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we think that those who place them there may get them out as they can; or see if they cannot find for the purpose some invention that had escaped them in the heathen poets, from whom they draw so large a share of their divinity, and this heretofore lucrative doctrine of purgatory among the rest; but which, being no longer so lucrative, it is hoped will soon disappear.

We pray for spirits, not in place but in progress: and the only sober footing on which the practice of praying for intermediate dignitaries can be supported is that of an endless progression of intellectuals of every degree, being either unfallen or restored, towards the perfection of their common parent; for this there can be no error in desiring, nor end either to such a desire: and we are encouraged in this practice by a fair construction of the highest authority. For the universe is God's Kingdom: and his Son has taught and commanded us when we pray to say "Thy Kingdom come: thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven" (Mat. vi. 10); and why not there too in the lower degrees as in the higher continually? This is how we FALLIBLE Christians generally regard the paramount duty of religious worship as towards celestial mediates in a common relation and of inferior degrees. For there will still be different opinions in the world of course on this as on other subjects: so that these heavenly beings both have been, and will be, differently regarded by different observers. They are worshipped by some, and despised by others; believed by some, and denied by others; but the cause of difference is chiefly in the judges; of whom some may have the gift of discerning spirits (Cor. I. xii. 10), while others shall be so dull, that they can hardly discern any thing; and hereafter some shall judge angels (Ib. vi. 3) of this very same mortal kind, in which there are so many who do not know only how to judge each other with justice and charity.

But whatever may happen hereafter, and whatever difference of opinion may subsist between parties in other

respects, there can be no hesitation with any who believe in the existence of angels about praying for them now as aforesaid, and in somewhat like the following terms,

"Father of holy angels, Fountain of heavenly intellects; who glorifiest thyself chiefly by the glory which Thou bestowest on these thy most perfect creatures: We humbly implore FOR them the blessing of thy bounteous grace,—to keep, direct and assist them in their eternal progress towards thy perfection. Preserve their freedom by the truth in thy pure Presence. Exalt them more and more towards thyself for ever: that their glory may be greater, and thine more apparent; for his sake who is above exaltation, sitting on thy right hand, even Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord and Saviour! Amen."

2. For coming now more immediately to the Constitution of these our fellow servants in another sphere, we may gather from Revelation that even angels were not created in an infallible state; that angels have fallen from their primitive rectitude, as well as mankind; and that they who have fallen are also suffering for their fault, being "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, (a very suitable retribution for those who abuse the light,) unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6). And spiritual darkness we know, to be a most indissoluble restraint on intellectuals. But the restraint of darkness, if indissoluble, cannot be irremovable by the Word of God, which is the vanquisher of death and chaos. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Heb. iv. 13). It is natural that the Fountain of intellect should continue to pervade every object that it has created in the universe, and ery channel that it has once formed and replenished by its presence: descending from such a source, it is also natural for every degree of intellect to enjoy a similar advantage over those below-of knowing without being known; and as the higher constituents of mankind are incomprehen

sible to brutes, so should those of the angelic order likewise be to man,-not being exactly of the sort that concern him most particularly at present; but some we may still be able to conceive, and these worth mentioning, as 1, Properties; 2: 3, Elements and Parts; 4, Kinds; 5, Individuals; with a few concluding remarks. And

1, In the order or being of angels, supposing such an order to exist, one thing is certain; namely, that it must consist of Properties like every other that God has created; and if not of elements and parts (that we know of) yet at least, of kinds and individuals, formed by different modes and combinations of those properties: of which some will be more general, some more particular, as may appear in the sequel: their enumeration being as follows, 1, Perpetuity; 2, Personality; 3, Ubiquity; 4, Indwelling, or Possession; 5, Migration or Metempsychosis; 6, Instrumentality; 7, Intelligence; 8, Sympathy; 9, Freedom; 10, Limitation and Subjection. And

-1, The Perpetuity of angels is mentioned as a general property of their being or existence, subject to conditions; but for which, or at least for one-perpetuity would be equivalent with eternity. For perpetuity will naturally continue if there be nothing to prevent it: but eternity, without any possible suspension.

One general condition of perpetuity, as well as of any limited duration in nature, is the integrity of the subject or combination; and that of angels not being necessary nor indissoluble, one or more of the properties of which it is originally composed may be detached from the rest, or some new property introduced among them, or both may happen by exchange; as obedience, for example, which is the righteousness of angels as well as of men, may be detached from ubiquity, intelligence and other advantageous properties above enumerated, leaving disobedience -a very unbecoming substitute, in its stead. And in that case an angel, by losing one of his essential properties would cease to be an angel in the primitive sense; as man

ceased to be man in a proper sense, on losing by disobedience the beautiful endowment which we call Humanity.

Hence it will appear how living angels fallen may be accounted morally defunct, as well as living men who are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. ii. 1, &c.),—through a separation or dispersion of the foresaid properties by the presence of others with which they could not abide, and their return to Him from whom they proceeded (Eccl. xii. 7). And that would be cause sufficient for the dissolution of any material creature: it being the jealous order of nature, to permit original combinations only, or those which come from her hands, to continue on to perfection. For such an alteration to any matter is like taking the same out of that province, and submitting it to the dominion of art. Every thing loses its proper existence with its integrity, being thenceforward a captive to the winner: and what happens in consequence of a natural death or dissolution will happen also upon a moral,-that is to say, CAPTIVITY. For as a human body is riveted motionless to the spot where it lies by death: so the soul of a man and the whole of an angel (he being all soul or spirit) is presumed to be bound by the paralysing influence of sin. And now, while the angels of God enjoy all their native excellence in perfect freedom both of spirit and intellect, those degraded beings are rather cursed with great endowments; being held at the same time, or as it is said, "reserved" in chains of darkness and fetters of malignity firmer than adamant, "unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6).

When man was so fallen and bound by the power of fallen angels-a captive of captives, a slave of slaves-so being no more, as a man,"the Lord saw it; and it displeased him, that there was no judgment: and he saw that there was no man," &c. (Isai. lix. 15, 16.) For there was none, before it pleased the Lord to descend himself from Heaven in that shape, to become himself the Head of a new race, TO BESTOW A SECOND MAN UPON THE

VACANT EARTH. And had there been but one angel in that quarter at the time of the grand rebellion, as there was but one man in this, the whole race would then have been implicated, and consequently NO ANGEL thenceforward, as well as no man"-a desert in heaven and earth till the second creation!-But the order being divided, or, as one might say individualized at that critical period, while other angels fell, some kept their first estate, or, as it may be said, Their natural perpetuity: and that is more than can be said of any being on earth. Hence the natural limitation or circumscription, of properties, as well as their corruption, in every subject of the soil, both generally and particularly, as before explained *: from which it follows, that as the different parts of nature had different beginnings, namely the elemental first, then the vegetable, then the brute-animal, and then the intellectual: so they may have different endings; and as among animals some kinds are longer lived than others, and some individuals are also longer lived than some in every kind,-it is likewise possible, and even not improbable, that some kinds-nay whole orders and classes, as we divide them, may be so prepared by the Great Architect of the universe, as to last longer than others upon earth; though it be no time compared with the perpetuity of the heavenly tribe of which we are considering. Should that be the case, man who began to live last in this lower world may happen to outlive his animal diet, be stripped in time of the services of many an useful brute whose services he has ill deserved, and reduced to live again solely on the fruit of his own labour-glad to gather that.

-2, If there be another property of angels nearly as general as the last mentioned Perpetuity, it is in the lowest department; which cannot here be called Material exactly -and relating to the Personality of the class; on which there may exist a doubt after its late denial in the instance

* Vol. I. p. 59.

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