of a God who conducted his government with such +caprice--playing fast and loose with His most solemn words? "The way +of the Lord," said ancient Israel, "is not equal;" and in such a case +there had been ground for the charge, and none for the indignation +with which He repels it, saying, "Hear now, O Israel, is not my way +equal? are not yours unequal?" + +There was only one way of restoring peace; but it involved a sacrifice +on God's part which the most sanguine had never dared to hope for. If +the Lord of heaven and earth, veiling His glory, would assume our +nature, would take the form of a servant, would stoop to the work of a +subject, would die the death of a sinner, we might be saved--not +otherwise; if He would leave heaven, we might enter it--not otherwise; +if He would die, we might live--not otherwise; if He would enter the +grave its captor, we might leave it its conquerors--not otherwise; if +He, as our substitute, would fulfil the requirements of the law, both +in doing our work and discharging our debt, both obeying and suffering +in our stead, peace could be restored--not otherwise. For these ends +God did not spare His Son, but gave Him up to death, "that whosoever +believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life;" and the +"set time" having come at length, Jesus descended on our world, to +make peace through the blood of His cross--His angel-train, ere they +returned to heaven, holding a concert in the skies. + +Dying, the just for the unjust, He has made peace; and these are the +easy terms, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be +saved." How gladly should we accept them? If men reject peace, what +chance for them in war? "Hast thou an arm like God? Canst thou thunder +with a voice like him?" "Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds +of the earth; but woe to the man who striveth with his Maker!" He has +proclaimed a truce--granting a suspension of arms, and offering most +generous proposals of peace. How should men improve the pause, and +accept the overtures!--as eagerly seizing salvation through the cross +of Christ as a drowning man life through the rope some kind hand +flings within his reach. In warfare patriots have stood up gallantly +against overwhelming odds, and, closing their broken ranks, have said, +"Better fall on the field, better lose life than honour;" but when +sinners, dropping the weapons of rebellion, yield themselves up to +God, honour is not lost, but won, in a crown that fadeth not away. +Brave men have said, "Better fight to the last, die with our swords in +our hands, than become captives to pine away a weary, ignoble life +within the walls of a prison;" but when the sinner gives himself up to +God, he goes not to exile but home; not to chains and a dungeon, but +to glorious freedom, a palace, and a throne. God asks you to give up +your sins that they, not you, may be slain. It is of them, not of you, +He says, "But those mine enemies which would not that I should reign +over them, bring hither, and slay them before me!" + +In these circumstances, oh for the wisdom of her who showed herself on +the city walls in the thick of the assault, crying to Joab, "Hear, +hear, come near hither, I pray you, that I may speak with thee!" A +woman's figure there, her voice sounding above the thunder of the +captains and the shouting, suspends the attack. Assailants and +assailed alike rest on their arms; and as one marked as a leader by +his plume and bearing, covered with the dust and blood of battle, +steps forward, she bends over the battlements to ask, "Art thou Joab?" +"I am he," is the reply. "Then hear the words of thy handmaid," she +cries; "I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: +thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel!" He solemnly +repudiates the charge. "Far be it from me," he answers, "that I should +swallow up and destroy. The matter is not so: but a man of Mount +Ephraim, Sheba, the son of Bichri, hath lifted up his hand against +the king, against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the +city." She accepts the terms; and saying "Behold, his head shall be +thrown to thee over the wall"--vanishes. Prompt in action as wise in +counsel, she goes to the people, deals with them, sways the multitude +to her will; and ere the last hour of the brief truce has closed, a +bloody head goes bounding over the wall. It rolls like a ball to the +feet of Joab; and in its grim and ghastly features they recognise the +face of the son of Bichri. So Joab blows the trumpet, and the host +retires from the walls, every man to his own tent. So let men deal +with their sins. Let them die with the son of Bichri: they have +"lifted up their hand against the King." Why should we spare them, and +lose our souls? By His precious blood Jesus has opened up a way to +peace. He has come, but not "to swallow up and destroy." Blessed Lord, +He came to save, not to destroy. "O earth, earth, earth," cried the +prophet, "hear the word of the Lord;" and be it known to the world's +utmost bounds that God willeth not the death of the sinner, but +rather that he would turn to Him and live. With her flaming sword, red +with the blood of men and angels, Justice holds to us no other +language but that of Joab, "Deliver up your sins only, and I will +depart!" and, inspired of God with the wisdom that chooseth the better +part, and maketh wise unto salvation, let us say, "Better my sins die +than I; better Satan be cast, than Jesus be kept out of it; better +strike off the heads of a thousand sins that have lifted up their +hands against the King, than that I should fall--sparing my sins to +lose my soul!" + + + + +_PART V._ + + +Ahab and Jezebel, two of the worst characters