The angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.
Oh, it is notorious, it is evil to make out our God, who is light and in whom there is no darkness at all, to be an object of horrible fear. It is hellish; it is devilish to the highest degree to paint Him as a demon, who is the Holy God, the God of Love. Oh, the disrespect of the prince of darkness, and the madness of man to consent to the suggestion, that God should be depicted as being unwilling to forgive, unkind, harsh, hard, cruel, when in fact He is love; supremely and above all things, love. He is just, but all the more truly loving because He is just. He is true, and therefore sure to punish sin, yet even punishing sin because it is not being righteous to let sin go unpunished. This is vile ingratitude on the part of a creature who has received so much that he should slander God the giver of all things.  The evil which is therefore done to God recoils upon man, for this “fear brings torment.” 