The Faith as Unfolded by Many Prophets/Of the Angels
OF THE ANGELS.
It was midnight, and the voices of men were hushed in sleep. The hum of the city near which Havilah dwelt was still: the birds were hidden among the leaves, which were scarcely stirred by the night breeze; and the flocks reposed beside the dwellings. Havilah and his friend sat in the porch, sometimes watching the silent motions of the stars, sometimes listening to the fountain which cast forth its waters in the deep shade, and sometimes gazing upon the domes of the city, which upraised themselves against the clear sky.
It is sweeter, said Eber, to watch the repose of the world than to sleep, if the mind be fully awake, and the body not overwearied. Tomorrow, in the stir of the busy morning, we may think of what we now behold, and be refreshed, as parched lips by the drops of the fountain.
Truly, said Havilah, the night has beauties as rich and mysteries as great as the day.
Here, said his friend, is no motion and no sound but the gushing of streams and the murmur of our voices. If the panther rustles in the thicket, it is where no human ear is startled at his approach: if the eye balls of the lion glare, it is afar off in the desert, where none but the beasts of the field crouch and tremble before him. We are alone; for if other eyes look abroad upon the night from the roofs of the city, or beside the watchfires of the plain, they behold not us as we sit within the shadow. We are alone with Him to whom the night is as the day.
Havilah replied, With Him and with his messengers, who rest not night or day. Think not, my friend, that there is no motion where all to us is still; that there is no sound where our sense catches not the echo of music. If our sight could penetrate further than that tract of light which crosses the heaven, we might behold how Gabriel[1] records the divine decrees, and where the angel of the Resurrection[2] inquires how long it must be ere his trumpet shall sound. If our ears were quickened as they shall at length be, we might hear the rustling of wings roundabout us; for there is no hour when Azrael[3] hovers not near the abodes of men, or when the Genii[4] come not forth from their abode in the mountains. — Yonder is also the place of tombs.
I marked it yesterday, replied Eber; and that some who were lately dead were laid there.
Therefore, in that place of the dead, there is life, and motion, and sound. If we could enter those sepulchres, we should tremble to behold how the dread messengers of God question the departed concerning their faith and their holiness.[5] This is also the hour when the guardian spirits of men yield up their charge one to another, and bear on high the tablets on which human deeds and thoughts are written. — My child sleeps on his couch, and knows not that the two who have watched him through the day are taking flight, while other two draw near; but we who are awake feel in our souls that radient eyes are upon us, and that even while we speak our words are recorded where none shall blot them out.
The God of our life sees us, replied Eber, and no created eyes can discern so piercingly; He also remembers for ever whatsoever is in the hearts of men, and no other record is so sure.
Do the Christians not believe then, said Havilah, that God has messengers, whose bodies decay not like those of men, nor are nourished, as they? Who else should bear the throne of God, and sing higher praise than men can offer? Whom besides hath man to intercede for him, to guard his soul while living, and appoint its lot after death? All who are faithful believe in such, and they are called infidels who doubt.
Far be it from me, replied Eber, to suppose that He who spread forth the universe has not filled every region with life, and formed beings as much nobler than man as man is nobler than the insect of a day. When I feel how weak are the powers of the body as compared with the strength of the soul; when my spirit mounts above the stars, or plunges into the depth of the abyss, while my feet are chained to the ground it is my belief that there are some who behold what I can only imagine, and grasp that which my thoughts can only reach. But such hath God created — not because he has need of them, but that they might be happy. The throne of God can be removed by none, for the heavens themselves are his everlasting seat. Nor do men need any to intercede for them, for is it not said in your Book, as well as in the Scriptures, that 'God is ready to forgive, and merciful?'[6] And who can so well guard the soul while living, and appoint its lot when dead, as He who dwells within the soul, and who knows 'what the breast conceals?' Let men be glad if there be spirits more noble than themselves to praise and to enjoy; but, for my own part, I love to believe that by none but God himself am I guarded and cherished, and that no intercessors are needed but my own prayers.
Though it be true, replied Havilah, that God is thus with us, yet we may not dare to despise his angels whom he has set as our guard against the Evil Spirit who goes among men to tempt them.[7] When the appointed time of his punishment shall come, there shall be no more fear for men, and our guardians shall give up their charge; but while the Despairing One is driven back from among the stars, and has liberty to escape from hell; while we know that he besets the earth, and fulfils his vow — how can we be safe, unless some of his own race, and substance, and power, are near to protect us?
When is this appointed time of punishment? inquired Eber; — and what is this vow?
When the dead shall arise, the Evil One shall have no more power; but till then, he does as he promised on the day when he refused to worship Adam, and made the vow, 'O Lord, because thou hast seduced me, I will surely tempt men in the earth; and I will seduce them all except thy chosen servants.'[8] Your scriptures also relate how he did thus with Adam, and alas! how many have since fallen!
Nay, said Eber; our Scriptures say that it was the serpent who seduced Eve, and Eve her husband.
