ST. LUKE II. 13, 14 51
the angelic host — " might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." Here then is the explanation of the angels' song, of this " Glory to God in the highest," this melody of heaven, to bear a part in which they invite and challetige the listening children of men upon earth.
T[ Of God's goodwill to men, and to all creatures, for ever, there needed no proclamation by angels. But that men should be able to please Him, — that their wills should be made holy, and they should not only possess peace in themselves, but be able to give joy to their God, in the sense in which He afterwards is pleased with His own baptized Son ; — this was a new thing for angels to declare, and for shepherds to believe.^
4. The glory thus manifested, apprehended, and given back, is "glory in the highest." What is intended by this superlative? What noun shall we read into this adjective ? Things, places, beings, realms of space, regions of thought, worlds of life ? The unexplained word embraces and exceeds all these. At least the angels knew their meaning, cognizant as they are of the gradations and levels of creation, the lower and the higher, the higher and the highest. Men may employ such a word with vague and partial intention ; but angels know whereof they affirm, and the single word declares the glory of God in this Nativity to be no secondary manifestation in the common level of human history, but a fresh effulgence of His highest attributes to which the highest heavens respond.
There are some who take the word " highest " to mean that there is glory to God in the highest degree by the coming of Christ. God is glorified in nature — "the heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament sheweth his handy work." He is glorified in every dew-drop that sparkles in the morning sun, and in every tiny wood-flower that blossoms in the copse. Every bird that warbles on the spray, every lamb that skips the mead, glorifies God. All creation glorifies God. Do not the stars write His name in golden letters across the midnight sky ? Are not the lightnings His sword flashing from His scabbard ? Are not the thunders the roll-drums of His armies ? From least to greatest the whole of creation tells forth His glory. But the majestic organ of creation cannot reach the compass of the organ of 1 Euskin, Fal d'Amo, § 253 ( Works, xxiii. 148).
52 THE SONG OF THE HEAVENLY HOST
redemption. There is more melody in Christ than in all worlds. He brings glory to God in the very highest degree.
^ An Indian rajah has built over the grave of his favourite wife a mausoleum which is one of the wonders of the world. So perfectly and wonderfully is this built that a word spoken at the entrance proceeds from point to point and is distinctly re-echoed until it reaches the very topmost height. So would the angels have it to be in living glory to God. They would have all men praise God for His great love-gift, the praise proceeding higher and higher, gathering in volume as it proceeds, until it surges up against the throne of God, and bursts into the spray of ten thousand songs. Oh, let us praise Him ! If angels did who were spectators, surely we ought who are recipients of such blessings. Let us say, " Highest ! highest ! "
Kemember the words of Edward Perronet when dying, and try to catch his spirit : —
Glory to God in the height of His Divinity: Glory to God in the depth of His Humanity: Glory to God in His All-sufficiency. Glory to God in the Highest!^
II
Peace to Men.
" Peace " how precious is the word ! There is warmth in it. There is music in it. There is Heaven in it. What pictures it paints ! We can see in this mirror-like word a hundred dear delights. A sky without a cloud. A sun whose rays are A benignant. Fields rich in harvests, white- washed farmsteads looking cosy and clean on the hills and in the dales, cattle browsing in sweet content, workmen plying their common tasks in undisturbed serenity, no war or battle's sound creating feelings of dread apprehension in human breasts anywhere. Oh, lovely peace! But other and sweeter images are in that word: men and women find reflexion therein, with happy faces aglow with innocent pleasure, no strife in their hearts, their passions orderly and under correct government, their feelings pure, their emotions all noble, their aspirations all heavenly, their consciences tranquil,
* W. L. Mackenzie, Pure Religion, 105.
ST. LUKE II. 13, 14 53
at peace with themselves, their neighbours, with nature, and with God. This is the peace that Jesus brings. The angels' song has set men dreaming, and the dreams are not unworthy ; they have dreamt of peace in the workshop, the ending of the unhappy misunderstandings between master and man ; peace in the home, the ending of all domestic disquietude ; peace in the State, rival parties in unholy rivalry no longer, but all men's good each man's rule; peace betwixt the nations, the sword no longer to do its inhuman butchery, and the cannon no longer to be the cause of unspeakable horrors ; but, beautiful as are all these dreams, and compassed as they are by the angels' words, they fall far short of what Christ's gift involves. The peace He gives is not superficial, but radical: it means, first of all, peace in man, peace at the centre of things. He does not make the profound mistake of beginning at the circumference; He works at the centre. He puts His peace into men, and the charm of it is sighted, and the power of it is felt, and the contagion of it is diffused. He influ- ences the world within, and in that way the world without.