FACULTIES Of &UPERIOR BEINGS. 



9J 



oroduce, in one system, or even in one million of 

 Hystems, would be to set limits to the resources 

 of his wisdom and intelligence which are in 

 finite and incomprehensible. Hence we find 

 the sacred writers, when contemplating the nu 

 merous objects which creation exhibits, breaking 

 out into such exclamations as these, &quot; How 

 manifold, O Jehovah, are thy works In wis 

 dom hast thou made them all.&quot; 



In the next place, Besides the magnificence 

 and variety of the material structures which 

 exist throughout the universe, the organized and 

 intelligent beings with which they are peopled, 

 present a vast field of delightful contemplation. 

 On this general topic, the following ideas may 

 be taken into consideration : 



1. The gradations of intellect or the various 

 orders of intelligences which may people the 

 universal system. That there is a vast diver 

 sity in the scale of intellectual existence, may be 

 proved by considerations similar to those which 

 I have already stated. Among sentient beings, 

 in this world, we find a regular gradation of 

 intellect, from the muscle, through all the orders 

 of the aquatic and insect tribes, till we arrive 

 at the dog, the monkey, the beaver and the ele 

 phant, and last of all, to man, who stands at the 

 top of the intellectual scale, as the lord of this lower 

 world. We perceive, too, in the individuals 

 which compose the human species, a wonderful 

 diversity in their powers and capacities of intel 

 lect, arising partly from their original constitu 

 tion of mind, partly from the conformation of their 

 corporeal organs, and partly from the degree of 

 cultivation they have received. But it would be 

 highly unreasonable to admit, that the most ac 

 complished genius that ever adorned our race, 

 was placed at the summit of intellectual perfec 

 tion. On the other hand, we have reason to 

 believe, that man, with all his noble powers, 

 stands nearly at the bottom of the scale of the 

 intelligent creation. For a being much inferior 

 to man, in the powers of abstraction, conception, 

 and reasoning, could scarcely be denominated 

 a rational creature, or supposed capable of be 

 ing qualified for the high destination to which 

 man is appointed. As to the number of species 

 which diversify the ranks of superior intellectual 

 natures, and the degrees of perfection which dis 

 tinguish their different orders, we have no data, 

 afforded by the contemplation of the visible uni 

 verse, sufficient to enable us to form a definite 

 conception. The intellectual faculties, even of 

 finite beings, may be carried to so high a pitch 

 of perfection, as to baffle all our conceptions and 

 powers of description. The following descrip 

 tion in the words of a celebrated Swiss natu 

 ralist, may perhaps convey some faint idea of the 

 powera of some of the highest order of intelli 

 gences : 



To convey one s self from one oace to ano 



ther with a swiftness equal or superior to that of 

 light ; to preserve one s self by the mere force 

 of nature, and without the assistance of any other 

 created being ; to be absolutely exempted from 

 every kind of change ; to be endowed with the 

 most exquisite and extensive senses; to have 

 distinct perceptions of all the attributes of matter, 

 and of all its modifications ; to discover effects 

 in their causes ; to raise one s self by a most 

 rapid flight to the most general principles ; to 

 see in the twinkling of an eye these princi 

 ples ; to have at the same time, without confu 

 sion, an almost infinite number of ideas ; to see 

 the past as distinctly as the present, and to pene 

 trate into the remotest futurity ; to be able to 

 exercise all these faculties without weariness: 

 these are the various outlines from which we may 

 draw a portrait of the perfections of superior 

 natures.&quot; * 



A being possessed of faculties such as these, 

 is raised as far above the limited powers of man, 

 as man is raised above the insect tribes. The 

 Scriptures assure us, that beings, approximating, 

 in their powers arid perfections, to those now 

 stated, actually exist, and perform important of 

 fices under the government of the Almighty. 

 The perfections of the angelic tribes, as repre 

 sented in Scripture, are incomparably superior 

 to those of men. They are represented as pos 

 sessed of powers capable of enabling them to 

 wing their flight with amazing rapidity from world 

 to world. For the angel Gabriel, being com 

 manded to fly swiftly, while the prophet Daniel 

 was engaged in supplication, approached to him, 

 before he had mado an end of presenting his re 

 quests. During the few minutes employed in 

 uttering his prayer, this angelic messenger de 

 scended from the celestial regions to the country 

 of Babylonia. This was a rapidity of motion 

 surpassing the comprehension of the most vigor 

 ous imagination, and far exceeding even the ama 

 zing velocity of light. They have power over 

 the objects of inanimate nature; for one of them 

 &quot; rolled away the stone from the door of the se 

 pulchre,&quot; at the time of Christ s resurrection. 

 They are intimately acquainted with the springs 

 of life, and the avenues by which they may be 

 interrupted ; for an angel slew, in one night, 

 185,000 of the Assyrian army. They are per 

 fectly acquainted with all the relations which 

 subsist among mankind, and can distinguish the 

 age and character of every individual throughout 

 all the families of the earth. For one of these 

 powerful beings recognised all the first-born in the 

 land of Egypt, distinguished the Egyptians from 



* This writer, in addition to these, states the follow 

 ing properties : &quot; To be invested with a power capa 

 ble of displacing the heavenly bodies, or of changing 

 the course of nature, and to be possessed of a power 

 and skill capable of organizing matter, of forming a 

 plant, an animal, a world.&quot; But I can scarcely think 

 that such perfections are competent to any being 

 hut the Supreme. 