in sacred story, had a +son; and with such blood as theirs in his veins, no wonder that Joram, +on succeeding to the throne of one parent, exhibited the vices of +both. His mother does not seem to have had a drop of human-kindness in +her breast. Yet he was not altogether dead to humanity, as appears by +an incident which occurred during the siege that reduced his capital +to the direst extremities. The ghastly aspect of a famished woman who +throws herself in his way with a wild, impassioned, wailing cry of +"Help, my lord, O king!" touches him; and he asks, "What aileth thee?" +Stretching out a skinny arm to one pale and haggard as herself, she +replies, with hollow voice, "This woman said unto me, Give thy son, +that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to-morrow. So we +boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, +Give thy son, that we may eat him; and she hath hid her son." Struck +with horror at the story, Joram rent his clothes. He had pity, but no +piety. + +"Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will but revolt more and +more." Never were these words, never was the fact that unsanctified +afflictions have the same hardening effect on men which fire, that +melts gold, has on clay, more strikingly illustrated than on this +occasion. So far from rending his heart with his garment, and humbling +himself before the Lord, Joram flares up into fiercer rebellion; and +turning from these victims of the famine to his courtiers, he grinds +his teeth to profane God's name and vow vengeance on his prophet, +saying, "God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son +of Shaphat shall stand on him this day." Impotent rage against the +only man who could have weathered the storm, and saved the state! The +prophet's head stood on his shoulders when that of this son of a +murderer--as Elisha called him--lay low in death in the dust of +Naboth's vineyard. The day arrives which sees the cup of Joram's +iniquity full, and that of God's patience empty--drained to the last +drop. The chief officers of the army are sitting outside their +barrack, when one wearing a prophet's livery approaches them. Singling +out Jehu from the group, he says, I have an errand to thee, O captain! +The captain rises; they pass in alone; the door is shut; and now this +strange, unknown man, drawing a horn of oil from his shaggy cloak, +pours it on Jehu's head. As if it had fallen on fire, it kindled up +his smouldering ambition--so soon at least as this speech interpreted +the act, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed thee king +over the people of this land. Thou shall smite the house of Ahab thy +master; dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there +shall be none to bury her." Having spoken so, the stranger opens the +door, and flies. But faster flies God's vengeance. Ere his feet have +borne the servant to Elisha's door, the banner of revolt is up, +unfurled; troops are gathering to the sound of trumpets; and soldiers, +eager for change and plunder, are making the air ring to the cry, Jehu +is king! + +Launched like a thunderbolt at the house of Ahab, Jehu makes right for +Jezreel with impetuous, impatient speed. A watchman on the palace +tower catches afar the dust of the advancing cavalcade, and cries, I +see a company! Guilt, which sleeps uneasy even on downy pillows, +awakens, on the circumstance being reported to him, the monarch's +fears. A horseman is quickly despatched with the question, Is it +peace? Thus, pulling up his steed, he accosts the leader of the +company, who, drawing no rein, replies, in a tone neither to be +challenged nor disobeyed, What hast thou to do with peace? Get thee +behind me! Failing the first's return, a second horseman gallops forth +to carry the same question and meet the same reception. Sweeping on +like a hurricane, the band is now near enough for the watchman to +tell, "He came near unto them, and cometh not again;" and also to +add, as he marks how their leader is shaking the reins and lashing the +steeds of his bounding chariot, "The driving is like the driving of +Jehu, the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously." Displaying a +courage that seemed his only redeeming quality, or bereaved of sense, +according to the saying, Whom God intends to destroy He first makes +mad, Joram instantly throws himself into his chariot, advances to meet +the band, and demands of its leader, Is it peace, Jehu? What peace, is +the other's answer, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother and her +witchcrafts are so many? With the words that leave his lips an arrow +leaves his bow to transfix the flying king--entering in at his back +and passing out at his breast; and when he is cast, a bloody corpse, +into Naboth's vineyard, and dogs are crunching his mother's bones, and +Jehu has climbed the throne, and Elisha walks abroad with his head +safe on his shoulders, and the curtain falls on the stage of these +tragic and righteous scenes, it was a time for the few pious men of +that guilty land to sing, "Lo thine enemies, O Lord, lo thine enemies +shall perish; but the righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: +they shall grow like a cedar of Lebanon." + +Such was the mission of Jehu, the son of Nimshi. How different that of +Jesus, the Son of God! They might have been identical; presented at +least grounds of comparison rather than grounds of striking contrast. +Yet so remarkable is the contrast that Jehu's mission--and therefore +have we related the story--forms as effective a background to +Christ's, as the black rain-cloud to the bright bow which spans it. +The cause of the difference lies in God's free, gracious, sovereign +mercy--in nothing else; for had mankind, at the tidings that the Son +of God, attended by a train of holy angels, was approaching, met Him +on the confines of our world with Joram's question, "Is it peace?" +that question might justly have met with Jehu's answer, "What hast +thou to do with peace?"