SECT. 1. That there are such real Subsistences.

1. That there is such a Species of Beings, that there are such [ [...],] real and external Sub­sistences, and that they are not [ [...]mia rationis] Notions only, Creatures of our brain, Chime­ra's of our fansie, or impressions made upon the imagination, or meer Dreams and Appear­ances, or Vis [...]o [...]s, or a Noise in the air, as Hobbs P [...]s. pa [...]t 4. c. 25. Art. 9. Ie [...]athan▪ c. 34. Tract. Theol. Pol. c. 4. p. 73. some have represent [...]d; nor yet only certain Divine in [...]lu­ences and inspirations, or certain a [...]fections and dispositions in Men, V [...]rtues or Vices, as H. Nic [...]olas, cited by Dr. More, Myst. of Godli [...]ess. B. 6. c. 17. s. 4. Vide por [...] Episcop. Instit Th [...]ol. l. 4. c. 2. Et Zanch. de Operib. Dei, pa [...]t 1. l. 2. c. 2. E [...] P. Ra­ [...] Comment. de F [...]de. l. 1. c. 6. others have conceived; but true, personal and p [...]rmanent Subsistences, that have of themselves a real, p [...]rfect, and actual Being.

The Sadduc [...]es say [ [...]] that th [...]re is no R [...]surr [...]ction, neither Angel n [...]r Spirit, Act. 23.8. They believed that there was a God, Grot. in loc. (saith Grotius) but nothing else be­sides, which was not perceptible by their bodily S [...]nses. They looked not on Angels as really subsisting, nor on the Soul of man as continuing af [...]er its separation [...]rom the body, and conse­quently denyed a Re [...]urrection. But the follow­ing words (as he w [...]ll observes) seem to intimate their opinion of Angel and Spirit, Id. ibid. as one and the same thing: The Pharisees confess both: [ [...]] not making three distinct particulars of the before-named, but two onely; which is also fa­vour'd by the verse immediately succeeding [ [...]] If a Spirit or [...]n Angel have spoken [Page 5] to him.— Where those two words are equi­valent.

It seems very strange now to conceive, That the Sadd [...]es should say, There were no Angels or Spirits, whom all agree to have owned the five Books of Moses, wherein are many evident Re­ports on Record of their Appearances and Ope­rations; and more wonder still, Antiq. lib 13. c. 18 cited by Dr. Tem­pler in his Idea Theol. Lev [...]ath. p. 135. if what Iosephus is said to relate, be true of them, that they re­ceived [ [...]] all the Scriptures of the old Testament, and rejected onely [ [...]] unwritten Traditions. — And therefore the Learned and Judicious suppose, that their meaning was, not to deny, [ Angelos esse] that there had been and were Angels, so call'd; Cameron in loc. but onely, [ Spiritus esse immortales, & per se subsi­stentes] that they were immortal and self-subsistent Spirits, looking upon them but as certain appa­ritions [...]or a time, and such as vanished away, when their Embassie or Message was dispatch'd.

And yet the whole Story of the Bible is a suffi­cient confutation of this vain conceit also, which tells us those things of their Nature, Multitude, Order, Ministries, Rewards and Punishments; from whence we must needs conclude them to have a real, personal and permanent Subsistence. I will not go about to mention the particulars here, because they will be plentiful enough in the following parts of this Treatise. It shall suf­fice therefore to set it down, as a Point [ de Fide] clearly deliver'd in the Holy Scriptures, from whence we have all our certain and distinct know­ledge about the Angels, that there are undoubted­ly such Beings.

Maximus Tyrius enquires of those, who doubt­ed of Socrates his Daemon, Di [...]s▪ xxvi. whether ever they had read Homer speaking of the same thing under o­ther [Page 6] Names, as Minerva, Iuno, Apollo, Eris, and such-like, [...], as he calls them; not that they were such, as described by the Poet, but that those Names imported certain [...], assisting of excellent Persons both sleep­ing and waking: And then he concludes his con­viction thus; Ibid. If once thou thinkest that there are no such Beings, take notice that thou must proclaim war against Homer, and renounce Oracles, and Prophe­cies, and disbelieve credible Reports, and declare a­gainst Dreams (with their Interpretations) And at last bid Adi [...]u to Socrates.

I may with greater Authority ask our Modern Sadduce [...]s, Whether ever they have read the Book of God, and therein observed the many and va­rious passages concerning Angels set down at large? and seriously admonish them to beware in time, how they oppose or dispute against Moses and the Prophets, Christ and his Apostles: In like manner as our B. Saviour said to their Ancestors, Ye do err, S. Matth. 22.29. S. Ma [...]k [...] 12.24. not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God: Or as S. Mark hath it, Do ye not there­fore err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God?

SECT. II. That th [...]y are for Excellencie above us.

I add (2.) That they are of a rank and degree above Men. Man is the Top of the visible Crea­tion, Psal. 8.6. To whom God hath given Dominion over the works of his hands, as the Psalmist witnesseth. And therefore our B. Saviour puts the Question, as to other Creatures, S. Matth. 6.26. Are ye not much better than they? po [...]nting to the Fowls of the Air: And the Apostle S. Paul, having mentioned a Law providing for [...]ea [...]ts, comm [...]nts thus upon it; 1. Cor. 9.9, 10. Doth God [Page 7] take care for Oxen? or, saith he it altogether for our sakes? — And before them Iob's Friends; Bildad, not without indignation, Iob 18. [...]. Wheref [...]re are we accounted as the Beasts? And Elihu positively, God our Maker teach [...]th us more than the Beasts of the Earth, Chap. 35.10, 11. and maketh us wiser than the Fowls of the Heaven. With all whom agrees well that of Ovid, Meta [...]or­phos. l. 1. Sanctius his animal, ment [...]s (que) capacius altae d [...]erat ad­huc, & quod dominari in caetera possit. Factus homo est. — That also of Iuvenal, — separat haec nos (i. e Ratio) à grege mutorum, at (que) ideò venerabile soli sorti [...] [...]ngemum, divinorúm (que) capaces, &c. Sat. 15. Man is no fort [...]nous, careless and uncontriv'd piece of work, hundled up in haste, as Seneca hath it; De Benef. l. 6. c. 25. but such as Nature hath none greater to glory of a­mong her rarest and most exquisite draughts. Cice­ro also to a like purpose: Animal hoc, providum, sa­gax, multiplex, acutum, memor, plenum rationis & con­silii, quem vocamus Hominem, praecl [...]râ quâdam con­ditione generatum à summo Deo, &c. Lib. 1. de Legib. In Pythag. Carm. Hierocles placeth him between Heaven and Earth, as participant of both Lives, the lowest of Supe­riour, but the first of all Inferiour Beings; and by the possession of Vertue or Vice becoming by turns [ [...]] a God, or a Beast. He hath indeed his Body in common with the Beasts; but his Soul and Reason with the Gods, Dissert▪ lib. 1. cap. 3. as Epictetus tells us. — This briefly of Man's Excellency.

But yet no disparagement to him, the Angels are his betters. Psal. 8.5. Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels, saith the Psalmist: which our A­postle applies even to Christ too, Hebr. 2.7.9. wi [...]h reference to that Mortal Nature of ours which he assumed. We may therefore note our B. Saviour's climax, when he speaks of the uncertainty of the time of future Judgement: S. Matth. 24.36. But of that day and hour knoweth no Man, no not the Angels of Heaven.— Where, [Page 8] if Angels were not supposed beyond Man, it had been [...]lat and dull to have added, — no not the Angels of Heaven. And as they excel us thus in knowledge, 2 S. Pet. 2.11. so also in power and might. Whereas Angels, saith St. Peter, which are greater in power and mig [...]t. —

When the H. Scripture would set sorth the ex­cellency of Manna, wherewith God fed the Israe­lites in the Wilderness, above our Daily-bread, it calls it, Ps. 78.25. Angels's Food: and St. Paul adds the Tongue of Angels, as a gradation beyond that of Men; 1 Co [...]inth. 13.1. Though I speak, saith he, with the Tongues of Men and of Angels. And, to express the beau­tiful and amazing lustre of St. Stephen's counte­nance, when he had spoke like an Oracle, 'tis said of him, [...]ts 6.15. They s [...]w his face, as it had been the face of an Angel.

Hence it is, that the Name Angel is given as an honourable bearing to those, whom God hath taken up to the greatest Dignity among Men. Thus it is communicated to the Chief Priest under the Law: Malac [...]. 2.7. The Priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the Law at his mouth: for he is the Messen­ger [or Angel] of the Lord of Hosts. And to the Pro­phets: Iudges 2. The Angel [or Messenger] of the Lord that came up from Gilgal to Bochim is supposed to have been some extraordinary Prophet. Haggai is call­ed The Lord's Messenger [or Angel] delivering the Lord's Message to the People. H [...]gga [...] 1.13. And Malachi, which signifies an Angel, is that Prophet's Name, whose Writings conclude the Old Testament. Some in­deed have thought the Author of that Book to have been an Angel, and not a Man: But the He­brew Rabbi's tell us, It was Ezra the Priest and Scribe. Munster. in Malac [...]. [...].1. Whence I [...]nathan the Chaldee turns the beginning of that Prophencie after this manner: [ Onus [...]rbi Domini super Israel in manu Malachi, [Page] cujus nomen vocatur Ezra Scriba.] The Burden of the Word of the Lord upon Israel in the hand of Ma­lachi, whose Name is called Ezra the Scribe. The LXX. read it [ [...]] In the hand of his Angel.

Again, it is given to Iohn the Baptist, who was Greater than all the Prophets, that went before him, the immediate Prodromus and Harbinger of our B. Saviour: Behold I will send my Messenger, Malach▪ 3.1. and he shall prepare the way before thee. Which we have in S. Mark; S. Mark. 1.2. Behold I send [ [...]] my An­gel before thy face. — Nay, it is given to Christ himself, Whose shooe-latchets he was not worthy to un­loose. [...], as the Greek reads that of the Prophet Isaiah, Ch. 9.6. Verse: The Angel of God's presence, Ch. 63.9. and, The An­gel of the Covenant, as the Prophet Malachi stiles him, Ch. 3.1. (and the very Name [...], i. e. Gospel, hath some relation hereunto) concerning whom the Fathers, as well as many later Divines, interpret sundry passages of Angeli­cal Appearances in the Old Testa­ment, as Precursorie types, Iust. Martyr Dial. cum Trypho [...]e passim. Novatian. de Trin. c. 26, & 27. Atha­nas. contra Arrianos Orat 4. Chamier. Panstrat. Tom. 2. l. 20. c. 2. &c. and Pledges of his future Epiphanie and Incarna­tion; [which I take occasion here to advertise, once for all, because I shall hereafter wave the notice of it.]

S. Paul useth it as an hyperbolical commenda­tion of that transport of affection, wherewith the Galatians at first entertained him: Gal. 4.14. Ye received me as an Angel of God— and our B. Savi [...]ur from Heaven bestows it as a Title of Pre [...]minence up­on the Chief Governours settled in the Christian Church upon Earth, Rev. 2. & Ch. 3. in his Epistles directed to respective Heads of the seven famed Churches of Asia: to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus— To the Angel of the Church in Smyrna— To the [Page 10] Angel of the Church in Pergamus, &c. Touching which I refer the Reader to Dr. Hammond's learn­ed Dissertations of Episcopacie, Diss. de Episc. c. 4.4, & 5. & Vi [...]dic. S. 1, 2, &c. and his Vindica­tion of the same.— Yea, it is a stile beyond that of Apostle or King, than which we know none greater among Men. Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any Gospel — saith St. Paul, Gal. 1.8. mentioning an Angel from Heaven as the more exalted and eminent. And the Woman of Tekoah doubts not thus to commend King David: 2 Sam. 14.17, 20. My Lord the King, saith she, is even as an Angel of God. And again, My Lord is wise according to the wise­dom of an Angel, to know all things that are in the Earth.

To end this Argument, this is the Description of our future state of Glory and Happiness, S. Matth. 22.30. S. Mark. 20.26. far beyond any in the present Life, that we shall be then [...]] as the Angels of God in Heaven, and [ [...]] like or equal to the Angels. In Pythag. Carm. Hi [...]rocles useth the same word, with others that answer and agree to it, [ [...]] and Ter­tullian mentions [ Animam in Regno Dei reformatam & Angelisicatam] an Angelisied state. De Resurr. [...]. 26. Now since our Ex [...]ellency, our highest and most perfect [...]state is but to be as the Angels, Ser. 1. of the Na [...]i­ [...]ty. they must needs be granted [...]ar above us here, as Bishop Andrews well infers. Nay, let me add one thing yet far­ther. Ps 8.5.— 89.7.8.97.7. The H. Scripture sometimes calls them C [...]ds, [Elohim] as Origen also notes: And so Ari­stotle, and other Philosophers have also stiled them; Contra C [...]sum l. 5. p. 233. Suarez. Metaph. Disp. [...]5. S [...]ct. 1. D. August de Civi [...]. D [...] l. 12. c. 26. meaning yet [ Mi­nores & à summo Deo factos deos] l [...]sser and made-Gods, as Plato speaks; or as Hesiod calls the He­ [...]o [...]s▪ [...]. [ [...], S [...]mid [...]os] Demy-gods; or, as Se­ [...], [Inferioris notae] and from Ovid, (de Plebe [Page 11] Deos) Petty and Under-gods, Epist. 1 11. over whom the Su­preme Deity is King: or (Populares Deos) as An­ [...]isthenes cited by Lactantius, Lact. Iust [...]punc; l. 1. c. 5. Popular and Ple­beian Gods. — Plutarch entitles a Discourse of his De Daemonio Socratis; but Apuleius on the same Argument De Deo Socratis, whom he calls also his Amicum Numen. Plato de [...]ines a Daemon or Angel to be ( [...]) a middle sort of Being between God and Man; and Max. Tyrius to the same purpose ( [...]. — [...], &c.) a Sub­stance more excellent than Man, Diss. 26▪ 27. but inferiour un­to God.

We have there [...]ore abundant proof and con­viction, That the Angels are a sort of Beings transcendent unto us Men, the b [...]st of Men, and that in their best condition upon Earth. Indeed the Apostle's way of arguing in this Epistle to the Hebrews is a sufficient de­monstration of as much: for he gives the proo [...] of Christ's Deity and exaltation next to God the Father by his being above the Angels, ch. 1. and then expresseth his great condescension to us mortals, in that passing by the Angels, he took on him the seed of Abraham, and tasted death for every man, ch. 2.

SECT. I. Spirits.

Not to search into the different significations of the word [ Spirit], as it is sometimes taken, we mean by it here, according to the most pro­per and known acceptation and use of it (which is the best rule of speech) ‘An incorporeal or bodyless Being, endued with understanding, will, and active power.’

And whatever incompossibility, jargon or non-sense some haughty scorners have talked of, in the Notion of an immaterial or incorpor [...]al sub­stance, (as if the words flatly contradicted and destroyed each other, Leviathan. c. 12. & 46. Hum. Nat. c. 11. Art. 4. and were such as, how­ever men put together, they could never have the conception of any thing answerable to them) those, who have inured their minds to a more sober thoughtfulness, and skill the difference be­tween intellect and imagination, find it as clear and distinct, and no whit more intricate, per­plexed, or difficult, than that which the ablest Philosophers can give us of a Body: The imme­diate Attributes or intrinsick Properties of the [Page 13] one being as plainly and easily intelligible, as of the other; and naked Essences we have no know­ledge of. Essence or Being is the common Term, under which all things are represented to our minds, and we distinguish them only by their proper and peculiar adjuncts or attributes, and from thence divide them into their respective Classes, of Substances and Accidents, Dr. M [...]r [...] of the im­mortality of the Soul. l. 1. [ entia per se & per aliud] material and immaterial, cor­poreal or incorporeal, [ res extensa & res cogi­tans] or whatever else it is that others chuse to describe them by, for I list not here to enter up­on that Controversie. Contra Haeret. in­ter Era­nistem & Orthodo­xum. Di­alog. 2. Theodoret in his Dialogues hath enough to serve my turn. Q. What are the properties of the Soul or Spirit? A. To be endued with Reason, simple, immortal, invisible. Q. What is proper to the Body? A. To be compounded, visible, mortal.

Spirit stands opposed to Body: We read, when the Disciples were affrighted, S. Luke 24.39. supposing they had seen a Spirit, Iesus said unto them, Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I my self; handle me and see, for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. In the same Phrase as Homer speaks of the Souls of the dead, Vide Grot. in loc. ‘— [...].’ And to a like purpose the Platonist: The Natures of Demons are not flesh, nor bone, nor blood, Max. Tyr. Dissert. XXVII. nor any thing else that is corruptible and capable of dissolution or liquefaction.

It is remarkably explained in the Nazaren's Gospel, Dr. Tem­pler. Ide [...] Th. L [...]viat. p. 137. Dr. H. in loc. cited by Ignatius and Eusebius [ [...]] a bodyless Demon, or Spirit without a body. And accordingly Dr. Hammond here pa­raphraseth it, [ Ye doubt or suspect me to be a Spi­rit [Page 14] without a body: It is very I, body and soul to­gether.

But lest any should here object, that in some Manuscripts the word is [...], [which also we find elsewhere, S. Matth. 14.26. and S. Mark 6.49.] a spectrum or apparition, [though, I con­ceive, that supposeth our Doctrine of Spirits] they may please to note farther, how the Apo­stle S. Paul contra-distinguisheth these two, [ Flesh and Blood] on the one side, Ephes. 6.12. and [ Spirits] on the other: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, saith he, but against spiritual wickednesses, or wicked Spirits, as the Syriac there hath it.

A Spirit is a Being which we cannot touch with our hands, or see with our eyes, as we do Bo­dies; which is not the object of our external sen­ses, nor can be pointed at with the finger, or pictured out to us in its proper nature, there be­ing nothing like it in the whole visible world of Bodies, and nothing so near of kin to give us any sensible resemblance of it, as the wind, or animal Spirits are, whose force and power we feel, but yet cannot behold either of them. Whence probably [ anima and animus] were derived from the old Greek [ [...] and [...]]

But the most positive, best and easiest concep­tion we can frame of a Spirit, is certainly by re­flecting upon our own Souls. 1 Cor. 2.11. For the Soul of man is also a Spirit. The Spirit of man within him, op­posed to his body of Flesh. Gal. 5.17▪ 1 Thess. 5.23. Vid. Lact. de Opific. Dei, c. 20. & Cic. in [...]omnio Scipion. And they are strange­ly out, who take the measures of man by his outward appearance and Carcase only.

Solomon speaks of man's dissolution, with re­ference also to his original. Eccles. 12.7. Then shall the dust return to the earth, as it was, and the spirit shall re­turn unto God that gave it. Agreeable to which are those excellent Verses of Ph [...]cylides,

i.e. Our Spirit is the Gift and Image of God. For we have our Body out of the Earth, and as to that part all of us being dissolved into the same, become dust again; but then Heaven receiveth our Spirit a­gain, which came from thence. The words of Lucretius do fitly enough express as much, pro­vided onely that we construe them in a Diviner sense, than he intended;

When our B. Saviour had cried out on the Cross, Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit, S. Luke 24.46. He gave up the Ghost, saith the Text, that is ( emisit Spi­ritum) he sent forth his Spirit: (and Ghost is the most proper word for a separated or depar­ted Spirit.) Accordingly we read of the Spirits of just men made perfect. H [...]br. 12.23.

