(Acts xii. 23), or to consume the devoted forms of thousands at once, when so exemplary a chastisement of any place is deemed necessary, as it happened to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. For we may be assured that the preternatural flames which consumed these wretched cities were not essentially different from these which every unrepenting sinner is doomed to feel soon or late in himself; in that most bitter tragedy for which many are even now rehearsing their parts, the part of angels that should have been their patrons consisting thereupon in these inextinguishable flames.

To one party the Ruler of angels and spirits will send his angel in the spirit of grace, and to another in the spirit of perverseness: as He says by the prophet, "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace, and of supplications and they shall look upon me (the Lord) whom they have pierced" (Zech. xii. 10). "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin, and for uncleanness" (Ib. xiii. 1). And on the contrary, speaking of the enemies of the church who were usually designated by the unsavoury name of Egypt, the prophet says, "The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work” (Isai. xix. 14): which is what may be done by the angel of the Lord as well as by himself, and perhaps with a better grace.

For that the Lord in his allwise providence does not operate merely and immediately by his Holy Spirit (that is to say by Himself) will appear from many examples and sayings in Scripture besides the forecited; as for one, from that of Rehoboam and his young council: where we find an obstinate infatuation, no uncommon spirit for old councillors as well as young, called in to forward the punishment of Solomon's idolatry in his unhappy offspring, agreeably to the declaration of his will by Moses in this behalf. "So the king hearkened not unto the

people for the cause was of God," &c. (Chron. II. x. 15.) And to the same account may be placed many irregularities, inequalities, and other phenomena of the soul or invisible man: which some of the infidel sort would ascribe to strokes or impulses on the material organs alone, as harmonies and discords are ascribed to the vibrations of a musical instrument; which cannot happen musically however any time, without some one strike the cords and strike them with an art and skill that is not in the instrument. It is not a transient impression only, nor a mere natural bias that is here alluded to, and which may happen without any foreign influence; it is not the regular working of any human passions, which may be produced by an healthy state of the subject, nor yet the irregular working of the same produced by disease or disorganization; but strong bents, strange fatuities, powerful illusions, taken up no one knows how, continued beyond expectation, and finally relinquished as unaccountably as they were taken up. These are the phenomena alluded to, and which can only be ascribed to the operation either of wiser and better, or wiser and worse intelligences than ourselves, but at any rate to the influence of our natural superiors.

Hence the madness and extravagance which some nations are said to respect as inspiration, and others with a worse feeling and no better reason would seem to persecute as if it were a public crime. Hence also a good deal of what others who are not mad, it is to be hoped, have suffered occasionally in the shape of different infatuations, &c., as above intimated, and for which they need not think the worse of themselves, considering what is there said. If we could thus infuse ourselves, that is our own essential selves, our principles and sentiments, immediately into others, without the aid of eloquence or any other aid, it would afford us a very great advantage over them either for their harm or their good; but if we could confer or transmit by any means freely and without pur

chase, like the primitive apostles the blessing of the Holy Ghost (Acts viii. 18, pr. &s.), what an advantage would it be to the receiver! Or if one could only be sent to the church, which is our Jerusalem, with the spirit of grace— no matter in how humble a capacity, if it were only as a feather in his wing, one should not need to regret the loss of tulips, oranges, or vines. Let the same spirit by which the shepherd was infected with flower-fancies infect the objects of his idle regard, till they are every one like things bewitched, when he has been detained long enough by these vanities from more incongruous pursuits-and if he will only bring him fresh again into the path of duty, he shall not be a bad spirit for the shepherd.