--what have you done to obtain it, or to +deserve it? Yet, glory be to God in the highest, it is peace--peace +more plainly and fully announced in these most gracious words, "It +pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having +made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all +things to himself, whether they be things on earth, or things in +heaven." + + + + +IX. + +JESUS BRINGS PEACE TO THE SOUL. + + +Having reconciled us to God by the blood of His cross, Christ is "our +Peace," as the apostle says. He is called so, first, because He +restores us to a state of friendship with God; and, secondly, because +a sense of that fills the whole soul with a peace which passeth +understanding. So, speaking of the righteousness which Christ wrought +out for us, the prophet says, "The work of righteousness is +peace"--His righteousness being the root, and our peace the +fruit--that the spring, and this the stream. To describe for the +comfort of the Church the constancy of the last and the fulness of the +first, another prophet borrows two of nature's grandest images, "Thy +peace shall be like a river, and thy righteousness like the waves of +the sea"--the believer's peace flowing like a broad, deep stream, with +life in its waters and smiling verdure on its banks; and a Saviour's +righteousness covering all his sins, as the waves do the countless +sands of their shore, when, burying them out of sight, the tide +converts the whole reach of dull, dreary sand into a broad liquid +mirror, to reflect the light of the sky and the beams of the sun. + +Christ's imputed righteousness is bestowed equally on all +believers--none, the least any more than the greatest sinner, being +more justified than another. Feeling assured or not of their +salvation, all His are equally safe--"those whom Thou hast given me I +have kept, and none of them are lost." There is no such equal +enjoyment among believers of peace in believing; some walking all +their days under a cloud, and some who walk in darkness and have no +light, only reaching heaven, like a blind man guided homewards by the +hand of his child, by their hold of the promise, Who is he that +feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh +in darkness and hath no light; let him trust in the name of the Lord, +and stay himself in his God. But where there is peace springing from a +sense of forgiveness, of all the fruits of the Spirit that grow in +Christ's fair garden, this is sweetest. Among the blessings enjoyed on +earth, it has no superior, or rival even. It passeth understanding, +says an apostle. Nor did David regard any as happy but those who +enjoyed it--pronouncing "blessed," not the great, or rich, or noble, +or famous, but "the man," whatever his condition, "whose transgression +is forgiven, whose sin is covered." And so he might. With this peace +the believer regards death as the gate of life: enters the grave as a +quiet anchorage from seas and storms; and looks forward to the scene +of final judgment as a prince to his coronation, or a happy bride to +her marriage day. A sense of forgiveness lays the sick head on a +pillow softer than downs; lightens sorrow's heaviest burdens; makes +poverty rich beyond the wealth of banks; spoils death of his sting; +arms the child of God against the ills of life; and, lifting him up +above its trials, makes him like some lofty mountain, at whose feet +the lake may be lashed into foaming billows, and adown whose seamed +and rugged sides clouds may fall in gloomy folds, but whose head, +shooting up into the calm blue heavens, reposes in unbroken peace, +rejoices in perpetual sunshine. + +Happy such as obtain a firm hold of Christ, and, having made their +calling and election sure, enjoy unclouded peace! Feeling that there +is now no more condemnation for them, because they believe in Jesus, +and walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, they see a change +come on objects such as imparts pleasure and surprise in what are +called dissolving views. Where death, with grim and grisly aspect, +stood by the mouth of an open grave, shaking his fatal dart, we see an +angel form opening with one hand the gate of heaven, and holding in +the other a shining crown--from the face of God we see the features +of an angry, stern, inexorable judge melt all away, and in room of an +object of terror we behold the face and form of a kind, loving, +forgiving Father, with open arms hastening to embrace us. The God of +hope give you joy and peace in believing, is the prayer of the +apostle--a prayer in many cases so fully answered that the dying saint +has been borne away from all his earthly moorings; and, ready to part +from wife and children, has exclaimed with Simeon when he held the +infant Saviour in his joyful arms, "Now, Lord, lettest thou thy +servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." + +"Be at peace among yourselves," is a blessed injunction which an +apostle lays on families, on friends, and on churches. In happy +contrast to the storm which, hurtling through the troubled air, and +shaking doors and windows, goes raving round every corner of the +house, let peace reign on the domestic hearth, and also within the +church, when, like the ark of old, she drifts on the billows of a +shoreless sea--God only at the helm. + +It is good to be at peace with our brethren, but to be at peace with +one's-self is better. At peace with conscience, one can afford, if God +will have