ARCHANGEL, a government of European Russia, lying between lat. 61° and 71° N., and long. 29° and 68° E. It is bounded on the N. by the White Sea and Arctic Ocean, on the W. by Finland and Olonetz, on the S. by Vologda, and on the E. by the Ural Mountains. It comprehends the islands of Nova-Zembla, Waigatz, and some others. Its area is estimated at 286,739 square miles, and its population in 1867 was 275,779. The climate is for the greater part of the year intensely cold. That part of Archangel which lies within the arctic circle has a very desolate and sterile aspect, presenting little to the eye but extensive plains of sand and moss. The winter is long and severe, and even in summer the soil is frozen at a little depth below the surface. The rivers are closed in September, and scarcely thawed before July. South of the arctic circle the greater part of the country is covered with immense forests, with extensive lakes and morasses, while other parts afford excellent pasturage. The spring is moist, with cold, frosty nights; the summer, a succession of long foggy days; the autumn moist; and the rivers are closed from October to April. The northern districts are incapable of being cultivated, and the inhabitants support themselves by fishing and the chase. In the southern districts considerable quantities of hemp and flax are raised, but grain crops are little attended to, and the bark of trees is ground with com to eke out the scanty products of the harvest.· Potatoes are grown as far north as 65°. The principal wealth of the government consists in its immense forests, furnishing materials for shipbuilding, which is carried on to a considerable extent. The horses and cattle are diminutive, except in the district of Kholmogory, where excellent cattle are reared. The ...

according to some, means an angel occupying the eighth rank in the celestial order or hierarchy; but others reckon it a title only applicable to our Saviour; Jude 9; Dan. xii, 1; 1 Thess. iv, 16. On this point Bishop Horsley has the following observations:--“It has been for a long time a fashion in the church to speak very frequently and familiarly of archangels as beings of an order with which we are perfectly well acquainted. Some say there are seven of them. Upon what solid ground that assertion stands, I know not; but this I know, the word ‘archangel’ is not to be found in any one passage of the Old Testament: in the New Testament it occurs twice, and only twice. One of the two passages is in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians; where the Apostle, among the circumstances of the pomp of our Lord’s descent from heaven to the final judgment, mentions ‘the voice of the archangel;’ the other passage is in the Epistle of St. Jude, where the title of archangel is coupled with the name of ‘Michael the archangel.’ This passage is so remarkably obscure that I shall not attempt to draw any conclusion from it but this, which manifestly follows, be the particular sense of the passage what it may: since this is one of the two texts in which alone the word ‘archangel’ is found in the whole Bible; since in this one text only the title of archangel is coupled with any name; and since the name with which it is here coupled is Michael; it follows undeniably that the archangel Michael is the only archangel of whom we know any thing from holy writ. It cannot be proved from holy writ, and, if not from holy writ, it cannot be proved at all, that any archangel exists but the one archangel Michael, and this one archangel Michael is unquestionably the Michael of the ...