The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-05-07

10 numonity. Every age has had some luea,
more or less vague, of the sphere and condi-
ton in which those beings exist and of their
relation to mankind. The Bible takes up those
ideas and embodies them in tangible forms.
and presents them to our minds as angels
engaged in ministry of good or i'll to men,
and taking cognizance Of all our actions.
There have been times and periods in the his
tory Of our race when angels seemed to take
more particular interest in us than at others,
and then our faith in them and their work 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 Spiritualism has come to revive
our interest and our faith in the unseen and
the immortal. Its followers claim, in their NUT
terings, a perfect demonstration Of the souls
Immortality and Of future life whose glories
and conditions they pretend to reveal. But
we can hardly conceive how any sensible per-
son can be convinced by the mummeries and
jugglery of what, in these days, is called
higher than humbug. It's mockery, a delu-
sion and snare. 1t is convenient place for
infides and sceptics, atheists and pantheists,
rationalists and men of no name or standing
to enter, in association, and keep up q sort of
religious form among themselves. But when
In one breath we hear them denounce every
thing that is good and true and pure, and that
men hold sacred and dear, and in the next
present US a revelation from the spirit land
which, instead Of commencing itself to our
understanding, actually shocks our common
sense, we can hardly be expected to have
much faith in the seers or in their prophecies.
There is, however, spiritualism which is
true, and which can be understood and appre-
ciated without bells and ropes, and fiddles
and dark closets. There Is a ministry of
angels which we enjoy without having to pay
"mejum" 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 thou
sand 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 relations which they bear toward
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 degrade
ton and destruction of the race. In their
essential nature they are represented
as having form-the forms Of men-as eat
ing, drinking, walking, talking and doing
other such things as men do. They are repre-
sented, also, as created 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 under
take, voluntarily and by appointment, the
guardianship 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 mnistering to men. They
are not to be worshipped, because they are
creatures of God and worship Him them
selves. They rejoice when sinners are con-
verted and conduct redeemed souls to Para
disc. These are some of the duties and char
acteristics 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 tie body and bear part in the
ministry of angels to men is also susceptible
of proof from the sacred records So that we
cannot successfully deny the claim of modern
Spiritualists, 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 a messenger, and
we might suppose that the principal duties of
angels would be consistent with and demon
stration of the character implied in this name
They existed long before man was created,
and may have enjoyed life in sphere similar
to our own ages ago. 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 Abrabams 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 hospi-
tality just as men might have done, ard sub
quently they entered Lots house in Sodom,
and ate Of his food also. And all through the
patriarchial age, and subsequently in the ma
tional and prophetic age Of the Jews, we find
angels appearing from time to time to Jacob,