it so, to be at war with all men. It is painful, when we +cannot be at peace with all men--to have enemies without; but his case +is infinitely worse who lodges an enemy in his own breast--in a +guilty, uneasy conscience, in self-reproaches, in terror of death, in +the knowledge that God and he are not friends, nor can be so, so long +as he cherishes his sins. There is no peace, saith my God, to the +wicked. There cannot be. Drugged with narcotics, you may sleep as +quietly on a bed of thorns as of roses. Drugged with narcotics, you +may lie down on the cold pavement, and fancy as you throw your arms +around the curbstone that it is the wife of your bosom. Drugged with +narcotics, you may go to sleep in a cell with visions of home playing +round the head that shall be capped for hanging to-morrow. But no more +than I call these peaceful sights, can I apply the name of peace to +the insensibility of a conscience seared by sin; to the calmness, or +rather callousness of one who has allowed the devil to persuade him +that God is too merciful to reckon with us for our transgressions. The +peace we are to seek, and, seeking to pursue, is not that of death, +but life,--not that the lake presents in winter, when no life appears +on its shores, nor sound breaks the silence of its frozen waters; but +that of a lake which, protected from tempests by lofty mountains, +carries life in its waters, beauty on its banks, and heaven mirrored +in its unruffled bosom. Being justified by faith we have peace with +God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Such is the peace which we are to +seek--a peace which, springing from a sense of reconciliation through +the blood of the Lamb and wrought within the soul by the in-dwelling +of the Holy Spirit, has so raised the saint above all fears of death, +and shed such a flood of glory around his dying head, that wicked men +have turned from the scene to exclaim, May I die the death of the +righteous, and may my last end be like his! + + + + +X. + +JESUS SHALL BRING PEACE TO THE WORLD. + + +How many pages of history are written with the point of the sword--not +with ink, but tears and blood? It is chiefly taken up with the recital +of wars. What age has not been the era, what country the scene of +bloody strifes? What soil does not hold the dust of thousands that +have fallen by brothers' hands? Our glebes have been fattened with the +bodies of the slain? On those fields where, with the lark carolling +overhead, the peasant drives his ploughshare, other steel than the +sickle has glanced, and other shouts have risen than those of happy +reapers bearing some blushing, sun-browned maid on their broad +shoulders at the Harvest Home. The tall gray stones, the hoary cairns, +tell how on other days these quiet scenes were disturbed by the roar +of battle, and lay red with another dye than that of heath or purple +wild flowers. Go wherever our foot may wander, we find tokens of war; +and select what age soever we may, since Abel fell beneath a brother's +hand, we find in man's first death, and the earth's first lone grave, +a bloody omen of future and frequent crimes. What a commentary is +human history on these words of Holy Scripture, "The whole creation +groaneth, and travaileth in pain till now!--nor shall it cease to +groan, or hail the day of its redemption, till the Prince of Peace is +enthroned in the heart of all nations, and the labours of missionaries +have extended that kingdom to the ends of the earth, whose triumphs +are bloodless--whose walls are Salvation and her gates Praise." + +Without disparagement to the happy influence of education, the +extension of commerce, and the efforts of benevolent men, the real +Peace Society is the Church of God; the olive branch which the Spirit, +dove-like, is bearing on blessed wing to a troubled world, is the +Word of God; and the gospel's is the voice which, like Christ's on +Galilee's waves, shall speak peace to a distracted earth, and change +its wildest passions into a holy calm. Till all nations receive the +Bible in its integrity and own it as their only rule of policy, till +kings reign for Christ and lay their crowns at His feet, a lasting +peace is an idle dream. Treaties will no more bind nations that lie +under the influence of unsanctified passions, that chains him who +dwelt among the tombs, and within whom dwelt a legion of devils. Till +other and better days come, the best cemented peace is only a pause--a +truce--an armistice; the breathing-time of exhausted combatants. Alas, +that it should be so: yet true it is, that that nation dooms itself to +disaster, if not destruction, which, pursuing only the arts of peace, +leaves its swords to rust, and its navies to rot, and forts with empty +embrasures to moulder into ruins. The trumpet of the world's Jubilee +has not yet sounded, nor have all the vials of the Apocalypse been +emptied of the wrath of God. And so, till the nations have emerged +from spiritual darkness; till God's Word is an open book, and duly +honoured in all lands; till immorality has ceased to weaken the bonds +of social happiness, discontent to rankle in the bosom of the people, +and ambition to fire the breasts of kings, the world may expect ever +and anon to hear the voice of Joel sounding out this trumpet call, +"Prepare ye war; wake up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw +near--beat your ploughshares into swords and your pruning-hooks into +spears--put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe." + +Better days are coming--some think near at hand. Turning a seer's eye on +futurity, Isaiah descried them in the far distance--saw the reign of the +Prince of Peace--Jesus crowned King of kings and Lord of lords--swords +beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning-hooks--every man, +whether at hall or cottage door, sitting under the shade of his vine +and fig-tree--the whole earth quiet, and at rest. And glad is the +Church, as, weary of strife and sin and sorrow, she looks up into the +darksome sky, and cries, Watchman, what of the night? to get a hopeful +response,--to catch any sign, in break, or blush, or gray gleam however +feeble, that seems to reply, The morning cometh! Come blessed morn, +come Prince of Peace--come Lord Jesus--come quickly! Let wars cease +unto the ends of the earth! Scatter Thou the people that delight in war. + +The vision tarries, but come it shall. In answer to the cry of blood +that rises to heaven with a different voice from that of Abel's, peace +shall reign and wars shall cease. By the hands that men nailed to a +cross God will break the bow, the battle, and the spear--burning the +chariot in the fire. And though any peace which our age may enjoy +should be only a breathing-time, but a pause in the roar of the bloody +tempest, let us improve it to remedy all wrongs at home; to educate +our ignorant and neglected masses; to eradicate the vices that +disgrace and degrade our nation; to build up the Church wherever it +lies in ruins; to extend not so much Britain's empire as Christ's +kingdom abroad, and so hasten forward the happy time when the Song of +the Angels shall be echoed from every land, and the voices of the +skies of Bethlehem shall be lost in the grander, fuller, nobler chorus +of all nations, singing, Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, +good will toward men! + + + + +_PART VI._ + + +Though the last to be dropped into its place, the keystone is of all +the stones of an arch the first in importance; the others span no +flood, carry no weight, are of no value, without it. It gives unity to +the separate parts, and locking all together, makes them one. Of such +consequence to the other parts of the Angels' Song is its last clause. +It was not simply Glory to God, nor peace on earth, but good will +toward men, which made the angels messengers of mercy, and the news +they brought tidings of great joy. Glory to God! Amid the rush of the +waters that drowned the world, and the roar of the flames that laid +Sodom in ashes, they sang glory to God. God is glorious in acts of +judgment as well as in acts of mercy--"the God of Glory thundereth." +So on shores strewn with the corpses of the dead, beside a sea which +opened its gates for the escape of Israel and closed them on Egypt, +burying king and bannered host beneath its whirling waves, Moses and +Miriam cried, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; +the horse and his rider hath He cast into the sea! Then the deep +lifted up its voice, and all the waves of the sea sang Glory to God! +as, bearing the dead in on their foaming crests, they laid them at +Moses' feet. And when that judgment comes to which these are but as +the big drops that prepare us for a burst of thunder and the rushing +rain, when the great white throne is set, and the books are opened, +and the Judge rises in awful majesty to pronounce words of doom, the +voices of ten times ten thousand saints shall add, Amen; and in an +outburst of praise that drowns the wail of the lost, the whole host of +angels shall sing, Glory to God! With such ascription of praise +Christ's heralds would have announced His advent, had He come not to +save, but to destroy. + +"Glory to God," the first clause of this song, does not, therefore, +necessarily involve good will towards men; and no more does the +second, "peace on earth." Peace! Peace was in the valley where the +prophet stood with the grim wrecks of war around him,--friend and foe +sleeping side by side, skeletons silently turning to dust, and swords +to rust. Peace is in the battle-field when the last gun is fired, and, +the last of the dying having groaned out his soul in a gush of blood, +the heaving mass is still. Peace was on the sea and the storm suddenly +became a calm, when the waves leaping up against the flying ship +obtained their prey, and from the deck where he stood summoned by the +voice, Arise, O thou that sleepest, and call upon thy God, Jonah was +flung into the jaws of death. Peace was in that land he had ravaged of +whom men said, "He made a solitude, and called it peace,"--all its +homesteads lay in ashes, and its cities stood in silent ruins. Peace +was in Israel, when, provoked by their sins, God cast His people out: +swept them all into captivity. The land had its Sabbaths then. The +Angels' Song might have announced a similar, but greater, +judgment--that, as a landlord clears his estate of turbulent, lawless, +bankrupt tenants, God, who had repented long ago that He had made man, +was at length coming to clear the earth of his guilty presence, and +make room for better tenants; a purer, holier race. It is the last +clause of this hymn, therefore, that gives it an aspect of mercy--the +revenue of glory which God was to receive, and the peace which earth +was to enjoy, flowing from that fountain of redeeming love which had +its spring in God's good will. Of this Christ was the divine +expression, and angels were the happy messengers. + +Happy messengers indeed! No wonder they hastened their flight to +earth, and having announced the good tidings, lingered over the fields +of Bethlehem, singing as they hovered on the wing. To announce bad +news is the unenviable office often imposed on ministers of the +gospel; and recollecting with what slow, reluctant steps my feet +approached the house where I had to break to a mother the tidings of +the wreck, and how her sailor boy with all hands had perished; or, in +the news of a husband's sudden