so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires in their passage from sense to Soul, — from a material sense of existence to the spiritual, — up to the glory prepared for them who love God. Stately Science pauses not, but moves before them, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, leading up to divine heights.
If we remember the beautiful description which Sir Walter Scott puts into the mouth of Rebecca the Jewess, in the story of Ivanhoe, —
| When Israel, of the Lord beloved, |
| Out from the land of bondage came, |
| Her fathers' God before her moved, |
| An awful guide in smoke and flame, — |
we may also offer the prayer which concludes the same hymn, —
| And oh, when gathers on our path, |
| In shade and storm, the frequent night, |
| Be Thou, long-suffering, slow to wrath, |
| A burning and a shining light. |
Revelation xii. 7, 8. And there was war in Heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven.
The Old Testament assigns to the angels, God's divine messages, different offices. Michael's characteristic is Angelic offices. spiritual strength. He leads the hosts of Heaven against the power of Satan, and fights the holy wars. Gabriel has the more quiet task of imparting a sense of the ever-presence of ministering Love. These angels deliver us from the depths. Truth and Love come nearer in the hour of woe, when strong faith, or spiritual strength, wrestles and prevails,
