first so framed by Infinite Love, or admitted to such privileges after a previous state of trial, are, even now, in the situation to which we aspire, our elder brethren in immortality, and that a part of their happiness may consist in those habits which are, of all others, most proper to constitute the felicity of a reasonable creature, in expressing their gratitude to the common Parent of all, and in works of love and mercy to us who are as yet their inferiors. But this, in few words, is all which we believe of angels, and this is precisely the degree of information which the Scriptures communicate respecting them.

To the objection which arises from the forms and circumstances under which those angels have appeared who have revealed themselves to mortal eyes, it would be, perhaps, enough to answer, that as we know nothing, or next to nothing, of the nature of these celestial strangers, it is impossible for us to determine whether they are devoid of any appropriate form, or what form or ornaments may best become their situation. But though we should allow, as is most probable, that the white robes and fiery armour of the seraphim are assumed as condescensions to the weakness of mankind, and no less illusive than the apparatus of mortal majesty and dominion through which, in the visions of His prophets, the Almighty Himself has shadowed His unapproachable glories, yet in the one case as reasonably as in the other, a substratum of reality may be insisted on. Our antagonists will not deny, that

it was the true and living God who, from His bright and overshadowing cloud, bore testimony to His beloved Son on the mount of transfiguration. Yet God is no more like a cloud than His attendants are like mortal warriors; and He who, in the first instance, has seen fit to "make His angels spirits," may, with equal propriety, send them forth on a worthy occasion under the likeness of " flaming fire 1."

As, indeed, I am disputing with those who profess themselves Christians, and who, though they suppose the angels who have appeared to be illusions, yet acknowledge them to be illusions sent by God, and intended as proofs of His presence and protection; I would ask them what they mean by an illusion sent from God, through which God speaks His will to mankind, and yet which is an illusion only, and not personally distinct from God. Is not this God Himself assuming a particular form, declaring, in the likeness of a cloud, a fire, a man in long linen garments, or a being with six wings, and four faces, His power and His gracious pleasure? But whence comes it, then, that the persons thus described have spoken of themselves as " sent" by God, as acting under God's authority, as His servants, yea, and the fellow-servants of them “ that have the testimony of Jesus? There are those, indeed, but they do not fall within the list of created nature, there are those to whom the name

1 Psalm civ. 4.

2 Rev. xix. 10.

both of angel and God may be applied with equal propriety. And when the Word of God, the Angel of the Covenant, appeared in the bush to Moses, and to Abraham under the oak of Mamre, how different were His claims to reverence, and how much greater His tone of authority than those ordinary messengers of Heaven dared assume, who are sent forth to minister to the meaner heirs of salvation. "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet," said the Vision in Horeb, "for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground"." "See thou do it not," were the words of the angel when St. John bowed down before him, "I am thy fellow-servant; worship God." But if this last were God, what higher name than God shall we find out for the former, or, if both were the same Being differently manifested, wherefore so great a distinction between the honours which were at these different times to be paid to Him?

The meaning then of Scripture in these passages, its obvious and only meaning, is established, I trust, beyond the reach of cavil. That this meaning is consistent with the attributes of God, the analogy of His creation, and the course of His providence in those things which are objects of our daily experience, may be regarded as also proved. And no reason remains why professed believers in Christianity should not consider the doctrine as certain,

1 Gen. xviii. 1. Exod. iii. 2.

3 Rev. xxii. 9.

2 Exod. iii. 5.

and proceed to enquire, with the caution and reverence which such investigations demand, what that is which is communicated to us in Scripture concerning the power, the numbers, and the ministry of these blessed and immortal creatures.

The power of God's angels might have been reasonably presumed to be great, even if we knew no more of them than their dignity, their immortality, and their invisibility. Of those who are placed, comparatively, so near to the fountain head of Might and Majesty, who stand in the presence of God as ministers to execute His commands, we are naturally inclined to form a high and reverential opinion, as the first fruits and flowers of creation, and the most adorned with every gift which the Author of good things dispenses to the objects of His favour. Concentrating in their minds the experience of many thousand years, we may conceive them darting from their high vantage ground a comprehensive glance through all the kingdoms of nature, understanding, so far as a finite being can understand, the ways of that Providence of which they are in part the agents, and in God's own strength, and the might of His name, unwearied and irresistible, planting their footsteps in the deep, and in the clouds fulfilling His word. In the very notion, indeed, of an invisible power, there is something which affords a very aweful subject of meditation, and which (like to the mechanical effect produced on the mind by darkness) affects us with an impression of reverence not unmixed with fear. The strength

which we cannot appreciate, the blows of which we cannot parry, and which may wound without our distinguishing the hand that smote us, is from this very obscurity more dreaded and, in itself, more formidable. Nor when we reflect on the possibility of our being surrounded by evil as well as invisible agents, can we fail to appreciate the value of such defenders as are fully able, in God's name, to protect us from spiritual malice, and to thank Him that there are not only mightier but more on our side than against us.

But it is not on conjecture only that we are authorised to build this opinion. They are likened in Scripture to fire for their purity, their swiftness, and their formidable power. "The mighty," "the kings," "the angels which excel in strength,” are among the titles most frequently given to them; and, above all, more than a single passage may be found where they are called by the still more aweful and extraordinary name of " the gods;"

.

But

That their numbers are great might have been inferred from the single fact of that mighty army which was assembled on the hill of Dothan. here also we have express testimony, in the word of God, to the twenty thousand angelic chariots whom the inspired poet, David, beheld encamping round Mount Zion; to the twelve legions, whose fiery swords would have been drawn at the word of the Messiah; to the "thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand," whom Daniel saw standing before the Ancient of Days; and to the