Luke xii, 8. Hours of Worship Hours of Annunciation. Collect. upon the Son of man." God grant that every one of us may confess him before men, so that in the day of his return he also shall confess us before the angels of God. Lastly: Hours of worship are hours of angels' annunciation. Not that we may ever expect in this eon of the world to behold visions of angels; for ours it is to have something better than to have glimpses of supernatural figures; ours it is to have the presence of the Holy Spirit himself. Nevertheless, the closet-shrine is in an eminent sense the meeting-place of God and man, the trysting-place of Bridegroom and bride. It is at the time of the offering of incense, even the hour of prayer, that we are the most likely to be caught up into paradise, and hear unspeakable words. Then, if ever, we shall hear the summons: "Prepare thou the way of the Lord: for thou also art one of his harbingers." And when such summons comes to thee, oh, be not disobedient to the heavenly vision. O everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the service of Angels and men in a wonderful order; Mercifully grant, that as thy holy Angels always do thee service in heaven, so, by thy appointment, they may succor and defend us on earth: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. THE ANNUNCIATION TO MARY. LUKE i, 26-38. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah vii, 14. IV. THE ANNUNCIATION TO MARY. LUKE i, 26-38. It was not the first time that Gabriel, Strength The Angelic of God, had visited earth. Five and a half centuries before, as the prophet Daniel was praying, and confessing his sins and the sins of his people Israel, and presenting his supplication before Jehovah his God for the holy mountain of his God, even while he was speaking in prayer, the angel Gabriel, having been caused to fly swiftly, touched him about the time of the evening oblation, and announced to him the glorious advent of Prince Messiah. Centuries roll on. Men are born, grow old, die. Empires rise, flourish, decay, perish. But heaven knows no decay; only immortal growth. In heaven is everlasting youthhood. Half a millennium after Gabriel, Strength of God, had visited the Hebrew exile on the banks of the Ulai, and touched him at the time of the evening oblation, he descends to earth again as vital and radiant as ever, and on Visitant. Luke i, 26, 27. Daniel viii, 9. the same errand of Messianic annunciation. But he comes not now, as erst he had come to stately prophet in imperial Babylonia. He comes not, as he had come five months before to anointed priest Luke i, 5-25. The Great An Luke i, 28-38. in holy Jerusalem. But he comes to a lowly, pure-hearted, saintly maiden, betrothed to a carpenter, in obscure Nazareth of scorned Galilee. He comes to her, it may be, as five hundred years before he had come to Daniel, at the time of the evening sacrifice. "Hail!" the Strength of God exclaims, "Thou nunciation. that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee!" This angelic apparition, perhaps the only startling event which had ever occurred in her whole quiet life-time, the reverential greeting of a supernatural stranger to her, an obscure village maiden; all this throws the gentle virgin into bewilderment: She is greatly troubled at the saying, and casts in her mind what manner of salutation this may be. And now the angel makes distinct annunciation: "Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Thus the glorious hope of being the mother of the Coming One, which for nearly two millenniums had been inspiring Hebrew matrons, from Princess Sarah onward, and which had been awakened in Eden itself, is at last fulfilled, and the long-promised, majestic boon is conferred on the betrothed of a village artificer. And not the least wonderful part of this annunciation is that it is made to one who is unwedded. Mary herself feels it to be |