Now the Spirit or Soul within us is the prin­ciple of all our thoughts and knowledge, of all our will and choice, of all our Life and motion. These then are the proper attributes of a Spirit, Understanding, Will, and Vital motion; or self­activity, and power of moving other things. And this notion we shall find applicable both to God and Angels.

When we speak of God, we must think of nothing material ( [...]) neither dimensions, Max. Tyt. Diss. 1. nor, co­lour, nor figure, nor any other bodily passion. [Page 16] We may indeed define him [ [...], &c.] the most conspicuous Beauty, Id. ibid. but not a beautiful Body. S. Ioh. 4.24. He is a Spirit; (and the Spirit of Man his imperfect image.) And by so affirming we not onely exclude him from the number of visible, sensible and Corporeal Beings, whose Understanding and Knowledge is infinite, who wills and nills, chuseth and refuseth accord­ing to that infinite Understanding and Knowledge, Balbus a­pud Cice­ronem de Nat. deor. lib. 2. who hath Life in himself, and acts according to his will and choice; a Being of most soveraign wisedom, goodness and power. Such is the I­dea of the most excellent Spirit. Thus Anaxago­ras defined him ( Infinitam mentem quae per scipsam moveatur; Lactant. Instit. l. 1. c. 5.) and thus he is, described by Cicero, (Mens soluta & libera, segregata ab omni concretione mortali, omnia sentiens & movens.)

In like manner Angels are Spirits, that is, living and understanding Beings, Vid. Auth. Quest. & Resp ad Oribod. a­pud Just. Martyr. p. 203. capable in a more e­minent way and manner than our Souls are, (by reason of their bodily cloggs and impediments) of Knowledge, Will and Action.

The Soul separated from the Body is the clear­est representation we can have of a Spirit or An­gel. Whence Bellarmin saith very well, that an Angel is (Anima perfecta) a perfect or compleat Soul; L. de A­scens. men­tis ad Deum. and the Soul is (Angelus imperfectus) an im­perfect and incompleat Angel. Onely the Soul of Man perhaps hath that intrinsic habitude and in­clination unto Body, which the Angels have not. ‘The Soul, saith Dr. More, consider'd as invested immediately with that tenuious matter which is her inward vehicle, Immortal. of the Soul. l. 2. c. 17. S. 4, & 8. hath very little more diffe­rence from the aerial Genii ( or Angels) than a Man in prison from one that is free; or a sword in the scabbard, from one out of it; or a Man that is clothed, from one that is naked. A Soul [Page 17] is but a Genius in the Body, and a Genius a Soul out of the Body.’

Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, Plutarch. de placit. l. 1. c. 8. [...]. and the Stoicks call these Beings [ [...]] souly Substances, (if I may so speak) and the Peripatetick School generally [ Formas abstractas & separatas] so that we may pertinently enough stile them [ [...]] the most sacred Choire of bodiless Souls or Ghosts. S. Chrysostom I am sure frequently names them [ [...]] bodiless Powers.

Hereunto well agrees the distribution which Apuleius gives us of Daemons or Genii; viz. such as were sometime in an humane body, and such as were always free from the bonds of Bodies. [And so Plutarch, De defect. Ora [...]. in the person of Ammonius the Philosopher, makes two sorts of them, Souls separated from Bodies, or such as never dwelt in Bodies at all.]

Of the former sort he makes, De Deo Socratis. 1. The Soul of man, [ etiam nunc in corpore situs] even now in the body. Whence some conceived, [...] dici, quorum daemon bonus, i.e. animus virtute per­fectus est. [And so M. Antoninus often calls the Soul [...], and sometimes [...], l. 2. s. 13. l. 5. s. 27. &c. and so others also speak, [...], h.e. [...]. Suidas ex innominato. Ibid.] 2. The humane Soul [ emeritis stipendiis vitae corpore suo abjurans] dismiss'd and parted from its Body by death, whom the anci­ent Latines, as he saith, call'd Lemures, Lares, Larras and Manes. [To which purpose also Max. Tyrius tells us, [...]. And again, [...] [Page 18] [...]. Diss. XXVII. The Soul laying down, or putting off its Body, becomes forthwith of a Man a Daemon. And such as these also, as Plutarch notes, they called Heroes: [...]. De placit.]

Ibid.But then for the latter sort he adds. There is yet a more excellent and noble kind of Demons, than these two specified, [ qui semper à corporis compedibus & nexibus liberi] which were alwaies exempt from the fetters and ties of Body; and of this sort and number, saith he, Plato supposeth every man to have a select witness and keeper. And these he desines to be [ Genere animalia, inge­nio rationabilia, animo passiva, corpore aerea, tem­pore aeterna. A Definition I shall not stay to exa­mine; De civit. Dei l. 8. c. 16. Saint Augustine suf [...]iciently exagitates and quarrels with it, and especially for ascribing to them those passions which arise in us from folly or misery, B. Ful­g [...]nt. ad Thrasy­mund. l. 3. de passi­one Do­mini p. 553. & i­terum p. 555. with whom Fulgentius consents in the same particular.

But I have offered enough to explain the no­tion of a Spirit [and so of Angels] from a refle­ction upon our own Souls; which was the thing I aimed at.

They pass, 'tis true, sometimes in Scripture by the name of men: Thr [...]e men appeared to Abraham, Gen. 18. So at our blessed Saviour's Sepulchre, Behold two men in shining Garments, Saint Luk. 24. Ovid hath it of Iupiter himself; ‘Et deus humanâ lustro sub imagine terras.’

And Homer (whom Apuleius in his Apology calls, omnis vetustatis certissimum Authorem) relates of these lesser Gods.

[Page 19] That is, ‘That in the habit of divers Pilgrims they perambulate Towns and Cities, and take inspection of the good and evil doings of men.’ Which calls to my mind that of the Apostle; Hebr. 13.2. Be not forgetful to entertain stran­gers, for thereby some have entertained Angels una­wares.

But this was only, say some, because they as­sumed the likeness of men. In specie virorum ap­parebant. And so the Devil, saith Drusius, Drusius in Gen. 18, is call'd Samuel, whose form he appeared in: and he quotes it for one of Saint Augustine's Canons: [ Specie's rerum appellantur de nominibus ipsarum re­rum.] ‘The appearances of things are call'd by the names of things themselves.’ And whereas we read of the Angels eating, Gen. 19.3. the Hie­rusalem Thargum hath it [ & videbantur ac si ederent ac biberent,] ‘And they seemed or appeared, P. Fagius in Gen. 19. as if they eat and drank.’ And so the Angel said to Tobit's Son and Daughter, Tobit 12.19. ‘All these daies I did appear to you, but I did neither eat nor drink, but you did see a Vision.’ [ Sed ità vobis videbatur,] as the Latin renders it. De Civ. Dei, l. 13. c. 22, Saint Au­gustin indeed glosseth on it: ‘Not that he impo­sed on the eyes of Tobias and others, but that he did not eat in the same manner as they did, or thought him to eat, to wit, out of a necessi­ty of receiving nourishment or bodily refresh­ment.’

But Theodoret, having proved the verity of our blessed Saviour's Body from his feeding on Butter and Honey, his Mother's Milk and other meat and drink agreeable thereunto, starts this Objection of Abraham's Guests, the Angels, and answers it to this effect. ‘If any one shall out of folly urge the nourishment that was in Abraham's Tent, let him know that he speaketh foolish­ly: [Page 20] For those things seemed to be done; but were consumed in another manner, which he best knows, Divin. Decret. Epit. c. quòd Do­minus sus­ceperit corpus. that consumed them. But if any one should also foolishly grant, that the incor­poreal nature was partaker of these Kates, yet he can never find hunger or thirst there. —I need not explain the contents of this censure.’

'Tis undeniable, that we find many things in Sacred Writ spoken of Angels, which border up­on Body. But then, we must know, it was the property of the Jews Language, as a learned Man observes, Mr. Mede [...]. 1. Disc. 7. (indeed of all other) to give de­nomination to things unseen from analogical and borrowed expressions of things visible▪ And here we may remember the saying of Saint Augu­stin concerning them; De civit. Dei, l. 9. [...].5. [ Locutiones humanae etiam in eos usurpantur propter quandam operum similitu­dinem, non propter affectionum infirmitatem.] They are sometimes clad in the dress of our passions (as God himself is) to shew forth a likeness of working, but not of infirmity. As also the ad­monition of Saint Chrysostom, Hom. 4. de Dei natu­râ. ‘that when we hear of the Seraphim and Cherubim turning a­way their Eyes, and covering their Faces with their Wings—we should not think that they have Eyes and Faces; for this, saith he, is the Figure of Bodies; but that the Prophet doth hereby sig­nifie to us their knowledg and vertue.’

But after all, whether these Spirits, the An­gels, may not yet for a time really assume a Bo­dy, and make use of it; or whether they have not also some corporeal Vehicles of their own, wherein they reside, of a more refined nature and substance than any elementary matter we converse with, (such as Epicurus calls his quasi corpus) I shall not dispute; so it be granted me, that they themselves differ from them, as the [Page 21] Soul from it's Body, or the Inhabitant from the House he lodgeth in. The supposition, I con­fess, of Vehicles doth most facilitate the account of their determinate locality, motion, and ap­pearances, and converse, yea, and the corpo­real punishment expresly allotted in holy Scrip­ture to some of their number in the infernal flames.

And it cannot be denied, but that several of the Fathers have reputed them after a manner corporeal: but then, it was chiefly [ compara­tivè] in respect of God, who is the most simple and absolute Spirit.

Invisibilia illa, quaecunque sunt, habent apud Deum & suum corpus & suam formam, Tertul. adversus Prax­eam s. 7. [...]— [...], Damascen. Comparatione Dei corpora sunt, nostri spiritus, Gre­gor. 1. Tom. 1. moral. in Job l. 2. c. 2. quam distinctionem secutus est Beda, & alii. [...], Greg. Nazianz. [...], serm. 2. Vide Zanch. de operib. Dei, part 1. l. 2. c. 3. & Otho-Casman. Angelograph. part 1. c. 3.

And to this opinion the second Nicene Coun­cil, under Constantine and Irene, inclines, Vide Car­ranzae summam VII. Gen. Nicen. Concil▪ allowing God only to be perfectly incorporeal, but none of the creatures so ex toto, though the Angels are there confess'd to be not so grosly clothed, as we, [ verùm tenui corpore praeditos, & aereo [...]ive igneo] and their chief reason is, [ quod taliter cir­cumscribuntur, sicut anima quae carne clauditur, whereas God is infinite and unbounded.] But yet many of that Council consented not thus much, as Carranza notes, being of the belief [ Angelos omninò esse incorporeos] whom they of the Lateran Council seem to have followed. And [Page 22] so the Jewish Rabbies conceived of them too, Ai [...]sw [...]rth on Gen. 1.1. as Creatures that have form without matter or body.

Most certain it is, that they are a sort of Be­ings above humane Souls in their greatest perfe­ction; and yet we have sufficient evidence, that this lower rank of Spirits within us are imma­terial and incorporeal; [even from their known and familiar operations, abstracting and self-reflecting thoughts; simple apprehensions of no­tions Universal, Mathematical, Logical, Moral and remote from sense; inferences and deducti­ons from them compared and compounded in propositions, syllogisms, &c. which I shall not here enlarge further upon.] Lucretius himself, who asserts the Soul to be corporeal, is yet for­ced to invent a fourth substance besides the wind, and heat, and air, which he cannot find a name for, L. 3, de nat. r [...]rum. and therefore calls [ nominis expertem] and which is, as he saith, [ anima quasi animae] the Soul of the Soul. [As Aristotle was constrained to excogitate a fifth essence, nomine vacantem, out of which the Soul was made, distinct from the four Elements. Cicero 1. Tuscul.]

In a word, needs must the Angels (even con­sidered with their Vehicl [...]s, whatever they are) be of another nature from those bodily [...]ub­stances we are acquainted with, when we read of a Legion of them together in one man; S. Mark [...].15. and a Legion, as Hesychius computes it, is 6666.

SECT. II. Created.

That they were created by God, is evident from that place of the Apostle to the Colossians; Col. 1. [...]6. ‘By him [Page 23] were all things created that are in Heaven and in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or Dominions, Principalities or Pow­ers; all things were created by him, and for him: Theodore [...]. divin. de­cret. epit. de Ange­lis.’ where (as Theodoret well notes) passing over things visible, he more distinctly and particularly mentions the Orders of Things invisible, ‘whe­ther they be Thrones, or Dominions, or Princi­palities, or Powers. — And to a like purpose Theophylact. Theophy­lact. in loc. Psal. 148.5, 6.’

And from that of the Psalmist, who, when he had call'd upon the ‘Angels by name to praise God, as well as the Sun, and Moon, and Stars, and Heavens, adds this reason concerning them all in common, De Civit. Dei l. 11. c. 9. (as Saint Augustin rightly ob­serves) For he commanded, and they were created; he hath also established them for ever.’

So also Iustin Martyr in expos. Fidei de rectâ confess. p. 372, 373. [Who also observes, that, when the Apostle had mentioned, Rom. 8.38. ‘Angels, Principalities, Powers, &c. he adds, to make up the list complete, [ [...]] nor any other creature, thereby sufficiently in­timating the Creation of all these, id. p. 375.’

And accordingly (as Theodoret further adds) we have them named first in the Benedicite, or song of the three Children, among the Works of the Lord, which are to bless, praise him, and magni­fie him for ever. — From hence also they are call'd Sons of God in holy Scripture; Job 1.6.2.1.3 [...].4. In Pytha [...]. Carm. Diss. 1. agreeably to which Hierocles stiles the Heroes, [...], and Max. Tyrius gives this as a Law or Maxim, universally acknowledged throughout all the World, ‘That there is one God the King and Father of all, and that the many Gods are the Children and Off-spring of this one God.’

[Page 24] Hebr. 12.9.Therefore is he named by the Apostle ‘the Fa­ther of Spirits, viz. in a more peculiar man­ner than of other Beings, they partaking most of his Image and likeness.’ So Iupiter too among the Heathen Poets is often paraphrased by — [...]. — Divûm Pater atque hominum Rex, Sator Deorum. And the Angels in Apollo's Oracle own themselves derived from him: Lactant. instit. l. 1. c. 7. ‘— [...].’

This their production by God is the founda­tion of their natural, necessary, and perpetual subjection to him, dependance on him, and be­ing imploy'd by, and under him: with reference to which also some apply that of Saint Paul to Timothy, 1 Tim. 1.17. Dr. Ham, in Loc. [ [...]] King of the AEon's, or Angels. And, if so, we may expound Hebr. 1.2. too [ [...],] ‘by whom also he made the AEons.’ [But I am rather of Theodoret's mind, Dvin. De­cret. Epit. de AEoni­bus. that the word doth not im­port so much [ aliquam subsistentem substantiam] any distinct sort of Beings, as [ distantiam quae tem­pus significat] Time or Age; and 'tis used in Scripture comprehensively for [ quicquid in saecu­lis unquam extitit] the whole world: Hebr. 11.3. [ omnia quae facta sunt in tempore] as Primasius hath it, Vide Dr [...] ­sium in Hebr. 1.2. [all things that were made in time.] To be sure that famous stile of [ Dominus Deus exer­cituum,] Lord God of Sabaoth, or of Hosts, hath a more special reference unto these Beings, than to the Hebrew trained Bands, Tract. Theol. Pol. c. 17. p. 280. as a late Author applies it.

But now, at what time they were made, is somewhat dubious and uncertain. That it was within the six dayes, is concluded, I think, gene­rally, because in them, as the Scripture saith, God finished all his works, and after rested up­on [Page 25] the seventh, creating no new Species of Be­ings. Certain it is also, Tatian. orat. con­tra Grae­cos. that it was before the making of Man (and some conceive before the visible Creation too) the Apostasie of a great part of them preceding Man's fall in Paradise, which they contrived. Others place it upon the First days Creation, when the highest Heavens are supposed to have been made with the Pri­mogenial Light, and with them these heavenly Inhabitants and Children of Light; and this is conjectured the rather from that of Iob, where the ‘Morning Stars are said to have Sang to­gether, Job 3 [...].4.7. and the Sons of God to have shouted for joy, at the laying of the foundations of the Earth:’ which cannot be understood of the fix­ed Stars in the Firmament, for they were crea­ted, after the Foundations of the Earth were laid, upon the fourth day; but of the Angels, who are call'd, as was said before, the Sons of God, and resembled here to Morning Stars for their brightness and glory, in such a metapho­rical or borrowed sense, as Christ is also call'd the bright morning Star. Rev. 22.16. The LXX indeed varies a little from our Reading; but then for the [ Sons of God] puts expresly the word [ Angels] [...]. when the Stars were made, all my Angels praised me with a loud voice; which the Latin follows; and therefore Saint Augustin infers upon it, [ jam ergò erant Angeli, De Civit. Dei l. 11. c. 19. quando facta sunt sidera] That the Angels were certainly in being before them.

God most probably, first made these Spirits and then bodily Beings, and then after united both together in Man, who is a complex of Spi­rit and Body, Concil. Lateran. 1. de Fide Catholicâ according to that of the Lateran Council; [ Deum ab initio temporis utramque ex nihilo condidisse creaturam, Angelicam & munda­nam, [Page 26] & deinde humanam quasi communem ex Spi­ritu & corpore constantem:] wherewith agrees the saying of Damascen, Vid [...] Lips. Physiol. Stoic. l. 1. Diss▪ 20. That ‘being not content with the contemplation of himself alone, he made the Angels, the World, and Men to par­ticipate of his goodness and bounty; and it was but meet (as he argues out of Greg. Na­zianz.) that the intellectual substance should first be created, and then the sensible.’

To which I will only annex that excellent pas­sage of Seneca, quoted by Lactantius out of his Exhortations. Lactant. instit. l. 1. [...]. 5. [ Deus cum prima fundamenta molis pulcherrimae jaceret, ut omnia sub ducibus suis irent, quamvis ipse per totum se corpus intenderat, tamen ministros Regni sui Deos genuit:] ‘When God laid the first Foundation of this most beautiful Fa­brique (the World) that all things might go un­der their respective Guides, although he were e­very-where himself present, yet he made the Gods [ i. e. Angels] as Ministers of his Kingdom.’

