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as the lamb. Israel, and David their king, sinned against God, and an angel with a drawn sword is seen-the emblem of the judgment he was sent to execute-and the people fainted and died by myriads. The night of Egypt's doom had come, and the angel of judgment is sent forth, and the loud wail for the first-born dead rising from every house attests the power of the messenger of heaven. Whether in the prison of Herod or the palace of Herod, whether seated by the sepulchre or floating in the firmament with the great mill-stone to cast into the flood, or standing in the sun, the angelic being is ever presented to us in an aspect of power-calm and mighty power; at once confirming and illustrating the descriptive epithet in the Epistle to the Thessalonians-" mighty angels" (1 Thess. i. 7).

The angels, yet again, are distinguished by their intelligence. They are very wise beings; probably surpassing far all other creatures whatsoever in the degree of their knowledge. Which fact is indicated in the limited record-the exception proving the rule-"Of the day nor the hour knoweth no man, no not the angels in heaven, but My Father only," intimating that had there been creatures in possession of this knowledge the angels had been they. We think with amazement, not to say with envy, of the mental powers and acquirements of some of the human race, though their powers are manifestly crippled by their position, and though they have lived but a few years. But what must be the extent of view, the grandeur of conception, pertaining to creatures who all the while the mortal life has been renewing all its rounds, and longer still than that, have possessed the capacity, the disposition, and the means of acquiring true knowledge.

It can scarcely be necessary to prove that such creatures are happy. Gratitude with them is no unwonted feeling, nor is praise their strange work. They gaze but to admire and adore. They live to serve. Benevolence is the law of their being, and bliss its abundant fruit. The Creation, in its ample limits, gives scope for their fleetest activity and their largest powers, while its ever-growing wonders turn their thoughts back the more intently to that Divine Being of whom it all is. Learning to know God by His works of creation and grace, the more they know the more fully do they discern created nothingness in comparison with Him. And thus does eir knowledge, instead of leading them to say, "We are as gods," but scover to them more and more fully the immeasurable distance tween the Creator and the created. Knowledge thus sanctified

gives birth, not to pride, but to humility; and the more the angelic mind is extended the more profound also its prostration before the throne of the Eternal. The new acquirements which elevate the mind elevate also its conception of God, and the same advancement at once augments the worth and bliss of angelic existence and promotes its security.

We have been referring to the existence of angels as most plainly taught in the Bible; secondly, to the greatness of their number; thirdly, to some of their attributes. They are holy, spiritual, swift, strong, wise, happy. Now

And yet

(4) Observe, they are interested in and employed about our wellbeing. Their attitude towards us, if we serve God, is a friendly attitude. Like God, in whose presence they appear, and whose high behests they fulfil, they take pleasure in our life for its own sake; in our death, if we choose death, only as it shall be overruled by the Great Supreme for the manifestation of His righteousness and majesty. It is the testimony of Him who came from heaven to tell us heavenly things, that there is joy among the angels when one sinner repents. And they are spoken of as being all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of the better life. Observe the ministry of the angel to Zacharias, to Mary the mother of our Lord, to the shepherds in the valley of Bethlehem, to Cornelius, to Peter, to Paul amid the storm. It was a service cheerfully rendered, as the general strain of the several narratives may assure us. An act, in each case, as of duty to God, so of benevolence to men. more explicit, perhaps, certainly more striking, is the testimony elsewhere given," Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven "-words teaching us that the angels take an interest in the very feeblest of the servants of Christ, and stand prepared to fly swiftly, whenever bidden, to defend them from danger, or avenge the wrongs which they suffer. It is not to be thought that angelic ministry ceased when Christ ascended to heaven and received gifts for men. There is no hint that such should be the case. There are intimations to the contrary. How the service is now carried on it were useless for us to inquire. Our ignorance of spiritual existence is a bar to all such investigations; but the fact is one on which imagination may wisely and usefully and often linger. The Christians in the primitive age were urged to

decorum in their public assemblies "because of the angels;" were cheered by the thought of the innumerable company of angels as ministering to the militant saints, and by the expectation that, if need be, when they died, angels should carry them from the scene of poverty and disease and mortal strife to Abraham's bosom; and why should we not call into our aid the same animating hope? By the soul embruted amid the objects of sense, the fleshly mind cleaving to the dust, all such aspirations may be thrown aside as enthusiasm, but to him who wisely observes the statements of Scripture, to him who wisely marks the wonders of creation, and, in particular, the mystic influences which, beyond all dispute, are ever operating around us, such thoughts will appear as rational as they are Scriptural. To a hasty and Sadducean dogmatism it may be possible to discard all such ideas, but to the calm inquirer it were far from incredible that even now our assembly should be graced and honoured by the presence of some one from the ranks of the shining ones; far from incredible that we do not always meet here without being exposed to the friendly but more than eagle glance of an eye which has gazed on the rainbow round about the throne, and been bent downwards before Him who dwells in unapproachable light. It may be that it requires only that the angel guests should assume a corporeal manifestation, or that our eye should be cleared of its film as was the eye of Elisha's servant, and the superhuman vision would be before us. It may be that at this moment it is not distance, but merely the invisibility of things spiritual to our organs of perception, that separates us from such celestial fellowship.

