May 8

And no man could learn that song, but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.—Revelation 14:8.

THE joyful singing of the saints in heaven is peculiar. "No man could learn that song."

Not so much the sound, the music of the song, as to its subject does this language refer; and such subjects only can be turned into song, as dwell in the very spirits of the redeemed.

1. There are remembered subjects. The redeemed from earth recollect the hour when light broke in on their darkness. The wicked are children of darkness still. The one remembers the exercises of the Divine mercy; the other never experienced them. The redeemed look back on the grace which enabled them to continue to the end in well-doing. How fearful the recollections of the backslider, "who turned aside into his crooked ways, and is now led forth with the workers of iniquity!" The redeemed remember their triumph over death. The wicked were taken away, not as victors, but as conquered slaves.

2. There are present subjects. There is God; but he is a consuming fire;—Christ; but they rejected him;—his atoning sacrifice; but they counted the sanctifying blood of the covenant an unholy thing;—The Holy Spirit; but him they grieved, vexed, and quenched. The place in which the wicked dwell, as one of darkness and horror, the companions with whom their lot is cast, their own immortal nature, the eternity which stretches immeasurably before them, supply no subjects which can be uttered in song. Weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, are the only sounds heard among them.

We must learn the song now, if we learn it at all. And for this we must learn our sin and danger;—the way of true faith in Christ, and of a holy walk with God;—the art of praising him in all things. Then, endure to the end. In this life our consciences must be purged from dead works, to serve the living God, the heart filled with all joy and peace in believing; our nature fully regenerated by the power of the Holy Ghost; and a conscience void of offence, both toward God and man, strictly preserved. In this way only can we be prepared to take our place before the throne, and join for ever in the lofty songs of the redeemed.