Moses, it is confess'd, in the History of the Creation, takes not express notice of them by name. Only they are thought by some inclu­ded in Fiat Lux, Gen. 1.3. Let there be Light. So Saint Augustin, who refers the Division too made there between the Light and Darkness, De Civit. Dei l. 11. c. 19. Exodus 4. to the difference between the holy and impure Angels, that is, Angels of Light and Darkness: But by others rather in that of Ch. 2.1. Thus the heavens and the Earth were finished and all the hosts of them. And in like manner the Psalmist hath it, Ps. 33.6. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Now the Angels are elsewhere sti­led, The host of Heave [...], 1 Kings 22.19. or Hea­venly host, Dr. Pear­son on the Creed p. 53 Saint Luke 2.13. and the Rabbies call the upper Heavens, The World of Angels, the World of Souls, and the Spiritual World.

SECT. III. Intellectual and Free, Powerful, Agile, and Immor­tal.

Now what kind of Spirits the Angels are, I will shew farther in these four particulars.

• I. That they are intellectual Spirits, endued with understanding and Free-will, and of a vast knowledge.
• II. Of great power and might.
• III. Of extraordinary speed and agility.
• IV. Immortal and such as cannot Die.

Of each of which succinctly.

First, That they are intellectual Spirits, [call'd [...] and [...] by Plato and Plotinus, [...] by Psellus, Zanch, de oper. Dei, part▪ 1. l. 2. c. 1▪ Lips. Phy­siol. stoic▪ l. 1. Diss. 18. and [...] by others, and therefore also stiled intelligentiae] endued with Understanding and Free-will, being the off-spring, of God, as hath been said already, and after his Divine I­mage in a more perfect manner and degree than we Men are.

An undoubted proof and evidence of their In­tellectual Being and Freedom of Will, Damas­cen. de Orth. fide l. 2. c. 3▪ or Choice together, we have in the Law given them by God. And that there was a Law prescribed them is undeniable, in that we read of some of them, that sinned, and by so doing, 2 S. Pet. 2.4. S. J [...]de 6. fell from their first estate, and place of happiness; (of which I may have occasion possibly to speak further afterwards.) Now sin is evermore [ [...],] the transgression of a Law, and, where there is no Law, there c [...] be no transgression. And God is said, not to have spared the Angels that sinned. Both sin and punishment therefore suppose them Intellectual and Free-Agents: none, but such, can take cognizance of [Page 28] a Law; and none but such deserve a severe pu­nishment, Apol. 1. p. 45. as Iustin Martyr tells us, giving an ac­count of the most righteous doom both of Men and Angels, from the liberty of Will wherewith God hath furnished them. Again, they are God's Messengers and Ministers, by whom he gave his Laws to the Israelites of old, and revealed many things to his Prophets, [as shall be declared in a­nother place] which argues them sufficiently to be, as they are termed, Intelligences, that is, un­derstanding and spontaneous Beings.

And certain it is, Their intellectuals are much beyond the most improved of humane kind. 'According to the degree of immateriality, D. Tho. part. 1. Q. 14. Art. 1. say the Schools, is the degree of knowledge. They have both a more excellent quickness and subtlety of natural understanding, and a greater improve­ment made of it. This seems intimated in the first Temptation. Ains­worth in loc. Gen. 3.5. Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil.] The Chaldee there saith, [as Princes,] and Ionathan's Paraphrase [as Angels.] — And our blessed Saviour, as I before sugge­sted, plainly supposeth a greater measure of knowledge in them, than in Men, when he saith, Of that time knoweth no man, no, not the Angels— Saint Matth. 24.36. —And [ according to the wisdom of an Angel] is a Standard of the highest elevation, 2 Sam. 14.20.

The Ancients call'd them [...], i.e. from their knowledge. Hierocles in Pythag. Carm. Lactant. instit. l. 2. c. 15. D. Aust. de Civ. Dei, l. 9. c. 22. Hence the Author of Hesiod's Alle­gories calls Aristotle [...], h. e. maximae sapien­tiae virum, and Plutarch in his Book [...], calls Plato by the same name, whom others sti­led Divine; quasi quendam Philosophorum Deum, Cicero 2. de nat. Deorum. And Homer is by ma­ny call'd [...], [ propter admirabilem scilicet multarum rerum cognitionem.] And Proclus will [Page 29] have the word [...] to be used in divers re­spects; 1. God alone, saith he, is [ ipsâ essentiâ [...],] h. e. omnia sciens & omnibus prospiciens. Whom Plato likewise calls [...]. 2. An­gels are so [ comparatione,] because they do proxi­mè ad Dei scientiam accedere, idque naturâ suâ. And then, 3. The Soul of Man is so [ habitu] by vertue of its acquisitions, Zanch. de oper. Dei, p. 1. l. 2. c. 1.

Their faculties and capacities are abler and larger than ours. Revel. 4.6. They are [ undique oculati] full of eyes, before and behind. They are more privy than we to the Almighty's Councels, Standing in his presence and beholding of his face. And then their time for observation and experience hath been much longer, even from the first of the Creation, which must needs make a vast addition to the treasure of their knowledg, always growing and increasing. For with the antient is wisdome, Job 12.12 and in length of days is understanding.

And yet their knowledg is not infinite and boundless, but limited and confined. Some things are hidden from them, as the Day of fu­ture judgment. Some things are proper and pe­culiar to God only to know, as the secrets of mens hearts, and those future contingents which de­pend upon the free-will and determination of reasonable creatures. The Angels, we presume, have a deep and searching [...], or skill of guessing beyond the ablest Sons of Art, (that are most vers'd in Natures Secrets, and the History of the World) and so can readily foretel such things as necessarily de­pend upon certain natural causes, though to us unknown, and make shrewd conjectures of o­ther matters. But the certain fore-knowledge and prediction of things to come, which are purely voluntary and contingent, must be re­serv'd [Page 30] to God himself, who sometimes makes his appeal thereunto, as that which is not com­municable to any other besides: Isa. 41.23. shew the things that are to come hereafter, saith he, that we may know that ye are Gods. Whereto agree [...] no­table saying of Pacuvius,

As to the distinct manner of Angelical know­ledge, natural or revealed, [ per suam essentiam, per species vel imagines à Deo inditas — nec ratioci­nando, ut nos, sed magis simplici intuitu;] or the way of communication which they have, either a­mong themselves or unto mortals; their tongues and language, [whether it be only voluntatis actu & imperio, as in God to will is to effect, and our inward operations and bodily motions much de­pend on the nutus, inclination and determinati­on of the will,] 'tis somewhat beyond our pre­sent dull apprehension, who dwell in clay, and therefore the inquiry after it fit to be respited, [ donec Elias venerit, as the Jews speak, or] to the other World. Wisd. 9.16 Hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon Earth, (as the Wiseman ob­serves) and with labour do we find the things before us; but things that are in Heaven, who hath search­ed out? De Oper. Dei part. 1. l. 3. c. 5 & 6. And, as Zanchie saith, none but fools will be bold and peremptory in defining this matter, Quid enim opus, ut haec atque hujusmodi, affirmentur, vel negentur, vel definiantur cum discri­mine, quando sine discrimine nesciuntur? ut D. Au­gust. optimè, Enchirid. c. 59.

Secondly, The Power and Might of these Spi­rits is great and considerable. Spirit is a word that connotes Power, as Flesh doth Weakness. [Page 31] So it is said of the Egyptians, Isa. 31.3▪ They are Men and not God, and their Horses Flesh and not Spirit. And the Angels are said, 2 Thess. 1.7. Revel. [...].2 Ps. 103.26. 2 S. Pet▪ 2.11. not only to be [ mighty] and [ strong;] but to [ excell in strength] or to be [ mighty in strength] and by Saint Peter, as I shew­ed before, described with this attribute of pre­ference unto men, [ [...]] a being greater in might and power.] Hence are they call'd [God's Host.] When the Angels of God met Iacob, he said, This is God's host, and he call'd the name of that place Mahanajim, Gen. 32.1, 2. i. e. Two Hosts or Camps; for the word is of the dual num­ber, as P. Fagius notes: and some of the Jews, he tells us, Vide Munster. & P. Fag. in loc. refer it to Iacob's Host or Company that he had with him, and this Host of God, which met him there; but others of them to two Hosts of Angels there meeting together, the one that guarded him out of Mesopotamia, and the other came out of Chanaan to receive him as their charge upon his return; it being a com­mon opinion among them, that certain Angels are deputed to every Province or Region, of which more, [...], hereafter. Whatever there be in this Comment, there is no doubt, saith Saint Augustin, but the Hosts, which Iacob saw, Quaest. super Ge­nes. were a multitude of Angels, call'd in Scripture the hea­venly Militia or Host of Heaven. And they are indeed a puissant and mighty Host, resembled else-where to Horses and Chariots of Fire, 2 King. 2.11. —and c. 6.17. You may guess at their strength a little by their exploits on Re­cord, One of them slew all the first-born in Egypt both of Men and Cattel in a night. Exod. 12▪23.29. One of them in another night destroy'd all Sennacherib's formidable Army to the number of an hundred fourscore and five thousand. 2 Kings 19▪ 35. Dan. 3. One of them restrained the flames of that raging fire into which the three Confessors were [Page 32] cast, so that it touched not so much as their gar­ments, though it devoured their Executioners. One of them stopt the mouths of the hungry and ravenous Ly­ons from seizing upon Daniel in their Den. Ch. 6. One of them smote off Saint Peters Fetters, and caused, not only the Prison-door, Act. 12. but the Iron-gate of the City to open to him. —Not to give any further in­stances, Serm. 2. de Pasch. It was a saying of Luther's, [ unus Ange­lus potentior est quàm totus mundus] One Angel is of greater power than the whole world beside. But yet all their power is subjected unto God, and no­thing, if compared with his Omnipotence. They can do nothing but what he pleases; [ nec est in Angelis quidquam nisi parendi necessitas] and there­fore in the same place, Lactant. Instit. l. 2. c. 17. where they are acknow­ledg'd by the Psalmist to excel in strength, they are said also to do his commandments hearkning unto the voice of his word.

III. Their agility, speed and swiftness is extra­ordinary, moving like lightning from one end of Heaven to the other; compared therefore to a flame of fire, P [...] ▪ 104.4. which also penetrates the hardest Bodies. Hence are they represented to us [ ala­ti] with wings to flie, Isa. 6.2. [In the same sense as Wings are attributed to the Wind by the Psalmist, V. 3. Fulminis ocyor alis. [...], l. 1. and by Poets to the Thunder-bolt.] And so the Heathens feigned Mercury [ [...], as Hesiod calls him, the nimble Angel or Messenger of the Gods] to be winged.

This their quickness and agility in motion pro­ceeds from their spiritual nature, which is not subject to weariness, heaviness, or fainting, with the like infirmities, which necessarily attend Bo­dies; nor obstructed and hindred by external impediments in the way, as Bodies are; and so they need not such a space of time, neither to pass in, as Bodies do. And, besides this, it is [Page 33] much help'd forward in the good Angels by their promptitude and readiness, propensity and zeal to dispatch the errand and Ministry, upon which they are sent and imploy'd. 'Tis not here [ Ti­mor,] but—[ Amor addidit alas.]

Lastly, that I be not tedious, They are Im­mortal and such as cannot Die. [...], l. 1▪ [...], or the Immortal, is used absolutely by Hesiod for their name; and [...], The immortals of Iu­piter. [In like sort as we use [Mortals] for [Men]: So Homer [...], to which also he adds an Epithet of the same importance — [...].] This follows too from their being Spi­rits, and so not having within themselves a prin­ciple of corruption, nor being liable to destru­ction from other created Power: For nothing is so immortal as not to be annihilable by God, and destroyed by that power, which at first pro­duced it. As to him therefore all things are mortal; and in this sense he only and no other hath immortality, as the Apostle tells us, 1 Tim. 6.16. For he only is absolutely immutable, and hath [ omnimodam necessitatem essendi, as the Schools speak] an every-way necessary Existence; and all other Beings have an essential dependance up­on him, and so a possibility of ceasing to be with respect to his Will; nay I may add a necessity of not-being, when he pleaseth. Hence possibly the Angels are call'd by Max. Ty [...]ius [ [...]] Immortals of the second Rate; Dissert. xxvi. and Da­mascen puts it into his Definition of Angelic Na­ture, [ [...]] re­ceiving by Grace a natural Immortality.] It being a known maxime of his, [ [...],] whatever was made is also mutable.] —And with this interpretation it may be, we may somewhat qualifie that of Tatianus concerning the Soul of [Page 34] Man, Orat. con­tra G [...]e­cos. [ [...],] That it is of it self mortal, but yet in a capa [...]ility of not dying: The rather because he accuseth Aristotle, Ibid. [ quod [...],] for rejecting or impeaching the immortality of the Soul. Dialog. 3. But this by the way. — Theodoret de­cides the matter well: God, saith he, is proper­ly immortal, for he is so essentially and independently; but Angels and the Souls of Men hold of him, and must conse [...]uently own their immortality as his gift.

But yet [...]arther; Spirits, as I said, have not that principle of corruption within themselves, which Elementary Bodies have, nor are they ly­able to a pernicious and destructive violence from Creatures without, as our Life is some­times from the meanest and most inconsiderable. Fear not them that kill the Body, S Luk [...] 12.4. saith our blessed Saviour, and after that have no more, which they can do; are at their ne plus ultra. The Soul or Spirit is [ [...]] quite out of their reach: kill that they cannot, but only manumit, and set it free. And, that the Angels are such Spirits, as cannot Die, is sufficiently intimated, when this is made the demonstration of our immorta­lity, who shall be raised hereafter, [and conse­quently our not eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage then, which are the ap­pendag [...]s of this mortal decaying, and perishing state on Earth. S. Luke 20.34.35, 36.] The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage; but they, which shall be accounted worthy to attain that world and the resur­rection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage, neither can they die any more; For they are equal unto the Angels. And therefore the Apo­stle Saint Paul calls the Body too, that is raised up in incorruption, 1 Cor. 15.44. [...], a spiritual Body.

But thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the [Page 35] Nature of Angelical Spirits, so far as we under­stand it, Vid. P. Rami prae­lect. in somn. sci­pionis, p. 574. De Or­thod. Fide ut ante cit. who skill but little exactly and distinct­ly of our selves, whereby we conclude of them; and therefore, may add safely and modestly, [without the danger of Scepticism in the Case,] as Damascen doth in the close of his Description of these Beings, [...],] That God alone, who made them, knows comprehensively the kind and limits of their Being.

SECT. I. Of their Multitude.

The Angels are many. Consider them, Vid. Po [...] ­phyr▪ de Abstin. l▪ 2. s. 37▪ as they are divided now into two sorts, Good and Evil, the Angels that stand, and the Angels that fell, you will find very many, a great number, un­der both Heads.

The Scripture of the O [...]d Testament is some­what silent in relating to us the manner of the fall of Angels; though it evidently enough sup­pose it, and refer to it. But in the New we have more express and frequent mention thereof. Our [Page 36] blessed Saviour speaks of the Devil as a murderer from the beginning, S. I [...]h [...] 8.44. who abode not in the truth, a Lyar and the Father o [...] Lies. 1 Ep. 3.8. Saint Iohn also saith, The De [...]il sinneth from the beginning. [And the wo [...]d Devil includes all the Apostate Spirits, who are sometimes call'd plurally Devils, Saint Iames 2.19. and sometimes more distinctly▪ The Devil and his Angels.] Saint Peter puts their sin and punishment together: 2 S. Pet. 2.4. If God spared not the An [...]els that sinned, but cast them down to Hell, and deliver'd them into chains of darkness to be reserv'd un­to Iudgment. S. Iude 6. — And in like mann [...]r Saint Iude; The Angels, which k [...]pt not their first estate, but left their own habitation, [...] hath res [...]rved in chains un­der darkn [...]ss unto the judgment of the great day. — All without question innocent and holy at the first, being made by a good and holy God; but some of them in the abuse of their liberty, or free-will, prevaricating and rebelling against their Maker and Soveraign, were thereupon cast down from the Regions of Light above, and left under an irreversible sentence of condemnation. But these Devils were not such by Nature or Cre­ation, Divin. Decret. E­pit. de Diab. & Daemoni­bus. Vide Lips. Physiol. Stoic. l. 1. Diss. 20. O [...]ho­casm. An­gelogr. p. 2. c. 1. Divin. Decret. E­pit. de Ang [...]lis. as the Manichees and Priscillianists taught of old, but by a voluntary degeneracy. Theodo­ret conceives it sufficiently demonstrated from the goodness of their Maker, and the righteous­ness of their Judg. How, saith he, could he be call'd good, were he the creator of vice? or, how just and righteous, should he punish a nature, which could do no good, and were ingaged by him in a necessity of sin?

Many things are said by the Fathers of their Fall, or Sins in particular, as Pride and Envy, &c. nay, and by some of them, lust, applying to that purpose Gen. 6.2. But Theodoret, whom I just now quoted, censures that opinion for a piece of gross ignorance and dotage.

[Page 37]I will not digress further into this speculation: from hence now is the distinction of good and evil Angels; and there is an Host of each, Michael and his Angels, and The Dragon, that old Serpent, call'd the Devil and Satan, and his Angels, Rev. 12.7.9.

The one sort are call'd, signanter, The Angels. S. Matt. 4.11. Act. 5.19. S. Matt. 25.31. & 24.36. 2 Cor. 11.14. 1 Tim. 5.21. S. Luke 8.2 9.42. 2 S. Pet. 2.4. S. Matth. 25.41. Eph [...]s. 6. Angels of God. Holy Angels. Angels of Heaven. (From their proper [...], Seat and Habitati­on) and in the same sense▪ Angels of Light. The elect or choice Angels.— The other [...], Evil An­gels. Wicked and unclean Spirits. The Angels that sinned. The Devil and his Angels. The Rulers of the darkness of this World, &c. Of whom I shall say little more, but that their number is supposed great and formidable, by the Apostle, Eph. 6.12, and we read of a Legion of them in one Man, (as hath been intimated before also) Saint Mark 5.15. and our Saviour insinuates divers sorts a­mong them, when he saith, This kind of Devils go­eth not out, but by fasting and prayer, Saint Matth. 17.21.

But our comfort is, that the good Angels ex­ceed them, most probably, in number. [This Eustachius collects from, Metaphys. p. 4. Q. 4. Part 1. Q. 63. Art. 9. Revel. 12.4. where the Dragon is said to draw with him, The third part of the Stars of Heaven; and Aquinas from 2 Kings 6.16. which he expounds de bonis & malis Angelis. They that be with us are more than they that be with them.] To be sure, in wisdom and strength; for [ [...], Aristot.] Wickedness doth naturally debase, impair and weaken the powers and faculties; and as the good have the increases of divine grace, so the evil are in chains and bonds; Dan. 12. Revel. 12. Tobit. 8.3. Revel. 20.1, 2. and we never read of a conflict between them, but the good come off conquerours. Our blessed Saviour men­tions more than twelve legions, [that is, by com­putation [Page 38] 79992. S. Matth. [...]6.53.] Thinkest thou, saith he, I can­not pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of Angels. Whereas we read but of one legion of the evil ones together.] The Chariots of God (saith the Psalmist) are twen­ty thousand, even thousands of Angels, Ps. 78.17. The Margin hath it, even many thousands of Angels. And in the Prophet Daniel we have mention of [ myriades myriadum] Thousand thousands ministring to God, and ten thousand times ten thousands before him, ch. 7.10. And so again in the Revelations: Many Angels about the Throne, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou­sands of thousands. A certain and definite num­ber for a vast but uncertain. Our Apostle to the Hebrews therefore speaks of them more indefi­nitely, as not to be counted up. An innumerable company of Angels, ch. 12.12. So we translate and English; but the Greek is only [ [...],] Myriads of Angels; in like manner as we do else­where, [ [...],] an innumerable multitude, Saint Luke 12.1. They are, as hath been said, God's Host; I [...]b 25.3. and Bildad asks the question, Is there any number of his Armies? We may sooner reckon up the Stars in the Firmament, than number out those Morning-Stars.