(5) We are taught in Scripture that all the angels are the servants of Christ. This is declared so plainly and frequently, that it cannot be necessary to quote the evidences. Its being written thus plainly and frequently in the New Testament shows that it is a truth which we ought not to overlook. The powers of this innumerable company of angels are all at the disposal of Him who has been constituted Head of the Church. They are not only in general subject to God, but they are placed under the direct control of Him who has been made Head over all things to the Church. Their might, their energy, their obedience, are all connected with the eternal purpose which Jesus Christ our Lord is carrying onward to its accomplishment; and it forms a part of His own recompense that His mediatorial throne is surrounded by all the brightness and strength of the angelic host.

"When He bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him."

We are far from supposing that these few details exhaust the subject. They are thrown out merely as materials for thought, and they strike a chord which, whatever some may affirm, readily vibrates in the human breast. Man cannot, whatever his wishes, rest on things that are corporeal. His spirit within him, and the universe without him, both, the more clearly they are observed, forbid him to find repose in things that are seen. Despite his most sordid and sensual practices, there will awake within him an irrepressible aspiration after things unseen. All known nations and tribes existing, or presented to us historically (unless, indeed, we except some two or three instances of tribes sunk into profoundest depths of barbarism) have held the notion of the existence of beings bearing a considerable resemblance to the angels of Scripture-beings spiritual and superhuman in strength, and speed, and wisdom. Trace the notion to whatever cause we may-to instinct, to tradition, to reason—there it is glowing on the pages of the history, the oratory, the philosophy, the poetry, of all times and peoples-disfigured and corrupted, it is true, but not the less real.

Christians, it belongs to you to avoid the visionary, distorted, and often vicious ideas which the heathen have entertained of unearthly beings, to rejoice in the knowledge you possess of high and created spirits, to soar above the domain of sense, and even of science strictly so-called, and to walk with a step that is firm and an eye that is unblenched in the regions of faith. Avoid, on the one hand, the puerilities of a besotted superstition, and, on the other, the bondage of a creeping and leaden materialism. It will be yours to live in thought and love amidst these sinless servants of Christ your King, who obey Him in serving you, and with whom you are soon to be brought into visible and blissful association. The tendency of earthly things is to produce a contraction of mind, and excessive care about trifles. The tendency of heavenly things is to purify and exalt the mind; to turn timidity into courage, and sadness into joy, or at least into peace. See the servant of Christ found in the way of obedience, but, at the same time, the way of great difficulty; his purpose crossed; his trials multiplied; a thousand vexations-each one, perhaps, trifling in itself, but, when all combined, most depressing-besetting him, so that he says, "Every day new straits attend." He takes his Bible,

and in the mirror of the Divine Word looks at things unseen, and by prayer he renders his fellowship with things unseen more complete, and he rises as a giant refreshed. Time has lost its exaggerated and distressing importance, for he has measured it with eternity. The opinions and judgments of his fellow-men have dwindled into their proper dimensions, for he has been thinking of God and Christ, and holy angels. Again, he is the child of faith-strong like Samson, happy like Stephen, or calm like Elisha when the hosts of God were encamped around him.

Vera: an October Sketch.

[graphic]

HE autumn sun is now shining on the beautiful leaves of an American creeper, and it paints a picture in which, perhaps, I see more than any one else can see. To me it does not merely unfold a vision that is "a joy for ever." Neither does it merely suggest a lesson of self-help, as it spreads out its tendrils, lifting itself, and climbing higher and higher over the gray stone wall, upward into the sunlight and air, lovingly casting colour and charm over a commonplace scene, and gradually, silently, spreading, until those who once passed it by as an insignificant shoot now bow beneath its spell, and thank God for its beauty. To me it portrays a character. It brings before me one who, only twelve months ago, loved to gather those tendrils, to copy them with pencil or brush, to weave them into fair scrolls of skilful embroidery, or to wear a few of their bright-tinted leaves clasped on her black velvet dress. They harmonised with the rich auburn of her hair, the fairness of her complexion, the colour on her cheek, and the delicacy of the lines of her round, yet lithe and slender, figure.

She is not here now. As those leaves fall in the fulness of their beauty, leaving bareness, blankness, behind them, so was Vera taken from this familiar earth before her hair could be streaked with gray threads, before her soft voice had been bereft of its power to charm, before her small feet had lost their nimbleness, or her willing hands their magic aptitude to bless.

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