death, I had to plant a dagger in the +heart of a young, bright, happy wife. I never have read the story of +Absalom's tragic end, without wondering at the race between Ahimaaz +and Cushi who should first carry the tidings to David. It had been +easier, I think, to look the foe in the face and hear the roar of +battle than see the old man's grief, and hear that heart-broken cry, +"O Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee, O +Absalom, my son, my son!" I can enter into the feelings of the two +Marys, when, to quote the words of Holy Scripture, "they departed +quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to +bring the disciples word." I see them, as, regardless of appearances, +and saluting no one, they press on, along the road, through the +streets, with panting breath and gleaming eye and streaming hair and +flying feet, striving who shall be first to proclaim the resurrection, +and burst in on the disciples with the glad tidings, crying, "The Lord +is risen!" Teaching the Churches how to strive, their only rivalry who +shall first carry the tidings of salvation to heathen lands, I dare to +say those holy women never took such bounding steps, nor sped on their +way with such haste before. And never, I fancy, did angels leave the +gates of heaven so fast behind them, pass suns and stars in downward +flight on such rapid wing, as when they hasted to earth with the +tidings of great joy. May we be as eager to accept salvation as they +were to announce it! May the love of God find a responsive echo within +our bosoms! Would that our wishes for His glory corresponded to His +for our good, and that His good will toward us awoke a corresponding +good will toward Him--felt in hearts glowing with zeal for Christ's +cause, and expressed in lives wholly consecrated to His service. + +In studying this, we shall now consider the persons to whom good will +is expressed. + + + + +XI. + +THE PERSONS TO WHOM GOOD WILL IS EXPRESSED. + + +It is expressed to men--to all men; so that if we are finally lost, +the blame as well as the bane is ours. God has no ill will to us, or +to any. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; nor is He +willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Him, and +live. His good will embraces the world. + +"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and +the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful +of him? and the Son of man, that thou visitest him?" So said the royal +psalmist. And, in a sense, time should only have deepened the +astonishment which this question expresses. For man's ideas of the +magnificence of the heavens have grown with the course of ages; and +though the stars in the transparent atmosphere of Palestine shone with +a brilliancy unknown to us, our conceptions of the heavens are grander +and more true than David's--thanks to the discoveries of modern +science. As navigators, so soon as by help of the mariner's compass +they could push their bold prows into untravelled seas, were ever +adding new continents to the land and new islands to the ocean, so, +since the invention of the telescope, science has been discovering new +stars in the heavens; filling up their empty spaces with stellar +systems, and vastly enlarging the limits of creation. And since every +new orb has added to the lustre of Jehovah's glory, another world to +His kingdom, another jewel to His crown, these discoveries, by +exalting God still higher, have added point and power to the old +question, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the Son of +man, that thou visitest him?" + +Yet, apart from man's sinfulness, I cannot feel that he is beneath +the regards of the Maker and Monarch of the starry heavens. I can +fancy that an earthly sovereign who, dwelling apart from his people, +is jealous of their intrusion within his palace gates, and sits +enthroned amid an exclusive though brilliant circle of proud and +powerful barons, may neither know nor care about the fortunes of lowly +cottagers; but there could be no greater mistake than out of such a +man's character to weave our conceptions of God, or fancy that because +we are infinitely beneath His rank, we are therefore beneath His +notice. A glance at the meanest of His creatures refutes and rebukes +the unworthy thought. It needs no angels from heaven to inform us that +God cherishes good will to all the creatures of His hand, nor deems +the least of them beneath His kind regards. Look at bird, or +butterfly, or beetle! Observe the lavish beauty that adorns His +creatures, the bounty that supplies their wants, the care taken of +their lives, the happiness, expressed in songs or merry gambols or +mazy dances, which He has poured into their hearts. The whole earth is +full of the glory of God's infinite benignity and good will. +Insignificant as I--a speck on earth, and earth itself but a speck in +creation--seem to myself when, standing below the starry vault, I look +up into the heavens, yet, apart from the thought that I am a sinner, I +cannot say, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? How can I, when +I see Him mindful of the brood that sleep in their rocking nest, of +the moth that flits by my face on muffled wing, of the fox that howls +on the hill, of the owl that hoots to the pale moon from ivy tower or +hollow tree? Are you not of more value than many sparrows? said our +Lord. Fashioned originally after the divine image, with a soul +outweighing in value the rude matter of a thousand worlds, able to +rise on the wings of contemplation above the highest stars and hold +communion with God himself, man, apart from his sinfulness, was every +way worthy of divine good will; that God should be mindful of him. + +But we are