Their  swiftness  of  motion,  loft}-  com-age,  strength,  su-
preme powers  of  destruction  as  the  executors  of  judg-
ment in  the  Divine  government, — these  and  such  like
traits  appear  in  the  angels  of  Sacred  history.  The}-  are
not  impalpable  impotencies — mere  ideals.  They  are
-  ;  the}-  are  thrones,  principalities,  powers.  They
touch  and  move  the  fountains  of  Nature.  The}-  call  fire
from  the  rock  and  dews  from  the  air,  as  in  the  ca
the  angel  who  appeared  to  Gideon.*  The}-  hold  in  their
hands  the  forces  that  throb  and  glow  in  earthquake  and
volcano,  as  in  the  case  of  th<  angels  who  procured  the
destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. '<'  The}-  control
the  mighty  forces  of  disease  and  death,  which  the}-  are
commissioned  to  use,  as  in  the  judgment  ot  pestilence
sent  upon  the  Israelites  in  the  days  of  David, T  and  the
pestilence  which  slew  the  first-born  of  Egypt,§  and  the
destruction  of  the  Assyrian  host,  so  vividly  described
by  Byron.  ||

The  Assyrian  came  down  lik«-  the  wolf  '>n  tin-  fold,
And  his  cohorts  were  gleaming  in  purple  and  gold  :

Am!  til--  sh(  en  "f  their  s]K-ars  was  like  stais  <>n  the  Sea,
When  the  blue  wave  rolls  nightly  on  d  lee.
Like  ti)'-  leaves  of  the  forest  when  summer  i^  green,
That  h'>st  with  their  banners  at  sunset  were  seen  ;

of  resl  when  autumn  hath  bl<  iwn,

That  host  on  tl"-  morrow  lay  wither'd  and  strewn.
*Judgesvi.  38.    i(  [I.  Sam.  xxiv.  16.    }Ezod.
\ii.  23.         II.  Kings  xix.  35.
