might and burning indignation in the face of S. Stephen reminded the guilty Sanhedrin of an angelic vision. Even in their tenderest ministrations, their strength comes prominently into view. Daniel confesses that the angel's touch has strengthened him (Dan. x. 19); and when our Blessed Lord was seen to "reel amid that solitary fight" in the garden, the angel which appeared to Him did not merely soothe or encourage Him, but-the word is a remarkable word (¿vioxúwv)—communicated to Him some inward supporting force. In comparison with the angels, man, in his present state, seems but a feeble creature. He is subject for the time being to their control, and they rule over him. Even the Incarnate Word Himself, during His earthly sojourn, was "made lower a short space than the angels" (Heb. ii. 7), who governed, in some sense, while they waited upon Him, as they do with other men. In all their communications with men they show that they mean to be believed and obeyed. "I am Gabriel, that standeth by in the presence of God; . . . and lo, thou shalt be mute, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall come to pass, because thou believest not my words" (S. Luke i. 19, 20). They are not to be trifled with, any more than physical nature itself, and cannot leave the authoritative station in which the Eternal Word has ranged them.

The angels are not a mere multitude of isolated spirits. They are camps, hosts, armies-Mahanaim, Sabaoth (Gen. xxxii. 2; Ps. xxiv. 10). There are Archangels as well as angels. S. Paul and S. Peter

half adopt a still larger nomenclature of angelic ranks, though it is plain that they only borrow the nomenclature from teachers whose teaching they are in part combating. "Principalities and Authorities" is a frequent phrase with them; and at other times S. Paul adds the titles of Thrones and Dominions and Powers (Eph. i. 21; Col. i. 16). The extent of their sway it is impossible to guess; but they appear in some way to have not only individual persons, but large bodies of men and whole nations, subject to them. There are "Princes" of Persia and Grecia, as well as of the Chosen People (Dan. x. 20, 21); and in something of the same way, it may be, the seven Churches of Asia are represented as under the management of seven "angels," whose character is mysteriously one with that of the Churches under them. Their power over men is not such as to destroy human free will and responsibility; yet it forms one of the many conditions under which our freedom acts. Those great moulding influences of which we speak under such terms as the "spirit of the age" or or "national character" may well be due to the unseen "Principalities" under whom we live.

Some Christian thinkers go so far as actually to identify these influences with the angelic agencies, at the cost, as it would seem, of the personal consciousness and will of the angels. Our acquaintance with the nature of pure spirits is so slight that we may hardly deny the theory; but the personal names given to some of the blessed angels appear to teach that some, at any rate, are more than vague and semi

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Their Personality.

conscious influences. Besides the apocryphal Raphael, who guides Tobias, and Uriel, who communes with Esdras, there is Gabriel, who visits Daniel and Zacharias, and heralds the Incarnation to the blessed Virgin. At the head of the whole spiritual hierarchy stands a great being to whom, in a special way, the championship of the Chosen People and its leaders was committed. His name-Michael, "Who is like God?"—proclaims the unimaginable distance between the mightiest of created essences and the Creator. Though these mighty spirits are true "kings (βασιλεύοντες) ” and “lords (κυριεύοντες) ” (1 Tim. vi. 15), yet high above them is that Firstborn of all creation in whom they were created (Col. i. 16)— whom S. John saw riding forth to battle with His name on thigh and garment, "King of kings, and Lord of lords," while a higher title declares Him to be the "Word of God," in whom is made the complete revelation of God to His creatures, and a third name, still more august, is there, expressing, not His office or His work, but His true personal glory—“ a name which no man knoweth, but He Himself " (Rev. xix. 16, 13, 12).

§ 7.

To gain a knowledge of the history of the material "heavens and earth," theology must sit at the feet of science. We have to look to man's investigation rather than to God's revelation. Or rather, we look for God's revelation to come to us in a different form. For if the reasoning faculty in man is (as the Fathers

Dognia and Science.

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teach) a particle of the Divine Word, and if the order in nature is also due to the immanent energy of the Divine Word, then whatever human reason truly recognises in the order of the world about us is a true revelation from God. We must not, indeed, too severely blame the timidity of those believers who resist as long as they can a new light of science because it seems at variance with revealed dogma. It is not only natural, but right, that men should refuse to accept new and momentous theories until they have been well tested, and that the apparent sense of Scripture should not be discarded as if it were of no importance. But all that a true believer will require is that the theories of science should be scientifically made good; and when once this is done, he will accept them with gratitude. He knows that Truth cannot be divided against Itself, that is, Christ against Christ (S. John xiv. 6). The new light may alter his interpretation of a text of Scripture, or of a book of it; it may require a readjustment of his conception of Inspiration as a whole; it may modify his view of some important doctrine. But he will be certain that nothing can be lost by progress in true knowledge, and that the view so modified of Christ, of the world, of the Bible, of Providence, of man, will result in a richer and more living doctrine, and lead to a more profound adoration of a God whose wondrous works declare His Name to be nearer than we thought.

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The Mosaic Account of Creation.

§ 8.

This is not the place in which to attempt an exhaustive reconciliation between the first chapter of Genesis and the discoveries of modern science. The design of the first chapter of Genesis (it has often been pointed out) is not to teach us scientific facts, but the way in which scientific facts are religiously to be regarded. A series of visions passes before the recipient of the revelation, like the visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel, for him to interpret as he may. Selected facts in the history of nature are depicted to him, so grouped and in such an order as to convey to a spiritual intelligence all that is necessary to be known of the history of the relation of the world to its Creator. That any part of the account in Genesis is scientifically untrue does not appear to be proven; but even if it were, the object of an artist is not always to copy line for line what he sees before him. It produces the required effect more livingly, nature is more truthfully portrayed, by following a different method. So it may be with the first chapter of Genesis. The main thing is to produce a true effect by bringing out certain great truths.

It is there seen, in the first instance, that matter is not eternal, but that it had an historical beginning, and that the sole cause of its beginning was the will of God. Next, we are made to observe that things were not in the beginning such as we see them now. They have only attained to their present condition through a series of acts of Divine power. At first