Conversation with the Angel. and said: How inconceivably great is the mercy of the Lord! In compassion to our misery he sendeth his angels to comfort sinners. Ah! I stand overwhelmed with shame before thee; I scarcely dare to raise my eyes to thee, but permit me to communicate to thee my melancholy forebodings. I feel, I perceive with sacred awe, that the presence of the Almighty extends to the whole creation. How can beings polluted by sin ask or hope, that he, who is purity itself, should more distinctly manifest his presence? But will not my posterity, sinking perhaps still deeper into sin, become more wretched; and will not their conceptions of the most perfect of Beings be enveloped in darkness and obscurity? For, in the same manner, as I have fallen, may they not likewise fall by degrees into the lowest depth of guilt. When I shall be no longer with them to testify his goodness, every worm will, it is true, proclaim it; but will not the voice of Nature be too weak to make an impression upon the minds of men, if the Almighty continues to hide his countenance Conversation with the Angel. from them? This thought it is that continually oppresses me.' "The celestial being deigned with benignity thus to answer: "Father of men! He in whom all creation lives and moves will not forsake thy descendants. Often will their sins provoke him to grasp his thunders, and to manifest himself in his judgments; and sinners, trembling in the dust, shall acknowledge the power and the justice of their God. But more frequently will he make himself known by his mercies. When they have wandered from his ways he will graciously call them back; he will raise up among them holy men, who will enlighten their understandings, and lead them from the wilderness of error and guilt into the paths of the Lord. He will send prophets among them to announce the judgments or the mercies of the Most High, while still concealed in the bosom of remote futurity; to convince them that Eternal Wisdom guides and determines every event. Often will he speak to them by angels and by mira Conversation with the Angel. cles; and there will be some righteous men to whom he will himself descend from his throne, till at length the great mystery of salvation shall be revealed, and the seed of the woman shall crush the serpent's head.' "He was silent; the smile of benignity that beamed on his countenance emboldened me again to address him. Celestial friend! if a sinner dare call thee by that name-yet angels cannot hate him whom the Eternal doth not hate, him, to whom the infinite mercy of the Lord is so wonderfully manifested, that heaven is lost in astonishment, and the soul, humbled in the dust, is unable to express its gratitude-O! allow me to ask thee, if thou art permitted to remove the veil of obscurity that envelopes these sacred mysteries? What means the Almighty's promise? The seed of the woman shall crush the serpent's head;' and what imports the curse, thou shalt die? What I am permitted to unfold,' answered the angel, 'I will not conceal from thee. Know then, Adam, that when thou hadst sinned, the voice of God pronounced from his throne: 'Man is Conversation with the with the Angel. fallen, and he shall die.'-An awful darkness suddenly veiled the eternal throne, and solemn silence reigned in heaven. Not long prevailed this solemn silence; the darkness was dissipated from before the throne, and never before was the brightness of his Majesty so gloriously displayed to his angels, excepting when his creative voice passed forth into the immeasurable void, and called those suns and stars into existence. His voice again resounded through the regions of heaven: 'I will not turn my face from the sinner; the earth shall bear witness to my infinite mercy. The seed of the woman shall crush the serpent's head. Hell shall not boast its victory, and death shall lose its prey. Rejoice, ye heavens!' Thus spake the Eternal. The archangels, overpowered by the resplendent effulgence of his glory, had sunk before it, had not the insupportable radiance of the throne been speedily tempered. The inhabitants of heaven then celebrated the sacred mystery of infinite grace. But the manner in which God will accomplish his atonement with sinners is not yet revealed to the archangels themselves. Conversation with the Angel. We only know that I am permitted to inform thee, that death is deprived of its power; that it releases the spirit, which in its mortal habitation can have but an imperfect knowledge of God, from the weight of the curse; and that while the body moulders in the dust, the soul ascends to enjoy like us everlasting bliss. And now hear what the Lord saith to thee: 'I will be gracious to thee and to thy seed, and there shall be a sign between us that I will remember this great promise. Raise an altar upon this hill; on the annual return of the day I gave thee this promise, a flame shall descend from Heaven and settle upon thine altar. Thou shalt then sacrifice a young lamb, and the flames shall consume thy offering.' And now I have revealed to thee what is permitted to created beings to know, I am moreover directed by the Most High to shew you, ere I return, that ye are not so solitary as you imagine; and that this earth, though it has incurred his curse, is yet inhabited by pure spirits, who by the command of the Eternal, watch over your safety and your happiness.' The angel then approached and touched our |