the only clear ray of light and information which Jehovah has condescended to vouchsafe, respecting the creation of spiritual and angelic beings is preserved and conveyed through the medium of that most ancient and authentic of all books,—whose supposed author was the Jewish lawgiver -the book of Job, where in the seventh verse of the thirtyeighth chapter, they are represented, under the appellation and character of the sons of God, as celebrating the stupendous and magnificent display of the power, and benevolence, and wisdom of the Deity, in the glorious exhibition and appearance of the visible and various works of a completed universe, having received the complacent approbation of the Almighty Architect, as they sprang up innumerable, under the omnific influence of the uncreated beam of the Sun of Righteousness, along the shining banks of the crystal river of life, on the bright morning of everlasting day, instinct with the unfading youth of immortality !— "From multitudes of angels, with a shout Loud as from numbers without number, burst Both day and night— Singing their great Creator."-MILTON. Beyond the boundary line of inspired information, with which divine wisdom, as it were, has fenced in, this sublime and inscrutable subject, it is vain for mortal intellect to try to traverse, by attempting the irrational, presumptuous, and indevout endeavor to penetrate through the veil of the intentional silence of unrevealed mystery-for as much as any additional knowledge, if it were attainable by the unaided effort of our finite comprehension, we cannot perceive, would either promote our happiness, deepen our penitence, advance our holiness, establish our faith, superinduce greater spiritu ality of mind, or more effectually secure our salvation; whilst from the reserve of the Mosaic account, which makes no mention of angels, the design of the Jewish lawgiver, is, therefore, obviously intended to prefer a practical confutation of the ancient and prevalent idolatry of Sabeism, or the worship of sun, moon, and stars, evidently referred to by the venerable and renowned patriarch Job: If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth kissed my hand. Equally futile, fabulous and fantastical are those speculations which have been indulged to adjust and determine the precise period of the creation of angelical intelligences; for some, in the foolishness of their mental conception, aiming "to be wise above what is written," have supposed they were created on the same day with the "heaven and the earth;" implying that Moses included them under those terms, in the declaration that In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; others, that he intended them under the epithet light,* which God created on the first day, comprehending under that expression both angels * When light was commanded, then were the angels created. That when God separated the light from the darkness, by that disunion, is to be understood, the dreadful and terrible judgments of God against the Devil and his angels, who, from being angels of light, by reason of their pride and rebellion were converted into Devils of darkness. At the same time, the matter of the four elements with spiritual creatures was produced, viz., those spiritual and corporeal bodies which were created in the beginning of time. Life, wisdom, and Light designate the angels who are said to have been first created, by virtue of their excellency and dignity, and especially ordained to contemplate, praise, and magnify Almighty God's liberality and goodness throughout all generations. It was a beautiful superstition,-perhaps a true one-that of the luminous nature of the soul. Light with its kindred agencies is the most spiritual of physical existences.-SLACK, Ministry of the Beautiful. and souls; and also, that the soul of Adam was created before his body, like as the angels were, and afterwards breathed and divinely infused into him. The Hebrews, likewise, held the conceit, that they were created on the second day; and that God consulted them, saying, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; others, again, maintain the opinion that they were called into existence on the fifth day.* Origen, with some of the Greek and Latin fathers, believed they were created before the formation of the world, and which sentiment they think derives some countenance from that passage of Job: Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?" Plato considered the angels as the first born and first fruits of God's creation; upon the hypothesis that spiritual beings preceded, in priority of existence, corporeal bodies, and that the Great Parent employed them as ministers for the procreation of others. Aristotle maintains a similar opinion, speaking of them as the original movers of the universe; holding, also, the notion that the heavens were eternal, together with all empyreal souls and intelligent sub stances. The supposition has likewise been favored by some modern divines, that angelic beings were created a long period antece * But to determine the day and year of this time (creation of angels) is not only convincible and statute madness, but also manifest impiety.—SIR THOMAS BRowne. ↑ Pythagoras used to entertain his disciples with stating the various generations and transmigrations his soul had undergone before it entered his body, borrowing his notion of its preexistence from the east, and its gradual descent into this dark and material world from that region of spirits and light which it is supposed to have once inhabited, and to which, after a long lapse of purification, it will return. This belief, under various symbolical forms, may be easily traced in almost all the oriental theogonies. 3* dent to the formation of our earth,-a series of ages before the construction of the solar system; but at what era in the mysterious revolutions and immeasurable cycles of eternity, Divine Revelation has not disclosed; suggesting the idea that the Supreme Being of infinite power, wisdom, and benevolence, would not have remained inactive during this incomprehensible interval of illimitable space, leaving so vast and inert a vacuum in the immeasurable regions of his boundless kingdom, to be unoccupied by intelligent creatures, as inconsistent with the operations and character of the omnipotent Creator, and as tending to reflect discredit upon the unimpeachable and living oracles of God. Modern, like ancient Sådducism, impiously denies the reality of the existence of angels, arising, forsooth, from the invisibility of their intangibile nature; a negative which, upon this absurd hypothesis, is likewise applicable with awful temerity, to the irrefragable truth of the very existence of the Deity, whose ubiquity we cannot apprehend, either by our visual organs or mental faculties; whilst the demonstrative refutation of St. Paul declares: That the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by those things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without The pointed reproof of our Saviour-in addition to his other declarations,-to the affrighted and disbelieving disciples, confirms the same position, a spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me have. The belief of their existence, however, has prevailed from the earliest period of mankind, conveyed through the medium of traditions which have long been corrupted alike by Jewish Rabbies and learned pagans. The imaginary beings which human fancy has offered to our notice, have been but the superior representations of our race under the name of Genii, Demons, Dii, or gods of the excuse. ancient eastern sages, down to the Fairies, Sylphs and Elves of modern credulity; invested by a disordered and impure imagination, with corresponding powers and attributes, dispositions and demeanor; in striking contrast to the essential particulars, extraordinary faculties, and preeminent attributes which adorn and constitute those transcendently pure, benevolent, illustrious and celestial beings described, in the sacred volume, as the constant attendants and commissioned ambassadors, and selected agents appointed to execute the gracious and punitive purposes of Omnipotence upon the throne of universal empire. The positive existence, the ready attendance, and protective guardianship of angelical intelligences was frequently alluded to, by the Messiah, during the humiliation of his terrestrial sojourn, as well as corroborated by the declarations and visions of the apostles and St. John the Revelator. The Old and New Testament abound with references to the visible appearances and actual interpositions of angels. It was a cherub, armed with a flaming sword, that was stationed as a guard at the entrance of the terrestrial paradiseangels appeared to Abraham, in his tent-to Lot, and forewarned him of the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, those guilty and devoted cities of the plain-it was an angel that pointed out to the disconsolate Hagar, the spring of water, to relieve the extremity of her thirst-they were angels that ascended and descended on the mystic ladder for the encouragement of the patriarch Jacob—it was an angel which opposed Balaam, in his wicked career and avaricious project, threatening to slay his she-ass which found a rebuking tongue to resent the prophet's cruelty-the archangel Gabriel visited Daniel, in Babylon, appeared to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Redeemer of the world, and also announced to Mary, the |