just as they do now; and sometimes a partridge flying up out of the corn startled him with its noisy wings; and sometimes a hare scampered past, or a squirrel ran across the path and mounted a tall tree as if it were a bird. And his mother loved him very much; and was better pleased to have him to care for, and talk with, than all that the King of Israel or the captain of the host could have given to her. And now the harvest-time had come round once more, and the people, in-doors and out of doors, were glad, for the corn was ripe, and the reapers worked early and late; and the boy went with his father to watch them at their work and to hear their songs. But one day, as he stood in the burning sunshine and saw its rays flashing and gleaming on the reaping-hooks, he felt sick and giddy, and cried out, as well as he was able, " My head! my head!" Then his father knew that he was very ill, and said, "Carry him to his mother." And his mother, though he was a big boy by this time, took him on her lap, and nursed him, and comforted him, and found his weight upon her knees as nothing compared with the weight of sorrow in her heart! About twelve o'clock he died, and then his mother's heart felt heavier than a stone within her. But still she thought of God and his goodness, and made up her mind to go and tell Elisha what had happened. And when the prophet saw her coming, he sent his servant to ask her if she, and her husband, and the child, were all well. And she said, "Well." She knew that her boy's head was not aching now, and that he was in the hand of that God who had first given him to her. But though this was all she said to Gehazi the servant, to Elisha the master she showed her great grief. Then Elisha sent his servant and told him to lay his staff upon the child's face. And when Elisha came himself to the house, he stretched himself upon the body of the child, and prayed much to the Lord. And the Lord sent back the life; and his mother took him in her arms and went out of the room without saying a word, for her heart was too full to speak. We shall all die one day, and we shall all be raised up, too; and if we love Jesus, he will take us in his arms, and give us a place in his home, where we shall never again be sick or giddy, or have to say, My head, my head!" any more. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"-HEB. i. 14. Of the existence of an order of created intelligences superior to mankind, the testimony of Scripture, not only in the above passage, but in numerous others, is so decisive, as to leave no room for doubtful disputation; but as to their nature and ministration there are inquiries which may be both interesting and profitable. The writer has no design to inflict a sermon on the readers of "THE CHURCH," but merely to advert to some considerations which, being thus suggested, may be more fully discussed by abler correspondents. The first inquiry I would submit is, Are these exalted intelligences pure spirits, or have they not some airy or ethereal vehicles or bodies imperceptible to our imperfect vision? That matter may and does exist, which is colourless, invisible, and impalpable to our senses-as in the atmosphere and various gasesis too well known to science to admit of a question. It is, therefore, no assumption to say that angels, although imperceptible to us, may have a material as well as a spiritual existence. The words of our Lord to the woman of Samaria, "God is a Spirit," surely seem to indicate that pure spirituality is an attribute peculiar to Deity; or, in other words, that God only is a Spirit. We have no knowledge of angels but from revelation, and it has been justly remarked that the description therein given would lead us to conclude that they are connected with the world of matter as well as with the world of mind. On certain occasions they have assumed definite forms, have given articulate sounds, as they sang at the Saviour's advent, and have conversed with the people of God from the time of Abraham to their intercourse with the women at the sepulchre of their risen Lord. Then, again, although it is expressly forbidden that we should make " any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath," to represent God, who is a Spirit, Moses, by Divine command, made "two cherubims of gold to overshadow the mercy-seat," which seems to intimate that although God, being a pure spirit, could not be represented by any material form, the cherubim, having materiality, might be so represented. Various other arguments might be suggested, but it is not designed to write an essay, only to submit a few thoughts for reflection. Against this, it may be asked, Are not disembodied saints pure spiritual existences, being called "the spirits of just men made perfect"? To which it may be replied, Undoubtedly the glorified saints are spirits; but it does not follow that they are pure spirits as "God is a Spirit ;" and the language of the apostle indicates the contrary-" For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. .. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked." Surely, then, from the moment of death, when the saints are unclothed as to their mortal bodies, they will not exist as naked souls till the resurrection; but will have some celestial vehicle with which God will invest them on their dismissal from the body. In such etherealized bodies it is probable that Moses and Elias appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration; and in such, it may be, all departed saints will dwell, till, at the call of the last trumpet, their sleeping dust will awake to put on immortality and incorruption, and Christ will " change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself." In the next place, I ask, Why do preachers and writers, ancient and modern, speak of ARCHANGELS? Dr. Watts long ago has taught us to sing And again, Archangels leave their high abode," &c. "Archangels sound his lofty praise," &c. But the word archangel is never found in the plural number in the sacred writings; indeed there can be only one archangel, one chief or head of all the angelic host. Nor is the word devil, as applied to the enemy of mankind, ever found in the plural; for, as Dr. Adam Clarke observes, there can be but one monarch of all fallen spirits the devil, the great dragon, or Satan, who is the head of all the diabolic orders, as Michael is the archangel and head of all the angelic orders; hence, when these two hosts are opposed to each other, they are said to act under these two chiefs as leaders, as in Revelation xii. 7 it is said, "Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels." Another question may be raised here. Is not Jesus Christ this archangel? Some have held this opinion; and he is unquestionably called an angel, as in Exodus xxiii. 20—“Behold I send an angel before you"; and as in the following verse he is said to have the prerogative of pardoning sin, it seems an unavoidable conclusion that he is the angel or "messenger of the covenant" spoken of by Malachi, the same glorious personage who it is believed appeared in human and angelic form to the patriarchs of old. Matthew Henry remarks on Malachi iii. 1, in which we have the promise of the coming of the messenger or angel of the covenant, "He is the Lord, the angel, the archangel, the lord of the angels, who received commission from the Father to bring men home to God by a covenant of grace; for though he is the prince of the covenant, as some read it, yet he condescended to be the messenger of it, that we might have the full assurance of God's good-will towards man.' The entire context will surely justify this interpretation. But whether Michael the archangel be the Lord Jesus Christ or not, it is, we humbly submit, abundantly evident that there is but one archangel, and that to sing or speak of archangels in the plural number has no warrant from the Word of God. Various opinions have also been entertained as to the ministering of angels, especially as to whether they have direct access to the human mind. That they may be employed to inflict physical evil, as the messengers of God's judgments, is unquestionable, as in slaying the firstborn in Egypt and the hosts of the Assyrian army; equally so in bestowing physical good, as in directing Hagar to the well of water, providing the manna in the wilderness, which was therefore called "angel's food," and in preparing refreshment for Elijah under the juniper tree. Yet some, from a holy jealousy of the honour of the Holy Spirit, have questioned whether attributing to created angels the power of suggesting holy thoughts, is not an invasion of the province of the Third Person in the Trinity. Yet if we regard them as acting under the direction of the Holy Spirit, they then no more derogate from his office in the economy of redemption than do ministers and all Christians in being the instruments of instructing or comforting their fellow-Christians. Surely holy angels have as much power to comfort as fallen spirits have to distress the people of God. And of the latter there can be no doubt; space would fail to enumerate the various instances recorded in the Word of God of direct Satanic influence on the human mind, from the first temptation in Paradise to the "fiery darts of the wicked one" and the messenger sent from Satan to buffet the Apostle Paul. Bunyan is far from being the only person who has known from experience what it is to have "a storm of blasphemous thoughts burst upon him, stirring up questions against the very being of God and his only beloved Son, and whether the Scriptures were not a cunningly devised fable, rather than the pure Word of God." And some may add with him likewise, "I may not and dare not utter either by word or pen even at this time his suggestions." Admitting this, it is surely a fair deduction that the ministry of holy angels includes mental suggestions to the comfort, preservation, and instruction of the saints. That these holy intelligences do take a benevolent interest in the welfare of the children of God we are assured by our Lord, who has taught us that "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." And not only is this kind interest felt at the commencement of the Christian's heavenward course; but we know from the inspired records that their guardianship is exercised throughout the whole life of believers, even to their journey's end, as in the case of Lazarus, whose emancipated spirit they "carried into the bosom of Abraham." Surely it has been too often said, to be said without truth, that angel forms have been seen by dying saints, waiting to attend the departing