sinners--sinners by nature as well as practice; polluted; +unholy; so unclean that our emblem is that hideous form which, from +the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, is wounds and bruises +and putrifying sores; and the news that God cherishes good will to +such guilty creatures may well evoke the old, wondering cry, Hear, O +heavens; be astonished, O earth! On recalling the happy days of early +life, when, a child, he lay in his father's arms; a boy, he sat on his +knee; a youth, he walked by his side--the tears that at parting +streamed over the old man's cheeks--his kind counsels, his tender +warnings, his warm kisses, and how he had stood and watched his +departing steps till the brow of a hill or a turn of the road hid him +from view, the poor prodigal ventured to hope that his father would +not turn him from his door; for the sake of the past and of his mother +in the grave, would grant him at least a servant's place. Weighed down +by a sense of guilt, his hopes rose to no higher flight--expected +nothing beyond a menial's office. To be received with open arms, to +be welcomed back again like some youth who has gone abroad to win a +fortune or be crowned with laurels--that his should be the fairest +robe, the finest ring, the fatted calf--that instead of stealing in +under the cloud of night to be concealed from strangers' eyes, the old +house on his return should ring to the sound of music, and floors +should shake to the dancers' feet, and the whole neighbourhood should +be called to rejoice with a father whose shame and sorrow he had been, +was a turn of fortune he never dreamt of; never dared to hope for. On +the part of that loving, forgiving father, what amazing good will! But +how much more amazing this which God proclaimed by the lips of angels, +and proved by the death of His beloved Son! + +I have known fathers and mothers who were sorely tried by wayward, +wicked children--I have seen their gray hairs go down with sorrow to +the grave. With hearts bleeding under wounds from the hands of one +they loved, I have seen them welcome the grave; saying as they +descended into its quiet rest, "the days of my mourning are ended." It +is a horrid crime to wring tears from such eyes, to crush such hearts: +but was ever patient, hoping, loving parent tried as we have tried our +Father in heaven? Not without reason does He ask, "If I be a father, +where is mine honour? if I be a master, where is my fear?" And who +that thinks of his sins, their guilt, their number, and, as committed +against infinite love and tender mercy, their unspeakable atrocity, +but will acknowledge the truth of these words, "Because I am God, and +not man, therefore the children of men are not consumed"--just as it +is because the ship rides by a cable, and not a cobweb, that, when +sails are rent, and yards are gone, and breakers are foaming on the +reef, she mounts the billows and survives the storm. That we are not +suffering the pains of hell, that we have hopes of heaven and ever +shall be there, we owe not to our good works, but to God's good will; +to that only. Till converted, man does not desire this good will; and +never deserves it. We have no claim to it whatever. It is "not by +works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy +God saves us, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the +Holy Ghost"--therefore His good will has no root in any good works of +ours. A sacred mystery, we may apply to it the words which Job, +contemplating the grand mysteries of nature, applied to our earth +when, seeing this great globe floating in ethereal space, sustained by +no pillars, nor suspended by any chain that linked it to the skies, he +said, Thou hast hung it upon nothing! + + + + +XII. + +THE PERSON WHO EXPRESSES "GOOD WILL." + + +The person is God--He who spake by holy men of old, speaking here by +the lips of angels. Where there is a will, there is a way, is a brave +and admirable proverb. Yet, though comparatively true in most cases, +to some it is altogether inapplicable. Look, for example, at the women +who, when the men had turned cowards, boldly follow our Lord to +Calvary, bewailing and lamenting Him! What tears they shed, what a +wail they raise, when the door opens, and, surrounded by armed guards, +Jesus comes forth from the Judgment Hall, bleeding, bound, crowned +with thorns. When He sank down on the street under the weight of the +cross, and His blessed head lay low in the dust, had there been a +chance of saving Him, how had they rushed to His help; and, giving +their naked breasts to the Roman spears, burst through the circle to +rescue Him; to die with Him rather than desert Him. But they were +helpless. Their good will availed the loved object nothing--beyond +this, that the sympathy flowing in their tears and expressed in their +looks, somewhat soothed the sorrows of His heart, and fell like balm +drops on His smarting wounds. + +Again, what good will did David bear to Jonathan! Did Jonathan love +David as his own soul? and under circumstances calculated to dissolve +all common friendships, and work such change on the heart as wine +suffers when it turns into vinegar, did Jonathan's sentiments continue +unchanged, his affection unabated to the last? His love was strong as +death; many waters could not quench it. But it was amply requited. +David proved that with his harp; had he been present on that fatal +field where the bow of Jonathan was broken, he had proved it with his +sword. With what a lion spring had he answered Jonathan's cry for +help; how had he bestrode his fallen friend, covering him with his +battered shield; mowing a way through the ranks of the Philistines, +how had he borne him off to a place of safety, or falling