are now prevailing. To these belong the creation of the earth, the chemical reactions, the dissolutions, the precipitations, the burrowings, and other changes that must have taken place, and also the geological process from imperfect forms to perfect classes, during each single act.

"In his book called 'The City of God' (xi. 7) St. Augustine says, 'It is difficult, or rather impossible, for us to think, and still more so to express, what these days are.' St. Cyprian estimates the seven creationdays to have been a period of seven thousand years.

In

"In Hebrew the word for day is Jom and denotes an undefined space of time, as we have in Isaias, 'the Lord shall be exalted in that day' and, again, 'in that day a man shall cast away his idols' (Isaias ii. 17–20). In English it is often the same, as when we say, for instance, 'He was a great man in his day, etc.' Hebrew 'every evening' is hereb, and 'every morning' is boker, which words, while meaning really morning and evening, also signify transition, alteration, order, dispensation, a passing, etc. Now, as each new creation act must begin with a violent disturbance amid the forces of nature and end with the completion of the thing to be created, what term is more applicable than one expressing transition or beginning and ending?"

Our Sorrows and Trials.

If God, then, is good and beneficent toward all men, if in His providence He cares for them as a father cares for his children, whence come the endless trials and tribulations with which every creature is so heavily and persistently beset and afflicted? This question is often asked. This thought forces itself upon many in their hours of deep distress and desolation. Let such

persons carefully read what follows, and they will soon. find themselves reconciled to the mysterious ways of divine providence.

Passages from the Scriptures and the

Fathers.

"Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?" (Amos iii. 6).

"Blessed is the man whom God correcteth: refuse not therefore the chastising of the Lord: for He woundeth, and cureth: He striketh, and His hands shall heal" (Job v. 17-18).

"My son, reject not the correction of the Lord : and do not faint when thou art chastised by Him: for whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth: and as a father in the son He pleaseth Himself " (Proverbs iii. 11, 12).

"As the gold is tried in the crucible that it may be cleansed from all dross, so thou art purified in the furnace of affliction, in order to appear brighter" (St. Isidore of Seville).

"Tribulation is a valuable good, and the mother of all virtues" (St. John Chrysostom).

VI. THE ANGELS.

Creation, Ranks, and Nature of the Angels.

TOGETHER with the earth, God created heaven, the invisible world, the dwelling-place of the blessed, and placed in it the countless spiritual beings whom we call angels. Thus there are creatures higher than men, and who are destined specially to the service of God. When we call these beings spirits, we say what they are. When we call them angels we describe their office as messengers, for the word "angel" means messenger.

They are countless in number, for the prophet Daniel, when describing them, says, "Thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him" (Daniel vii. 10).

Fall of the Angels.-Their Punishment.

These angels, like man before his fall, were good and happy. They were included in the words, "God saw all the things that He had made: and they were very good" (Genesis i. 31). Not only were they exempt from every fault and imperfection, but they were, moreover, as most of the Fathers of the Church teach, endowed with a special supernatural grace that made them worthy to stand before the throne of God. Besides they were enriched with the gift of perception, wisdom, and strength. But, alas, let us tremble at the thought: Sin crept in among the angels and many of them yielded to temptation. Although we do not know with certainty how this took place, we may easily infer. As the angels had free will it was fitting that they should merit the gratuitous supernatural grace of God which had been given to them, and that they should show themselves worthy of it. God subjected them to a test, in which many failed.

Hence

The sin they committed may have been, as it was with man, the sin of disobedience, for with them, too, "The beginning of the pride of man is to fall off from God" (Ecclesiasticus x. 14.) Forgetting that they owed all their endowments to the goodness of God, they became proud and haughty, and for this very reason they were punished with the loss of these gifts and graces. From the pinnacle of the most perfect happiness they were hurled by the Almighty into the lowest depths of misery, from heaven to hell, and from bright and happy spirits they were transformed into hideous

devils, once the friends of God they are now His blasphemous enemies. Nor did God forgive these wicked spirits, "for He spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment" (2 Peter ii. 4). Further details of their fall are given in the Apocalypse. "There was a great battle in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven" (Apocalypse xii. 7, 8). According to the opinion of most of the Fathers this dragon, or leader of the fallen angels, was one of the highest and principal angels, called Lucifer, or lightbearer, which name indicates his high rank and office.

This Lucifer, with his unhappy followers, rebelled against his Creator. But another angel set himself up against this revolt, exclaiming, "Mi-cha-el, who is like to God?" This St. Michael, with his faithful followers, fought and defeated their rebellious opponents, and, thus proving their fidelity, passed safely through the test and were admitted to perfect glory, where they still dwell and shall dwell forever, never again committing a fault. We know not how many angels fell, though in the Apocalypse the following is said of the dragon Lucifer, "His tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven" (Apocalypse xii. 4), giving us to understand that, while an appalling number of angels fell, the great majority remained true and faithful.

The Relations of the Evil Spirits with us.

The fallen angels still possess the power and knowledge given to them at the time of their creation, and they abuse them for the furtherance of evil. They are

the enemies not only of God, but of all men, whom they tempt and thwart and whom they endeavor to deprive of their sonship to God and their chances for heaven. Power is also given to them to harm men in their bodies, as we see in the case of the pious Job, who was sorely tormented in his body and even in his worldly substance by the devil in his efforts to shake Job's confidence in God. But from this very history of Job we see plainly that the devil can not hurt our souls unless we will it. Job amid all his afflictions did not give up confidence in God, and hence the assaults of the devil, instead of injuring him, resulted to his benefit and preservation. On the other hand Eve was led to disobedience, and Judas to the sin of despair, by the devil. Such examples prove to us the innate hatred of Satan for us and explain why St. Peter truthfully terms him a ferocious lion greedy to destroy whatever comes before him. "Your enemy," says he, "goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." Thus we see that we have also invisible enemies against whom we must defend ourselves.

The power of the devil to injure our souls depends very much upon ourselves, for we have means to withstand him. These means are prayer and a God-fearing life. For it is sin chiefly that gives the evil spirit power over us. The devil has the less power over a man if he lead a life of purity and integrity. To resist evil is to thwart the devil and to put him to flight. As St. James says, "Resist the devil and he will fly from you" (James iv. 7). We find this truth verified in the case of Tobias and Sara. Sara, the daughter of Raguel, had seven husbands, all of whom were strangled by the evil spirit. Tobias did not fall into his power, because he had not sought Sara from unworthy motives. On the contrary he said to her, "Let us pray