f mythological figures given them, at first, in utter
simplicity. But when we approach them in their third, or personal,
character (and, for its power over the whole national mind, this is far
the leading one), we are met at once by questions which may well put all
of you at pause. Were they idly imagined to be real beings? and did they
so usurp the place of the true God? Or were they actually real
beings--evil spirits,--leading men away from the true God? Or is it
conceivable that they might have been real beings,--good
spirits,--entrusted with some message from the true God? These were the
questions you wanted to ask; were they not, Lucilla?

LUCILLA. Yes, indeed.

L. Well, Lucilla, the answer will much depend upon the clearness of your
faith in the personality of the spirits which are described in the book
of your own religion;--their personality, observe, as distinguished from
merely symbolical visions. For instance, when Jeremiah has the vision
of the seething pot with its mouth to the north, you know that this
which he sees is not a real thing; but merely a significant dream. Also,
when Zechariah sees the speckled horses among the myrtle trees in the
bottom, you still may suppose the vision symbolical;--you do not think
of them as real spirits, like Pegasus, seen in the form of horses. But
when you are told of the four riders in the Apocalypse, a distinct sense
of personality begins to force itself upon you. And though you might, in
a dull temper, think that (for one instance of all) the fourth rider on
the pale horse was merely a symbol of the power of death,--in your
stronger and more earnest moods you will rather conceive of him as a
real and living angel. And when you look back from the vision of the
Apocalypse to the account of the destruction of the Egyptian first-born,
and of the army of Sennacherib, and again to David's vision at the
threshing floor of Araunah, the idea of personality in this death-angel
becomes entirely defined, just as in the appearance of the angels to
Abraham, Manoah, or Mary.

Now, when you have once consented to this idea of a personal spirit,
must not the question instantly follow: 'Does this spirit exercise its
functions towards one race of men only, or towards all men? Was it an
angel of death to the Jew only, or to the Gentile also?' You find a
certain Divine agency made visible to a King of Israel, as an armed
angel, executing vengeance, of which one special purpose was to low