THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



the children of Israel, and exerted his powers in 

 their destruction. And as they are &quot; minister 

 ing spirits to the heirs of salvation,&quot; they must 

 have a clear perception of the persons and cha 

 racters of those who are the objects of the Divine 

 favour, and to whom they are occasionally sent 

 on embassies of mercy. They are endowed with 

 great physical powers and energies ; hence they 

 are said &quot; to excel in strength:&quot; and the phrase, 

 &quot;asZron^angel,&quot; and &quot;a?rag-%angel,&quot; which are 

 sometimes applied to them, are expressive of the 

 same perfection. Hence they are represented, 

 in the book of the Revelation, as &quot; holding the 

 four winds of heaven,&quot; as executing the judg 

 ments of God upon the proud despisers of his go 

 vernment, as &quot; throwing mountains into the sea,&quot; 

 and binding the prince of darkness with chains, 

 and &quot; casting him into the bottomless pit.&quot; 



They are endowed with unfading arid im 

 mortal youth, and experience no decay in the 

 vigour of their powers. For the angels who 

 appeared to Mary at the tomb of our Saviour, 

 appeared as young men, though they were then 

 more than four thousand years old. During the 

 long succession of ages that had passed since 

 their creation, their vigour and animation had 

 suffered no diminution, nor decay, they are 

 possessed of vast powers of intelligence. Hence 

 they are exhibited in the book of Revelation, 

 as being &quot;full of eyes,&quot; that is, endowed with 

 &quot; all sense, all intellect, all consciousness ; turn 

 ing their attention every way ; beholding at once 

 all things within the reach of their understand 

 ings i and discerning them with the utmost clear 

 ness of conception.&quot; The various other quali 

 ties now stated, necessarily suppose a vast com 

 prehension of intellect ; and the place of their 

 residence, and the offices in which they have 

 been employed, have afforded full scope to their 

 superior powers. They dwell in a world where 

 truth reigns triumphant, where moral evil has 

 never entered, where substantial knowledge ir 

 radiates the mind of every inhabitant, where the 

 mysteries which involve the character of the 

 Eternal are continually disclosing, and where 

 the plans of his providence are rapidly unfolded. 

 They have ranged through the innumerable re 

 gions of the heavens, and visited distant worlds, 

 for thousands of years ; they have beheld the un 

 ceasing variety, and the endless multitude of 

 the works of creation and providence, and are, 

 doubtless, enabled to compare systems of worlds, 

 with more accuracy and comprehension than 

 we are capable of surveying villages, cities and 

 provinces. Thus, their original powers and 

 capacities have been expanded, and their vigour 

 and activity strengthened; and, consequently, 

 in the progress of duration, their acquisitions of 

 wisdom and knowledge must indefinitely sur 

 pass every thing that the mind of man can con 

 ceive. We have likewise certain intimations, 

 that, among these celestial beings, there are 



gradations of nature and of qffice ; since there 

 are among them, &quot;seraphim and cherubim, 

 archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities 

 and powers,&quot; which designations are evidently 

 expressive of their respective endowments, of tho 

 stations they occupy, and of the employments for 

 which they are qualified. 



Hence it appears, that although we know but 

 little in the mean time of the nature of that diver 

 sity of intellect which prevails among the higher 

 orders of created beings the intimations given 

 in the sacred volume, and the general analogy 

 of nature, lead us to form the most exalted ideas 

 of that amazing progression and variety which 

 reign throughout the intellectual universe. 



2. Not only is there a gradation of inteUect 

 among superior beings, but it is highly probable, 

 that a similar gradation or variety obtains, in 

 the form, the organization, and tho movements 

 of their corporeal vehicles. 



The human form, especially in the vigour of 

 youth, is the most beautiful and symmetrical of 

 all the forms of organized beings with which we 

 are acquainted ; and, in these respects, may 

 probably bear some analogy to the organical 

 structures of other intelligences. But, in other 

 worlds, there may exist an indefinite variety, as 

 to the general form of the body or vehicle with 

 which their inhabitants are invested, the size, 

 the number, and quality of their organs, tho 

 functions they perform, the splendour and beauty 

 of their aspect, and particularly, in the number 

 and perfection of their senses. Though there 

 are more than a hundred thousand species of 

 sensitive beings, which traverse the earth, the 

 waters, and the air, yet they all exhibit a mark 

 ed difference in their corporeal forms and organ 

 ization. Quadrupeds exhibit a very different 

 structure from fishes, and birds from reptiles ; 

 and every distinct species of quadrupeds, birds, 

 fishes, and insects, differs from another in its 

 conformation and functions. It is highly proba 

 ble, that a similar variety exists, in regard to 

 the corporeal vehicles of superior intelligences 

 accommodated to the regions in which they re 

 spectively reside, the functions they have to per 

 form, and the employments in which they are 

 engaged ; and this we find to be actually the 

 case, so far as our information extends. When 

 any of the angelic tribes were sent on embas 

 sies to our world, we find, that, though they 

 generally appeared in a shape somewhat re 

 sembling a beautiful human form, yet, in every 

 instance, there appeared a marked difference 

 between them and human beings. The angel 

 who appeared at the tomb of our Saviour, ex 

 hibited a bright and resplendent form : &quot; His 

 countenance was like the brightness of light 

 ning, and his raiment as white as snow,&quot; glit 

 tering with an extraordinary lustre beyond what 

 mortal eyes could bear. The angel who deliver 

 ed Peter from the prison to which he had becft 



