greatly feared and deprecated, is wonderfully changed in its character; so that in many cases men not only submit to it without a murmur, but even desire it as an immense benefit. To a pardoned and sanctified believer in Christ it is not only divested of its natural terrors, but is a means of the greatest good. If it separates him from his earthly possessions, it introduces him into the heavenly paradise; if it removes him from his family and friends, it introduces him to the society of angels and to "the spirits of just men made perfect," to the sight of his Saviour, and to the beatific vision; and his removal from his pious friends is only temporary. They will soon follow him to the happy land; for emphatically "blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." Death is to them an end of all suffering in every from and degree. To them the grave is a quiet retreat, where "the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest;" and the deathless spirit, freed " from the burden of the flesh," and from every form of evil, is with the Lord in joy and felicity unutterable and endless.

And the reign of death is not eternal. It is, indeed, the last enemy that will be destroyed; but its destruction is absolutely determined. It shall be "swallowed up in victory," when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and wake to sleep no more. That some will awake to shame and punishment is the result of their own folly, impenitence, unbelief, and sin; for they might have been for ever saved. But "the dead in Christ" shall arise in a different manner, and to a very different end. Their bodies, once vile and corruptible, and buried in dis

honour, will be "raised in glory," fashioned like unto the body of their glorified Saviour; and in this state they shall be caught up to meet Him in the air; and so shall they be ever with the Lord.”

To this blessed consummation all the dispensations of providence and all the ordinances of religion at present tend; and the true wisdom of all is so to enter into the designs of their Lord as to secure this great purpose of their being and redemption. "This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day." (John vi. 40.)

In this manner sin and its curse are effectually obliterated by the intervention of Christ, as the Redeemer and Saviour of men; and the fallen sons of Adam are raised to a state of blessedness immensely surpassing that from which he fell. Towards the furtherance of this great scheme the providence of God has been in actual operation from the foundation of the world, and will be till the end of time. It pre

pared the way for the coming of Christ, and provides the means whereby He shall be made known to the ends of the earth.

CHAPTER III.

THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN ITS RELATION TO THE ANGELIC WORLD.

It is one of the peculiar excellencies of Holy Scripture, that it reveals a spiritual world, not as a matter of mere speculation, but as intimately connected with the world in which we live. But for that revelation we should have known nothing of those supernatural agencies which bear upon the human race both for good and evil. Without taking into our account the Scripture doctrine concerning angels, our views of God's providence in the government of mankind must necessarily be incomplete, and even erroneous. Of this doctrine we will therefore take a brief and condensed survey, making Scripture, as much as possible, its own interpreter.

Angels, of course, are creatures of God. He created the heavens and the earth, with all that they contain, whether visible or invisible. (Exod. xx. 11; Col. i. 16.) Angels are spirits, and therefore not objects of bodily sense. (Psalm civ. 4; Heb. i. 7.) However near they may be to us, we can neither see nor feel them. Whenever, therefore, they are said to have "appeared to men, and to have "spoken" to men, they have assumed a bodily form and bodily organs for the occasion. As spirits, they are intellectual beings, possessed

of knowledge, of memory, of will, of consciousness, of various affections, and of the power of self-motion. They "excel in strength," and will never die. (Psalm ciii. 20; Luke xx. 36.) In their creation they were all perfectly holy; for nothing unholy can ever proceed from the God of infinite purity. In this state they must all have been happy; for they were the objects of God's delight and love, and had a perfect consciousness of their moral rectitude before Him. We know not the exact period of their creation; but they are understood to have been present when "the foundations of the earth were laid," and to have "shouted for joy " on witnessing that manifestation of Almighty power. (Job xxxviii. 7.)

They exist in vast numbers, perhaps beyond all human power of calculation. St. Paul describes them as "an innumerable company." (Heb. xii. 22.) Our Saviour speaks of "more than twelve legions of angels," whose services He could have commanded in His

agony. (Matt. xxvi. 53.) David mentions "many thousands of angels" as being present at the giving of the law. (Psalm lxviii. 17.) When Daniel beheld in vision "the Ancient of Days," he says, "thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him." (Dan. vii. 10.) St. John also "heard the voice of many angels round about the throne;""and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." (Rev. v. 11.)

The angels are of various orders. They are therefore spoken of as "thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers," as well as "cherubim" and "seraphim:

"

(Col. i. 16; Gen. iii. 24; Isaiah vi. 2) but what these terms properly signify in this relation, we must die to know. They indicate dignity and subordination; but to what extent, and in what particular manner, the angels of God possess and exercise authority over one another, we know not; and on such subjects conjecture is vain. The inspired writers make mention of "the archangel," and of "Michael the archangel;" (1 Thess. iv. 16; Jude 9;) but whether he is the only being to whom this title belongs, or is one of an order, has never yet been determined among critics and theologians. Some think that "the archangel" is one of the titles of our blessed Lord; but in 1 Thess. iv. 16, "the Lord," which is His appropriate and recognised designation, appears to be clearly distinguished from "the archangel." "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." Christians in general appear to have thought that there is an order of created spirits to whom the title of archangels belongs; and hence in the Liturgy of the Established Church the communicants are taught to say, "Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious name."

That a part of the angels renounced their allegiance to God, forfeited their happiness, and the rank which they were created to occupy in the scale of being, is the undoubted teaching of Holy Scripture. They are described as "the angels that sinned," (2 Peter ii. 4,) and "the angels which kept not their first estate," or their "principality." (Jude 6.) The exact nature of their sin is not specified by the sacred writers; but it is