And who made the serpent to speak, but the Evil Spirit within him? And why was Michael sent with the sword of God to cut off the legs of the serpent, as the scripture of Barnabas relates, but that the Evil Spirit had possessed him?
The gospel of Barnabas is not the scripture in which I believe, replied Eber; and our Book relates nothing of an evil spirit being in the serpent: nor can I think but that evil as well as good comes from Him whose will is done in all the heaven and all the earth, and that to no one has he given power to afflict those in whose very souls he abides. What says the Book, which is your Gospel, when some complained that Mohammed had brought evil upon them? 'If good befall them, they say, 'This is from God,' but if evil befall them, they say, 'This is from thee, O Mohammed!' — say, 'All is from God.'[9]
Nay, but, said Havilah, how do we go on to read in the Book? 'Whatever good befalleth thee, O man, it is from God; and whatever evil befalleth thee, it is from thyself.' This evil is that which the Despairing One brings up from the depths of the heart.
Eber replied, My religion teaches me that God alone beholds the hearts of men; Mohammed also taught that 'None either in heaven or earth knoweth that which is hidden, besides God:'[10] And again, that He alone ruleth the heart; 'Know that God goeth between a man and his heart.'[11]
Nay, but, my friend, is it not impious to lay to the charge of God the guilt which comes forth from the heart? Can He that is holy create that which is unholy?
How then does anything that is unholy exist? is there any Creator besides God ? Yet is there sin in the world; and yet deeper guilt, I have heard thee say, is in Hell; — and the Evil One himself, — how became he evil but by the permission of God?
Havilah was troubled, but he kept silence.
No man, continued Eber, can declare why anything that is unholy exists, or what shall be the issue of all that is now working in the universe: God alone sees the end of all things from the beginning, and can bring calm out of the tempest, and peace from the troubles of the spirit. Do we not believe that sickness and earthquakes and famine are from God?
From Him, said Havilah, comes the desolation which wastes our cities. He sends a parching breath over our plains, and the springs are dried up, and the flocks lay themselves down to die. He frowns, and a dark shadow blots out the sun at noon-day, and he turns the moon to blood when the thunder hastes to burst upon our heads.
Even so; replied Eber; and the time has been when men said that it must be an Evil Spirit who did these things. When the dews fell, and the sky was calm, they blessed God; but supposed that he had lost his power when the floods were abroad, or the earth became barren. This was impiety: for the Only Ruler can and does make men happier through the very evils which they fear. The plains are made fertile when the floods have passed away; and holy thoughts springs up in the soul when its sorrows are over-past.
All this is true, replied Havilah; and if sorrow were the only evil, I should not fear the Despairing Angel. But what good can come out of guilt?
We know concerning this, little more than men knew of plagues and storms when they worshiped two Rulers in heaven: but thus much we do know, that there may be many purposes which man cannot discern, — that fruits may be ripening above which are planted and watered we know not where or how; and that even now we can see how some are made wise by the folly of others; how some become gentle through the fierceness which afflicts them, and pure from beholding the foulness of guilt.
Even, replied Havilah, as the son of Tagu prayed the more fervently for his father, because his father prayed not for himself; and as the wife of Tagu looked with a tender love upon her children, because her husband loved her not.
Even so, replied Eber. Yet unhappy are they who thus bring sorrow into their houses, and darken with the shadows of their guilt the sunshine of innocent hearts. Jesus said, 'It is necessary that offences come, but alas for him through whom they come!' We know not how the offender's lot may be changed hereafter, by the woes that his guilt shall surely bring upon him; but it is better to be afflicted in body, than diseased in soul; to find all dark in the light of noon, and all silent amidst the gushing of waters and the music of the forests, — than to be blind to the signs which God holds forth in the heavens, and deaf to his voice when he calls to us from on high.
All this is true, said Havilah. Yet would I fain know why this evil exists. Whether, as my friend believes, it is God himself who administers pain of every kind; or whether, as the Prophet taught, it is the Fallen One who is permitted to seduce man; — I look earnestly for the time when we shall know why these things are so.
Meanwhile, answered his friend, I had rather believe that the cloud which now overshadows the plain came unbidden by the Creator who formed it, than that there is any sorrow which is not administered by him who dwelleth in the heart. — I had rather know that yonder star which hastens to its setting, is unmarked in its course by him, than that any thought which he controls not can pass through the soul. As surely as he refreshes the body of thy child with sleep, he sheds the repose of this hour into thy soul; and if it be he who stirs here among the winds and waters, it is he also who in regions where the sun is now shining moves the hearts of men to resolve, their tongues to speak, and their hands to do. He needs no messengers, though he fills the universe with those who do his will. He yields up his place to none, therefore no other should be feared; and through him alone should all others be loved.
Let us now lie down to sleep, said Havilah. Safety is around us, and peace within us, whether we are guarded by angels, or by Him alone whom the angels obey.
The day-spring was near, the sky grew pale, and the early fragrance came upon the breeze. — Eber and Havilah paused once more to listen to the waters, and to see how the watchfires became dim; and then withdrew, each to his couch.