It suggests at
first a radiance of some kind, something dazzling or glittering, some
halo such as the old masters loved to paint round the head of their
Ecce Homos. But that is paint, mere matter, the visible symbol of some
unseen thing. What is that unseen thing? It is that of all unseen
things the most radiant, the most beautiful, the most Divine, and that
is _Character_. On earth, in Heaven, there is nothing so great, so
glorious as this. The word has many meanings; in ethics it can have
but one. Glory is character, and nothing less, and it can be nothing
more. The earth is "full of the glory of the Lord," because it is full
of His character. The "Beauty of the Lord" is character. "The
effulgence of His Glory" is character. "The Glory of the Only
Begotten" is character, the character which is "fullness of grace and
truth." And when God told His people _His name_, He simply gave them
His character, His character which was Himself: "And the Lord
proclaimed the name of the Lord ... the Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth.
Pages:
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132