The Hawaiian gazette., 1871-07-05
nm. nTInI.rrr or Angels.

different race oil beings to ourselves is as old as
humanity. Every age has had some idea, more
or less .Tag6e, Of the sphere and condition in
which those beings exist and of their relations
to mankind. The Bible takes Hp those ideas
and embOdies them in tangible forms, and pre-
sents them to our minds as angels engaged in a
ministry of good or i'll TO men, and taking cog
ufzance Of all our actions There have been
times and periods 10 the history Of our race when
angels seemed to take more particular interest in
us than at others, and then our faith in them was
enlivened and intensified; but, generally, we care
very little about any class or race Of beings but
ourselves Such periods we find recorded in the
Scriptures, both of the Old'and New Testaments.
And our modern Spiritualsm has come % revive
our faith in the unseen and the immortal. Its
followers claim, in their mutterings, perfect
demonstration Of the souls immortality, and of q
future life whose glones and conditions they pre-
tend to reveal. But we can hardly conceive how
any sensible person can be convinced by the
mummeries and jugglery of what, in these days,
as called Spiritualism, that it demonstrates any
thing higher than humbug 1t is mockery, a
deusion and a snare 1t is convenient place
for infdes and skeptics, atheists aud panthests,
rationalists and men OF no name or standing to
aenter. 10 association, and keep up sort Of
religious form among themselves. But when in
one breath We hear them denounce everything
that is good. and true, and pure, and that men
hold sacred and dear and in the next present US
Frap, sba land oh
OF commencing itself to our understanding
actually shocks our common sense, We can hardly
be expected to have much faith in the seers or
their prophecies. There is, however, a spirit
ualism which.is true, and which can be under
stood and appreciated without bells and ropes,
and fiddIes and dark closets. There is a ministry
Of angels which we enjoy without having to pay
a"mejumr a stipulated price therefor. And to
this ministry we desire to call attention.
The Bible, which contains the faith of the
world in this particular for at least two thousand
years, and probably for more than twice that
period Of time reveals to us somewhat of the
nature and characteristics of angels the interest
which they take in mundane things, and the rela-
tons which they bear towards human beings.
From its pages we learn that there are two
classes of spirit beings,-as there are of men,
namely, good and bad and that each is interested
in the elevation and salvation OF mankind, or in
the degradation and destruction Of the race. In
their essential nature they are represented as
having form-the form of men-as eating, drink
ing, walking, talking and doing other such things
as men do. They are represented, also, as Gre
ated beings, as wise and good, and, like US,
immortal, but, at the same time, like ourselves,
Ignorant of the Day of Judgment, and of many
things in the future. Indeed, in the days of the
Apostles, we are assured that the angels desired
to look into those things with which Peter and
Paul, and their associates, were familiar, and
which have been revealed unto us by the Spirit.
They are in great numbers, and they undertake,
of men they are of different ranks, and those
who have not lost their first estate, nor left their
Fathers habitation, are subject to Christ and
are around the throne of God, ready to obey His
commands when they are not engaged in minis
tering TO men. They are not to be worshipped.
because they arc creatures of God, aud worship
Him themselves. They rejoice when sinners are
converted, and conduct redeemed souls to Para
disc. These are some of the duties and charac-
teristics of angels as revealed in the Book of |
Books, and of their relations to the human race
That the spirits of good men who die in the |
Lord join with those who have never tabernacled |
in the body and bear part in the ministry of /
angels to men, is also susceptible of proof from |
the sacred records. So that we can not success
fully deny the claim of modern Spiritualsts, that
they hold converse with deceased friends, though .
we may be allowed to question the sanity of such
friends, whether here or elsewhere, from the
messages which they send to earth.
The word angel signifies messenger, and we
might suppose that the principal duties of angels
would be consistent with and a demonstration
of, the character implied in this name. They
existed long before man was created and nav
have enjoyed life in sphere similar to our own
ages age. The first mention we have of angels
in the Bible is where the angel Of the Lord met
Hagar in the wilderness, after she had been
driven from home by the patriarch Abraham's
wife, and encouraged her to return again and
submit herself to her mistress. We next find
them coming to Abraham on their way to destroy
SOdom and Gomorrah, and partaking of his hos
pitality, just as men might have done. and subse-
quently they entered Lots house in Sodom. and
ate of his food also. And all through the patri-
aTchal age, and subsequently in the national and
prophetic age OF the Jews, we find angels ap-
pearing from time to time TO Jacob, to Moses, TO
Joshua, to Gideon, to Manoah, to David to
Elijah, to Daniel, and in the apostolic and pre-
apostolic age to Zacharias, to Mary, to Peter and
% Paul; and after the Saviour's resurrection, to
DrOmiscuOus multitudes. They fought the battles &
,f the lsTaelites and smote the Assyrians. and
ave Byron his inspiration for that grand old
'ong Of holy triumph, The Destruction Of Sen
The Assyrian came down like wolf on the fold,
And hiscOhOrts were cleaning in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears like stars on the sea-
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee
like tho leaves Of the forest When summer is green
That host with their banners at sunset we're seen
like the leaves Of the forest when autumn hath bDHn
Chat host on the morrow lay wiihcred and strOwn."
They sang the Song of Jubilee-Peace on