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the gift of God." Pray then continually, that this grace may be strengthened in you :-Look to your interceding Saviour, and implore him to plead for you, as he did for Peter, "that your faith fail not."

You have been told of the numbers whose conduct once excited the hopes of the pious, but whom the world overcame-Their histories are beacons to warn and direct you: Beware, lest the succeeding generation should have reason to unite your name with theirs, and point to you also as a sad monument of the power of the world,

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SERMON IX.

MINISTRY OF ANGELS.

HEB. i. 14.

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation ?”

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MAN stands at the head of the visible creation, and serves to connect two widely different orders of being, Compounded of body and soul, by his body he bears an affinity to the beasts that are not endued with an immortal spirit, and by his soul to those superior intelligences, who are not united to matter, nor encumbered with body.

That such intelligences exist, reason, or the remains of a primitive revelation, taught every people that has ever lived. Differing in almost every other subject of belief, nations of every climate and age, and religion, have nevertheless concurred in acknow. ledging that between us and God, there are innumerable orders of spirits, far excelling us in every natural and moral quality. The universality of this belief, is a strong presumption of its truth, and of its consistence with reason.

Indeed, it would appear almost impossible for any person who had with any attention examined the works of God, and observed the various gradations of being, to doubt of the existence of angels. We ascend, step by step, from dull, inert, unorganized matter, to the living plant, the perceptive brute, and the reasonable man. And having risen to an immaterial substance, endued with such powers and faculties as the human soul, shall we suppose that the great scale and gradation of being ends there? Will we not feel ourselves compelled to believe that between us and Deity, numberless creatures intervene, possessed of perfection, power and excellency, beyond our present conception?

But we are not left on this subject to the dim lights of unassisted reason. The holy scriptures are full of proofs, not merely of the existence of angels, but also of their care and watchfulness over the pious, of their fellowship and communion with the saints. Nothing can be more explicit on this point than the words of our text, in which St. Paul, speaking of the blessed angels, says, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation?" Though the apostle here uses the interrogatory form, he does not by it intimate any doubt of the truth of the question which he asks, but only designs by this mode of speaking more strongly to affirm it, more pointedly

to appeal to the general belief of the Hebrews and their own knowledge of the scriptures.

This subject, my brethren, though so much neglected, is worthy of our serious attention. Since God has revealed to us that by his orders the heav. enly host defend, instruct and support his children, we must surely be ungrateful if we do not some. times meditate on this glorious privilege, and render our thanksgivings for it to our heavenly Father. And besides, we must be regardless of our own comfort, and indifferent to our own felicity, if we do not strive to obtain a constant persuasion and a deep sense of a doctrine so calculated to console us in our sorrows, to quiet our fears, and to animate us to diligence in our christian course.

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I well know that on this subject many persons have substituted the impulses of imagination, in place of the cool deductions of reason, and the sacred lights of revelation. I well know that many persons, "desirous to be wise above what is written," have when speaking of the heavenly host, delivered opinions, not only unsupported by the scripture, but inconsistent with its holy teachings.I well know that it is a subject which has often excited the pitiful sneer of the modern Sadducee and conceited unbeliever: But I know also that these considerations should not deter us from a sober ex

amination of this precious truth. God has not revealed it for no purpose: he has not written it down in the holy volume with a design that we should never attend to it; he expects our gratitude and adoration for this proof of his paternal affection and goodness: we are therefore bound to enquire into the nature of this angelic ministry. And besides, according to the judicious remark of Dr. Owen, "we have the word of God for our way and guide; and if we go not beside it, and if we go not beyond it, we are as safe when we treat of angels as when we treat of worms."

In illustrating this subject, we will

I. Examine the names, number, and perfections of the angels;

II. Enquire into the extent, duration, and nature of their ministry; and

III. Point out some of those practical lessons which result from this doctrine.

I. The names bestowed upon these high intelligences are indicative of their nature or occupations; it is then proper to begin with an examination of them. One of the most common names given to them is angels, the primitive meaning of which

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