Angelic Life and its Lessons.
I. There is no proof of the existence of other beings than ourselves, but there is also no proof of the contrary. Apart from revelation, we can think about the subject as we please. But it does seem incredible that we alone should represent in the universe the image of God; and if in one solitary star another race of beings dwell, if we concede the existence of a single spirit other than ourselves, we have allowed the principle; the angelic world of which the Bible speaks is possible to faith. But we have fallen upon faithless times; and worse than the mediaeval, who saw the glint of the angels' wings in the dazzling of the noonday cloud; worse even than the Greek, who peopled his woods with deity, we see only in the cloud the storehouse of rain to ripen our corn, and in the woods a cover for our pheasants. Those who see more have small cheerfulness in the sight; neither the nymphs nor the angels haunt the hills with us. The world is too much with us, and God too little. We cannot see the world which moves around us through the dust of the death in which we live. He who dwells in the cabin of the visible cannot see the infinite world of the invisible through the clay-built walls. Our life with nature has lost its beauty, its joy, its religion.
Note:
I. The relation of God to angelic life. The first thing we understand of the angels is, that in distant eternities God created them. Here we have the principle of the social life of God. He would not have a life which began and ended in Himself. His life consisted in giving Himself away, and finding Himself in all things. I don't say God could not, but He would not be alone. And this is the deep principle of all being. That which is,is that which gives itself away. That which lives, is that which lives in others. God would be dead were He to live for Himself alone, and we are dead when we live only to receive, when, folding the cloak of self around us, we cease to find our being in sacrifice of self.
II. Note, next, angelic life in relation to God. It is described as a life of exalted praise. Here we have a revelation of the life of heaven. Holiness, deepening day by day; sacred love and awe, increasing as the revelation of holiness advances, and the expression of these in ceaseless worship, ceaseless praise. Then will praise be perfect, for in us love will be perfect; our voices, our unconscious aspirations, our whole life shall go forth in song to God, as the river goes forth to seek the ocean. The perfect life will be perfect joy.
S. A. Brooke, Sermons,p. 304.
References: Hebrews 1:7. Expositor,1st series, vol. viii., p. 461.Hebrews 1:7-9. Ibid.,vol. i., p. 447. Hebrews 1:8; Hebrews 1:9. Ibid.,vol. ii., p. 295; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 179. Hebrews 1:10-12. Ibid.,vol. i., p. 181.Hebrews 1:11. Homiletic Magazine,vol. vii., p. 337. Hebrews 1:12. F. Armitage, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xii., p. 321; G. T. Coster, Ibid.,vol. xvi., p. 203.Hebrews 1:13; Hebrews 1:14. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 182.