Orpheus it seems, counted upon three hundred sixty and five, [as many as there are days in the year.] Hesiod three Myriads,

Lactant. instit. l. 1. c. 7. Max. Tyr. Diss. 1But, as Lactantius replies upon the one, so Max. Tyrius upon the other, they are more than so, they are innumerable.

Pythagoras taught, That all the Air was full of [Page 39] them; and the like Apuleius delivers out of Plato, De Deo Socratis. And Suarez thinks, Metaph. Disp. 35. s. 1. that Ari­stotle referr'd to these Beings, when he com­mend [...]d that of Thales, [omnia esse Deorum plena,] That all places abound with Gods.

Some of the Fathers, D. Aug. & Hieron. Vide Zanch. de Operib. part. 1. l. [...]. c. 13. from the Parable Saint Luke 15. have reckon'd their number compar'd with Man-kind, as ninety-nine to one.

But Part. 1. Q. 50. Art. 3. Aquinas concludes, That these Immaterial Substances do incomparably exceed all the Ma­terial in their Multitude.

SECT. II. Of their Order.

Now in this vast multitude there must needs be a setled Order, which is the Cement of all So­ciety, and that alone, which distinguisheth it from a confused heap. And so the holy Scriptures suf­ficiently declare; though, what that Order is in particular, we are left to seek, and must not be over-peremptory in determining beyond what is written.

The very fallen Angels retain yet some Order among them, without which the Kingdom of Darkness it self could never stand, Saint Matth. 12.26. There is, as hath been said, The Devil and his Angels. The Dragon and his Angels. Lacta [...]t. Instit. l. 2. c. 15. Vid. D. Aug. de Civ. Dei, l. 11. c. 15. & Zanch. de Operi [...]. Dei, part. 1. l. 2. c. [...]. Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils, ver. 24. Some chief De­vil whom Trismegist stiles, [...], call'd else­where Satan, and the Prince of the Power of the Air▪ Ephes. 2.2. and thought to be that Lucifer, spoken of by the Prophet, Isa. 14.12. How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the Morning! Which, however it be understood there of the King of Babylon, may yet be judged to compare his sud­den [Page 40] and miserable fall to that of the Ring-leader among the Apostate-Angels; whereat our blessed▪ Saviour is conceived to have glanced too, when he said, Saint Luke 10.18. I beheld Satan falling from Heaven like Lightning. Agreeably to this ex­position also August. Steuchus, Id. l. 4. c. 2. Bishop of Eugubium, writes, that those evil Spirits were call'd by Em­pedocles [ [...],] and Rhodiginus thinks that Py­thagoras meant the same, when he taught, [ animam factis alis è coelo labi.]

We cannot doubt then but there is Order much more among the good Angels. They are, to be sure, [ acies ordinata] a well-ordered Host. We read expresly of an Arch-Angel, 1 Thes. 4.16. that is, [ Angelorum princeps] a Chief or Lead­ing Angel; and of Michael the Arch-angel by name, Saint Iude 9. Michael and his Angels, Revel. 12.7. And this Michael is said else-where to be [ u [...]us è principibus primis,] Dan. 10.13. One of the Chief Princes; which intimates plainly that there were others of them besides; [ seven in number, saith Clemens Alexandrin. S [...]rom. 6. which is also favoured, not only by Tobit 12.15. but Zech. 4.10. and Revel. c. 1.4. — 4.5. — 5.6.] This Michael, it may be, General of the Host, bearing in his name a Proclamation of Divine Glory and Majesty; for so it is interpreted, [who as God!] — And then we read also of Gabriel, the mighty Gabriel [a strong man of God] as his name imports. He was sent to Daniel to make him understand the Vision, Dan. 8.16. — 9.21. And after to Za­charias, to whom he said, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God, Saint Luke 1.19. And then a Commissioned Embassador to the blessed [...]Virgin, ver. 26, 27.

These two are the only names upon Record in the Canonical-Books, [ Michael and Gabriel.]

[Page 41]But four others we have in the Apochrypha, which is one of the best Registers next of Jewish Belief and Traditions.

Raphael [ i. e. Physick of God] a divine and hea­venly Physitian, Zanch. de Oper. Dei part. 1. l. 3. c. 1. sent to heal Tobit and his Daugh­ter in Law, and to bind Asmodeus the evil Spirit, Tob. 3.17. — 12.14. who saith of himself, I am Raphael, one of the seven H. Angels. —

Vriel, [ i. e. Light of God] sent unto Esdras, to declare and manifest his ignorance in God's Judg­ments, 2 Esdras 4.1.

Ieremiel, [ i. e. Mercy of God] call'd an Arch­angel, 2 Esdras 4.36. And

Salathiel or Sealthiel, [ i. e. asked of God] stiled the Captain of the People, 2 Esdras 5.16.

These are supposed to have been names of par­ticular Angels of some special note and eminence among the rest; and the Hebrew Doctors have many more of them, as I may take occasion, pos­sibly, to touch hereafter.

Two other words yet there are in Sacred-Writ, which seem to denote certain Orders among them, [ Cherubim and Seraphim.]

Cherubim] that is, Angels of Knowledg, as Saint Hierom interprets the word. Com­ment. in Ezech. 28. Zanch. de Oper. Dei part. 1. l. 2. c. 1. P. Fagius in Gen. 3.24. But others from Cherub, a Figure or Image; others from the Let­ter Chi, a note of Similitude, and a Chaldee word, which signifies [ puerum & juvenem] a Youth; and so they were usually represented in the shape of a Young Man with Wings: of a Man, to shew them to be intellectual creatures; of a young Man, to express their vigour and strength; and with Wings added, to declare their agility, and dispatch. — These we read, were placed at the East of the Garden of Eden with a flaming-Sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life, Gen. 3.24. And their Figures were ap­pointed [Page 42] over the Mercy-Seat in the Tabernacle and Temple, and on the Doors and Walls, Exod. 25. 1 King. 6. and we meet with them again in the Prophet Ezechiel c. 10.

Seraphim, that is, Angels of Zeal, [ Angeli for­mâ igneâ, saith Grot.] described, Each of them with six wings, and crying one to another, holy, holy, holy, Isa. 6.2. Their name is from an Hebrew Root, which signifies to [burn] and so they were call'd, possibly, from their touching the Prophets Lips with a burning-Coal taken from the Altar, ver. 6. or else, more generally, from their ardent-zeal and flame in the executing of God's will and serving of him; according to that of the Psalmist, Who maketh his Ministers a flame of Fire, Ps. 104.4. cited by our Apostle, Heb. 1.7.

In the New-Testament we may observe, how upon our blessed Saviour's Birth, The Angel of the Lord [probably, the Angel Gabriel, who was sent before to Zacharias and the Virgin] proclaims the joyful news, and suddenly, saith the Text, there was with that Angel a multitude of the heavenly host, prai­sing God, — Saint Luke 2.10, 13. singing their Christ-Mass Carole together, and following of him as their praecentor and chief of the Choire.

The Apostle Saint Paul to the Colossians menti­ons the Angels under four distinct Appellatives, c. 1.16.

[...]. Thrones,] which are royal Seats for Kings and Monarchs in their magnificence and glory.

[...]. Dominions,] or Lordships.

Principalities,] connoting special and peculiar Jurisdiction.

[...]. Powers,] such as have right to execute Autho­rity by God's appointment, and not his bare per­mission only.

To which we may add,

[Page 43] Mighty,] out of his Epistle to the Romans, [...]. c. 8.38. and Ephes. c. 1.20, 21. and the first Epistle of Saint Peter c. 3.22.

The Abstract all along (as is usual among the Orientals) for the Concrete; that is, Kings, Rulers, Princes, Potentates, Mighty ones. And some of the Learned conjecture, Cameron. in Col. 1.16. that the Apostle alludes to several degrees of power and authority observa­ble among men in the world, thereby to adum­brate the distinction of Angels into Superior and Inferior: Thrones] for Supreme Monarchs; Domi­nions] for lesser Kings; Principalities] for the Go­vernours of Provinces and Cities; Powers and Mights] for lower Magistrates and their Officers. Saint Hierom conceives, that the Apostle had these several Names either from the Traditions of the Jews, or his own mystical interpretation of cer­tain parcels of the Old-Testament History. Ar­bitror [Apostolum] aut de Traditionibus Hebraeo­rum ea, quae secreta sunt, in medium protulisse; aut certè quae juxta historiam scripta sunt, cum intelligeret legem esse spiritualem, sensisse sublimiùs, & quod de Re­gibus atque Principibus, Ducibus quoque, Tribunis, & Centurionibus in Numeris & in Regnorum libris re­fertur, imaginem aliorum Principum Regumque cogno­visse, quod sc. in coelestibus sint Potestates atque vir­tutes & caetera Ministeriorum vocabula, Hier. in E­phes. 1.

Now from these Names and Words found in Scripture, some have ventur'd to determine and marshal the Coelestial Hierarchy of Angels into their several and distinct Orders. Whence we have in the Schools nine Orders of Angels, D. Th [...]. part. 1. Q. 108. Art. [...]. said to be taken from Dionysius the Areopagite Saint Paul's Scholar. Thus the Hierarchy is divided into three parts, an Uppermost, a Middle, a Low­est, and in each of these are placed three ranks or Choires of Angels: as,

• [Page 44]In the uppermost
  • Seraphim,
  • Cherubim,
  • Thrones.

• In the middle,
  • Dominions,
  • Mights,
  • Powers.

• In the lowest,
  • Principalities,
  • Arch-angels,
  • Angels.

And this is spoken as boldly, as if the Au­thor of the Phansie had been in good earnest wrapt up with Saint Paul into the third Heaven, and there seen the Scheme of their Divine Oeco­nomy. Only that holy Apostle tells us, he heard there [ [...],] unutterable words, 2 Cor. 12.4. and seems to have warned us sufficiently against all such Gnostic's, or Pretenders unto extraor­dinary knowledg, to whom he hath given this Character of Vanity, [ [...],] intruding into those things which they have not seen, Coloss. 2.18. — And, certainly, if he had mind­ed to intimate so many distinct Orders, he could easily have put the nine Names together, as well as this his famed Disciple; or, if several names were sufficient to denote their Orders, he could have added more to the number, e. gr. an Or­der of Fighters, See Z [...]nch. [...]e Oper. Dei part. 1. l. 2. c. 14. the heavenly host, Saint Luke 2. an Order of Watchers, out of Daniel; a Cho­rus of Morning-Stars, out of Iob; and another of the Sons of God, &c.

Baronius quotes Ignatius for an asserter of this same Hierarchy in Ep. ad Trallenses: Exercit. in Ep. ad Trall. [...]. 8. But Vedelius contends against him strongly, that the whole [Page 45] period, referr'd to, is interpolated and supposi­titious. However neither the words, nor the or­der of enumeration agree with Dionysius's, and there are two fresh ones among them [ [...].]

L. Vallae in his Comment upon Revel. 4.8. very angerly expostulates with the Latins for omitting nine times Holy in their Versions, L. Valla in Apoc. 4.3. which all the Greeks, saith he, have in that place; as losing by this defect of theirs the mystery of ter trinum, which is, as he adds, the number of the Orders of Angels.

But Revius answers him well enough, In Vall. ibid. That this was the Dream of a counterfeit Dionysius; and that all the Greek Copies have not nine times Holy there, neither, but most of them thrice only, as we read it.

However, to make even with this celebrated number, (instead of a more serious and direct opposition) it may not be amiss here to remem­ber, that some have ranged the Devils into nine Orders too.

In the first, as they tell us, Zanch. de Oper. Dei part. 1. l. 4. c. 17. Otho­Casm. A [...] ­gelogr.. part. 2. c. 26. Balduin. de Cas. Consc. l. 3. c. 2. qui citat. e Theatro Diabol. p. 1. are [ Pseudothei] False-Gods, who corrupt Religion, the Prince of whom they call Beelzebub.

In the second are [ Spiritus mendaces] lying Spi­rits, one of whom deceived the Prophets in the days of Ahab, 1 Kings 22. whose Prince is named Python, according to what we read of a Spirit of Python, Act. 16.16. which we English Spirit of Divination.

In the third are [ vasa iniquitatis] Vessels of Iniquity, from whom proceed all the Flagitious wickednesses, that are any-where committed in the World, whose Prince is called Belial.

In the fourth are [ Spiritus ultores] Revenging Spirits, that stir up strifes among Men, and urge them unto private Revenge, whose Prince is As­mod [...]us, Tobit 3.

[Page 46]In the fift are [ Daemones praestigiatores] Conju­ring and Jugling Devils, the Patrons of Witches and Inchanters, who by such kind of Magical Practices do hurt to Men, the Prince of whom is call'd Satan.

In the sixth are [ AEreae potestates] the Powers of the Air, who, by God's permission, raise Storms and Tempests, whose Prince they call Meris or Metiris, [I know not whence, nor why.]

In the seventh are [ Furiae] the Furies, which torment the minds of Men after Sin committed, and work divers confusions in the World, whose Prince is said to be Abaddon or Apollyon, which name we have Reuel. 9.

In the eight are [ Criminatores] the Accusers, who lie in wait against the Fame and honour of Good-men, whose Prince is Diabolus, or Asta­roth. And

In the ninth are [ Tentatores] the Tempters, those evil Spirits that seduce by subtlety, whom they cannot oppress by violence, whose Prince they call Mammon.

Which Distribution I alledge not to avouch for it, but only as an instance of the same curio­sity, that produced the former, a restless and un­satisfied itch of Knowledg, which searcheth into all depths, and spareth neither Heav'n nor Hell in its presumption; as if the Motto were,

Of like Vanity and Rashness are the Jewish Ca­balists guilty.

Maimo­ [...]id. in Misnae Tract. 1. c. 2. s. 7. Rabbi Moses, the Son of Maimon, assigns ten Degrees of Angels, from so many Words which he picks up here and there concerning them. In the first, Animalia Sanctitatis.] In the second, Ro­tae.] In the third, Ereellim.] In the fourth, Cas­mallim.] In the fifth, Seraphim.] In the sixth, Ma­leacim.] [Page 47] In the seventh, Elohim.] In the eight, Filii Elohim.] In the ninth, Cherubim.] In the tenth, Ischim, sive viri.] The first, second, and fourth, (as I. Cappellus observes are taken from Ezech. 1. but Casm [...]llim is unfitly put for a peculiar Order when it is the name rather of some Colour. I. Cappell. in Hebr. 1.14. The fifth, from Isa. 6. The third, from Isa. 33.7. but absurdly; for though the Etymon of the Word agree well enough, [ q. d. [...], a Beholder of God] yet the Prophet attributes Tears and Mourning to them, and points unto the Em­bassadors sent from Hezekiah to Rabshakeh. The sixth is the Hebrew for Angels. The seventh from Psal. 8.5. The eight, from Iob 1. The ninth, from Gen. 3. The last from thence, that in the Apparitions of Angels, the Scripture often saith, the Man said so and so. But how impro­perly (as he farther adds) are those appellations [ Elohim, filii Elohim, Maleacim,] that is, Gods, the Sons of Gods, Angels, which are common Elogi­ums agreeing to every one of them, put to de­scribe certain Orders?

Others of the Jewish-Masters are content to refer to three Degrees only.

The first, Vide Epis­cop. Instit. Theol. l. 4. they call [ intelligentias à materiâ sepa­ratas] Intelligences wholly separate from matter that never appeared but in Prophetic Vision▪ and so were never seen but heard only, yet alway stand about the Throne of God.

The second, they call [ Angelos Ministerii] An­gels of Ministery, made to govern the World and Minister unto good Men, dwelling above the Orbs, and so call'd the Host of Heaven, but for their Ministry-sake assuming sometimes of visible Forms, and so appearing and seen.

The third, they call [ Spiritus sublunares] Sublu­nary Spirits, the Executioners of Divine Wrath [Page 48] and Justice, Angels of Destruction and Death; whom also they make to be Male and Female, to Eat and Drink, and Gender, and Die, and suc­ceed each other, as Men do.

Zanch. de Oper. Dei part. 1. l. 2. c. 14. Otho-Casm. An­gelogr. part. 2. c. 8. Q. 1.[This is much like the Heathens distinction of their Genii into Supercoelestes, Coelestes, Subcoelestes, which I forbear to prosecute any farther, than the bare naming of it.]

Hereunto, lastly, we may refer the D. Tho. Part. 1. Q. 112. Art, 2 & 3. School­mens distinction of Angels into Assisting and Mi­nistring, as they deliver and explain it; making the latter to be only those of the lowest Order, even as the Jewish Rabbies did their Angels of Ministry, and Sublunary Spirits. Against both of whom the Text apparently decides the Case, Are they not all ministring Spirits? As shall be af­terwards farther declared.

To end this enquiry, though there is for cer­tain a most excellent Order among the Angels, and there are, probably, different Ranks and Degrees of them, yet, what they are in particular, is no where revealed for our satisfaction; and some of those Denominations, which are relied upon in Sacred Writ as to this matter, may as well de­note distinct Properties and perfections of each individual Angel, or certain temporary Offices and Imployments only, as point unto the setled and established Order among them all. The Prophet Ezechiel, speaking of four of them, de­scribes them every one alike. They four, saith he, had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right-side; [...] and they four had the face of an oxe on the left side, they four also had the face of an eagle, Revel. 1.10. The like to which we have again, Revel. 4.7. where the design seems to be to represent them, in way of Hieroglyphick, Pru­dent as Men; Couragious as Lions; Laborious [Page 49] and Industrious as Oxen; and Swift as Eagles.

But it very well becomes us willingly to be ignorant of what our Heav'nly Father hath not thought good to make known unto us. And therefore I shall [ [...],] forbear to search far­ther into what is hidden and concealed; closing this Chapter with the remarkable instance of Saint Augustin's exemplary modesty in the pre­sent Argument, Ench [...]rid. c. 58. (as I did the foregoing with Da­mascen's,) What those several words mean, saith he, whereby the Apostle seems to comprize the universal society of Angels, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, &c. and how they differ, let them tell who are able; if they can but prove what they affirm. I for my part confess my ignorance.

Sect. I. Their Ministry unto God.

First, I say, they are Ministring Spirits unto [Page 51] God Almighty, [ Damascen puts this into the de­finition of an Angel, [...] — [...],] and that in a threefold capacity.

