SERMON XXXVIII.
THE ANGELIC HYMN, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, OUR COMMUNION HYMN.

TRINITY SUNDAY.

ISA. vi. 3.

"One cried unto another, and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory."

ABOUT seven hundred years before our Lord came down among men, there was, as is supposed, a silence of prophecy for a time, on account of the sin of king Uzziah, who had intruded on the priest's office. God being angry withdrew Himself, and made no answer to the inquiries of His people: even as He had withdrawn Himself from Saul. But when Uzziah died, it pleased Him to break that silence: and in a very wonderful way. He chose Isaiah to be His prophet, and called him by a glorious and aweful vision. He "saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up:" as it were a great King, Who reigneth for ever, preparing to judge His people. His train, His glory, filled the temple: as when He had been used to appear to Moses or to Solomon, in brightness that could scarcely be endured. Above it stood the Seraphim, the bright and burning Angels, all on fire with divine love: "each one had six wings: with one pair he covered his face, and with one pair he covered his feet, and with one pair he did fly:" teaching us, perhaps, among other things, with what intense fear and awe we ought to come near the great God of heaven and earth, and how ready we should keep ourselves to hasten wheresoever He may command. And one of these blessed beings kept on crying to another, and saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." Their employment was to keep up continually their hymn of praise to the Most High: the one side taking it up when the other ceased; and so answering one another, and keeping up the strain day and night: somewhat in the same way, as when the Psalms are sung or said by course in our churches: which custom Isaiah was probably used to in the temple. And now both he and we after him have the comfort of knowing, that when we are so employed, we are for the time companions of the Angels in heaven: praising God as they do by alternate chanting of holy words: yea, often, even in the very same words which they use: "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." For that divine verse is both in our daily service, and also our service for the Holy Communion. It is in our daily service, as it is a part of the hymn of S. Ambrose, commonly called the Te Deum: "To Thee Cherubin, and Seraphin, continually do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy glory." It is also in our Communion Service, in the most joyful part of it, when we have been absolved from our sins, and stand up to give thanks to God: "with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify His glorious Name, evermore praising Him and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory." Well may the Church use it as her sacramental hymn, as she has always done, no doubt, since she was a Church: seeing that not only was it taught to the prophet Isaiah in so wonderful a way, but also to the Apostle S. John. When he saw a door opened in heaven, and the Lord sitting on His throne, then also he heard the four beasts, i. e. the Cherubim, joining in the same anthem which Isaiah had heard from the Seraphim. "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty: which was, and is, and is to come." Whenever therefore we recite the Te Deum, and more especially whenever we receive the Holy Communion, we have the happiness of knowing that, at that very time, some or all of the blessed company of heaven are reciting the very same words. They do it by course, taking up the words one from another: for so it pleases God that His creatures should praise Him. So we read of His works here on earth, that "one day telleth another, and one night certifieth another:" and again concerning the continual succession of His people: "One generation shall praise Thy works unto another, and declare Thy power."

But whether the song be uttered in heaven or in earth, whether it be Angels or men who sing, whether it be heard by prophets before Christ's Incarnation, or by Apostles after His Ascension into Heaven, still it is the same song, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord."

Holy is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Fountain of all being in heaven and in earth: Holy is the Only-Begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, being of One Substance with the Father: Holy is the Blessed Spirit, the Comforter, proceeding eternally both from the Father and the Son: and these three Holies are One Lord God of Hosts, which was, and which is, and which is to come.

The hymn is the same, only there is a little difference between the last words of it as they stand in Isaiah, and as we use them in our services now. Isaiah heard the Seraphim sing, "the whole earth is full of His glory:" but as we now recite it, it stands, "heaven and earth are full of Thy glory." Because Isaiah's soul was carried on especially to the time of our Lord's Incarnation and humiliation on earth, but the Church now considers Him as reigning in heaven after His Sufferings. It is the same Saviour, the same salvation, only more complete and more perfect now than it was then.

