The Angels Song | Page 5

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