have so many minute directions about worship, we are told that women should always pray with covered head; and one reason for this regulation is given us-"For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the Angels" (1 Cor. xi. 10). The Revised Version reads this curious text thus"For this cause ought the woman to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the Angels." Dr. Hodge explains the passage in the following way: "The apostle had asserted and proved that the woman is subordinate to the man, and he had assumed as granted that the veil was the conventional symbol of the man's authority. The inference is that the woman ought to wear the ordinary symbol of the power of her husband. of her husband. As it was proper in itself, and demanded by the common sense of propriety, that the woman should be veiled, it was specially proper in the worshipping assemblies, for there they were in the presence, not merely of men, but of Angels. It was therefore not only out of deference to public sentiment, but from reverence to those higher intelligences, that the woman should conform to all the rules of decorum" (Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, in loco). What a sight we should see if these eyes were suddenly opened some Sabbath day to behold the angelic visitants in the place where we bow in worship before God! All over us, all around us, whiterobed angels hovering, listening to the voice of the preacher, noting the acts of the hearers, watching the effects of the message delivered from the pulpit, taking cognizance of the praises and the prayers; and when the service is done, winging their flight back to heaven to carry the tidings of the worship to the God who has been worshipped! How solemn it should ever make us, how circumspect, how holy in our Christian assemblies, to think that they are held in such an august presence! How the thought should emphasize that advice of the Preacher-"Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God!" There is one epoch of our lives when, we are told, the Angels play a specially important and touching part in our history. At that solemn hour when the soul of the believer leaves the body to go to be with its God, the Angels come to take charge of it. When Lazarus died, the Angels carried him into Abraham's bosom. So is it with every believer. As you stand by the bed on which he lies face to face with the last enemy, you do not see the Angels. But they are there. They are listening to the moans of the sufferer. They are strengthening him to bear his last pains. They are instilling holy thoughts into his mind. They are waiting to carry him home. All is silent in the room. The lights burn low. Every foot moves on tiptoe. There, floating in the air, or standing by the bed, are the celestial messengers,-sometimes the dying eyes seem to see them,-and when the last sigh has been heaved, and, with the last quiver, the soul has fled from the clay tabernacle, they take it in their arms, and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, they have borne it to its God! From the beginning of life to its end, from the beginning of the world to its end, the Angels are everywhere. |