1. Angels Holy, Angels of Light | 2. Rolling Away the Stone |. 3. Appearance of the Angel | 4. The Angel of Sleep and the Angel of Death | 5. To the Realms of Endless Day | 6. Soothing Troubled Hearts | 7. Serving the Savior | 8. The Legend of St Catherine | 9. Angels Sexless | 10. Gathering the Elect | 11. The Knowledge of Angels | 12. Perpetual Youth | 13. The Apparition of the Angel | 14. Thy Prayer is Heard | 15. The Joyous Message | 16. The Sign of Angelic Ministry | 17. Gabriel, the Messenger of God | 18. They Serve on Earth and Sing in Heaven | 19. Embassador Extraordinary | 20. Gabriel's Symbol, the Lily | 21. The Visit to Mary | 22. A Comforting Assurance | 23. Sweetest Name in Seraph Song | 24. Guardian of Celestial Treasury | 25. Angels Pictured by Artists | 26. Angels in Sculpture | 27. The Archangel Gabriel | 28. The Mystic Rose | 29. The Prince of Peace | 30. Good Tidings of Geat Joy | 31. Gloria in Excelsis
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS.
July 31.
For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord.
—Luke 2:11.
TODAY I want you, for once, to think of this— that it was a
hymn ; that these angels were singing, even as human beings
sing. Music has been called the speech of angels; I will go
further and call it the speech of God Himself. Music is a pattern
and type of heaven, and of the everlasting life of God, which
perfect spirits live in heaven; a life of melody and order in
themselves; a life of harmony with each other, and with God.
Some of us may not be able to make music with our voices, but
we can make it with our hearts, and join in the angels' song this
day, if not with our lips, yet in our lives. On this day began
that perfect melody of the Son's life on earth; one song and
poem, as it were, of wise words, good deeds, spotless purity and
untiring love, which He perfected when He died and rose again,
and ascended on high forever to make intercession for us with
music sweeter than the song of angels and archangels, and all
the heavenly host. —Charles Kingsley.
Under the starry heavens, along the lonely hillsides, these
shepherds are keeping their watch; suddenly the angel of the
Lord comes upon them, the glory of the Lord encompasses them
with a girdle of light brighter than the midday sun could have
thrown around them. '' Fear not,'' says the angel ; "for behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy." . . . But they had
something more to see and hear ere their visit to the village is
paid. The voice of that single angel has scarce died away in
the silence of the night—lost in wonder they are still gazing on
his radiant form—when suddenly a whole multitude of the heavenly
host bursts upon their astonished vision, lining the illuminated
heavens. Human eyes never saw before nor since so large
a company of the celestial inhabitants hovering in our earthly
skies; and human ears never heard before nor since such a
glorious burst of heavenly praise as those angels then poured
forth— couching it in Hebrew speech, their native tongue for the
time foregone, that these listening shepherds may catch up at
once the cradle-hymn that heaven now chants over the new-born
Savior. —Rev. William Hanna, D. D., LL. D.
The sky can still remember
The earliest Christmas morn,
When in the cold December
The Savior Christ was born.
And still in darkness clouded
And still in noon-day light,
It feels its far depths crowded
With angels fair and bright.
O, never failing splendor!
O, never silent song!
Still keep the green earth tender,
Still keep the gray earth strong.
O, angels, sweet and splendid,
Throng in our hearts and sing
The wonders which attended
The coming of the King.
—Phillips Brooks. |
