Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Raised impious war in heaven, and battle proud,
With vain attempt. Him the almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition; there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms."
But there are not a few at the present day, both within and outside of all the churches—and their number is steadily increasing—who do not believe a word of this old and once popular doctrine of the Devil. They reject that whole story about the war in heaven, and the overthrow and expulsion of the rebel hosts, as fabulous. And if any one is curious to know the origin of this notion about the "fallen angels" let him read attentively the critical remarks of Dr. Moses Stuart on the Apochryphal book of Enoch, from which it is evident that the apostle Jude quoted. The conclusion of this learned writer is briefly stated thus: "Probable I must deem it to be, that Jude has quoted the book of Enoch; because he seems, in what he says of the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their habitation and are reserved in chains of darkness, to allude to the account of apostate angels as given in the book of Enoch." (Stuart on the Apocalypse, Vol. I., p. 51-73.)
The old doctrine on this subject, then, is clearly one that belongs to a superstitious and unenlightened age.
