SENSE?? OF SUPERIOR BEINGS. 



confined by the tyranny of Herod, was arrayed in 

 such splendour, that a glorious light shone 

 through the whole apartment where the apostle 

 was bound, dark and gloomy as it was. That 

 these beings have organs of speech, capable of 

 forming articulate sounds and of joining in mu 

 sical strains, appears form the words they utter 

 ed on these and other occasions, and from the 

 song they sung in the plains of Bethlehem, when 

 they announced the birth of the Saviour. They 

 appear to possess the property of rendering 

 themselves invisible at pleasure ; for the angel 

 that appeared to Zacharias in the sanctuary of 

 the temple, was invisible to the surrounding mul 

 titudes without, both at the time of his entrance 

 into, and his exit from the &amp;lt; holy place.&quot;* 



In particular, there is every reason to con 

 clude, that there is a wonderful variety in the 

 number and acuteness of their organs of sensa 

 tion. We find a considerable variety, in these 

 respects, among the sensitive beings which in 

 habit our globe. Some animals appear to have 

 only one sense, as the muscle, and the zoophytes ; 

 many have but two senses ; some have three ; 

 and man, the most perfect animal, has only Jive. 

 These senses, too, in different species, differ 

 very considerably, in point of vigour and acute- 

 ness. The dog has a keener scent, the stag a 



* To what is stated in this paragraph respecting 

 angels, it will doubtless be objected, &quot; that these 

 intelligences are pure spirits, and assume corporeal 

 forms only on particular occasions.&quot; This is an 

 opinion almost universally prevalent; but it is a 

 fnere assumption, destitute of any rational or scrip 

 tural argument to substantiate its truth. There is 

 no passage in Scripture, with which I am acquaint 

 ed, that makes such an assertion. The passage in 

 Psalm civ. 4, &quot; Who maketh his angels spirits, and 

 his ministers a flaming fire,&quot; has frequently been 

 quoted for this purpose ; but it has no reference to 

 any opinion that may be formed on this point ; as 

 the passage should be rendered, &quot; Who maketh the 

 winds luVmessengers, and a flaming fire his minis 

 ters.&quot; Even although the passage were taken as 

 it stands in our translation, and considered as re 

 ferring to the angels, it would not prove, that they 

 are pure immaterial substances; for, while they 

 are designated spirits, which is equally applica 

 ble to men as well as to angels they are also 

 said to be &quot;a flaming fire,&quot; which is a material sub 

 stance. This passage seems to have no particular 

 reference to either opinion ; but, if considered as 

 expressing the attributes of angels, its meaning 

 plainly is, that they are endowed with wonderful 

 activity that they move with the swiftness of the 

 winds, and operate with the force and energy of 

 flaming fire ; or, in other words, that He, in whose 

 service they are, and who directs their movements, 

 employs them &quot; with the strength of winds, and 

 the rapidity of lightnings.&quot; 



In every instance in which ansels have been sent 

 on embassies to mankind, they have displayed sen 

 sible qualities. They exhibited a definite form some 

 what analogous to that of man, and colour and 

 splendour, which were perceptible by the organs of 

 vision they emitted sounds which struck the organ 

 of hearing they produced the harmonies of music, 

 imd sung sublime sentiments whir.h were uttered in 

 articulate wcrds, that were distinctly heard and re 

 cognized by the persons to whom they were sent, 

 Luke ii. U. and they exerted their power over the 

 sense of feeling ; for the angel who appeared to 

 Peter in the prison, &quot; smote him on the side, and 

 raised him up.&quot; In these instances, angels mani- 



quicker perception of sounds, and the eag o and 

 the lynx more acute visual organs than mankind. 

 The same diversity is observable in the form 

 and the number of sensitive organs. In man, 

 the ear is short and erect, and scarcely suscepti 

 ble of motion; in the horse and the ass, it is long 

 and flexible ; and in the mole, it consists simply 

 of a hole which perforates the skull. In man 

 there are two eyes ; in the scorpion and spider, 

 eight ; and in a fly, more than Jive thousand. 



That superior beings, connected with other 

 worlds, have additional senses to those which 

 we possess, is highly probable, especially when 

 we consider the general analogy of nature, and 

 the gradations which e?:ist among organized be 

 ings in our world. It forms no reason why we 

 should deny that such senses exist, because we 

 can form no distinct conceptions of any senses 

 besides those which we possess. If we had been 

 deprived of the senses of sight and hearing, and 

 left to derive all our information merely through 

 the medium of feeling, tasting and smelling, we 

 could have had no more conception of articulate 

 language, of musical harmony and melody, of 

 the beauties of the earth, and of the glories of 

 the sky, than a muscle, a vegetable, or a stone. 

 To limit the number of senses which intelligent 

 organized beings may possess to the five which 



fested themselves to men, through the medium of 

 three principal senses by which we recognize the 

 properties of material objects; and why, then, 

 should &quot;we consider them as purely immaterial sub 

 stances, having no connection with the visible uni 

 verse 1 We have no knowledge of angels but from 

 revelation ; and all the descriptions it gives of these 

 beings leads us to conclude, that they are connected 

 with the world of matter, as well as with the world 

 of mind, and are furnished with organical vehicles, 

 composed of some refined material substance suita 

 ble to their nature and employments 



When Christ shall appear the second time, we are 

 told that he is to come, not only in the glory of his 

 Father, but also in &quot; the glory of his holy angels,&quot; 

 who will minister to him and increase the splen 

 dour of his appearance. Now, the glory which the 

 angels will display, must be visible, and, consequent 

 ly, material; otherwise it could not be contemplated 

 by the assembled inhabitants of our world, and could 

 present no glory or lustre to their view. An assem 

 blage of purely spiritual beings, however numerous 

 and however exalted in point of intelligence, would 

 be a mere inanity, in a scene intended to exhibit a 

 visible display of the divine supremacy and gran 

 deur. The vehicles or bodies of angels are doubtless 

 of a much finer mould than the bodies of men ; but, 

 although they were at all times invisible through 

 such organs of vision as we possess, it would form 

 no proof that they were destitute of such corporeal 

 frames. The air we breathe is a material substance, 

 yet it is invisible; and there are substances whose 



irity is more than ten times greater than that of 

 tiie air of our atmosphere. Hydrogen gas is more 

 than twelves times lighter than common atmo 

 spheric air. If, therefore, an organized body were 

 formed of a material substance similar to air, or to 

 hydrogen gas, it would in general be invisible ; but, 

 in certain circumstances, might reflect the rays of 

 light, and become visible, as certain of the lighter 

 gaseous bodies are found to do. This is, in some 

 measure, exemplified in the case of animalcute, 

 whose bodies are imperceptible to the naked eye, 

 and yet, are regularly organized material safe- 

 stances, endowed Vith all the functions requisite to 

 life, motion, and enjoyment. 



