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behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." The same truth seems to be intimated, in the account which is given (in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter xii.) of the deliverance of S. Peter from prison. When he presented himself at the door of the house of Mary, and knocked, the inmates could not believe that their unexpected visitor was S. Peter himself, whom they supposed to be still bound in prison; but they affirmed that it was his angel.

Such was, at least among the Jews, the prevalent opinion which was entertained respecting the particular attendance of guardian angels; and Origen, Jerome, Plato, and others, believed that Kingdoms, as well as individuals, have been placed under the tutelary guardianship and protection of some ministering genius, or angel, whose office and business it is to watch over and protect their interests at all times; of some of these tutelary saints who presided over kingdoms, we find the names recorded in Shakspere: it is sufficient for my purpose to mention only S. George, the reputed protector of merry England.-King Henry V., iii. 1.

Another fact is revealed in Holy Scripture respecting guardian angels: we are there told that those bright spirits are employed to convey the souls of the departed into Abraham's bosom. This is alluded to also in ShakspereHamlet, v., 2:

Good night, sweet prince,

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

And the expression "Abraham's bosom" occurs more than once in our Poet, to designate the happy and eternal residence of those who have departed this life in the faith and fear of God.

With regard to Satan, and his angels, we are taught by Scripture, that they once were in the full enjoyment of

unspeakable happiness, but are now apostate, fallen, and miserable. We gather from the very few and incidental references there made to this mysterious subject, that the cause of their losing their first estate was Pride, which is therefore called by the Apostle S. Paul, "the condemnation of the devil;" and that by reason of their offence, they are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

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Now, when we turn to Shakspere, we find him alluding to these mysterious facts with the same brevity as that with which they are hinted at in the Inspired Volume. In Henry VIII., iii. 2, Wolsey, the fallen Cardinal, thus addresses Cromwell:

Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear

In all my miseries; but thou hast forced me,
Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman.
Let's dry our eyes; and thus far hear me, Cromwell;
And, when I am forgotten, as I shall be,
And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of,-say, I taught thee,
Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour,
Found thee a way, out of his wrack, to rise in;
A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away Ambition :
By that sin fell the angels, how can man, then,
The image of his Maker,3 hope to win by 't?

Angels are bright still though the brightest fell.-Macbeth, iv. 3. The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall.-Bacon.

Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes,

Men would be angels, angels would be gods

Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell,

Aspiring to be angels, men rebel.-Pope's Essay on Man.

Again:

1 1 Timothy, iii. 6.

2 Jude, 6.

3 Genesis, i. 27.

I charge thee, Satan, hous'd within this man,
To yield possession to my holy prayers,

And to thy state of darkness hie thee straight.

In this last passage we discover a reference to the penal darkness to which the accursed spirits are doomed; and also to that most mysterious subject of Demoniacal Possession, which seems, during the time of our Blessed Lord's sojourn upon earth, to have been permitted in order that He might show forth His Almighty power in the forcible ejection of that kind which, as He Himself tells us, goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.1

Many and interesting treatises have been written on the question, as to whether we shall recognise hereafter in heaven those whom we have known and conversed with here on earth. Upon this subject, as indeed upon all questions the solution of which would minister, rather to the gratification of a curiosity, however laudable, than to man's furtherance in personal holiness, the Scripture supplies us with no decided and definite information. From all that we can there gather, we come to the conclusion that there is nothing in the Bible which militates against the belief that we shall mutually recognise one another hereafter; but on the contrary, that there are many intimations which would seem to favour an opinion so consonant with the best feelings of our nature, and so well calculated, in the season of our bereavement, to afford us extreme pleasure and strong consolation.

How beautifully does Constance (in King John, iii. 4) make reference to this opinion, when she says:

Father Cardinal, I have heard you say
That we shall see and know our friends in heaven:

1 Luke, xvii. 21.

If that be true, I shall see my boy again;
For since the birth of Cain, the first male child,
To him that did but yesterday suspire,
There was not such a gracious creature born,
But now will canker sorrow eat my bud,
And chase the native beauty from my cheek,
And he will look as hollow as a ghost,
As dim and meagre as an ague's fit,
And so he'll die; and rising so again,
When I shall meet him in the court of heaven
I shall not know him; therefore, never, never
Must I behold my pretty Arthur more.

Again :

Fare you

well!

Hereafter, in a better world than this,
I shall desire more love and knowledge of you.
As You Like It, i. 2.

And in King Richard III., iii. 3:

1

Let us here embrace :

Farewell, until we meet again in heaven.

In considering the protection which is afforded us by good angels, we must never lose sight of the fact, to which I have already briefly alluded, that it is God, "the Lord of Hosts," by whom they are sent forth on their errands of mercy. They are the servants of the most High; and although they are immeasurably greater in power and might than ourselves,2 still they are only created beings, to whom therefore we dare not ascribe adoration and worship, if we would not be found guilty of idolatry. To use the language of Shakspere, "God is the author, they the instruments." King Henry VI., Part III., iv. 6. To Him, therefore, and to no creature, is our homage due; to Him alone should we direct our prayers.

To thee do I commend my watchful soul,
Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes;

3

Sleeping and waking, O defend me still.-Richard 111.,

v. 3.

1 Hebrews, i. 14.

2 Psalm ciii. 20.

3 Revelation, xix. 10.

Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass,
But still remember what the Lord hath done.

King Henry VI., Part II., ii. 1.

Heaven set ope thy everlasting gates

To entertain my vows of thanks and praise.—iv. 9.

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There is a duty, on which the Holy Scriptures lay great stress; and we need not be surprised at this, when we consider that the God, by whose Spirit those sacred Books were inspired, is a God whose "tender mercies are over all His works;" over every creature, animate or inanimate, rational or irrational, which his hands have created; I mean the duty of showing kindness to the brute creation. "The eyes of all, both of man and of beast, wait upon God, and he giveth them their meat in due season.”2 He openeth His bounteous hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing.

The Mosaic Law enjoined the strict and rigid observance of the Sabbath day, for the benefit not only of man, but also of the brute creation, that the ox and the ass might rest as well as their owner. "Thou shalt not see," says God, "thy brother's ass, or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again." 3

Thus we see that the Benevolent Creator of all things has a care, not only for men, but for dumb animals; "He preserveth both man and beast." And here I may observe, that the cruelty which first shows itself in the torturing of brute creatures almost invariably proceeds to greater lengths, and finally issues in the display of ferocity towards man. The gradual development and progress of cruelty has been most faithfully delineated in the life-like sketches

1 Psalm cxlv. 9. 2 Psalm, cxlv. 15. 3 Deuteronomy, xxii. 4.

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