ourselves. Of what concern, therefore, is it to us to know the character or manner of life of the devils, since we can never become one of them. We belong to a different genus. No man, therefore, however wicked and unrepentant, is to be regarded as a rudimental devil.
But the New doctrine teaches that both angels and devils are from the human race; that they are all partakers of our common humanity, and were once men like ourselves. It teaches that we were all created with the capacity of ultimately becoming angels, and that the laws of our higher or spiritual nature are the very laws of the angelic life. And not only so, but that we shall actually become either angels or devils, according as we freely obey or disobey these divinely revealed laws. It teaches that this present world is the seminary of both the upper and the nether realms; that men in the flesh are rudimental angels or rudimental devils.
Thus the New doctrine brings us into close and vital relationship with the angels of heaven. It affirms our near affinity—nay, our absolute identity—with them, as to our nature or spiritual constitution. It reveals them to us as sympathizing and loving brothers, possessing a common nature with ourselves, having once like us experienced the bondage of selfishness and sin, and through a course of varied discipline suited to each one's state—through disappointments and sorrows, through struggles and sore temptations, through faith and prayer and repentance and self-denial—have become cleansed of their natural defilements, and elevated to their present state of heavenly wisdom and serene peace. Thus the New doctrine appeals strongly to human hopes. It discloses the
