Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1919 — When Angels Came to Men [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

When Angels Came to Men

By REV. L. W. GOSNELL

Assistant Dean, Moody Bible Institute. Chicago

TKXT—There were in the same irf'untry shepherds abiding in the field And. 10, the angeL of the Lord came upon them, . and the glory* of the phone round about them; and they were sore afraid. ..Ani-jtuddenlv tlitre was with the sngel s multi: ude >f the heavenly host praising God, and saying. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peaee. 'good wiU toward men.—Luke 9, is. HHow amazing that -amr.-ls ram.- to men! Indeed, some are so hnp-<•>« d

with the ta-ii.- -- - of the physical universe and with the insignificance Of n|»U iliat thry doubt wtiet he r G<»d has Tiny Interest In fls.. But such thin’> ers lack :i proper sense of v-a 1 u Fireason will risk (heir .lives -to save a baby in ’a' burning building, even though ah the we alt h in the building be lost because of their,

attention to tlw vLiilii. A is of more concern to God th: n a universe of stars. The sheep in the fields were not-afraid as the shex>lie:jls v ere, when the angel, of the Lorjj a ipeared; the shepherds had ‘a siUm' e the supernatural which the she.p had not. Men may 'become. sons of Goff: while sheep and stars cannot; hence God cares for men especial! y*a nd sends his angels to them. The shepherds were good men. We read of tln-iu hasting to Bethlehem and of their tt “glorifying "and praising God.” It has been well said that bad men would have heard only the night wind, instead of the angels’ - songs. Mrs. Browning speaks, of some to whom every common bush is aflame with God. while others sit around picking blackberries. Once, when the voice of God spoke To Jesus, some who heard it said it thundered: Men who are not Christians miss the vision of God and Tib angels* song cheers them in the night of life. The sheiiherds were poor men. Some tell us that the principal duty of the church toward the poor is to change their environment. But the shepherds teach us that* God may come to the poor before their environment is changed. How often have Christen workers found the brightest saints in squalid tenements! We do not underestimate the value of a good environment, but the surest way to secure it is to make, first, good men. Religion for Busy Men. The shepherds were busy men. The angels did not appear to idlers nor to those shut up in cloisters, but to men in the fields. What a revelation of heaven’s ideal of the religious life! The ‘‘glory of the Lord” which shone about the shepherds was the Shekinah which had glowed in the temple of old, seen only by the high priest and on rare occasii>ns. But here it came to illuminate the fields where men tolled. God does not propose to take men out of their employments, but would have them sene him at their tasks. Alas; that many are with their flocks theylmvenotimetogot-oßcthleheni’ We are interested in the song of the angels, but would first gemind ourselves of the wonder that there could be communication between these he'avehly creatures and the sons of men. Paul speaks of "the tongues of men and of angels," and we cannot conceive the language of heaven. Yet on that night the angels were understood by the shepherds. Light is ! thrown onr this fact by the reference in Ephesians 3:15 to “the whole fam- j ily in heaven and earth.’’ Just as the Spectroscope shows the st as& lite com 7 ' posed of the same elemeiufe as the earth and suggests the unity of the universe, so the family in heaven and earth is one. and there is a certain: kinship between nun and angels. At any rate, the “tongues of men and angels" are harmonized when Jesus is their theme! ■ The Song of the Angels. . , The ariyeis Seem, to have sung in antiphon, like the Levite choirs. First, one section sang-. “Glory to God in the •highest.'’ responded, f*On earth peace." Then th-y sang in chorus, "Gootl will toward men." The coming of Jesus brought glory to God “ip the highest,” that is. from -the highest intelligence. —They knew the glory Christ had with the father and could appreciate the sacrifice ini' volved in his stooping to be born among men. They knew the holiness of. God which required a sacrifice for sin. They, appreciated, the love which provided a sacrifice in him who not only was made in the likeness of men but was to humble himself to the death of the cross. The coming of Christ brought 5 “On earth petto?, good will, toward men.” The latter expression is the same as that used by the Father when he said of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." By the blood of the cross such a peace has been made that Go# may have the same pleasure in redeemed sinners as he find* in his Son, in whom he always takes delight. Indeed, as Paul puts it* we are “accepted in the Beloved,” all "this comeliness being placed upon us 1 XlpO w -