THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF COOPERATIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 517 



Psalm lxviii. 17, Deuteronomy xxxiii. 2, and act- 

 ually carried out in the LXX. translation of 

 the latter text, and in the current Jewish the- 

 ology of the period. Angel - worship is con- 

 demned in Colossians ii. (probably with refer- 

 ence to Essene doctrine); see Revelation xix. 10. 

 In Hebrews ii., and 1 Corinthians vi. 3, Chris- 

 tians are superior to angels. 



Theological reflection on the doctrine of an- 

 gels already begins among the Alexandrian Jews ; 

 and Philo, who calls them " a chorus of unem- 

 bodied souls " occupying the air, places them in 

 close parallelism to his speculations on the divine 

 ideas or powers. From this association the tran- 

 sition is easy to Gnostic speculations, where the 

 ranks of angels appear as produced by successive 

 emanation, and thus serve to fill up the interval 

 which Gnosticism puts between God and the world. 



In this connection we find also a doctrine of 

 creation by angels (Basilides), and dualistic views 

 of good and evil angels. Against these heresies 

 the early Church emphasizes the creation of an- 

 gels and the fall of the evil angels, but Origeu 

 tells us that up to his time the ecclesiastical doc- 

 trine did not define " quando isti creati sint vel 

 quales aut quomodo sint." On these topics, how- 

 ever, many subtile questions arose, e. g., whether 

 angels have bodies of an ethereal kind, whether 

 they were created before the world or along with 

 the light, etc. Gradually angel- worship sprung up, 

 and in spite of the opposition of the best Fathers 

 (Theodoret, Augustine, etc.) became firmly estab- 

 lished, and is still acknowledged in the Roman 

 Catechism. An elaborate theory of the angelic 



hierarchy, based on Neoplatonic doctrines, is laid 

 down in the work of Pseudo-Dionysius, "De 

 Hierarchia Celesti " (fifth century), and exercised 

 much influence on mediaeval theology, which ac- 

 cepted the work as a genuine product of the 

 apostolic age. The schoolmen treat of angels 

 under the doctrine of creation, dividing rational 

 creatures into angels, who are pure spirits, and 

 men ("Sent.," lib. ii., dist. i., sqq.)\ and the na- 

 ture and powers of angels form the most noto- 

 rious problems of the misdirected subtilty of the 

 schools (see, e. g., Duns on the " Second Book of 

 Sentences "). Protestant theologians have always 

 felt less interest in the subject, and generally re- 

 duce the doctrine of angels to a mere appendix 

 to the doctrine of creation or of God's works. 

 Recent writers often go much farther. Thus, 

 Schleiermacher sums up the whole doctrine of 

 angels by saying that the possible existence of 

 angels should not influence conduct, and that 

 revelations of their being are no more to be 

 looked for. A reactiou, partly rooted on the 

 later philosophy of Schelling, has led several Ger- 

 man theologians (Hofmann, etc.) to lay more 

 weight on the doctrine. 



The Biblical doctrine of angels must be stud- 

 ied with the aid of the best books on Biblical 

 theology (Schulz, Oehler, Ewald, Weiss, etc.), and 

 of the commentaries on special passages. The 

 book of Enoch is accessible in Dellmann's trans- 

 lation, and other Jewish notions may be found in 

 Eisenmenger. The literature of the subject, the- 

 ological and theosophic, is immense. — (" Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica," new edition.) 



THE PEACTICAL SIDE OF COOPERATIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 



By ROSWELL FISHER. 



FOR some years past the growing expense and 

 troubles of ordinary housekeeping have 

 driven thoughtful people to consider whether the 

 great principles of association and cooperation 

 are not as applicable to domestic as to commer- 

 cial undertakings. 



To-day the existence of several more or less 

 successful attempts to carry the idea into practice 

 shows that the subject has outgrown its purely 

 speculative phase, and is therefore entitled to be 

 considered one of the practical problems of the 



Notwithstanding, however, that there is a 

 great and fast-growing interest taken in the sub- 

 ject, more especially by harassed and weary house- 

 keepers, there is still no little misconception 

 abroad as to the character and scope of coopera- 

 tive housekeeping, not only on the part of the 

 public, but even on the part of some of those 

 who have practically tried to solve the problem. 



• The misconceptions most prevalent with the 

 public seem to have arisen partly through the 

 fault of those who have advocated the scheme as 

 primarily a social or even socialist reform or 