spirit in its flight to glory. The writer has again and again heard such affirm that they have seen heaven opened, and "the kind angels at the gates inviting them to come;" and he has fully believed that these radiant forms were not the figments of delirium, but the veritable embodying of ministering angels, though no eye but the one closing in death was privileged to view them. For such holy and loving guardianship, from the first tear of penitence to the last sigh of mortality, let us ascribe all the glory to the Lord of angels, even to Him who is "head over all things for his church." Finally, how transporting the thought that in the culmination of the believer's felicity the spirits of just men made perfect will attain the highest rank in heaven! As the purchase of the Saviour's blood, they must be dearer to his loving heart than those who are only related to him by the ties of creation. Hence, concerning the Redeemer, the marginal reading of Hebrews i. 7, "Thou madest him a little while inferior to the angels." Only a little while: for it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Thus, in the vision of the beloved disciple, the first object in the world of glory is "the Lamb in the midst of the throne." Then, forming the first circle, the redeemed from among men out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation," singing the " new song, "that will be for ever new. Then, forming the outer circle, are "the many angels round about the throne." O how animating the thought for the oppressed, tried, and tempted saints, whose harps are now so often on the willows, and who are esteemed "the scum and offscouring of all things," that ere long they will be the aristocracy of heaven, the peerage of the skies! yea, more, "kings and priests unto God," while angels, now their ministering spirits, will be students at their feet, "to the intent that unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." With what holy exultation may each ransomed soul, turning to the angelic host, exclaim, “You he CREATED, but for me he DIED!" Then "Nearest the throne, and first in song, While wondering angels round him throng, Bury St. Edmunds. MISQUOTED TEXTS. AN eminent and honoured minister was once placed in a curious predicament. On the previous Sabbath he had preached on the subject of growth in grace; and he had argued that, as in the natural world, so in the spiritual, life does not ordinarily develop itself by spasmodic efforts and great crises, but by the silent and gradual assimilation of aliment and the growth of faculty and function. In the course of the following week he was musing on the fact that the antithesis of all this was also true that the decline of spiritual life is not usually to be traced to some one great and disastrous fall, but commonly arises from the neglect of the little duties and gifts and graces, the diligent and devout cultivation of which is essential to the maintenance of the life of the soul. And our friend the divine resolved to make this the theme of his discourse on the following Sabbath morning, and to found his remarks on the passage, which would serve admirably as a text, He that contemneth small things shall fall away little by little." 66 was In due course the sermon written and ready; and on the Saturday it occurred to the minister that he had forgotten to turn to the chapter in the Book of Ecclesiastes in which the text was to be found. He looked, but it was not there; in the Book of Proverbs, but it was not there. He took down the invaluable "Cruden;" but through some strange inadvertence on the part of the Concordance it was not there. Assistance was summoned; the Bible was ransacked; the Concordance re-investigated: but all to no purpose, the text was not there. At last, when almost all hope of tracing the fugitive passage had fled, it was found-in the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus xix. 1. What was to be done? "You know," said the minister, in telling us the story, and laughing heartily over his past perplexities,"You know I couldn't throw away a good sermon, and the only one I had for the occasion, because the text, and the only text that would fit it, was in the Apocrypha!" So he resolved to put a bold face on the matter. 66 Next morning he went into the pulpit, conducted the introductory part of the service as usual, and then, opening his Bible, said somewhat as follows: "Last Sabbath morning we saw that the growth of the divine life was by littles," and he recalled the train of thought that had been followed. I propose to show you that the antithesis of this is true also: that declension in godliness is to be traced, not so much to some one great calamity or apostasy in the religious life, but to the neglect of seemingly small means of grace and matters of duty; and I shall connect the remarks I have to offer you with the words of the Hebrew proverb, 'He that contemneth small things shall fall away little by little."" The congregation had already taken their Bibles in hand to find the text, and no sooner were the words announced than a great rustling of leaves showed that the people, as their pastor had done before, were turning to Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but of course expecting that the precise passage would be indicated. But no! The |