CHAPTER IX.

SOCIETY O F ANGELS.

To our high-raised phantasy present
That undisturbed song of pure consent
Aye sung before the sapphire-colored throne,
To him that sits thereon,

With saintly shout, and solemn jubilee,
Where the bright seraphim, in burning row,
Their loud, uplifted angel-trumpets blow;
And the cherubic host, in thousand choirs,
Touch their immortal harps of golden wires,
With those just spirits that wear victorious palms,
Hymns devout and holy psalms

Singing everlastingly.

MILTON.

SADDUCEAN Scepticism has characterized a considerable class in almost every cultivated community. There have always been men of such gross ignorance, such debased morals, or such vain philosophy, as to have either no belief or no interest in things unseen and eternal. Where this indifference is general, many will be found having no distinct idea in regard to the existence of angels. No wonder that all who doubt, or who seldom contemplate, the

government of the Lord of hosts, should more than doubt the existence of his invisible ministers. Just in proportion, however, as we are persuaded of the being and superintendence of the God of Sabaoth, shall we be ready to admit the existence and agency of his exalted servants. As we regard the king, so do we treat the ambassador.

And is not the innumerable company of angels worthy of at least an occasional thought? Is there not, in such an order of intelligences, reason enough why we should give to thém a measure of contemplation? They are spirits, unencumbered with such sluggish vehicles as these bodies, but like winds and flames of fire; yea, like the lightning, they dart wherever the will of God points the way. With greater ease and speed than we pass from house to house, they go from world to world. From the most distant and arduous undertakings, moreover, they return unwearied, as they went. Exhaustion, decay, old age, are to them unknown. They are immortalized in an ever-invigorated manhood. But are there not important relations between the people of God who are seeking the Better Land and these his exalted servants? Is there not to be joyful converse between redeemed saints and the countless throng of angels?

If we had no direct authority for it, we might reasonably infer that heaven is an immensely populous place. Our world, insignificant as it is, compared with the rest of the universe, is supplied with an incalculable population. The air and water teem with unnumbered multitudes. But while unaided vision shows us more than we can count, the microscope astonishes us by the new wonders of life which it reveals. Of the human family, for thousands of years, millions on millions have successively passed to the grave. Is, then, this world so replete with animate existences, and shall there be solitudes in the celestial world? If, as is likely, angels are the commissioned agents of Jehovah, in all parts of the universe, what must be the number of that host who are scattered abroad among worlds so numerous as to baffle all calculation? Who shall undertake the census? The Bible fully confirms the intimations of analogy. "The host of heaven," "the multitude of the heavenly host," are spoken of. When the Psalmist declares, "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels;" when to Judas and his company the Saviour intimated that "more than twelve legions of angels were at his bidding; when Daniel saw the Ancient of Days, and that "thousand thousands ministered.

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unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him ;" and when, in the Apocalypse, John beheld the same, they employed a high specific number for one indefinitely great; and the expressions, in each instance, are tantamount to "an innumerable company of angels." Though only two individual names - Michael and Gabriel are mentioned in the Bible, we shall doubtless, in due time, hear the whole catalogue, the almost countless roll of the celestial army. And will not acquaintance with such a multitude furnish ennobling occupation for everlasting ages?

The gradation that is everywhere observable in our world would lead us also to infer the same in heaven. In the vegetable kingdom there are obvious traces of it. In the animal kingdom, commencing with the lowest specimen of organization, we trace, without interruption, an ascending scale, till we come to that body which is "fearfully and wonderfully made." And what is human society but an adjustment of classes, varying extremely in. position and influence? It is not to be supposed, then, that in a community so vast as that of angels there should be no subordination of rank, and no important differences in intelligence and moral worth. All known phenomena, which can be re

garded as furnishing any analogy, lead us to suppose that there is an unbroken gradation, from the humblest member of that society, through rank after rank, inconceivably various, and evermore rising to the head of created intelligences that lofty position being occupied by the archangel, who stands nearest the throne, the prime minister of Jehovah. Scripture intimates that such is the case in the celestial hierarchy. We read of " We read of thrones, dominions, principalities, and authorities," in the heavens. The angel which appeared to Zacharias said, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God." Michael is called "one of the chief princes," great prince." We read, too, of "Michael and his angels," which implies subordination. We gather, therefore, that among angels there are different classes, and different degrees of authority and importance of station. Now, what must be the effect of association with an order of beings so diversified, numerous, pure, and exalted? What must result from the interaction of all the faculties of the soul, under such varied and powerful influences? — what but the most rapid advancement in knowledge, holiness, and bliss ?

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And what are the subjects of converse between angels and saints in glory? In part, we may be