continually, and without the leaft failure for ever. It points out alfo the relations which fubfift between the creatures and their fellow fubjects, and the duties which they feverally owe to each other, viz. that each one fhould love his neighbor as himself.

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This ftate, as being under the law, is a glorious flate; the angel, or mere servant of God, is highly privileged: for a law fo fect, fo holy, just and good, to a mind that is erect and pure, must afford an ample field of divine entertainment; and in keeping it, there must be great reward; for it cannot fail to enlighten, expand and feed the rational exiftence. Such a ftate of action must be inconceivably improving. This is intimated in the word, Pfalm civ. 4. Who maketh his angels fpirits. To ferve a God fo great and glori ous, and to be conftantly employed accord. ing to a law fo exceeding broad, must greatly elevate, honor and dignify a creature.How did the face of Moles fhine, when, but a few days, he was employed in this angelic miniftry.

A creature exifting in fuch a flate has interefts and rights; fupport, of course, becomes his due; he has a claim to his living, yea, he has a claim to protection from his Lord and Mafler. Moreover, a good fervant or fubject is entitled to the approbation and favor of his prince and fovereign. Thele are high privileges! rich interells! a fupport, fuch as the proper world of the angels will afford them, mufl be bountiful. The hired fervants in the houfe of our heavenly Father, have bread e

nough and to fpare; protection they are affured of, and the fmiles of the good Lord upon them must be a felicity the most completely fatisfying to their nature, and perfecting to all their heavenly powers; a felicity, which only they who have experienced the favor of God can know. The righteoufnefs of the law is a glorious righteoufnefs, and will endure and be renowned for ever.-Heaven and earth fhall país away, whilft the law fhall be established and honored, and not one jot or tittle of this divine inftitution fhall fail,

But, with all this felicity and glory, the righteoufn fs of the law could only give to the angels the place, the privileges and the dif pofitions of fervants. The fpirit of adoption, the privileges of children, and the inheritance of fons, could never refult from the most perfect righteousness of the law; yea, the moft excellent being in the univerfe, who fhould do all that the law requires, and repeat the deeds of the whole fyflem without the leaft fault, millions of times, and for millions of ages, would be ftill from this fource of perfection, at an infinite and unapproachable distance from the righteousness of Godthat righteoufnefs which is upon all them that believe, and which entitles the poffeffor to an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God, and yields the fruits of the Spirit.Moreover, the law can never make the comers thereunto perfect, or give them more than a precarious establishment. For Mofes defcrib eth the righteoufnefs which is of the law, That the man which doth thofe things fhall live by

them. And also it is written, Curfed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. This is, therefore, in the highest state of the comer thereunto, a mount that might be touched, and that burneth with fire,-Hence the fpirit of the law, in a greater or lefs degree, is that of bondage, and mult neceffarily affect the minds of those who are under it with the bondage of fear; and, therefore, it must for ever remain diftinct from, and in fome refpects opposed to the spirit of the gospel, by which we cry Abba, Father.

The fervant, under the law, has no inheritance; he has no righteoufnefs laid up for him;-no fund in referve;-no provifion in flore; he earns well his penny a day; but God is never fourd in his debt, for he receives his wages every day in full, before the fun goes down; and after he has done all thofe things which are commanded him, he is poor, and has nothing but his hands for his fupport; and he mult fay, I am an unprofit able fervant: I have done that which was my duty to do. And if he turn away from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: In his trefpafs that he hath tref paffed, and in the fin that be hath finned, in them fhall he die.

By thefe obfervations, I would not be underflood to mean that this is the prefent ftate of the angels; on the contrary, the holy angels are undoubtedly now confirmed, and have a railed ftanding in the family of God,

on account of the redemption work of our Lord Jefus Chrift; but they are intended to fuggeft merely, what was their original and

natural condition.

The world of the angels appears to be divided into four provinces, which are often pointed out in the epiftolary writings, by four diftinct names; and, in the prophetical, by four emblematical things. The apostle, fpeaking of the glory of Chrift, fays, that he is exalted in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion. Eph. i. 21. Again, Whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. Col. i. 16. And though these names of honour and high diftinction, may be fupposed to be given them on account of their prefent advanced ftate, yet they feem evidently to refer to fome natural diflinctions that exifted among them. Agrecably to this, the apostle pointing out the enemies against which we have to contend, befides thofe of flesh and blood, or thofe in our own nature, named four grand divifions:-For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, againft powers, against the rulers of the darknefs of this world, againft fpiritual wickedness in high places.. Eph. vi. 12.

And when the angels are referred to under certain figns and figures, fuch a divifion may ever be noticed. Ezekiel calls the living creatures, or rather living beings, which he faw in his vifion, Cherubim, which is a

name of the angels. And if it be thought that this was a vifion of uncreated things, ftill it is agreeable to our theory and to the fcriptures, to conceive of the worlds as being framed according to thofe eternal thingsone of which worlds, is this of the angels.These cherubim were four in number, and every one had four faces, each one differing; and every one had four wings; and there were four wheels by their fides round about them four; and their positions were fuch as formed a square, or four fides. Zechariah's vifion of the chariots, with its interpretation, greatly confirms this point.→ He looked, and behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass. In the firft chariot, were red horfes; and in the fecond chariot, black horfes; and in the third chariot, white horfes; and in the fourth chariot, grifled and bay horfes. Then I answered and faid unto the angel that talked with me, what are thefe my Lord? And the angel anfwered, and faid unto me, Thefe are the four fpirits of the heavens, which go forth from Standing before the Lord of all the earth. It is evident, the angels are here intended; and they appear in four fquadrons, which bear diftinct marks: and that this is a natural diftinction, appears by the answer of the angel Lord, that they are the four Spirits of

heaven.

In the fame manner, are the angels reprefented in their miniftry in the New Teftament. In the vifion of John, there were