Now, then, my brethren, on this great and wonderful Day, appointed for especial meditation on the great secret of the Most Holy Trinity, Three Persons in One God; I ask you, by God's help, seriously to consider with me, what a thing it is to be invited continually to take part with saints and Angels in such a hymn as this; what a blessing, if we use it rightly: what a shame and condemnation, if we neglect or abuse it. Suppose that by your own fault you were a friendless wanderer and outcast, turned out of your home, and not knowing where to lay your head: and suppose that in jour wanderings you should come suddenly to a place, from which you heard strains of the sweetest and most heavenly music, set to words full of comfort; so that you could not but feel assured in your heart, "Here is the cure of all my miseries: if I can once be admitted here, and allowed to remain, I know I shall be always in peace and in joy:" should you not anxiously look after the entrance into that happy place? Should you not rejoice if you found the door open, and press towards it as eagerly as you dared? And would it not be a blessing, more almost than you could believe, if you heard yourself called by name and invited to come, with an assurance that the music and all the joys of the place were expressly intended for you? Well, this is just our case: your case, my brethren, my case, the case of us all, in respect of that great Angelical hymn. We are outcasts from Paradise, wanderers about the world, unable of ourselves to find any true rest and consolation: and behold, a door is opened in heaven, and we are invited to look in and see things which shall be hereafter, and to hear the song of the saints and Angels, and join in it: we know also in the bottom of our hearts, that thus and thus only can we ever be happy. What will you do? Will you turn away from the gracious voice, the voice of the Gospel, the voice like a trumpet talking with you, the voice which would welcome you to the holy and joyful place? Or will you not rather listen to it with all your ears and all your hearts, and for that purpose stop your ears to all the mean harsh sounds of this earth, and get as near heaven's gate as you can? And when you hear the gracious sound inviting you from within, "Come unto Me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you," will you churlishly turn back? Will you not obey it with humble joy and thankfulness? It is true, you feel and own yourselves quite unworthy: how can you help it? You know too well, how sadly your garments are soiled by your long and inexcusable straying in the wilderness of the world: yet trusting in His pardon so mercifully, so largely offered, you may venture in: only taking care to wait at the door long enough for a reasonable hope that the stain and soil has begun really to be worn away by your true penitence. O, venture in: do not depart, with so many, alas! who ought to stay: but do you offer and present yourselves" at Christ's Altar to receive the Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood. There we kneel down, we confess our sins, we bow down our heads to receive Christ's Absolution, pronounced over us by His appointed Minister. He says, " Lift up your hearts:" and we make answer, that "we lift them up unto the Lord." O let us take care that this may be a true answer: let us at least endeavour at that moment to get rid of all vain, trifling and worldly thoughts, and to see with our mind's eye somewhat of that astonishing vision, which He in His favour shewed to Isaiah and to S. John. In heart let us try to behold Him sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing before Him, and let us hearken to them, how they cry continually one to another, " Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." That glorious Angelical hymn is meant by our gracious God to be our hymn also. We are to take part in it: mean and unworthy as we are; He created us, He died for us, and He would have us to praise Him accordingly.

But mark this well, my brethren. The word by which we praise Him is "Holy." We do not repeat three times the title Almighty, or Eternal, or All-wise; or any other of the manifold Perfections of God. But He chooses rather to be called Holy. That is now His title for ever, and His memorial to all generations. O how plainly does this speak to every one of our consciences, and warn us not to draw near with unclean, unprepared, unholy minds! The Angels and saints, who take up this song in heaven, are all of them holy, very holy: they are full of holiness, each according to his measure. He Who knoweth whereof we are made, knows that we cannot as yet be like them: yet He expects that we should wish, pray, endeavour to be so: without so much holiness at least as that, "no man shall see the Lord." That is the first and principal thing for those who would partake in the song of the Angels, and come worthily to the Holy Communion.