1. They are the constant Attendants of his glorious Court and Presence, waiting upon, and following of him, wheresoever he goes. So a chief among them said to Zacharias, I am Ga­briel that stand in the presence of the Lord, Saint Luke 1.19. And, I saw the Lord sitting in his Throne, (saith Micaiah the Prophet) and all the Host of Heav'n standing by him, on his right hand and on his left, 1 Kings 22.19. that is, The Great King on his Throne, and his Guard or Retinue of Angels round about him.

And in this, as some conceive, the special manner of the Divine Appearance, or Presence, in some places more than in others, consists, [whereas otherwise God is Omni-present, and every-where alike, as Arnobius says,] viz. in this his Train and Attendance: So that the Lord of Hosts is there said to be peculiarly present, where his Court is, that is, See Mr. Mede on Eccles 5.1. where the holy An­gels keep their Station and Rendezvous. Hence Iacob, having seen a Ladder reaching from Hea­v'n to Earth, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon it, saith, Gen. 28.16, 17. Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not; how dreadful is this place? It is no other, but the House of God, even the Gate of Heav'n: That is, Heav'ns Guild-Hall, Court or Palace; (as our learned Mede hath it) for the Gate was wont to be the Judgment-Hall, and place, where Kings and Se­nators used to sit, attended by their Guard and Ministers. Thus, in the Prophecy of Daniel, the Antient of Days is represented coming to Judgment, Dan. 7.10. Thousand thousands mini­stred unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand [Page] stood before him. And in the same stile, (of the same appearance too) Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, as Saint Iude Records it, ver. 14. Behold the Lord cometh with his holy Myriads or ten thousands. [For so it ought to be rendred, ac­cording to the Greek, [...], and not, as we have it, with ten thousands by his Saints, unless by Saints we mean these holy ones, as sometimes they are call'd, Dan. 4.13, 17.] A like expression of the Divine Presence we find in that of Moses, Deuter. 33.2. The Lord came from Sinai unto them, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from Mount-Paran; he came with ten thousands of Saints, or holy ones, [or, with his holy Myriads, with his holy ten thousands, as it should rather be translated,] from his right hand went a fiery Law for them. Whereunto the Psal­mist also relates, Ps. 68.17. The Chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of Angels; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. From whence we read in the New-Testament of the Law giv'n by Angels there. [ Who have recei­ved the Law by the disposition of Angels, Act. 7.53. Ordained by Angels in the hands of a Mediator, mean­ing Moses, Gal. 3.19. The word spoken by Angels, Heb. 2.2.] Howbeit, in the Old-Testament Sto­ry it-self, we meet with no such thing in terms, but only, that the Lord descended upon the Mount in a fiery and smoaking Cloud, with Thunders and Light­nings, and the voice of a Trumpet, Exod. 19 — The expression therefore seems to proceed upon this supposition, that the special Presence of the Di­vine Majesty, or his Glory, as the Scripture calls it, wheresoever it is said to be, consists in the encamping of his Sacred Retinue, the holy Angels. And accordingly we read in the Go­spel, that Christ shall come at last, [ in the glory [Page] of his Father,] that is, [ with an host of Angels,] as the Holy Ghost himself seems to expound it, The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels, Saint Matth. 16.27. Saint Mark 8.38.

Thus Heav'n, we know, is the place of God's most glorious Residence, that being the [...], or habitation of Angels, Saint Iude 6. ver. who therefore are call'd the host of heav'n, and said, alwayes to behold the face of God ther [...]. And accor­dingly we are taught to pray, Our Father which art in Heav'n! The Prophet Isaiah before had set the example, Ch. 63.15. Look down from heav'n, and behold from the habitation of thine holiness and thy glory, that is, where thy Throne is surround­ed with Myriads of holy and glorious Angels.

And thus was God present of old in his Tem­ple, and the places, where his name was record­ed upon Earth. So in the Vision of Isaiah 6.1. I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up, and his Train filled the Temple. [The LXX have it, the house was filled with his glory.] Most pro­bably, the Seraphim or Angels, as there it fol­lows, ver. 3. And this seems to be imply'd in that of the Psalmist, Before the Gods I will sing praise unto thee; I will worshp towards thy holy Tem­ple, and praise thy Name, Ps. 138.1, 2. For, that the Angels are call'd Gods, I noted before▪ and the Greek here reads it [ [...],] be­fore the Angels, and the vulgar Latin accordingly, [ in conspectu Angelorum,] in the view or presence of the Angels. Agreeably whereto we may also in­terpret that place of Solomon, cautioning against rash vows in the House of God, Eccles. 5.4, 5, 6. When thou vowest a vow, defer not to pay it; suffer not thy mouth to cause they flesh to sin, neither say thou before the Angel, it was an error, that is, let not [Page 54] such a foolish excuse come from thee in the House of God before the holy Angels [taking the word collectively, as we do Man, Turk, Spani­ard, &c. or as the singular number is sometimes put for the plural. Vatablus in Ps. 34. See Exod. ch. 25. ch. 36. ch. 37. 1 Kings 6.] And for this cause, most probably, the Curtains of the Tabernacle were fill'd with Pictures of Cherubims, and the Walls of Solomon's Temple within with carved Cheru­bims, and the Ark of the Testimony over-spred and cover'd with two mighty Cherubims, having their Faces looking towards it, and the Mercy-Seat, with their Wings stretch'd forth on high, call'd the Cherubims of Glory, Hebr. 9.5. that is, of the Divine Presence. Whence that known compellation of Almighty God, O Lord God of Israel which dwellest between the Cherubims! 2 Kings 19.15. we have it again, Ps. 80.1. Thou that dwellest between the Cherubims shine forth! and in Hez [...]k [...]ah's Prayer, Isa. 37.16. O Lord of Hosts▪ God of Israel, that dwellest between the Cherubims ▪ And again it is said, Ps. 91.1. The Lord reigneth, he sitteth between the Cherubims, viz. as on his Roy­al Throne. Agrippa in his Oration to the Jews, in Iosephus, joyns the Holy Place and the Holy Angels as neerly related each to other, Gro [...]. in 1 Cor. 11▪ 1 [...]. [ [...].] And this opinion still continues with that People, that in their places of worship, where God hath promised his especial Presence, the blessed An­gels frequent their Assemblies, and praise and laud God together with them in their Syna­gogues. So much is acknowledged in the Form of Prayer used by the Jews of Portugal, and ci­ted by Master Mede, (from whom I borrow this notion, and the substantial management of it) O Lord our God, the Angels, that supernal company, gather'd together with thy people Israel here below, do [Page 55] Crown thee with Praises; and all together do thrice re­double and cry, that spoken of by the Pro [...]het, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts; the whole Earth is full of thy Glory.

And thus certainly we may con [...]lude, in like manner, that God is still present in the Churches of Christians. Some such thing Saint Paul sup­poseth, 1 Cor. 11. where treating of a comely and decent carriage to be observed in Church-Assemblies, and in particular of the woman's being cover'd and vailed there, [ [...], as Saint Chrys. words it, Hom. 26. in [...] Cor.] he in [...]orceth it from this Argument, the supposed presence of Angels there, ver. 10. [...],] Because of the Angels. If thou despisest man, saith Saint Chrysost. on the place, yet reverence the Angels. And to a like purpose, Theophylact. Debet, inquit▪ superio­ribus de causis mulier supra caput velamen gestare, i. e. servitutis insigne; & si nullâ aliâ ratione, An­gelorum tamen pudore ducta, ne in illorum conspectu impudica appareat. Theoph. in loc.

And, thus, unto Principalities and Powers in hea­v'nly places is made known by the Church of manifold wisdom of God, as the Apostle writes to the Ephe­sians c. 3.10. [upon which Text Saint Chrys. ex­cellently. See, Hom. 4. de in­compr. Dei nat. what an honour is done to humane na­ture, in that with us, and by us, the Powers above come to know the secrets of our King and Saviour.] And they are represented by Saint Peter, as earnestly looking into the Mysteries of the Gospel, preach­ed and commemorated in our Assemblies, 1 Pet. 1.12. Which things, saith he, the Angels desire to look into, [ [...],] stoop­ing down, as with their Faces of old towards the Propitiatory or Mercy-Seat.

Thus, Saint Chrysostom conceived, most un­doubtedly, of Christian Oratories, reproving the [Page 56] irreverent behaviour of his Auditors upon occa­sion in such words as these. — The Church is no Barbers, or Apothecarys Shop, &c. but the place of Angels, Hom. 36. in 1 Cor. the place of Arch-angels, the Palace of God, Heav'n it self. Hom. 4. de in­compr. Dei nat. — And again, Think neer whom thou standest, and with whom thou art about to invo­cate God, namely, with Cherubim and Seraphim and all the Powers of Heav'n. Consider but, what com­panions thou hast; and it will suffice to perswade thee unto sobriety, when thou remembrest, that thou, who art compounded of flesh and blood, art yet admitted with the incorporeal powers to celebrate the common Lord of all. Let none therefore communicate carelesly in the holy and mystical hymns, Let none at that time in­termingle worldly thoughts, but remove and banish all earthly cogitations, and translate himself wholly into Heaven, as standing neer the Throne of Glory, and on the Wing, with Cherubims. So let him offer the all holy hymn to the God of Glory and Majesty. —

And to add but one quotation more, instead of many, speaking against those who laugh'd at Church, Hom. 15. in Ep. ad. Hebr. — When thou goest into a King's Palace, saith he, thou composest thy self to all comeliness; in thy habit, in thy look, in thy gate and every thing else. But here is indeed the Palace of a King, and the like attendance to that in Heav'n; and dost thou fleer and laugh? I know well enough, thou seest it not. But hear thou me, and know, that Angels are every-where present, but chiefly in the house of God; they attend upon their King, and all is there fill'd with those in­corporeal Powers.

II. These Ministring Spirits do not only stand before God as his Attendants, but worship and adore him, as his Servants, pay their homage and acknowledgments to him continually, lauding and glorifying of him. We have a short ac­count of their Liturgy, or sacred Office of Di­vine [Page 57] Service, from the Prophet, Isa. 6.3. One cryed unto another [hic ad hunc] and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is fill' [...] with his glory. Whereto well agrees the Vision of Ignatius, as Socrates reports it, Soc. l. 6. c. 8. from whence he is said to have recommended the custom of Alternate-singing to the Church at Antioch, [...].] They have, it seems, their mutual Antiphon's and Responsals, how much so­ever some among us except against and find fault with them. They divide themselves into Choires, and answer each to other in their devout An­thems. Medit. c. 25. L. de com. essent. Patr. Fil. & Spi. sancti. Saint Augustin calls them [ hymnidicos An­gelorum choros.] And Athanasius puts [ hymnis di­cendis aptum] into his description of an Angel. And this is, certainly, their most delightful and continual imployment, Angelorum ministerium est Dei laudatio & hymnorum decantatio. Theodoret. Di­vin. Decret. Epit. They rest not day and night, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come, Revel. 4.8. This is their con­stant devotion and service; whereto yet, no doubt but, upon particular occasions they make some fresh additions.

Thus, at the laying of the Foundations of the Earth, or the Creation of the Stars, they Chaun­ted forth the Makers Praise, Iob 38. And the like we may conceive, when there is Ioy in hea­ven among them at the conversion of a sinner, Saint Luk. 15.10. When one of their number had publish'd the blessed news of our Saviour's birth, we find, that suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heav'nly host, praising God, and say­ing, glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men, Saint Luke 2. And another [Page 58] parcel yet of their occasional service, Saint Iohn gives us, Revel. 7.11, 12. All the Angels, saith he, stood round about the Throne — and fell before the Throne on their faces and worship'd, saying, A­men, blessing and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might be unto God for ever and ever, Amen. Where we observe also a decent reverence and uniformity both of gesture and expression, [for our instruction doubtless] in their worship. And their Liturgy, we see, is wholly, in a manner, composed of Lauds and Praises, Doxologies and Thanksgivings, which therefore should waken us to an holy emulation of them in the same, our blessed Lord and Savi­our having taught us to pray, dayly, that Gods will may be done [by us] on earth, as it is [by them] in heaven. [Tibi omnes superni cives & cuncti B. Spirituum ordines gloriam & honorem suppliciter a­dorantes concinunt sine fine: Laudant te, Domine, illi superni cives magnificè & honorabiliter.] D. Aug. Med. c. 33.

Well therefore hath our Church taken in cer­tain parcels of their holy Offices into her pub­lic Service. So in the [ Te Deum.

So at the holy Communion, a little before the Consecration and Receiving of the Sacred Ele­ments, — Therefore with Angels and Arch-angels, and with all the company of Heav'n, we laud and magnifie thy glorious name, evermore praising thee, and saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts; Heav'n and Earth are full of thy Glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord most high! — And again, after we [Page 59] have participated of the Heav'nly Food, there follows that Angelic Hymn, Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men! we praise thee, we bless thee, &c.

The Psalmist, that Sweet-Singer of Israel, we find, calls upon the Angels to bless and praise God, yet not in the least to reflect upon their backwardness, or impute a negligence and for­getfulness to them; but as one delighted himself in that celestial imployment, and desirous to set them forth as excellent examples of it, and pro­voke them to a supply of those higher measures of devotion, which he could not reach unto. Bless the Lord ye Angels of his, that excel in strength. Bless ye the Lord all his Hosts, ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure! Ps. 103.20, 21. And again, Praise ye the Lord from the Heav'ns; praise him in the heights. Praise ye him all his Angels! praise ye him all his Hosts! Psal. 148.1, 2.

III. These Ministring Spirits wait upon God, as his ready Messengers to receive his commands, observe his orders, go upon his errands and em­bassies, and fulfil all his will; thus to serve and obey him, in whatsoever he shall send or imploy them about. Non solùm autem hymnos decantant, sed divinae etiam oeconomiae ministrant, Theodoret. Divin. Decret. Epit. So we have it in that place of the Psalmist, just now recited, Ye Angels of his that do his commandements, hearkning unto the voice of his word! and ye Ministers of his, that do his pleasure! who are always at his beck. No sooner doth he signifie or injoyn any thing, but they are presently on the Wing, swiftly flying. In Ia­cob's Vision therefore we have a Ladder reaching up to Heav'n, with Angels ascending and de­scending on it, that is, in continual motion. — quorum unum solumque officium est servire nutibus [Page 60] Dei, nec omninò quidquam, nisi jussi [...] ejus, facere; — apparitores magni Regis, Lactant. Instit. l. 2. c. 17.

Sometimes they are dispatch'd to declare and make known the mind of God; as the Law was deliver'd by Angels on Mount Sinai; and seve­ral Messages of Glad-tidings we read of by and from them in holy Scripture, as to Abraham, Daniel, Zacharias, the blessed-Virgin, Saint Iohn and others, of which more afterwards.

Sometimes again they are sent to execute God's Judgments, and pour out the Vials of his Wrath, Revel. 15.6, 7. as on the wicked Sodo­mites, Gen. 19. on the First-born in Egypt, Exod. 12. on the Assyrian Host, 2 Kings 19. on the Peo­ple of Israel, 2 Sam. 24.15, 16.

But oftner as the Ministers of good things, to work deliverance, and bring supplies extraordi­nary to his Servants and Worshippers, as I shall take occasion hereafter more particularly to spe­cifie; and therefore forbear to add any thing of it farther in this place, unless it be the te­stimony of Hesiod to this truth.

But, O that we could learn of those blessed Spi­rits, and might be awaken'd to imitate and fol­low them in these steps of their Ministry unto God! That we may delight, as they do, in the presence of God, and the places of his Worship and Service!

That we may be as zealous, and devout, or­derly, and unanimous, diligent, and unwearied in the glorifying of God, and praising of his Name!

[Page 61]And that we may add unto all our religious ac­knowledgments a readiness of obedience too, like unto theirs, to hearken unto the voice of his word, and do his will and commandements!

SECT. II. Their Ministry unto Christ.

Secondly, They are Ministring Spirits unto Christ, the Son of God made Man, whence they are said to ascend and descend upon the Son of Man, Saint Iohn 1.51. And this they do by divine ap­pointment, When he bringeth in the first-begotten in­to the world, he saith, and let all the Angels of God worship him, Heb. 1.6. according to that of the Psalmist, worship him all ye Gods!

Here now I might entertain you with a prolix discourse, to shew how all along the holy Angels have waited upon Christ and Ministred to him. But I will only touch upon the particulars; most of which the devout Gerhard hath summarily laid together.

[ Angelus ejus conceptionem nunciat, D. I Ger­hard Med. xxvi. — nativitatem manifestat, — in AEgyptum fugere mandat;— Angeli serviunt ei in deserto, —ministrant ei in toto praedica­tionis ministerio; — Angelus ei adest in mortis a­gone, — apparet in ipsius Resurrectione; — Angeli praestò sunt in Ascensione, — aderunt in futurâ ad ju­dicium reversione.]

1. To signalize his Advent an Angel foretels his immediate Fore-runner, Iohn the Baptist, unto Zacharias, Saint Luke [...].13. — and then, his Con­ception to the Virgin Mary, ver. 30.31. resol­ving her doubts, how this should be, ver. 35. and, [Page 62] after that, assuring Ioseph, her espoused Husband, that, what was conceived in her Womb, was of the Holy Ghost, Saint Mat. 1.20.

2. At his Birth, as hath been some-where al­ready intimated, an Angel is the Herald to pro­claim the good news of it to the Shepheards in the Field, and directs them to the place where he lay; and immediately, upon that, a whole host of Angels sing together in consort with him, glo­rifying and lauding God, Saint Luke 2.10. &c. No sooner was he born into the World, but he was look'd upon with admiration by the Angels, adored and worshipped by those knowing and blessed Spirits, how contemptible soever his ap­pearance was in the eyes of Men. Upon which account, probably, the Apostle adds it as a con­siderable link to his Golden-chain, when he de­scribes the great and acknowledge'd Mystery of Godliness; God, saith he, was manifest in the flesh, justified in (or by) the spirit, seen of Angels, — 1 Tim. 3.16.

3. Then during his Life upon Earth,

An Angel watcheth over him, while yet in his Infancy, to prevent the danger he was in from Herod's malice, seeking to kill him; and to that purpose appears to Joseph in a dream, and warns him to take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, till he should bring him word, Saint Mat. 2.13, 14. as he did sometime after, ap­pearing again in a dream to Ioseph in Egypt, and saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead, which sought the young childs life, ver. 19, 20. And yet again, after that, warning him to turn aside into the parts of Galilee, ver. 22.

At his fasting forty days and forty nights in the Wilderness, conflicting thereupon with the [Page 63] Tempter, the Angels minister to him in his need, and congratulate his Triumphs. He was there in the Wilderness, saith Saint Mark, forty days temp­ted of Satan, and was with the wild Beasts, and the Angels ministred to him, ch. 1.13. providing, 'tis like, for his safety, as well as support, all the while there. But we have it in Saint Matthew at the end of his three Temptations, Then the Devil leaveth him, and behold, Angels came and mi­nistred unto him, Fr. Spa [...] ­bem. Dub. Evangel. ch. 4.11. [ ne deesse viderentur Angeli, cui Angelorum custodiam & ministeria in­sidiosè impegerat tentator. — spectatores tantùm con­flictûs, socii triumphi.]

