which is as admirable as saving! "Love that passeth knowledge.". Well might an inspired apostle cry out in an ecstasy-" O, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out."* In our redemption by Christ, human nature is advanced to the highest pitch of dignity and glory. In the person of Christ, it is risen far beyond the confines of our mental perception; but, thanks be to God, this we know, that every humble and pious Christian "shall be like him, for they shall see him as he is," "and be with him in glory." There the mercy of God, the most perfect of his attributes, and the consummation of his excellence, will be made known more fully; and those things, "into which the angels desire to look,” will be unfolded in all their mysterious and awful grandeur. Throughout never-ending ages, virtuous minds will be enlarged with knowledge, exalted in happiness, and improved in dignity; and their affections and praises become more refined and elevated, in a rapid and regular succession. When the revolutions which now measure time shall be swallowed up in an unchangeable eternity, the saints of the Most High shall be for ever with their Lord. Hence, it is evident, that the glory of the redeemed as far exceeds the felicity of Adam in the highest state of his pristine vigour and perfection, as heaven is above the fading beauty of this terrestrial world.

CHAP. III.

The Names given to Satan in the Scripture, explained.

BEFORE I enter on the consideration of this subject, it will be proper to observe, that the Unitarians deny the existence of angels, whether good or bad. Now, if there are no angels in existence, it is absolutely impossible that there can be a supernatural evil being, or Devil. If the existence of angels is incredible, it must be for one of the following reasons:—

1st. That the nature of things disprove their existence, or contains some evidence which renders it highly improbable: or,

2d. That it is not sufficiently revealed in the Scripture, so as to command our belief.

1st. It is not inconsistent with the nature of things, but highly probable, that there are in existence pure immaterial spirits, or angels. As God is a pure Spirit, and delights in the contemplation of his own manner of existence, it is far more reasonable to suppose that he would create beings as much like himself as possible, than that he should create beings compounded of matter and spirit, such as we

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are. Suppose, for instance, that we were totally unacquainted with the existence of either angels or men, pure spirits would seem more likely to be a part of the creation of God, than spirits united to bodies, beings wholly rational, than beings partly rational, and partly animal.

In creating man, a new mystery is presented to our contemplation, viz. the union of soul and body, so accomplished as to constitute but one precipient being. Should the Unitarians object, and say-"we avoid this difficulty, by denying the existence of an immaterial soul in man." But this, by the bye, is only introducing to our view a ten times greater and more perplexing difficulty, an hypothesis so mysterious, as to be no other than a gross absurdity and contradiction in terms; viz. the doctrine of cogitative, or thinking matter; for we might as well talk of a square circle, or a part being greater than the whole, of which itself is but a part, as to suppose, that that which is simple and indivisible, to be a property of that which is compound.

Hence, it is highly probable, from reason and analogy, that there are pure immaterial spirits, or angels, in existence. For, as in the visible material world, we see no chasms, but a continued series of things descending in the scale of being from man by easy gradations; so we have reason to think it suitable to the magnificent design of the great Architect of the universe, that the species of creatures

should ascend by the same gentle gradations above us. And as we are much more remote from God, than we are from the lowest state of corporeal existtence; so it is not improbable that there are far more kinds of spiritual existences than of embodied beings beneath us. Hence, we may conceive that there are in existence various orders of angelic natures.

The declarations of the Bible, relative to the existence of angels, are as numerous and express as language will admit. And it is truly astonishing, that any person should profess to receive the Scriptures as a Divine revelation, and yet at the same time deny their existence. A few A few passages I hope will be sufficient to settle this point beyond contradiction. Jesus Christ said unto Peter—“ Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels ?" that is, more than seventy-two thousand; and the Psalmist declares, that "the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels;" these are indefinite numbers, used to express a very large one. Again he exclaims-"Bless the Lord, ye his angels, who excel in strength."‡ When the Saviour of mankind became incarnate, Gabriel announced his birth to Zacharias and to Mary. An angel also proclaimed "glad tidings of great joy" to the shepherds of Bethlehem; and a

* Matt. xxvi. 53. † Psalm lxviii. 17. ‡ ciii, 20.

"multitude of the heavenly host praised God" on the same occasion, in the noblest anthem ever heard in this lower world, and sang-" Glory to God in the highest! and on earth, peace, good-will towards men."* An angel rolled away the stone from the sepulchre of Christ-"His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow; and for fear of him, the keepers became as dead men."+ "I saw," says St. John, "another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire." From hence, it is evident, that there are pure spirits or angels, in existence. "And before any one is so arrogant as to conclude that no Devil exists, he should first ascertain the improbability, and impossibility of his existence; but in order to this, it is absolutely necessary for him to comprehend the various links in the ascending chain of possible existences, to develope the realities of the unknown world, to prove that angels were not free agents; or, if they were free agents, (which we have reason to believe,) in order to support the baseless hypothesis of no Devil, it must be proved, that they never, in a single instance, violated that compact, which, considering them as free agents, must necessarily

* See Second Chapter of Luke. † Matt. xxviii. 2, 3, 4. + Rev. x. 1.