tion, surpassing beyond comparison, the amazing swiftness of light. Light, we know, is several years in coming from such fixed stars, as are visible to the eye of mortals. But there is reason to believe, that the Heaven of Heavens is at a much greater distance than those stars; so as, not improbably, to be a Heaven to them, as the starry firmament is to us. The poet, therefore, is justified by this wonderful fact in that cogent expression :—

"The speed of Gods (angels) time counts not."

No stronger exhibition can be required or presented, of the rapidity of these celestial beings."

Another peculiar and distinguishing attribute with which angels are endued, is their unfading and immortal youth. This peculiarity is beautifully pointed out by the name Swa, living ones, applied to them by St. John, in the Apocalypse, and by Ezekiel in his first chapter, as well as in several parts of his prophecy. By this appellation we are instructed, that life is a pre-eminent and glorious constituent of their nature-life as a peculiar property, and in a most distinguishing degree; the most perfect manifestation of that quickening energy which Christ ascribes to the Father, and challenges to himself, as an exclusive, appropriate, and wonderful attribute of the Godhead.

The truth of the immortality of the angels is also beautifully exemplified and confirmed by the adolescent appearance

* Yet, notwithstanding the incogitable force and dexterity of spirits, the theologists are of opinion that they are not of power to destroy any one element, or to pervert that constant order by which the fabric of the world is guided and governed. Yet of their incredible celerity and strength, histories are very frequent, both in the sacred Scriptures and elsewhere. We read that the angel of the Lord took the prophet Habakkuk (as he was carrying meat unto the reapers) by the hair of his head, and in the strength of the spirit, in an instant, transported him from India to Babylon.-HEYWOOD'S Hierarchie.

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of those which were seen by Mary, in the tomb of Christ. These illustrious individuals were then, at least, four thousand years old; still they had the appearance of young men ; and in all that long succession of ages, had not undergone the slightest indications of decay. Their youth, a bright and beautiful blossom, still shone with all its lustre and fragrance; and directly indicated that it was superior both to accident and time; and would, after many such flights of years, survive in all its undiminished vigor. Even this representation may probably, after all, be only an imperfect adumbration. The youth of angels, like their other attributes, is destined to refine, improve, and brighten forever.

This distinguishing and exalting feature of the angelical nature-their immortality,--was strikingly pointed out, by the Great Teacher, during his sojourn upon the earth, whilst he "tabernacled in the flesh;" when He disconcerted, by the divinity of his answer, as the Creator and Lord of angels, -the captious inquiry and curious question propounded by the infidel Sadducees, respecting the hypothetical marriage of a woman with seven husbands," whose wife she should be in the resurrection ?" to which our Savior replied, that those who should be counted worthy to obtain admission into heaven, would neither marry nor be given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they would be equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection, subject to none of the changes, and decays, and vicissitudes incidental to this mortal state, where death reigns, and marriages are requisite to supply the vacancies arising from the ravages of mortalityand therefore necessary to prevent the entire extinction and extirpation of the human family; but in the celestial kingdom, the redeemed of mankind will resemble the angels of God, glorious, unchangeable, and immortal,-resplendent in

the presence of Jehovah, and beatified in the eternal enjoyment of an unalterable felicity and unfading glory.

Another prominent, most distinguishing and superlatively attractive attribute of the angelical constitution is the surprising and inconceivable extent of their knowledge and intelligence, arising from their proximity to the overflowing and inexhaustible fountain of Divine wisdom and benevolence, their closer and concomitant insight into the plans and purposes of Jehovah, as connected with the sovereign dispensations of his providence and the mysterious economy of redeeming grace.

Doubtless, too, they have a great familiarity with our thoughts and desires, circumstances and moral necessities, and are delegated from the up-lifted throne of the Most High, to render us important and needful aid in the services and excursions of our faith, the prayers and aspirations of penitential supplication, and the retired meditations of a contemplative devotion,* being also well acquainted with the favorites of heaven, as evidenced in the prophet Daniel, the greatly beloved, on whose behalf they restrained the ferocity of the ravenous lions into whose den the prophet had been cast, by the impious and irrevocable decree of King Darius.†

Amongst the ancient Jews, whose religious belief earnestly embraced and vindicated the doctrine of the existence

**How gentle are the footsteps of angels! How tender their touch! How soft their whispers! How courteous their hints to dull and weary pilgrims in the wilderness!-AMBROSE. Communion and Ministry of Angels, 1664.

† He had other company than the ravenous beasts, who were thus chained back into the innocuous character they sustained in the garden of Eden, and to which they shall again be restored, when the conqueror of death and sin comes to reign over a renovated earth.-CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. Principalities and Powers.

and ministry of angels, the high estimation with which they regarded the exalted and intellectual prerogatives of these magisterial and celestial beings, is clearly indicated by the proverbial expressions and sayings which were in general use amongst them; illustrated in the stratagem and flattery of the wise women of Tekoah to King David. For as an angel of God, so is my lord the king, to discover good and bad; and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are upon the earth.-2 Sam. xix. 17-20. Nevertheless, our knowledge, even with the aid afforded us, by the partial disclosures of Revelation, are very limited respecting the vast knowledge, sinless purity, and expansive benevolence, of these affable and amiable Immortals, either in relation to each other, or to beings in the far off regions, and distant empires of the universe. The ennobling superiority of sagacity and wisdom possessed by angels has been duly noticed and largely expatiated upon in the exegesis of theologians, the disquisitions of the philosopher, the breathing thoughts and burning words of profane and sacred Poesy. The learned and eminent expositor, Greenhill, in his Commentary on Ezekiel, observes, "That the prophet was guided by the spirit, and his cherubim hold forth the same parties to us, that Isaiah's seraphim did to him. They had the likeness of a man, verse 5. By their likeness to a man, is laid before us, the rationality, knowledge, and understanding of angels. They are the most understanding creatures in heaven and earth. They have prophetical knowledge in them, and a treasury of things that are past and done long since. There is mention, Rev. iv. 6, 8, of four living creatures, the same with those of Ezekiel, full of eyes before and behind, because they see and know what is past, and what is before them; their natural knowledge is great,

being such excellent spirits. But besides that, they have much revealed to them concerning God, Christ, the church, and things contingent. Hence it is said, 1 Peter i. 2, which things the angels desire to look into. They understand partly by their essence, and partly by special communications to their understanding, as to ours. Angels are good philosophers; they know the principles, causes, effects, life, motion, death of natural things.-Rev. vii. 1, 2. They are great statists, and know the affairs of kingdoms.-Dan. x. 13. Gabriel saith: I remained with the kings of Persia; he became a courtier, and acquainted himself with the affairs of Persia.

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In his truly eloquent and thrilling discourses on this interesting and engaging subject, Dr. Dwight admirably represents the high intelligence of angels as one of the most distinguishing features which adorn the character of these bright, and noble, and heavenly beings, observing that Angels are endowed with the greatest intellectual faculties, and of course are possessed of knowledge superior to that of any other created beings. This character is represented to us in the Scriptures in many forms. The Living ones mentioned by the apostle John, in the Book of Revelations, are declared to have been full of eyes within; that is, to have been all sense, all intellect, all consciousness, turning their attention every way, beholding all at once all things within the reach of their understandings, and discerning them with a clearness of perception which is the most perfect created semblance of the intuitive and boundless views of the Omniscient Mind.

"The face also of a man, attributed to one of these illustrious beings by St. John, and to all those which appeared to Ezekiel by that prophet, is another ascription of this character to angels. The face of a man was amongst