1. Angels Holy, Angels of Light | 2.  Rolling Away the Stone |. 3. Appearance of the Angel | 4. The Angel of Sleep and the Angel of Death | 5. To the Realms of Endless Day | 6. Soothing Troubled Hearts | 7. Serving the Savior | 8. The Legend of St Catherine | 9. Angels Sexless | 10. Gathering the Elect | 11. The Knowledge of Angels | 12. Perpetual Youth | 13. The Apparition of the Angel | 14. Thy Prayer is Heard | 15. The Joyous Message | 16. The Sign of Angelic Ministry | 17. Gabriel, the Messenger of God | 18. They Serve on Earth and Sing in Heaven | 19. Embassador Extraordinary | 20. Gabriel's Symbol, the Lily | 21. The Visit to Mary | 22. A Comforting Assurance | 23. Sweetest Name in Seraph Song | 24. Guardian of Celestial Treasury | 25. Angels Pictured by Artists | 26. Angels in Sculpture | 27. The Archangel Gabriel | 28. The Mystic Rose | 29. The Prince of Peace | 30. Good Tidings of Geat Joy | 31. Gloria in Excelsis  

THE ANGEL OF SLEEP AND THE ANGEL OF DEATH.

July 4.

And for fear of the angel the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.—Matthew 28:4.

THE angel of sleep and the angel of death wandered in fraternal
unity over the world. It was evening. They rested on a
hill not far from the habitations of man. A placid calmness prevailed
everywhere ; even the sound of the curfew ceased in the distant
hamlet. Calmly and silently, as is their wont, the two
beneficent angels of mankind held each other embraced until night
approached. Then the angel of sleep arose from his mossy seat,
and strewed with noiseless hand the invisible seeds of slumber.
The evening breeze carried them to the quiet dwellings of the
tired country people and sweet sleep descended on the dwellers in
their rural huts, from the old man with his crutch to the babe in
the cradle. The sick once more forgot their pains, the troubled
soul her grief, and poverty her cares, for every eye was closed.
Now, his task being done, the beneficent angel of sleep returned
to his graver brother. "When the light of the morning arises,"
he exclaimed with innocent joy, "mankind will praise me as their
friend and benefactor. What a blessing to do good in secret!
How happy are we, the invisible messengers of the good Spirit !
How beautiful our silent calling!" Thus spoke the gentle angel
of sleep. The angel of death gazed at him with a look of soft
melancholy, and a fear, such as immortal beings shed, glistened
in his large dark eyes. "Alas!" said he, "would that I could
enjoy cheerful gratitude like thee ! The world calls me her enemy
and disturber!" "O my brother," replied the angel of sleep,
"will not, at the awakening, the good man acknowledge thee as
his friend and benefactor and gratefully bless thee? Are we not
brethren and messengers of one Father?" When he spoke thus,
the eye of the angel of death glistened brightly, and the fraternal
spirits embraced with renewed energy. —Krummacher.

On wings of living light,
At earliest dawn of day,
Came down the angel bright,
And rolled the stone away.
The keepers watching near,
At that dread sight and sound,
Fell down with sudden fear
Like dead men to the ground.
Oh, let your hearts be strong !
For we, like him, shall rise,
To dwell with him ere long,
And angels in the skies.
                 ---W. W. How.