_on the earth."_ This is not the place to
enter on a full discussion of the doctrine here avowed; yet the
following may be adduced as part of the warrant of this doctrine. (Dan.
vii. 27; Rev. xx. 4.)

11. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the
throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

12. Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and
glory, and blessing.

Vs. 11, 12.--Here we have the concurrence of holy angels, as seen by
John in vision, with all the redeemed in acts of solemn worship offered
directly to the Lamb.--"Many angels," how many? Some divines have
actually attempted, by arithmetical rules, to compute the number! Such
employment may amuse, but it cannot edify. The definite here mentioned
for indefinite numbers, may be easily computed; (as in Dan. vii. 10; Ps.
lxviii. 17;) but still we would labor in vain "to find out the account;"
for we are expressly told that they are "innumerable." (Heb. xii. 22.)
Like the ransomed children of Adam, they are "a great multitude which no
man can number." (ch. vii. 9.) Why then attempt that which the Holy
Spirit has pronounced impossible? "Vain man would be wise." It is of
much more consequence for us to contemplate their position, relations
and employments. Their _position_ is "round about the throne," beholding
the "Lamb as it had been slain." The law of their creation could not
reveal to them this object of adoration. That they may know their duty
to the Mediatorial Person as their moral Head, it is requisite that they
be directed by a new revelation. Accordingly, we find a "new
commandment" issued from God the Father expressly to them. (Ps. xcvii.
7; Heb. i. 6.) "Worship him, all ye gods;" that is, "Let all the angels
of God worship him." By the development of the eternal counsels of God
in his dealings with the church, these "principalities and powers in
heavenly places," discover with adoring wonder more and more of the
"manifold wisdom of God." They _stoop down_, as it were, "to look into
this" mysterious economy, (Eph. iii. 10, 11; 1 Pet. i. 12.) They are
humbly but intensely desirous to discover still more of "the hidden
wisdom which God ordained before the world unto the glory" of their
fellow worshippers. (1 Cor. ii. 7.) Such is their position.--They are
related