Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/193

 and John, in the Revelation, speaking of the measure of a man says, "that is the angel;" he also states that when he fell down to worship at the feet of the angel, the angel said unto him, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets; a passage which expressly affirms an angel to have been of the human race.

Indeed, the end for which man was created was, that by the reception of holy influences from the Lord, he might be happy throughout eternity. What other end could the Divine love propose by such a creation; and what else could the Divine wisdom produce? It is plain that the Divine love is unceasingly engaged in efforts to make men sensible of the blessings it has to bestow. And who can reasonably doubt that the intention of God in the creation of humanity, was that He might have a rational object on whom to confer His blessings? And as these cannot be confined to this world only, but must be carried on to that which is eternal, it is obvious that the final intention of God in the creation of man must have been the formation of an angelic heaven from the good of the human race. This indeed is the reason why, from the very beginning, His image and likeness were implanted in them.

All things that are orderly in men are received from the Lord, and the natural tendency of every grace is towards its source. Like good and obedient children clinging to the protection afforded by their father's house, regenerated men acknowledge the Divine blessings, and hope to become residents in the Lord's kingdom. The Lord gives the graces by which they are led into its enjoyments; by those graces He attracts them on to heaven; and, doubt-