The Angels Song | Page 2

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