At his bitter Agony in the Garden, when he had resigned up himself perfectly to his Father's Will and disposal, as to the sufferings he was to undergo, There appeared an Angel unto him from Heav'n strengthning of him, Saint Luke 22.43. And, if need were, himself tells us, that he could but ask his Father, and he would send him more than twelve Legions of Angels, Saint Matth. 26.53.

4. After his Death,

An Angel opens his Grave and removes his Tomb-stone; Behold, saith the Text, there was a great earth-quake, for the Angel of the Lord descend­ed from Heav'n, and came, and rolled back the Stone from the door, and sate upon it: his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the keepers did shake and become as dead men, Saint Matth. 28.2, 3, 4.

The Angel also declares and witnesses his Re­surrection; for so it follows, ver. 5, 6, 7. And the Angel answered, and said unto the women; fear not ye, for I know, that ye seek Iesus, which was cru­cified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said; come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quick­ly and tell his Disciples, that he is risen from the dead. [Page 64] And, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him. Lo, I have told you before. — Saint Luke speaks of two Angels, ch. 24.4, 5, 6, 7. It came to pass, saith he, as the women were much per­plex'd, behold two men stood by them in shining-gar­ments, and as they were afraid and bowing down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but he is risen. Remember how he spake unto you, while he was yet in Galilee, saying, the Son of Man must be deli­vered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

5. At his Ascension into Heav'n, the Angels are his Attendants, confirm the Truth to the Be­holders, and Preach thereupon a second coming of his, in like manner, from thence, Act. 1.10, 11. While they looked stedfastly into Heav'n, as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white ap­parel, which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into Heav'n? This same Iesus, which is taken up from you into heav'n, shall so come, in like manner, as ye have seen him go up into heav'n. — So Iust. Martyr expounds that in Ps. 24. Attollite por­tas principes vestras — [...], &c. Dial. cum Tryphone, p. 255. He needed not the Angels help indeed to transport him thither, to remove im­pediments, and bear him up in their Arms, as Saint Cyprian speaks, but a multitude of them came about him to applaud him as Victor, De As­cens. Do­mini. and sing together in Jubilee, modulating a new Song, and filling the Heav'ns with their agreeing har­mony.

6. Then, after his glorious Exaltation at the right hand of God on high, and being made Head over all things to the Church, Angels, and Authorities, [Page 65] and Pow [...]rs subjected to him, and all things put under his feet, [Ephes. 1.20, 21, 22. 1 Pet. 3.22.] We find,

Th [...]y wait upon and glorifie him in Heav'n; I b [...]h [...]ld, saith Saint Iohn, and heard the voice of ma­ny Angels round about the Throne, — saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb, th [...]t was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing, Revel. 5.11, 12.

Upon occasion they reveal his Mind and Will from thence; The Revelation of Iesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his Servants things, which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and sig­nified it by his Angel unto his servant John, Revel. 1.1. And again, in the close of that Book it is added, I Iesus have sent mine Angel to testifie unto you these things in the Churches, ch. 22.16.

At his commandement they fight against his, and his Churches enemies; Michael and his An­gels against the Dragon and his Angels, ch. 12.7.

Lastly, at his glorious coming in the end of all, they are again to attend his Person, proclaim his Approach▪ awaken the Dead to the general Resurrection, separate the Good from the Bad at the final Judgment, and execute the decretory Sentence, then giv'n forth and pronounced by the Judge, [ [...], I. M [...]rtyr Apol. 2. p. 87.] He shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels, Saint Mark 8.38. He shall be revealed from Heav'n with his mighty Angels, 2 Thess. 1.7. He shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the A [...]ch-angels, and with the Trump of God, 1 Thess. 4.16. The Trumpe [...] shall sound, and the Dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed, 1 Cor. 15.52. The Angels are the Reapers — to gather the Tares out of Christ's [Page 66] Kingdom, to sever the wicked from among the just, and cast them i [...]to the Furnace of Fire, where shall be wail­ing and gnashing of T [...]eth, Saint Matth. 13.3 [...]. &c.

Thus, from [...]irst to last, from our blessed Savi­our's appearing in the Flesh to his glorious co­ming, a [...] the [...]inal Judg of quick and dead, the Angels, we se [...], are his Mini [...]tring Spirits.

SECT. III. Their Ministry to the whole world, especially of Man­kind.

Thirdly, we are next to consider of them as Ministring Spirits, in reference to the whole world, especially of Mankind.

The Peripatetic Philosophers assign'd them an office of moving the Coelestial Orbs. But that hypothesis of the heav'nly motions is since dispu­ted; and (bating the uncertainty of it) we may, as probably, determine, that God, who hath fur­nish'd the nature of all things else with necessa­ries, hath also imprinted in those superior Bo­dies the intrinsic principles and causes of their own motion, without the help of such assisting intelligences. Some of the Hebrew Doctors (as Zanchius reports from Trithemius, Zanch. de Oper. Dei par. 1. l. 3. c. 1. Agrippa, and others) have giv'n to every Planet its Angel, to every Sign in the Zodiac its Angel; to every Wind its Angel; and to every Element its An­gel. Thus they have named,

1. For the seven Planets.] To Saturn Zapkiel, to Iupiter Zadkiel, to Mars Camuel, to Sol Ra­phael, to Venus Haniel, to Mercurius Michael, to Luna Gabriel, which they affirm to be the seven Spirits, that always stand in the presence of [Page 67] God, and under whom the government of Hea­ven and Earth is disposed. [ Saturno Cassielem, Iovi Zakielem, Marti Samuelem, Veneri Anaelem, Mercurio Raphaelem, Lunae Gabrielem, Pet. Rami prael [...]ct. in somn. Scip. p. 528.]

2. For the twelve Signs of the Zodiac.] To Aries Malchedael, to Taurus Asmodel, to Gemini Ambriel, to Cancer Muriel, to Leo Verchiel, to Virgo Hamaliel, to Libra Zuriel, to Scorpio Bar­chiel, to Sagittarius Adnachiel, to Capricornus Ha­niel, to Aquarius Gambiel, to Pisces Barchiel.

3. for the four Winds and four quarters of the World.] To the East Michael, See Rev [...]l. 7.1. to the West Raphael, to the North Gabriel, to the South Na­riel. — And

4. For the four Elements.] To Fire Seraph, to Air Cherub, to Water Tharsis, to Earth A­riel.

But these are unaccountable imaginations of Men, over-curious, and bold beyond their un­derstanding. Not to reflect upon all the parti­culars, or the difference of names among Writers. Haniel is here intrusted both with Venus and Ca­pricorn, Michael with Mercury and the East, Ra­phael with Sol and the West, Gabriel with Luna and the North, contrary to another of the Jewish Traditions, mention'd by P. Fagius, P. Fag. in Genes. 18.2. That every Angel hath his particular charge and business, nor are there more than one at the same time committed to any of them. Therefore, say they, were there three Angels sent to Abraham, the first to tell him he should have a Son by Sarah, the second to rescue Lot out of Sodom, and the third to over­throw Sodom and the neighbouring Cities.

It is not indeed improbable, but that the An­gels have some share, as the Ministers of God Almightie's Providence, in ordering of the [Page 68] World; that they are, not only a most consi­derable Species of Beings, and ornamental part of the Universe themselves, but Instruments also of the Divine Polity in the Government of it; or, that God doth in his ordinary dispensation of af­fairs [ gubernare inferiora per superiora, Suarez Metaph. Disp. 35. s. 3. & s. 6. & corpora­li [...] per spiri [...]ualia, as the Schools speak] manage things inferior by the superior, and bodily by spiritual.

Zanch. de Oper. Dei part. 1. l. 2. Psellus calls them therefore [...] [ quod mun­dum agant, regantque] Rulers of the World; [and the Apostle speaks of the evil Spirits, that, by Gods permission only, usurp over the ignorant and vi­cious, in a word that is near of kin to that, [...], Ephes. 6.12.] — Seneca calls them, as I noted before Ch. 11. sect. 11. out of Lactantius, [Ministros Regni Dei,] Ministers of God's Kingdom, and intimates it as the Divine contrivance at the making of the World, [ ut om­nia sub ducibus suis irent,] that every thing should have a Guide allotted it.

In Timao. Vide Rho­digini Lect. An­tiq. l. 2. c. 10. Plato in like manner was of opinion, that God hath set Demons over the whole World as Lea­ders of the Flocks, to govern all Man-kind, ac­cording to the distributions assign'd them. Ori­gen grants, that we have not the benefit of the Fruits of the Earth, Orig. con­tra Celsum l. 8. p. 398. or Rivers of Water, and th [...] like conveniences without the presidence of these invisible Husbandmen, and Stewards; — and he adds, a little after, that the Angels are of a truth the Lieutenants, and Officers, and Souldiers, and curators of God.

Vide Sua­rez, ut an­tè, & Lips. Phys. sto. l. 1. Diss. 20. Damascen saith, that, as they are placed by the Supreme Maker of all, they have the custody of certain parts of the Earth, look to Nations and Countries, order our affairs, and bring us help upon occasion. Saint Augustin, that every visi­ble [Page 69] thing hath an invisible or angelical power set over it. And Ruf [...]inus, that certain Celestial Powers have the Regency o [...] Mortals from the begin­ning.

A mighty tendency there is in traditionary be­lief this way; and from hence, possibly, they may be call'd, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, and Mights in holy Scripture, as hath been already in part suggested.

But it seems yet with greater evidence con­cludable from the Book of Dani [...]l, that God hath appoint [...]d Regent-Angels, as Presidents o­ver the respective Nations and Provinces of the Earth. For we read there of the [ Prince of the Kingdom of Persia,] and of the [ Prince of [...]rae­cia,] and of [ Michael, one of the chief Princes, that took care of Iudaea,] Dan. 10.13, 20, 21. [ Princeps Synagogae,] the Prince of the Synagogue, or Church of Israel, [Michael your Prince. The great Prince th [...]t standeth for the Children of thy Peo­ple, Vatab. in Dan. c. 10. &c. 12.] ch. 12.1. — Vatablus is peremptory here­upon, that [ Singulae Regiones habent Praesides An­gelos,] every Region hath its President Angel; and Mr. Calvin in his Institutions asserts it from hence, with a note of assurance, Certè cum Daniel Angelum Persarum & Graecorum Angelum indu­cit, significat certos Angelos Regnis ac Provinciis qua­si Praesides destinari, l. 1. c. 14. §. 7. Saint Hi [...]rom saith, In Ezech. 28. [ traditae sunt Angelis ad regendum Provinciae quasi judicibus ab imperatore,] that particular Pro­vinces are deliver'd over by God to Angels go­vernance, as is wont to be done by Emperors to their Judges. And, (to forbear other Testimo­nies) Grotius tells us, Grot. in S. Matt. c. 18.1 [...]. that both the Jews and an­tient Christians, with great consent, collected as much out of the Book of Daniel, and that Clèmens of Alexandria puts it beyond all controversie.

[Page 70] Ainsworth in Deut. 32.8.The Jews supposed there were LXX Angels, Rulers of the LXX Nations, into which the World was divided, Gen. 10. and accordingly the Greek translates that in the Song of Moses, Deut. 32.8. He set the bounds of the People [ [...],] according to the number of the Angels of God. Divin. Decret. Epitom. Hom. 60. in S. Matt. 18. Which Text Th [...]odoret adds, with the proofs out of Daniel, to declare [ nonnullos qui­dem ex Angelis praeesse gentibus,] and Saint Chryso­stom also alledgeth it.

The Romans for certain had a Temple dedica­ted to the publick Genius, the Genius Pop. Rom. and it was the Inscription of some of Adrian's Coins, L. Gyrald. Syntagm. 15. GEN. P. R. and their Prince was sup­posed to have one extraordinary, whence they swore commonly per Genium Principis; Suet. in Calig. and Sue­tonius tells us, that Caligula punished many, [ quod per cjus Genium pejeraverant.]

In like manner, the Current of Authority is very strong, that every man [at l [...]ast every pi­ous and good man] hath his Tutelar or Guardi­an Angel, D. Th [...]. part. 1. Q. 13. Art. [...]. his Angel-keeper attending him.

The Scriptures indeed, commonly alledg'd for this, do not of themselves necessarily inforce it; yet, if taken and expounded, as generally they are, by the Fathers, according to the common belief of the Jewish Nation, yea and the Tradition of the Gentiles too, which was from thence, most probably, derived, do very much favour it.

Dub. E­ [...]a [...]gel. LX [...]I. Spanhemius is positive and severe in condemn­ing this opinion, as [1. [...]. 2. [...]. 3. [...],] un-scriptural, anti-scriptural, unrea­sonable. Za [...]ch. de Oper. Dei part 1. l. 3. c ▪ 15. But the learned Zanchie is quite of another mind. The common and constant consent of the Fathers, saith he, hath much of weight and au­thority with me, unless the holy Scriptures do manifest­ly teach the contrary; and they all seem to have be [...]n [Page 71] of this judgment, which I l [...]ok upon as the more pro­bable; Ibid. — The whole Church hath always thought thus. — It was, saith he [...]arther, and is the received opinion of the, Hebrews, that [...]very [...]aithfull person hath his certain Angel assign'd him; and it may be con [...]irm'd from hence, th [...] the Doctrine abou [...] A [...]gels propagated among the Gentil [...]s did [...]low [...]rom the Iew [...], as Justin and Eusebius test [...]i [...], however many things were corrupted in the relating. Id. l. 2. c. 1. N [...]w it was the re­ceived opinion among all Nations, that all men, so soon as co [...]ceived, have th [...]ir Angels appointed them, whence also they were call'd Genii.

I will instance only in some f [...]w Authorities, first of the Fathers, and secondly of Pagan-Wri­ters.

[ [...]—] Iust. Mar [...]yr, Qu. & Resp. p. 410.

[ Aliquibus (Ang [...]lis) uniuscujusque hominis cr [...]di­tam esse curam, ne cos laederent & perniciem cis asser­rent scelerati & ex [...]crati Daemones.] Theodoret. Divin. Decret▪ Epit. c. de Angelis.

[ [...]— [...].] Basil. l. 3. contra Eunomium.

De Plato [...]e test [...]tur Apul [...]ius — Plato autumat singulis hominibus in vitâ agendâ testes & cuslodes singulos additos, qui, nemini conspicui, semper adsint arbitri omnium, &c.] De Deo Socratis.

[ [...]. — [...].] Max. Tyrius, Diss. xxvi.

[ [...].] Ar­rian. Epist. Diss. l. 1. c. 14.

[ Quod a [...]tem ab Hebraeis demanârunt, quae apud [...]entiles propagata sunt de Angelis, utì è Zanchio paulò ante diximus, confirmant magis quae sequuntur. [...]; Numenius. Vide Ludov. Viv. in Aug. l. 8. de Civ. Dei c. 11. Quis Poetarum, quis Sophistarum, qui non omninò de Pro­phetarum fonte potaverit? Tertul. Apol. c. 47. [...]; Quod apud vos studium non à Barbaris traxit originem? Tatiani Orat. contra Graecos.]

Iacob when he blesseth Ioseph's two Sons, makes this Prayer for them: The Angel, which redeemed me from all [...]vil, bless the Lads! Gen. 48.1 [...]. where he manifestly points at an Angel; that had all along taken the care of himself; [whoe [...]er he were] but then he assigns him over, if I may so speak, to both his Grand-children, to Ephraim and Manasseh together. — Our blessed Saviour affirms of his Disciples, that they have their Angels, by way of propriety. Saint Matth. 18.10. [from whence Saint Chrysostom thinks it evident, that the Saints, if not all others, have their An­gels, [...], Hom. 60. in S. Matth.] But yet he deter­mines not peremptorily one particular Angel to each of them. — The Church in Mary's house say, when Saint Peter knock'd at door, whom they supposed at that time fast in Prison, It is [Page 73] his Angel, Act. 12.15. and this, as Zanchie notes, De Oper. Dei part. 1. l. 3. c. 15. [ juxtà receptam in populo Dei sententiam:] and Ori­gen infers from thence, that the other Apostles had in like manner their Angels. Similitèr ergò intelligitur esse & alius alterius Apostoli Angelus, si­cut est Petri, & singulorum per ordinem. In Nume­ros Hom. 1.

This seems to argue an opinion of particular Guardian-Angels in the speakers, but yet amounts not to a conviction of the truth of that opinion. Which is also rendred somewhat the more dubious, because there is not an exact agreement about the time, when this Angel enters upon his supposed charge.

Some say at the Nativity, according to that of Saint Hierom, [magna dignitas animarum, In S. Matt. 18. ut unaquae­que habeat ab ortu nativitatis in custodiam sui An­gelum deputatum, L. Med. c. 12.] with whom agrees Saint Augu­stin, [Maximum aestimo & illud fuisse beneficium, quod Angelum pacis ab ortu nativitatis ad finem us­que meum mihi ad custodiendum me dedisti.]

Others upon Baptism; Tract. 5. in S. Matt. cit. à Bal­duino de cas. consc. l. 3. and so Origen is thought to believe, and teach, [ Singulis pueris, statim post acceptum Baptismum, certum assignari An­gelum.]

Others, not only before Baptism, but, be­fore the Birth too, even at the instant, when the Soul is first infused; whence Tertullian ascribes all those good offices unto Angels, as the Mini­sters of Divine Power, which the Superstition of Rome Heathen divided among several feigned Goddesses; as Alemonia so call'd from nourish­ing the foetus in the Womb; Nona and Decima, from the moneths of Note for Child-bearing; Partula, from the governing of the Birth; and Lucina, from the bringing of it into Light: Om­nem hominis in utero serendi, struendi, fingendi para­turam [Page 74] aliqua utique potestas, divinae voluntatis mini­stra, modulatur — Nos officia divina Angelos dici­mus.] De animâ, c. 37.

The Pythagoreans conceived, That every man hath both a good and a bad Angel attending him; (which Mahomet hath adopted into his Religion.) And that was also the saying of Empedocles, Dr. More Antidot. against A­theism. l. 3. c. 14. Alexand. ab Alexan­dr [...] Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 4. Hom. 12. in S. Luk. Epist. 3. Al [...]x. ab Alex. ubi supr [...]. [ binos Genios ab ipso natali di [...] cuiqu [...] mortali Deorum mu­nere datos, bonum, scil. & malum ▪] which Origen seems not at all to mislike. [ Vnicuique duo assistunt Angeli, alter justitiae, alter iniquitatis.] — The Stoics, as Seneca tells us, ascribed to every one [ Genium & junonem,] which, though Lipsius inter­pret [ Genium nempe viris, Iunonem faeminis,] others understand after another fashion; [ Iunonem & Genium suum singulis dederunt, quasi praesides & op­pugnatores.]

