The Angels Song | Page 4

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