On reviewing hereafter the dispensations of Providence in the first place touching our present estate, and secondarily the proceedings of intermediate agents with whom we are now but little acquainted taken either spontaneously or in obedience to the divine commands, we may be surprised and delighted at the interest which these invisible agents have felt in our welfare, and the singular means whereby the same has been promoted. We shall be able to recollect not only a sager way of thinking occasionally suggested by them; but also perchance an innocent deception, such as shepherds and other CHILDREN OF ABEL Who have the honour to be entrusted with the care of living creatures are obliged sometimes to practise for their good; -it may be something either of a ridiculous or of a gloomy cast, which has been put into our heads by one of them and kept up most unaccountably as long as the occasion for it continued; and then, only as it were by a breath, whisked away, the veil removed, and ourselves come to our senses again like men out of a dream, wondering at our delusion. In short we may hereafter perceive, that we have in the course of our earthly pilgrimage been preserved many a time through dangers as unknown as serious and pressing by the kind interposition of angels; and by means which we could never have conceived, but shall be fully

aware of, when we come to wake up hereafter in the same angelic state, to know our present benefactors even as we are known (Cor. I. xiii. 12), and to have the pleasure of thanking them personally for their care and support.

If the inferior animals over which we have ourselves the same advantage and to which some of us, it is hoped, are not angels of the worst description, though none may be faultless even in respect of them-if they should then revive in like manner and obtain a similar expansion of intellect in a future state, so as to enjoy nearly about as much light as we do now, and therewith a recollection of the past; may they not owe us some thanks likewise for good offices presently performed to them as well by deception as by direction? And would to God, they may not also have occasion to reflect on us for the abuse of that superiority which the impartial Creator of both us and them has bestowed on us for the benefit of both! For "who can tell how oft he offendeth ?" (Ps. xix. 12.)

Therefore, speaking of instrumentality, we should not forget an office or two which angels from their mediate station between God and man may have to perform likewise in this behalf, namely of REPORTERS to the Supreme Being and WITNESSES of the conduct of his accountable creatures of their conduct as well to one another, as to creatures that have no trust to account for. And that such a part is probable, we may infer from different expressions in Scripture, like that of God's hearing by them of such or such an occurrence upon earth: which would represent them as legates that had been sent from heaven on different commissions to this nether world now returned and God STANDING IN THE CONGREGATION OF PRINCES to receive from these his messengers an account of the state of affairs in the quarter they had been visiting: which divine cognizance, for want of better terms is humanly expressed by that of judging or hearing (Ps. lxxxii. 1).

But another allusion to this intermediate relation and consequent part of angels between God and men may seem

rather more direct. It appears in the following salutary caution of the Preacher with respect to REligious vows. "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou BEFORE THE ANGEL, that it was an error. Wherefore should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thine hands ?" (Eccl. v. 6.) Religious vows are very magnificent in appearance: but mind; while your flesh rises against them, they are at the same time all heard and reported. For it should also be remembered, that the angels of either kind, that is, either good or evil, after having enough to do with all who are born upon earth either way as long as they live, have still a farther office to perform for every one at his decease and resurrection: being either to comfort or torture the departing spirit in the first place, and then to bear him to his final destination, to the fate for which they have been preparing him, whether the same be good or evil, “ Abraham's bosom" (Luke xvi. 22), or "a furnace of fire" (Matt. xiii. 42), "the light of life" (John viii. 12), or "the bitter pains of eternal death.”

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-7, Among the properties of angels and spirits before enumerated there is not one but seems highly important to their qualification for the parts just mentioned; as are likewise others that follow: and for one that extraordinary Intelligence approaching towards omniscience, which they are supposed to exert or possess. For it is hard to conceive whether their intelligence may be more of a faculty or an impression-of a voluntary or an involuntary effect; it may be both with them as with us. And either way we cannot consider these beings omniscient, because they are expressly said in Scripture to be ignorant of some things; as of the day of judgment, or last day (Mark xiii. 32) for example: we cannot ascribe that property to them any more than omnipresence; because these are both divine prerogatives, and what no creature either has or can have: but, as near as their personal motion before named Ubiquity, is to omnipresence, so near may their intellect or rate of intelligence approach to omniscience. And the communi