Again, the Egyptians taught, that every Man hath three Angels; one to govern his immortal Soul, Zanch. de Oper. Dei part. 1. l. 3. c. 15. Baldui [...]. de cas. consc. l. 3. c. 1. Otho-Casm. Angelogr. p. 2. c. 7. Q. 1. which was call'd [ Sacer Daemon,] a second from the disposition of the Heav'ns, call'd his [ Genius] and a third with reference to his Voca­tion or Imployment, stiled therefore [ Spiritus Professionis.]

By all which it appears, how uncertainly, and at random we guess at these matters.

The holy Scriptures speak, not only of one, but a multitude of Devils we are in danger of, and to watch and war against, Ephes. 6. And, in like manner, not only of one, but a multitude of Angels imploy'd by God for our aid and relief. He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee, — Ps. 91. And are they not all ministring Spirits? saith the Text. Yea, and where it is said, The Angel of the Lord encampeth — Ps. 34. We are to con­strue it Angels; See Ai [...]s. worth in Ps 34. and Ps. 8. for he speaks of an Host, and often by the Hebrews one is put for a multitude, [Page 75] the singular for the plural. See befor [...] Sect. 1. of this Ch▪ [Thus the Inhabi­tant, for the Inhabitants, 2 Sam. 5.6. with 1. Chr. 11.4. Frog, for Frogs, Psal. 78.45. Tree, for Trees, Quail for Quails, Ps. 105.33. — 40. Ship, for Ships, 1 Kings 10.22. with 2 Chron. 9.21. the Fowl, for Fowls, Ps. 8.9. Spear, for Spears, 2 Kings 11.10. with 2 Chron. 23.9.]

We find in sacred Writ sometimes one and the same Angel bringing Messages to divers persons, Gabriel, for instance, sent to Daniel, to Zacharias, Dan. 9. S. Luke 1. and to the blessed Virgin; and one and the same Angel taking care for, and effecting the delive­rance of sundry persons at once; Acts. 5s 19, 20. opening the Prison-Dores and bringing forth the Apostles thence, &c.

Sometimes again we have many Angels joynt­ly, a whole Host of them, protecting and defend­ing one single person. So The Mountain was full of Horses and Chariots of Fire round about Elisha, 2 Kings 6.17. And Angels [in the plural num­ber] rejoice over one penitent, Saint Luke 15. And take the charge of Lazarus his Soul at his decease, ch. 16.22.

From whence yet I dare not conclude, (as some have done) that it is contradictory to holy Scrip­ture, to assert some one Angel ordinarily attend­ing every good man; for that may well enough consist with the allowing of an extraordinary sup­ply of more, when God pleaseth; and with this qualification that opnion is usually deliver'd, [ V­nicuique electo ordinariè certum propriumque Ange­lum — extra ordinem vero plure [...].]

Now, though all men may be supposed to have an interest in the custody of Angels [ quatenùs via­tores, D. Tho. part. 1. Q. 113. Art. 4. & [...] ▪ as the Schools speak] as travellers here in the way to happiness, so that none shall be able [...]ereafter to plead with God Almighty, and alledge [Page 76] that they sinn'd, Te [...]a in Ep. ad. Hebr. [ ex defect [...] hujus adjutorii,] for want of this help, where it was necessary; yet it is most certain from the Scriptures, that good and pious men, sincere and upright Christians, have a more special and effectual share in their Ministry.

The words of the learned Grotius in this argu­ment are remarkable enough, Grot. in S. Matt. 18.10. I think, to deserve a translation here. It is evident, saith he, that the Angels are Ministers of Divine Providence, and from thence credible, that the Offices of Angels are distinguished according to the degrees of that Provi­dence. Now besides the universal Providence over all there is a common providence, whereby God upholds and guides the civil Societies of Men, which we call Republics. And, that each of these have their An­gels, is with great consent both of Iews and Christians collected out of Daniel; [as hath been said before.] But, as God orders the Affairs of Kingdoms with re­ference to the State of the Vniverse, so, for the most part, the concerns of single persons with re­ference to the State of Kingdoms. But, then, saith he further, those, who by a true Faith consecrate themselves to God, are exempted from the common lot, and look'd upon as God's peculiars, whom as he su­stains with a special providence, so he seems to assign Guardian-Angels unto, to direct their steps and suc­ceed their endeavours. — [Agreeably whereto the Apostle [...]alls the living God, the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe, 1 Tim. 4.10. And adviseth else-where, that, in imitation of him▪ As we have opportunity, we do good unto all men, especially unto them of the houshold of Faith, Gal. 6.10.]

Waving all conjectures and probabilities, two points there are most obvious and undeniable in the Text.

1. That the Angels have a Charge and Com­mission given them to take care of th [...] faithful [Page 77] Servants of God, and Disciples of his Son. They are [ [...],] Sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of Salvation. And hence they are call'd their Angels, by Christ himself, as was said before. The Angel of the Lord, saith the Psalmist, encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them, Ps. 34.7. And, again, he shall give his Angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone, Psal. 91.11, 12. Where it is spoken of such, as set their love upon God, make him their refuge, and know his name; that is, worship and serve him, Ver. 9, 10, 14. ‘— Sanctus sacer Angelus astat. D. I. Ger­hard Med. xxvi.’

And then,

2. That none of all the Angels are exc [...] from this Ministry; however the Schools [...] some Hebrew Doctors have presumed to confine it to the lower ranks and Orders only, as I have touched before: Are they not all ministring Spirits, sent forth to Minister (viz. upon occasion, as God sees fit and good) for those who shall be heirs of Salvation? Saint Cyril notes it of the Seraphim, (who are supposed the very Supreme Power of the highest Hierarchy) that one of them was sent to Isaiah the Prophet ch. 6. and he confirms it from this of our Apostle to the Hebrews, that they are all administratorii Spiritus, in the decla­ring of which he adds, The same yoke, Vide apud Tenam in Ep. ad. Heb. if one may so speak, is upon all these holy Spirits; and they are all at their Masters beck, none of them thinking this service too mean, and unworthy, but este [...]ming it their honour and praise so to be imployed.

SECT. IV. Their Ministry to the Faithful.

I proceed therefore, Fourthly, to shew more particularly the Ministry of the Angels unto the Faithful, and the good turns or Offices, which they perform for them in pursuit of this their Trust and Commission.

Menander calls them [ [...],] the the Moderators of Life; Seneca [paedagogos,] our Tutors or School-Masters; Vide Lips. Phys. Stoic. l. 1. Diss. 19. Hesiod [ [...],] the Guardians or Keepers of Mortals; Epicte [...]us, [ [...],] our Curatours, and such as neither slumber nor can be deceived; Zeno, [...],] the Overseers of humane Affairs; which words are all significative of the benefits received from and by them.

But, for method-sake, I will refer the chief in­stances of their Ministry unto these three heads.

• Zanch. de Oper. Dei par. 1. l. 3. c. 14. B [...]lduin. Cas. Consc. l. 3. c. 1. I.
  I. [...]. In order to our instruction and admonition.
• II. [...]. In order to our defence and preservation.
• III. [...]. In order to our comfort, help, deliverance and supply.

First, It is part of the Angels Ministry, up­on occasion, to declare the Mind and Will of God, and bring Messages from him for our in­struction and admonition. Vide Ce­ [...]is Ta­bulam. In Cebes his Table the Genius is represented like an old-man, with a Paper in the one hand, and with the other point­ing, as it were, at something, and commanding those that enter into Life, what to do, and what way to walk in.

[Page 79]The Lord appeared unto Abraham in the Plains of Mamre, and certified him and his Wife by his Angels, that they should have a Son in their old-age, Gen. 18. And after to Lot, giving him notice of the destruction of Sodom, and warning him and his to slie out speedily from thence, ch. 19 And the Law is said to have been giv'n the Jews by the disposition of Angels; as I shew'd Sect 1. of this Ch. before, the word spoken by Angels. An Angel meets Balaam the Prophet (though otherwise of no very good character) in a perverse way, and charges him to speak no more than God should reveal, Numb. 22. Daniel had his Visions from an Angel, and the Angel Gabriel was sent forth to inform him and give him skill and understand­ing, Dan. 8.16. — 9.22.23. ch. 10. and 11. So throughout the Prophecy of Zechary, we read that an Angel talk'd and commun'd with him, and shew'd him this and that, and said to him thus and thus, Zech. 1.9, 14, 19. — 2.3, 4. &c.

And, then in the New-Testament, an Angel brings the welcome Message of a Son, who should be the fore-runner of a Messias, to Zacharias the Priest, Saint Luke 1.13. — and, after that, to the blessed Virgin, of her conception of that Mes­sias, &c. ver. 30, 31. and, after that, proclaims the good tidings of his Birth to the Shepherds in the Field, Saint Luke 2. — An Angel appears thrice to Ioseph, (as hath been said upon Sect. 11▪ of this Ch. ano­ther occasion) first to satisfie him about the ta­king to him Mary his espoused Wife; afterwards to warn him to fly with the young Child and his Mother into Egypt; and then to call him a­gain into the Land of Israel, Saint Matth. 1.20, 21. — 2.13, 20, 22. The Angels also (as I have Ibid. shewn) preach Christ's Resurrection to those that sought him in his Sepulchre, Saint Luke 24. [Page 80] and testifie from heav'n the verity of his Ascension thither, and his second coming thence, Acts 1. — An Angel signifies the Revelations of Christ to Iohn the Divine, Revel. 1.1. — 22.16. &c.

This way of God's communicating his Mind and Will, occasionally, to Men by Angels, seems pointed at in that of Elihu, Iob 33.14, 15, 16, 17. and was commonly acknowledged among the Jews; whence that speech of theirs concern­ing Saint Paul, We find no evil in this man, but, if a Spirit or Angel have spoken to him, let us not fight against God.

But their doctrinal Ministry is not, ordinarily, now to be expected by us. God hath thought good to substitute other Legats for the publish­ing of his Mind and Will to Men. Malachi hath it of the Legal Priesthood, The Priests lips should keep knowledge, and th [...]y should seek the Law at his mouth; for he is the Messenger [or Angel] of the Lord of Hosts, Mal. 2.7. And God, saith our A­postle, who at sundry times, and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son; [viz. in our nature] a person far transcendent to the An­gels, Hebr. 1.1, 2. And this beloved Son of his, God inc [...]rnate, That great Prophet, whom all are obliged to hearken unto, (Acts 3.22, 23.) hath sent his apostles, after him, enabling of them to continue and propagate a succession of Ministers, after them too, faithful men, who shall teach others, unto the end of the World. He gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some E­vangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ, till we all come into the unity of the Faith and Knowledg of the Son of God, Ephes. 4.11, 12, 13. 2 Tim. 2.2.

[Page 81]These visible Ministers of Christ now we are to look upon and receive as Angels. Saint Paul speaks it to the praise of the Galatians, that they once so received him, Gal. 4.14. and so the Bi­shops of the Asian Churches are call'd by Christ himself, as hath been Ch. 1. Sect. 11. before suggested, Revel. 2 and 3 ch's. To such as these it is, that the ho­ly Angels themselves direct men under the Go­spel. — An Angel calls Philip towards the South to meet the Eunuch, and preach Jesus to him, Acts 8. An Angel certifies Cornelius, that his Prayers and Alms were come up for a memorial before God; but bids him send to Ioppa for Si­mon Peter there, who should tell him what he ought to do; and the Angel satisfies Peter too in a Vision, as to his going to him, Acts 10. An Angel also invites Saint Paul to preach the Go­spel in Macedonia, ch. 16. — So forward are these celestial Spirits in promoting the knowledg of those blessed Mysteries, which themselves with admiration look down into; and to testifie unto us, that it belongs not to them to usurp the Mi­nisterial Office in the Church of Christ, but to preserve and countenance it in the hands of such, as our Lord and Saviour hath appointed there­unto.

It is indeed an high honour which God im­parts unto Men, to confer this Angelical-Office and imployment on them; but then it is also a gracious condescension to humane weakness, that he is pleased so to treat with us, and speak to us by these in our own Flesh. For we could not bear the glorious splendor of Divinity it self in this our mortal state, nor the apparitions of Angels, neither, without much of terror and consternation. When the Law was giv'n by their Ministry, the people stood amazed, and said unto Moses, Speak [Page 82] thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die, Exod. 20.19. And, when an Angel came to the Wife of Manoah, Samp­son's Mother, she saith to her Husband concern­ing him, A man of God came unto me, and his coun­tenance was like the cou [...]tenance of an Angel of God, very terrible, Judg. 13.6. And of Daniel we read, that upon such an appearance, his strength failed him, and he stood trembling, Dan. 10.8, 11. and the like of others. In so much that the An­gels do usually begin their Message with the re­moval of that fear, which possesseth those to whom they speak. So to Daniel, Fear not Da­ni [...]l, Ch. 10.2. So to Zacharias, Fear not Zacha­rias, Saint Luke 1.13. So to the blessed Vir­gin, Fear not Mary, Ver. 30. So to the Shep­herds, Fear not, for behold I bring you good tydings, Ch. 2.10. So to the good women at our Saviours Grave, Fear n [...]t ye, for I know, that ye seek Iesus which was crucified, Saint Matth. 28.5. — It is therefore, as I have insinuated, a condescension to our state of infirmity, that God hath chosen to send and speak to us, ordinarily, by Embassa­dors of our own make and kind, mortal-men, like our s [...]lves, Men that die, and are not suffered to continue by reason of death, as the Apostle phra­seth it, Hebr. 7.8, 23.

Saint Paul yet gives another account of this di­spensation: We have this Treasure, saith he, in earthen-vessels, that the exc [...]llency of the power may be of God, and not of us, 2 Cor. 4.7. God declares and mag­nifies his Power in destroying the Devils King­dom by the Ministry of weak and frail Men.

To which may be added farther, that hereby also he makes the greater proof of our Faith and Obedience, whil'st we submit to them that watch for our Souls, and pay them all due reve­rence, [Page 83] as God's Ministers and Christ's Vicars, observing them, amidst their weakness and infir­mities, as Christ himself; according to that known Maxime, [ Apostolus cujusque ut quisqu [...]] translated by our Saviour to this purpose, He that heareth you heareth me, and he that d [...]spiseth you despi­seth me, Saint Luke 10.16.

And, then again, by this means hath God pro­vided fo [...] the safety of his Church, De Oper. Dei par. 1. l. 3. c. 14. as Zanchy notes, That f [...]lse and wick [...]d Doctrines might not be obtruded on her for true and holy by evil Angels, transforming themselves into Ang [...]ls of Light; or a wide door opened unto deceitful Enthusiasms and Re­velations, co [...]trary to the Gospel delive [...]'d by Christ and his Apostles. It pleased him, saith he, to make the Angels Ministers of the Law in Mount Sinai, and, u [...]der the New-Testament, that they should send men to be taught and instructed by the Apostles, that we might be assured, that they never propound any do­ctrine opposite to the Prophetical and Apostolical; and therefore, if there be any such in the World, that it is not from the Angels of God, but from the Devil and A [...]tichrist.

We are not 'tis true, to limit the Almighty, but that he may still imploy the holy Angels up­on certain Messages, Admonitions, and Instru­ctions, as he pleases; and likely enough it is, that many useful notices are communicated from them. [ Artes praeeunt, aut docent, & quaedam hu­mano ingenio nunquam eruenda ostendunt, Lipsius Phys. Stoic. l. 1 Diss. 19. Vsus etiam Musicae om­nisque disciplinae, medicinae, artis gymnasticae, & si quae sit his similis, nobis subministrant, Porphyr. deabstin. l. 2. s. 38. Quod & Plato intellexisse vide­tur, cum Philosophiam, [...], appella­rit. Quò spectat etiam Ciceronis illud, Philosophi [...] quid est aliud, nisi, ut Plato ait, Donum, ut Ego, in­ventum [Page 84] Deorum? Tuscul. l. 1. & M. Antonini, [...] — l. 1. s. 17.]

But the way of Salvation is already prescribed to us, and setled by a sure word of Prophesie in the holy Scriptures, which we are to give heed unto, as an unerring Rule and Guide: So that we must not look for, or hearken unto any other Gospel. Saint Paul as to this is cleer and posi­tive; Though we or an Angel from Heav'n preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed: as we said be­fore, so say I now again, if any one preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed, Gal. 1.8, 9. which we are the more carefully to mind, because there may be some­times Diabolical delusions pretending to be An­gelical and Divine Revelations, 2 Cor. 11.13, 14, 15. and we are warned, Not to believe every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they be of God, be­cause many false-Prophets are gone abroad in the World, 1. Ep. of S. Iohn 4.1. We read of a Spirit that said in Ahab's time, I will go forth and be a ly­ing Spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets, 1 Kings 22.21, 22. Nor was this peculiar unto that sea­son only; for the holy Ghost speaketh expresly, as Saint Paul tells us, That in the later times some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed to seducing Spirits, and Doctrines of Devils, speaking lies in hypocrisie, 1 Tim. 4.1, 2.

This then we are to conclude upon for our security against all dangerous Impostures, that a good Angel, an Angel of Light, can never come unto us upon any errand contrary to the revealed Word and Will of God by Jesus Christ, whom they all adore and worship. This is the Chart or Paper they bear always in their hand, that I may allude to what was said of the descrip­tion [Page 85] made in Cebes Table, at the b [...]ginning. The Law was given by their Ministry, and the Gospel pub­lished with their acclamations. And, what the Prophet Isaiah hath said against those, who con­sult the Devil and his Instruments, is worthy also of our remembrance. Chap. 8.9, 10. When they shall say unto you seek unto them that have Familiar Spi­rits, and unto Wizzards, that peep and that mutter; [or that cant] should not a People seek unto their God? [as if he had said, how incongruous and absurd is it to forsake the Oracles of God, and enquire of the Devils?] To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according to this Word [whatever New Light they may possibly pretend unto] it is because there is no Light in them.

Secondly, It is a particular charge given to the II Angels to be our Keepers, to ward off dangers from us; as Souldiers, to guard us; as Nurses, to bear us in their Arms; and as Guides, to di­rect us in wayes full of peril, hazard, and un­certainty. The Phrases used by the Psalmist are apposite to this purpose. The Angel of the Lord [ [...], castrametatur circum] encamp­eth round about them that fear him, Ps. 34. And There shall no evil befall thee; for he shall give his An­gels charge over thee, [ [...]] to keep thee in all thy ways, [ [...]] they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone, Ps. 91.10, 11, 12.

