nine years old, the Lord appeared to him in the form of a man, had said "I am the Almighty God;" when he instructed Abraanm relative to circumcision, and of the coming of the Messiah. And when he left off talking with him, God went ascending from his sight, up toward heaven, maintaining to the last glimpse, the form of a man. Gen. xvii. 22.

But at another time-which, however, was soon after this first appearance the Almighty appeared to Abraham again, and in the form of a man: with two of his angels with him, having also the same form. Gen. xviii. 1, 2: "And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent-door in the heat of the day: And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him." It would seem that these three men had not been discovered in their approach, but had suddenly made themselves visible from a previous invisible state; or it could not well have been stated by Moses, that those three men stood by Abraham, without also mentioning that their approach had been noticed by him, if they were nothing more than ordinary men. But notwithstanding this sudden appearance, Abraham, it seems, did not know that his guests were from heaven, for he made haste, from the goodness of his heart, to prepare them food, and after they had seemed to eat, he arose and went on a while with them, toward the vale of Sodom-whither they were going; but ere he parted from them-by some means, not recorded he found out that the Lord of Hosts, with two of his holy angels, had been his visitors, and that they were come forth to destroy by fire, the five cities of the vale of Sodom. At this time the noted plea for mercy, made by Abraham to the Lord, for these devoted cities, took place; after which, it is said, the Lord went his way. Now if Abraham had been a Universalist-as that people claim he was, as also all the prophets-where was the propriety of his plea of mercy, for the mere lives of the Sodomites-seeing they were so exceedingly wicked, as to have become a nuisance on the face of the earth-when he must have known that their death would be their eternal reformation and happiness in another world.

In the 19th chapter of Genesis, is found an account of two angels rescuing Lot and his two daughters from ruin. But the proof that those two strangers whom it appears Lot-from the hospitableness of his disposition, rescued from being lodgers in the street, were angels, or supernatural beings, is:, that as the wicked men of Sodom beset the house of righteous Lot, they, the angels, struck them with blindness; such power, we believe, is not conferred on mortals, so as to inflict blindness, or any other disorder, by invisible means.

After this, some twenty five years had rolled away, when Isaac the son of Abraham, had grown to man's estate; the Lord, it appears, required the sacrifice of this son to try the fealty of

Abraham's heart to God. But as he did not hesitate to do even this, nor delay by standing to reason the case in his own mind, and was about to deal the blow of death; there suddenly was heard the cry of an angel's voice, in the air above him, there on the wild and spiry summit of Mount Moriah, saying, Abraham, Abraham, lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. Now the proof that this angel was not a man, but a spirit, is, that Moses states, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven, (See the Plate,) the atmosphere above, a place where men do not often appear. Gen. xxii. 11, 12. How it is that Universalists can deny the existence of supernatural angelic beings-as many of them do, and contend that the Scriptures do not justify the belief, and at the same time are acquainted with accounts those books give of such beings, is to us an unaccountable problem-if they credit the Bible at all. Among a multitude of such facts, the following is not one of the least notable, that go to prove the belief true: see 2d Kings, chap. vi., verses 8 to 23 inclusive, in which a most interesting and extraordinary account of the kind is given in the case of a Syrian king and his army, who were making war upon one of the kings of Israel. In this account, it is stated, that there was a prophet-namely, Elisha—who informed the king of Israel several times of certain snares and ambushes, which the Syrian king had contrived-by which his capture was intended-and that on this account, he escaped. This was a matter of wonder to the Syrian monarch, and led him to suspect there were traitors in his own army, to his cause. But this was indignantly contradicted by his officers, who stated that the prophet Elisha informed the king of Israel of all that he did, even of the very words he uttered in his bed chamber. On this account, the Syrian king became determined to take him prisoner. Accordingly he despatched a small army to a place called DOTHAN-where Elisha then was-which place they entirely surrounded, under cover of night. This circumstance, it appears, was unknown to the prophet, until his servant Gehiza, who had risen very early in the morning, and having gone out of the house, saw the place entirely invested by men in arms, and by horsemen and chariots, a great multitude. This circumstance greatly frightened the young man, for he now ran in to his master, crying "alas master how shall we do." The prophet, however, was perfectly cool, notwithstanding this alarming intelligence, and said to his servant, "fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them"-when he lifting his hands to heaven said, "O Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man ; and he saw, and behold the mountains were full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." These were the angels of

God invisible beings, or the eyes of the servant need not to have been opened, in order for him to have seen them. From this it appears that we are in all probability always surrounded by beings of this description, the messengers of the Almighty, whose habitations are throughout the whole universe of God, who see and know all that is passing in any and all the worlds of space. Another notable instance of angelic interference is found in Luke, xxii. 43, in the case of our Lord's agony in the garden of Gethsemane, where it is said, " and there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him," as his agony at that point was even greater than on the cross, in which human nature, even as possessed by the Son of God, was found inadequate to bear, without submitting to death too soon to fulfill the prophecies of his crucifiction by wicked hands. This angel who thus strengthened him, is shown not to have been a man, as he is called an angel from heaven, and there is no such place on earth that we have heard of; besides, what man was he who was able to give support to the mental agonies of the soul of Jesus Christ, when by suffering he made atonement for the world.

Cornelius, a Gentile of Cesarea, and a military officer of the Roman army, saw at a certain time in a vision, not while in sleep, but in the day time, about the ninth hour, an angel of God: "and when he looked on him he was afraid, and said what is it Lord?" Now if this had been a mere man, would this Roman officer have been afraid, and called him Elohim, the Lord or Most High? no, not even if it had been in a dream-as a dream under the direction or influence of inspiration, could never have thus proceeded, if not true in every sense of the word.

But in Acts, 12th chap. there is an account of this kind far more reinarkable than the one last above related. This is respecting St. Peter, who having been put in prison by the Jewish rulers, on acconnt of his being a Christian, was bound there with two chains, and placed during the night season, between two soldiers, who slept on each side of him, as a guard against his escape. From this situation Peter was released by an angel of God; the facts of which we will give in detail, as found in the book of Acts, as follows: "Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And behold the augel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, ahd he smote (touched) Peter on the side and raised him up saying, arise quickly, and his chains fell off his hands. And the angel said unto him, gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals, and so he did. And he saith unto him, east thy garment about thee and follow me. And he went out and followed him and wist not that it was true which was done by