But notice once more, and more than all in my text, that God is so
kind and loving, that when it is necessary for Him to cut, He has to
go to others for the sharp-edged weapon. "In the same day shall the
Lord shave with a razor that is hired." God is love. God is pity. God
is help. God is shelter. God is rescue. There are no sharp edges about
Him, no thrusting points, no instruments of laceration. If you want
balm for wounds, He has that. If you want salve for divine eyesight,
He has that. But if there is sharp and cutting work to do which
requires a razor, that He hires. God has nothing about Him that hurts,
save when dire necessity demands, and then He has to go clear off to
some one else to get the instrument.

This divine geniality will be no novelty to those who have pondered
the Calvarean massacre, where God submerged Himself in human tears,
and crimsoned Himself from punctured arteries, and let the terrestrial
and infernal worlds maul Him until the chandeliers of the sky had to
be turned out, because the universe could not endure the indecency.
Illustrious for love He must have been to take all that as our
substitute, paying out of His own heart the price of our admission at
the gates of heaven.

King Henry II., of England, crowned his son as king, and on the day of
coronation put on a servant's garb and waited, he, the king, at the
son's table, to the astonishment of all the princes. But we know of a
more wondrous scene, the King of heaven and earth offering to put on
you, His child, the crown of life, and in the form of a servant
waiting on you with blessing. Extol that love, all painting, all
sculpture, all music, all architecture, all worship! In Dresdenian
gallery let Raphael hold Him up as a child, and in Antwerp Cathedral
let Rubens hand Him down from the cross as a martyr, and Handel make