Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 4.djvu/597

Rh soaring high; .and therefore the angels, who seek thmirs ab.ivf, luul sec far into divine mysteries, put tm the face of a Jiui^'g eagle. [3.] By tleir wings; Every one had four wings, V. 6. In the vision Isuiah had of them, they ap- peared with six, now with four; for the}' appeared ^bove the throne, and had occasion for two to cover their faces with. The angels are fitted with wings, to fly swiftly on God's errands: whatever business God sends them upon, they lose no time. Faith and hope are the soul's wings, upon which it soars upward; pious and devout affections are its wings on which it is carried forward, with vigour and alacrity. The prophet observes here, concern- ing their wings, Jursl, That they were joined one to another, {v. 9.) and again, v. 11. They did not make use of their wings for fighting, as some birds do, there is no contest among the angels, God makes peace, perfect peace, in his high places; but their wings were joined in token of their jjerfect unity nnd unanimity, and the universal agreement there IS among them. Secondly, That they were stretched upward, extended and ready for use, not folded up or flagging. Let an angel receive the least intima- tion of the divine will, and he has nothing to seek, but is upon the wing immediately; while our poor, dull souls are like the ostrich, that with much difli- culty lifts up herself on high. Thirdly, That two of their wings were made use of in covering their bodies, the spiritual bodies they assumed. The clothes that cover us, are our hinderance in work; angels need no other covering than their own yings, which are their furtherance. They cover their bo- dies from us, so forbidding us needless inquiries con- cerning them; ask not after them, for they are won- derful, Judg. xiii. 18. They cover them before God, so directing us, when we approach to God, to see to it that webe so clothed with Christ's righte- "ousness, that the shatne of our nakedness may not appear. [4.] By their feet, including their legs and thighs; They were straight feet; (tk 7.) they stood straight, and firm, and steady, no liurthen of service could make their legs to Ijend under them. The spouse makes this part of the description of her lieloved, tliat his legs were as fiillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold; (Cant. v. 15. ) such are the an- gels' legs. 77)1° sole of their feet was like that of a calf's foot, which di ides the hoof, and is thei'eiore clean; as it were the sole of a round foot, (as the Chaldee words it,) they were ready for motion any way. Their feet were winged; (so the Seventy;) they went so swiftly, that it was as if they flew. And their very feet sparkled like the colour of bur- nished brass; not only their faces, Ijut the ery feet, of those are beautiful, whom God sends on his er- rands; (Isa. lii. 7.) every step the angels take is glo- rious. In the vision John had of Christ, it is said, His feet were like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. Rev. i. 15. [5.'] By their hands; {v. 8.) They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; an arm and a hand under every wing. They had not only wings for motion, but hands for action. Many are quick, wlio are not active; they huri-y about a great deal, but do nothing to puiT^ose, bring nothing to p.ass; they have wings, but no hands; whereas God's servants, the angels, not only go wlien he sends them, and come when he calls them, but do what he bids them. They are the hands of a man, which are wonderfully made, and fitted for service; which are guided by reason and understanding; for wliat angels do, they do intelligently and with judg- ment. They have calves' feet; this denotes the swiftness of their motion; (the cedars of Lebanon are said to ski/i like a calf, Ps. xxix. 6.) but they nave a man's hand; this denotes the niceness and exactness of their performances; as the heavens are said to be the work of God's fingers. Their hands were under their wings, which concealed them as they did the rest (f their bodies. NoU, The agency of angels is a secivt thing, and their work is carried on in an invisilile way. In working for Cli d, though we must not, with the sluggard, hide our hand in our bosom, yet we must, with the humble, not let our left hand know what our right hand doeth. We may observe, that where these wings were, their liands were under their wings; wherever their wings carried theni, they carried liands along with them, to lie still doing something suitable, something that the duty of the place requires. (4.) Their motions. The living creatures are moving; angels are active beings; it is not their hap- piness to sit still, and do nothing, but to be always well employed, and we must reckon ourselves then best, when we are doing good; doing it as the angels do it, of whom it is here observed, [1.] That whatever serxice they went aljout, they went ex'ery one straight forward, {v. 9, 12.) which intimates, First, That they sincerely aimed at the glory of God, and had a single eye to that, in all they did; their goui^ straight forTi'ard .sup- poses that they looked straiglit forward, and never had any sinister intentions in what they did. And if tlius our eye be single, our whole body will be full of light; the singleness of the eye is the sincerity of the heart. Secondly, That they were intent upon the service they were employed In, and did it with a close ap))lication of mind; they went forward with their work; for what their hand found to do, they did it ivith all their might, and did not loiter in it. Thirdly, That they were unanimous in it; they went straight forward, every one abiait his own work, they did not thwart or justlc one another, did not stand in one another's light, in one another's way. Fourthly, That they perfectly understood their bu- siness, and were thoroughly apprized of it, so that they needed not to stand still to pause or hesitate, but they pursued their work with readiness, as those that knew what they had to do, and how to do it. Fifthly, They were steady and constant in their work; they did not fluctuate, did not tire, did not vary, byt were of a piece with themselves; they moved in a direct line, and so went the near- est way to work, in all they did, and lost no time. When we go straight, we go forward, when we serve God with one heart, we rid ground, we rid work. [2.] They turned not when they went, v. 9, 12, First, They made no blunders or mistakes, which would give them occasion to turn back to rectify them; their work needed no correction, and there- fore needed not to be gone over again. Secondly, They minded no diversions; as they turned not back, so they turned not aside, to trifle away with any thing that was foreign to their business. [3.] They went whither the Spirit was to go: (xi. 12. ) either. First, lJ'hithertm own spirit lyas dis- posed to go: thither they we?it, having no bodies, as we have, to clog or hmder them. It is our infelicity and daily burthen, that, when the spirit is willing yet the flesh is weak, and cannot keep pace with it, so that the good which we would do, we do it not; but angels and glorified saints labour under no such impotency, whatever they incline or intend to do, they do it, and never come short of it. Or. rather. Secondly, Whithersoever the Spirit of Gvd woultl have them go thither they went; though they had so much wisdom of their own, yet in all their mo- tions and actions they subjected themselves to the conduct and government of the divine will; whith- ersoever the divine providence was to go, they went, to serve its purposes, and to execute its orders. The Spirit of God (says Mr. Grecnhill) is the grea*