We may now proceed to the consideration of the angelic mythology of the Old and New Testaments. In our inquiry we shall endeavour to arrive at the ideas contained in the words which are used, and not content ourselves with simple quotation. There is strong reason to believe that Christians in general rarely examine into the real signification of words which they are taught to use, or which, from some fancy or other, they commit to memory. They imagine--if they think on the subject at all--that to repeat a text or a creed is to perform an act of faith, which, in itself, is praiseworthy and a good work. Such do not, in any appreciable degree, differ from the Thibetans, described by the Abbe Hue, who perform their devotions by turning round upon their axles certain cylinders, upon which some prayers are engraved. Not only these Asiatics, but Europeans of large mental calibre are often contented with vague ideas; and when they are challenged to support "the faith which is in them," show that they have never yet examined it. If, for example, they are asked how they can believe in the truth of such passages, "I have seen God (Kohim) face to face" (Gen. xxxii. 30); "The Lord (Jehovah) spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend" (Exod. xxxiii. 11); "Moses whom the Lord knew face to face" (Deut. xxxiv. 10), and the opposite one, "Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live" (Exod. xxxiii. 20)--the sole reply rendered is that the first passages are figurative, passing by entirely the comparison in the second, which asserts that God talked with Moses as one friend with another. As a farther illustration of my meaning, I may point to the glibness with which Christians talk, sing, and listen to discourses about blood. If people really gave heed to what they chant, and to the words of their ministers, they would really be puzzled to find a distinction between the god whom they worship and that idol deity of Mexico, which called constantly for the hearts and the blood of his worshippers. "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. ix. 22) is a dogma that puts the Europeans' God on the same level as the deities worshipped in pagan Africa, New Zealand, and by the Anthropophagi generally.