ST. LUKE II. 13, 14 49
that first. A world is redeemed. Millions on millions of human beings are rescued from everlasting death. Is not this the thing uppermost in the angels' thoughts ? Is not this mighty blessing bestowed on man the first thing that they proclaim ? No, it is only the second thing : the first thing is, Glory to God ! Why so ? Because God is the Giver of this salvation ; nay, is Himself the Saviour, in the person of the only-begotten Son. Moreover, be- cause in heavenly minds God always holds the first place, and they look at everything with a view to Him. But if this was the feeling of the angels, it is clear we cannot be like angels until the same feeling is uppermost with us also. Would we become like them, we must strive to do God's will as it is done in heaven ; that is, because it is God's will and because we are fully persuaded that whatever He wills must needs be the wisest and best thing to do, whether we can see the reasons of it or not.^
T[ The religious faith on which my own art teaching is based never has been farther defined, nor have I wished to define it farther, than in the sentence beginning the theoretical part of Modern Painters : " Man's use and purpose — and let the reader who will not grant me this, follow me no farther, for this I purpose always to assume — is to be the witness of the glory of God, and to advance that glory by his reasonable obedience and resultant happiness." ^
2. How does the coming of Christ bring glory to God? It displays all the attributes of God to advantage. The general arranges his forces to display his wisdom ; the orator arranges his arguments to display his power ; the philanthropist arranges his gifts and so displays his mercy. In the coming of Christ we see wisdom and power and mercy displayed in their fullest and ; sublimest manner. The whole character of God stands out ^ resplendent in faithfulness and love. How many promises were fulfilled, how many obligations discharged by the coming of Jesus ! By setting forth God in His highest glory it brings glory to Him.
^ The glory which lay hidden from eternity in the creative Mind began to disclose itself in the myriad forms of beauty abounding in the inorganic kingdom, in crystals of snow and ice, in sparkle of jewels, in the exquisite hues of precious stones, in splendour of sunrise and sunset, in glint of moonbeam and gleam
1 A. W. Hare, The Alton Sermons, 80,
2 Ruskin, Epilogue to Modem Painters ( Works, vii. 462), ST. LUKE — 4
50 THE SONG OF THE HEAVENLY HOST
of star, in cloud, wave and sky — then continued to unfold with ever-increasing beauty and wonder as Life, that great magician appeared, the waving of whose wand inaugurated the organic kingdom, and changed the face of all things into a new Creation. Thus the unveiling of the sublime purpose continued, till through rudimentary forms of sensations, intelligence, and love, in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, it blossomed into completer form in Man, and finally broke into all fruition in Christ the glory of Eternal Love unveiled.^
3. But can God receive increase of glory, more than He has already? Is it not the very idea of God that He is infinitely glorious, and that this He always has been and ever will be ? Assuredly so: in Himself He is as incapable of increase as of diminution of glory. But we may ascribe more glory to Him, more, that is, of the honour due unto His name, as we know Him more, as the infinite perfection of His being — His power, His wisdom. His love — is gradually revealed to us. So too may angels ; and the heavenly host declare in this voice of theirs that the Incarnation of the Son of God was a new revelation, a new outcoming to them of the unsearchable riches of the wisdom, the power, the love, that are in God ; that in that Church of the redeemed which now had become possible would be displayed mysteries of grace and goodness which transcended and surpassed all God's past dealings with men or with angels.
We have St. Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians declaring the same thing ; that heaven was taught by what was done upon earth ; that angels, as they stooped from the shining battlements on high and looked toward this dim speck of earth and on one obscure province of it, and at a little village, and to one lowliest household there, learned about the mind of God things which they had not learned standing upon the steps of the throne and beholding the unapproachable brightness of Him who sat thereon. Can we doubt this? Does not St. Paul declare that he was himself set to proclaim the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God, more or less concealea therefore from men and angels alike ? And why to proclaim it ? He proceeds to give the answer : " to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places " — in other words, to * L. W. Caws, Tlie Unveiled Glory, 64,