Page:Heaven Revealed.djvu/387

 It teaches that spirits in the flesh are operated upon by opposite forces; that both angels and devils are intimately present with men; the former to enlighten, strengthen, uplift and bless, sympathizing with and helping us in our conflicts with selfishness and sin, and rejoicing at the sincere repentance of every sinner (Luke xv. 7); the latter to tempt, delude, mislead and destroy—described in the aggregate as a single individual, "our adversary, the Devil, walking about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet. v. 8).

The evil spirits have access to us and seek to retain dominion over us by virtue of our natural proprium or hereditary selfishness. And the purpose of the Lord's advent in the flesh, was to resist and overcome this malign influence, and place Himself in such a relation to mankind, that all who humbly look to and follow after Him, may be delivered from their state of spiritual bondage. Hence the rejoicing in heaven over the Divine incarnation, and the song of the angelic host at the hour of our Savior's birth, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men"!

And now the promise of his Second Coming is receiving its fulfillment—a coming of Himself and his angels into closer fellowship with all open and receptive souls—a coming with the loud-sounding trumpet of spiritual truth, to gather into the fold of the good Shepherd all who have ears to hear—"his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens even to the other."

And the great practical value of the teaching in the above extracts, is additional evidence of its truth. For every one who examines himself in the light of these