The answer to these questions, and some of the evidence which we think ought to satisfy candid minds, will be given in the following chapters.
III.
THE ORIGIN OF ANGELS.
THE subject of angelology, including the origin as well as the nature of angels, is one upon which Christians of every denomination have written from time to time; and on few subjects has there been a more general agreement than on this. And as artists sometimes endeavor to heighten the effect of a beautiful picture by contrasting it with something hideous, so we may be excused for placing the Old and the New doctrine concerning the origin of angels side by side, trusting that the truth and beauty of the latter may thereby be rendered the more striking by the contrast. Such presentation, too, will show the need there was of the revelation made through Swedenborg.
All who profess the Christian religion, believe in the existence of angels. They believe them to be spiritual beings—the wise and happy denizens of heaven. They could not deny their existence without denying the explicit teaching of the Bible. But the general belief hitherto has been, that angels are created intelligences of different orders intermediate between God and man; that they were created angels in the beginning, and have