in the +attempt, left others to compose their elegy, and sing, They were +pleasant in their lives, and in death they were not divided! God is a +very present help in time of trouble; but there was no help for +Jonathan in David. Far away from that bloody field, his good will +availed Jonathan nothing--beyond embalming his rare virtues in +immortal song, and in an imperishable lament raising an imperishable +monument to the memory of a man whose love to him was wonderful, +passing the love of women. + +Again, what good will in his father's heart to Esau? But the old man's +hands are tied. Fresh from the chase, and ignorant of what has +happened in his absence, Esau approaches Isaac, saying, Let my father +arise and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me! Who +art thou? says the blind old man--astonished that any should ask what +he has already given away. Recognising the beloved voice which +replied, I am thy son, thy first-born Esau, and dreading some dire +calamity, Isaac trembled exceedingly, crying, "Who? where is he that +hath taken venison and brought it me; and I have eaten of all before +thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed." By +the basest, cruelest fraud, Jacob has possessed himself of the +blessing; and if their mother, his own partner in guilt, was watching +the issue of this perfidious plot, how had it pierced her heart to +hear Esau, when the truth flashed on his mind and he saw the treasure +stolen, cry, "with a great and exceeding bitter cry, Bless me, even me +also, O my father!" The strong man, the bold hardy hunter, lifted up +his voice and wept; seeking repentance, as the apostle says--to get +Isaac to undo the deed--with tears but found it not. What availed his +father's good will to him, his favourite son? What was done must +stand. The blessing was gone; and Isaac, though he had the will, had +no way to recall it. + +But what need to ransack old history for examples? How often have our +hearts overflowed with good will, yet we could only weep with them +that wept--pity sorrows we could not soothe, wants we were powerless +to relieve? Tears we might give, but they could not clothe the naked, +or feed the hungry, or save the dying, or recall the dead, or close +the wounds which death had made. In dying chambers how are we made +painfully, bitterly to feel that man's power is not commensurate with +his will? What good will, what tender affection toward some dear, +beloved object! yet, as we hung over the dying couch, all we could do +was to moisten the speechless lips, to wipe the clammy sweat from +death's cold brow and watch the sinking pulses of life's ebbing tide. +What would we not have done to meet the wishes of the eye that, when +speech was gone, turned on us imploring, never-to-be-forgotten looks! +Alas, our good will availed them nothing! + +Such recollections, by the contrast which they present to God's good +will, greatly enhance its preciousness. "His favour is life, his +loving-kindness is better than life." Where God has a will, God always +has a way. At the throne of divine grace, none had ever to shed Esau's +tears, or cry with him, Hast thou but one blessing, O my father? Our +father in heaven is affluent in blessings, plenteous in redemption, +abundant in goodness and in truth. Who ever turned an imploring eye on +God, and brought to prayer the earnestness of him that bends the knee +to yon blind old man, but became in time the happy object of God's +loving, saving mercy. Let men trust in the Lord. In the name of Christ +let them throw themselves on His mercy. What though they cannot see +it? It is around them, like the invisible but ambient air on which the +eagle, with an awful gulf below, throws herself from her rocky nest in +fearless freedom, and with expanded wings. So let men, trusting in +God's faithful word, spread out the wings of faith, and cast them on +His good will. Wrapping the world round in an atmosphere of mercy, it +shall sustain their weight, and bear them aloft, till, ascending into +the calm regions of Christian hope, they bathe their eyes in the beams +of the Sun of Righteousness, and feel their feet firmly planted on the +Rock of Ages. + +But let one thing be remembered, this, namely, that God will not save +any against their will. Let us therefore seek, and seek till we +obtain, a change of heart. He draws, not drives--will not force any +into heaven--nor be served by the hands of a slave. If I would not +have a sullen, crouching slave wait at my table, work in my house, +stand in my poor presence, much less He who says, Give me thy heart, +my son! He makes His people willing in the day of His power. Softened +in the flames of Divine love, their stubborn wills yield to His, and, +under the hand of His Holy Spirit and the hammer of His mighty word, +take the fashion and form of His own. Thus, His will and their wills +being brought into perfect harmony, His people feel their duty to be +their delight, and regard His holy service as no irksome bondage, but +the truest liberty and highest honour. + + +THE END. + + +_Ballantyne, Roberts, & Co., Printers, Edinburgh._ + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +Minor printer errors (omitted letters or punctuation) have been +corrected without note. Any variations in spelling or hyphenation have +been left as they appeared in the original. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Angels' Song, by Thomas Guthrie + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANGELS' SONG *** + +***** This file should be named 21024.txt or 21024.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/0/2/21024/ + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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