The belief in these superior beings, dating from immemorial antiquity, interwoven as it should seem with our very nature, and authorised by a variety of passages in Scripture, has descended to our time. Although the bodily forms assigned to them are allowed to be impossible, and merely allegorical, although their supposed functions as rulers of the stars and elements have long been set aside by a knowledge of the natural laws, still the coexistence of many orders of beings superior in nature to ourselves, benignly interested in our welfare, and contending for us against the powers of evil, remains an article of faith. Perhaps the belief itself, and the feeling it excites in the tender and contemplative mind, were never more beautifully expressed than by our own Spenser:— And is there care in heaven? And is there love In heavenly spirits to these creatures base, That may compassion of their evils move? There is!—else much more wretched were the case Of men than beasts! But O th’ exceeding grace Of highest God that loves his creatures so, And all his works with mercy doth embrace, That blessed angels he sends to and fro To serve to wicked man, to serve his wicked foe How oft do they their silver bowers leave, And come to succour us that succour want? How oft do they with golden pinions cleave The flitting skies, like flying pursuivant, Against foul fiends, to aid us militant? They for its fight, they watch, and duly ward, And their bright squadrons round about us plant, And all for love, and nothing for reward! Oh why should heavenly God to men have such regard! It is this feeling, expressed or unexpressed, lurking at the very core of all hearts, which renders the usual representations of angels, spite of all incongruities of form, so pleasing to the fancy: we overlook the anatomical solecisms, and become mindful only of that emblematical significance which through its humanity connects it with us, and through its supernatural appendages connects _us_ with heaven. But it is necessary to give a brief summary of the scriptural and theological authorities, relative to the nature and functions of angels, before we can judge of the manner in which these ideas have been attended to and carried out in the artistic similitudes. Thus angels are represented in the Old Testament— 1. As beings of a higher nature than men, and gifted with superior intelligence and righteousness.[14] 2. As a host of attendants surrounding the throne of God, and as a kind of celestial court or council.[15] 3. As messengers of his will conveyed from heaven to earth: or as sent to guide, to correct, to instruct, to reprove, to console. 4. As protecting the pious. 5. As punishing by command of the Most High the wicked and disobedient.[16] 6. As having the form of men; as eating and drinking. 7. As wielding a sword. 8. As having power to slay.[17]