Again, whereas the word "Holy" is three times repeated, it is requisite that the worthy communicant should come in such faith as is implied in that threefold repetition: faith in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, Three Persons and One God. We are not to imagine any difference nor inequality in any of their Divine Perfections: but to offer ourselves up, both our souls and bodies, alike to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Ghost: humbly hoping and earnestly labouring, that in His good time we may be permitted (like Moses) to see more of this great sight, how the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are Three yet One: Three in Person, One in Substance, and in all Divine Perfections. That will be joy indeed; but in the mean time He invites us to live and be saved by hope: and He promises to keep us safe under the seal of the Most Holy Trinity, which He put on us at our Baptism. He accepts our song of praise, though as yet we do not understand it. He allows us to say or sing it after the blessed Angels, as children repeat some holy lesson after grown people, with far less understanding than they, but still with a dutiful and obedient mind: and bye and bye, the deep meaning of our own sayings will dawn upon us. For the present, we must all be content to be ignorant: ignorant, not only in comparison of the Angels, but in comparison also of many of our brethren, who know far more than we do: but what of that? We may take our part, such as it is, in the great angelical hymn, and not grudge our neighbour his part. We may take our assigned portion, be it high or low, of thankful service to God here in this world, and we may add our Amen, said or chanted, to the response of some great congregation: and we need not fear its being lost or drowned, as too insignificant to be heard in such a sea of voices. He will hear it, He will treasure it, He will take account of it at the last Day.

Especially He will observe and set down, whether such as join in His holy assemblies are free from jealousy towards another: whether they praise Him, each in his station, with an unenvious, ungrudging mind. The blessed Angels, we know, do so: they make answer to one another, each in the part which He has assigned them: they know their place and have no desire to change it. When will it be so among us? When shall we see but a single congregation worshipping Him in such perfect charity, that neither the lower and more suffering members repine, nor yet the more comely and honourable be lifted up? Certainly, if ever such a thing might be on this side the grave, it would go a way towards making the Holy Church, what it was always meant to be, a heaven upon earth.

The heavenly company, S. John says, "rest not day and night;" they are never tired of glorifying the Holy Three in One: and we, for our short life here, why should we think it so hard to continue honouring God by holy obedience? Why should we be so soon weary of remembering loving and serving Him? Let us, this good day, make one good resolution: that we will never again give way, knowingly, to sloth, inattention, tediousness of spirit. We will not, by our own consent, neglect our part in the great never-ceasing Anthem.

And if it be a lowly part, yet let us believe, that no part of such a service can be really low and mean: since to wait, in the humblest station, on the great God in His temple, is plainly far higher preferment than to be the prime favourite of the greatest earthly king. This is a great point indeed: that we should know in our hearts the dignity of our common calling. This is, I suppose, what S. Paul asked so earnestly for his converts the people of Ephesus: that they might know "the riches of the glory of Christ's inheritance in the saints; and the exceeding greatness of His power to us ward who believe," that they might "be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." Could our eyes but be opened for one moment to see the high company we are in, and the glorious work we are about, when we are praising God in His Church, surely it would be harder for us to go back to the miserable, contemptible follies which now too easily prevail against us. We could not then so lightly pass in a moment from holy things to unholy. We should be frightened and ashamed, when the temptation came, to look out for the praise of men, or to favour ourselves in respect of bodily and sensual comfort. The thought would keep fresh in our heart, "Am I not a Christian? a companion of Cherubim and Seraphim in glorifying God? How then dare I give myself up to be carried away by such childish unworthy things?"

This is one use which God would have us make of those glimpses of heavenly glory, which from time to time He shews His faithful ones, whether in Church services, or otherwise. They should help to put down the earthly mind and to encourage the heavenly mind. Endeavour, I beseech you, to use them so: and your reward will indeed be great. Instead of hearing only of God, how He was seen in visions by the prophets, you will then see Him, as He is. You will see Him face to face: and it will be, to all eternity, your glory and your joy!

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