With this therefore Abraham encourageth his Servant, when he sent him to seek a Wife for his Son Isaac, The Lord God of Heaven shall send his Angel before thee, Gen. 24.7. Which he, when he comes to tell his Story, thus repeats, He said un­to me, the Lord, before whom I walk, will send hi [...] Angel with thee, and prosper thy way, v. 40. And, when Iacob return'd to his Father's House [Page 86] from the service of Laban, the Angels of God met him in the way, of whom he said, Th [...] is God's Host, Gen. 32.1, 2. [of which Ch. 2. Sect. 3. before] and he had good experience of their prot [...]ction. This was the support which God gave unto Mo­ses in his conduct of the People of Israel, Exod. 23.20, &c. Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place, which I have pr [...]pared. Beware of him, and ob [...]y his voice: provoke him not, for he will [...]ot pardon your transgres­sions; for my Name is in him. But if thou shalt in­deed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an Enemy unto they Enemies, and an Adversary unto thy Adversaries; for mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will cut them off.— And again he renews the same en­couragement, ch. 33.2. I will send an Angel before thee, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amo­rite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. When a formidable Ar­my of Syrians had surrounded Dothan, where E­lisha was, to apprehend him, so that his Servant was at his wits end upon it, Elisha thus comforts him, Fear not, for they that be with us, are more than they that be with them, 2 Kings 6.14, 15. whereby he meant the Host of Angels that pitched about him; for so it follows, v. 16, 17. And Elisha pray'd and said, Lord, I pray thee open h [...] Eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the Eyes of the young Man, and he saw, and behold▪ the Mountain was full of Horses and Chariots of Fire rou [...]d about Elisha. Him therefore they pr [...]serv [...]d in this strait and danger, smiting of the Syrians with blindness, as we may read more at large.

This is supposed to be that Hedge, the Devil [Page 87] complains of, which God made about Job, and about his House, and about all that he had on every side, ch. 1. v. 10. And accordingly some expound that place of the Prophet Isaiah, ch. 5.5. Vide Te­nam in Ep. ad Hebr. & Otho­ca [...]m. An­gelogr. part 2. c. 7. v. 6. I will take away the Hedge of my Vineyard, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the Wall thereof▪ and it shall be trodden down. [Sepes & maceria custodia Angelica] as the ordinary gloss hath it, This Hedge and Wall is the Guard, or Custody, of Angels. And so we may conceive too That Promise of God's being a Wall of Fire round about Ierusalem, Zec. 2.4. according to what we read, ev'n now, of the Mountain full of Horses and Chariots of Fire round about Elisha. And, agreeably to this, we are informed, that, immediately before the D [...]stru­ction of Ierusalem, Iosephus de Bello Judaico▪ l. 2. c. 12. were heard the Voices of An­gels in the Temple, saying, Let us hence.

Many good Men, undoubtedly, have owed their safety and preservation from impendent evils and ruine to the peculiar warning of Angels. So our blessed Saviour, as I have noted Sect. 2. before, was kept from the malice of Herod, and his Emis­saries, by the Angel warning Ioseph in a Dream, S. Mat. 2. Some memorable passages of this na­ture I will here insert out of History.

The first I take from Melanchton, in his com­ment upon Daniel, where he tells this Story of Grynaeus, a Learned and Religious Divine. Melanch­ton, com­ment. in Dan. c. 10. This Grynaeus at the meeting at Spire, Anno 1529. came to Melanchton from the University of Hei­delberge, and, having heard Faber Bishop of Vien­na defending some gross errors in a Sermon by him preached there, went to him privately and expostulated with him a while about th [...]m. Fa­ber politickly dissembles his dislike, pr [...]tends him­self desirous of farther discourse with him, and that he would return to him on the Morrow to [Page 88] that purpose, appointing him then to meet him, and begging his excuse for the present haste, as ha­ving some urgent business with the King. Grynae­us, in the interim, thinks him in good [...]arnest, whereas the Snare was now a-laying for his Life, goes back to Melanchton in this persuasion, and was just set down to Supper, and telling part of what had pass'd, when Melanchton was suddenly call'd by a certain Voice from Table to his Study, where one, he knew not, in the appearance of a Grave old Man, spake to him and told him, there would be Officers presently at hand, sent forth by the King at the instigation of Fab [...]r, for the ar­rest and imprisonment of Grynaeus, commanding him therefore to go immediately from the City, and make no delays, and so took his leave. Upon this Melanchton forthwith goes back to the Com­pany, bids them to rise, and declares what was said to him. Whereupon they convey Grynaeus to the Rhine, staying at the Banks but till they saw him safe over on the other side; and, returning back to his Lodgings, found that the Officers had been there indeed to search for him. This Rela­tion Melanchton avers himself for certain, and ap­peals to the Testimony of many good Men then a­live to avouch it, concluding of it devoutly to this effect. Bless we God, that he adds his Angels for our Keepers; Id. Ibid. and let us upon that account perform the Offices of our Vocation with the more quiet and un­concerned Spirits.

A second I contract out of Dr. H. Mo [...]e, who gives us this at large out of Bodinus.

Antidote against A­theism. l. 3. ch. 13.An Holy and Pious Man, as it should seem, and Acquaintance of Bodinus's, freely told him, how he had a certain Spirit that did perpetually ac­company him, which he was first aware of in the 37. Year of his Age, but conceived that the said [Page 89] Spirit had been present with him all his Life-time, as he gather'd from certain Monitory Dreams and Visions, whereby he was forewarn'd as well of se­veral dangers, as vices. That this Spirit disco­ver'd himself to him after he had for a whole Year together pray'd to God to send a good Angel to be the Guide and Governour of his Life and Acti­ons. That every day he would knock at the Door about three or four a-Clock in the Morning to rouze him up, and a Voice would come, while he was asleep, saying, [ Who gets first up to pray?] That by some sensible sign he did ever advertise him of things, as by striking his right Ear, if he did any thing amiss; if otherwise, his left: and if any body came to circumvent him, that his right Ear was struck; but his left, if a good Man, and to good ends, accosted him. If he was about to eat or drink any thing that would hurt him, or intended or purposed with himself to do any thing that would prove ill, that he was inhibited by a sign; and if he delay'd to follow his business, that he was quickned by a sign giv'n him. When he began to praise God in Psalms, and to de­clare his marvelous Acts, that he was presently raised and strengthned with a spiritual and super­natural Power. That he was often admonished to give Alms, and that the more charity he be­stow'd, the more prosperous he was. And that on a time, when his Enemies sought after his Life, and knew that he was to go by Water, that his Father in a Dream brought two Horses to him, the one White, the other Bay; and that therefore he bid his Servant hire him two Horses, and, though he told him nothing of the colours, that yet he brought him a White-one and a Bay-one. That in all difficulties, Journeys, and what other Enterprizes soever he used to ask Counsel of [Page 90] God; and that one Night, when he had begg'd his Blessing, while he slept he saw a Vision, where­in his Father seem'd to bless him. At another time, when he was in very great danger, and was newly gone to Bed, he said, that the Spirit would not l [...]t him alone, till he had raised him again; wherefore he watch'd and pray'd all that Night, and the day after he escaped the hands of his Per­secutors in a wonderful manner; which being done, in his next sleep he heard a Voice saving, Now sing, Qui sedet in latibulo Altissime.

A third I find in a late Discourse of Moses Amy­raldus, Of divine Dreams, p. 120, &c. who tells it from Cameron a Divine of Name and Eminence in the Reformed Churches, that he had from the Mouth of Monsieur Calignon, Chancellor of Navar, this notable passage which befel him in Bearn. Being in a certain Town of that Country, one Night as he was asleep he heard a Voice, which call'd him by his Name, Ca­lignon; whereupon awaking, and hearing no more of it, he fell to sleep again. And alittle after he heard the same Voice calling him in the same man­ner, which made a greater Impression upon him than before: so that now, being awakened, he call'd to his Wife lying by him, and told her what had hapned; and both of them for a time lay a­wake, expecting whether they might hear the Voice again, and whether it would say any thing more to them. At last the Voice awakened him a third time, calling him, as before, by Name, and advising him by all means to retire speedily out of that Town with his Family; for that within a few days the Plague would rage horribly there. To which the Chancellor added, that it was very well he followed the Direction giv'n him, for as much as soon after the Plague indeed began in the Town, and destroy'd a great Number of the [Page 91] People.— And this, saith Amyraldus, was certainly an Angel, that spake to him, and by the favourable and benign Providence ofGod drew him out of that danger, which otherwise had been unavoidable. Ibid.

Thus much in effect Apuleius tells us of Socrates his Daemon, out of Plato, that, Apul. de deo Socra­tis. if there were danger at any time in his Enterprizes and Under­takings, he heard a Voice from Heav'n admonish­ing him to use Caution, and either forbear a­while, or steer another Course. And Balbus in Cicero thus expounds Homer's allowing to the prin­cipal Heroes Certos Deos, discriminum & periculo­rum comites, de Nat. deorum, l. 2.

Thirdly, It is part of the Angels Ministry to the III Faithful, not only to keep and defend them, or pre­vent and ward off dangers from them, as hath been said, but to bring comfort also to the Disconsolate, and real help, supply, and deliverance in the time of need. The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him [...]punc; [ [...]] and delivereth them, Ps. 34. Instances of this sort we may have many.

The Angel of the Lord found Hagar by the Fountain of Water in the Wilderness▪ in the way to Shur, and said, Hagar, Sarah's Maid, whence camest thou, and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I fl [...]e f [...]om the Face of my M [...]stress Sarai. A [...]d the Ang [...]l of the Lord said unto her, return unto thy Mi­str [...]ss, [...]nd submit thy self under her hands. A [...]d the Angel of the Lord said unto her, [farther] I will mul [...]iply thy Seed exceedingly that it shall not be num­bred [...]or Multitude, — b [...]hold th [...]u art with Child, and shalt be [...]r a Son, and shalt [...]all h [...]s N [...]me [...]shmael, [that is, God shall hear] becaus [...] [...]he Lord hath heard thy affl [...]ction, Gen. 16.7, 8, &c. And ag [...]n, when she and that Son of hers were cast forth, and wan­dred in the Wilderness of Beersheba, and the Wa­ter was spent in the Bottle, and she cas [...] the Child [Page 92] under the Shrubs, and went and sat down over-against him a good way off, that she might not see his death, and lift up her voice, and wept, God, saith the Text, heard the voice of the Lad, and the Angel of the Lord call'd to Hagar out of Heav'n, and said unto her, what aileth thee Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the Lad, where he is; Arise, lift up the Lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make of him a great Nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a Well of Water, and she went and fill'd the Bottle with the Water, and gave the Lad to drink, Gen. 21.15, &c.

Elijah, in like manner, threatned by Iezebel, [...]led to Beersheba, where he left his Servant, and going a day's journey himself in the Wilderness [...]at down in great discontent under a Juniper-Tree, desirous rather to die than live: And, saith the Text, as he lay and slept under the Iu­niper-Tree, behold, an Angel touch'd him, and said unto him, Arise and eat, and he look'd, and, be­hold, there was a Cake bak'd on the Coals, and a Cruise of Water at his Head. And he did eat, and drink, and laid him down again. And the Angel of the Lord came again the second time, and said unto him, A­rise and eat because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose and did eat, and drink, and went in the strength of that Meat fourty day's and fourty nights unto Horeb the Mount of God, 1. Kings 19.5, &c. This Meat brought to Elijah we may call [ Angels food,] as, possibly, the Israelites Mannah from Heav'n was so call'd, not only for the excellency of it, as hath been [...] Ch. 1. [...]ect. 2. before suggested, but because procured and brought down by the Ministry of Angels. And the same Elijah, afterwards, was encouraged by an Angel to go along with Aha­ziah the third Captain, and not to be afraid of him [having before, by the aid of Angelical Mi­nistry, [Page 93] most probably, destroy'd the first and se­cond Captains with their Fifties, sent to appre­hend him, with Fire from Heav'n; in so much as this third also terrified with their examples, fell on his knees, beseeching him to spare his life; whereupon the Angel saith, Go down with him and be not afraid of him,] 2 Kings 1.

When the Prophet Isaiah, upon the Vision, Ch. 6. cryed out, Wo is me! for I am unclean, because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; There flew, saith the Text, one of the Seraphims unto him, having a live-coal in his hand, which he had taken with the Tongs from off the Altar, and he laid it upon his Mouth, and said, Lo this hath touched thy Lips, and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged, Vers. 5, 6, 7.

Our blessed Lord and Saviour himself had the Angels Ministring unto him, and strengthning of him, in and after his Temptations, and bitter A­gony, as hath been shewn Sect. 2 [...]. of this C [...]. already in its proper place.

Saint Paul having related the great danger, that he and his company were in at Sea, adds remarkably, There stood by me this night an An­gel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar, and, lo, God hath giv'n thee all them that sail with thee, Acts 27.23, 24.

The Angels at Sodom pull'd Lot into the house, and struck those that assaulted him with blind­ness, Gen. 19.10, 11. and after that, they warn him in time to bring his Kindred and Goods out of that wicked place, which God had sent them to destroy, Ver. 13. And, not content with a naked warning, when the morning arose, they hasten him again, saying, Arise, take thy Wife and thy two Daughters, which are here, lest thou be con­sumed [Page 94] in the punishment of the City, Ver. 15, &c. And, while he lingred, saith the Text, the men laid [...]old upon his hand, and upon the hand of his Wife, and [...]pon the hand of his two Daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him, and set him without the City. — Nor do they leave them quietly there, so long as there was apparent danger, but, When they had brought them abroad, they add, esc [...]pe for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain, [...]scape to the Mountain, lest thou be consum [...]d. —

We read of an Angel in the Book of Revela­tions, crying to the four Angels there, to whom it was giv'n to hurt the Earth and Sea, saying, Hurt not till we have sealed the Servants of our God in the foreheads, Revel. 7.2, 3.

King Hezekiah in a great strait and distress, be­girt with the Assyrians, whose Power and multi­tude he was no-ways able to resist, prayeth to God, and he sends his Angel to work a sudden and wonderful deliverance for him, destroying in one night (as hath been touch'd Ch. 2. sect. 3. before) an hun­dred fourscore and five thousand of the insulting Enemy, 2 Kings 19.

And such another story we have of the great deliverance of Maccabeus, and the Jews, by an Angel [or helper from Heav'n] in the Apochry­pha, 2 Maccab. 11.6, 8, 9, 10, 11. with his pray­er at another time for the like aid, encouraged by this example of Hezekiah, Ch. 15.22, 23, 24.

The three famous Confessors, Shadrach, Me­shach, and Abednego (whose proper names were Hananiah, Michael, and Azariah, Dan. 1.) when cast into a Fiery Furnace, heated seven times hotter than ordinary, were yet strangely preserved from all harm, and indemnified amidst the raging Flames by an Angel of God, who appeared there [Page] with them, so that that most furious and devour­ing Element had no power upon their Bodies, nor was an hair of their Head singed, neither were their Coats changed, nor did the smell of the Fire pass upon them, though it was so fierce and scorching that it con­sumed the men, who cast them in, Dan. 3.

And when Daniel, another of the Confessors of those times, (as they are reckon'd up, Ch. 1. call'd there, The four Children, to whom God gave great knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom) when he, I say, was cast into the Lions Den, on pur­pose to be devoured, an Angel of God there re­strains the wild appetite of those greedy beasts of prey, and after a most unwonted manner pre­serves him in the very Jaws of Death, Dan. 6. My God, saith he, hath sent his Angel, and hath shut the Lions mouths that they have not hurt me, for as much as before him innocency was found in me, and also before thee, O King, have I done no hurt, Ver. 22. And these four are the persons plainly re­ferr'd to in the Apostle's Martyrology, Hebr. 11.33, 34. Who, are said, through faith to have stopt the mouths of Lions, and quenched the violence of Fire, viz. God by his Angels, as hath been said▪ rescuing and delivering them.

When the Apostles were, by the procurement of the High-Priest, put in the Common-Prison, the Angel of the Lord by night open'd the Prison-doors, and brought them forth, and animated them to speak openly to the People in the Temple, Acts 5.18, &c.

And Saint Peter, after that, imprisoned by He­rod, and deliver'd over for security to four Qua­ternions of Souldiers to be kept, was thence, notwithstanding all their care, set at liberty by an Angel loosing of his Chains, causing the Iron-gates of the City to open to him, and conduct­ing [Page] of him through the Streets thereof, in such a manner as he thought himself but in a Dream for a great while, till he came at last to acknowledg, Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his An­gel, and hath deliver'd me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the People of the Iews, Acts 12.4, &c.

Thus the Angels, we see, are the Commissioned Instruments of extraordinary Escapes, Preserva­tions and Deliverances.

Sometimes too they are sent, as Physitians, to cure and heal, in case of Hurt, Sickness, or Dis­ease. Hence we read of the Pool of Bethesda, where lay a great multitude of impotent Folk, Blind, half-wither'd, waiting for the moving of the Water, For an Angel, saith the Text, went down at a certain season, [which Heinsius tells us out of Cyril was, Exercit. Sacr. in Nonnum. [...]. 20. yearly, at Pentecost] into the Pool and troubled the Water; and whosoever then fi [...]st after the troubling of the Water step'd in, was made whole of whatsoever Disease he had, Saint Iohn 5.3, 4.

To this head we may refer, perhaps, those choice Receits, which M. Antoninus acknowledg­eth himself a Debtor for to the Gods [ [...], L. 1. s. 17. [...] —]

And in the Book of Tobit we are told of the Angel Raphael [whose name, as I have said else­where, signifies a Divine Physitian] sent to heal old Tobit of his blindness, and Sarah the Daugh­ter of Raguel, his daughter-in-Law, of her re­proached barrenness, To scale away the whiteness of Tobit 's eyes, and to give Sarah the daughter of Raguel for a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit, and to bind Asmodeus the evil Spirit, that had kill'd her seven former husbands before they had lain with her, [Page 97] Tobit 3. And the good old man was so ready in his belief of this Divinity, concerning the help and protection of God's Angels vouchsafed to his Servants upon occasion, that he cheers and comforts his troubled and discontented Wife, upon his Son's journey from her, with it: Take no care, saith he, he shall return in safety, and thine eyes shall see him; for the good Angel will keep him company, and his journey shall be prosperous, and he shall return safe, Ch. 5.20, 21.

Hitherto I have given sundry apposite in­stances, as I conceive, of the Ministry of Angels to pious and good men, throughout their life, instructing, defending, comforting, helping and delivering them. And, we may be sure, their aid and assistance is then most ready at hand, when they have most need of it.

At the Agony of Death therefore they may look for strength and support from them, even as they ministred to our Lord and Saviour in his as hath been more than once suggested Sect. 2▪ of this Ch. and before in this Secti­on. Angelin. Gazaeus Angelo custodi. already. That is a time certainly, wherein their help can­not but be very acceptable, all other visible help then failing, and the Devil plying of his assaults because he knows his time is short; [which gave occasion to Gazaeus to insert this intercalare Di­stichon in a Poem of his to his Angel-keeper,

In death, as Gerhard speaks, D. I. Ge [...] ­hard. Med: Sacr. we fear especially the craft of our Adversary, that Serpent, who doth [ insidiari calcaneo,] ply at the heel. The heel, saith he, is the extreme part of the Body; an th extreme term of Life is Death. In that ago­ny of death therefore the custody of Angels is [Page 98] chiefly necessary, to keep us from the fiery darts of the Devil, and convey the Soul, wh [...]n it leaves the Body, into the heav [...]ly P [...]adise.

De animâ c. 52. Tertu [...] stile [...] them [ [...]] the C [...]lers forth of [...] and [...]uch a [...] [...] [...]hem [ [...] [...]uram diversorii] [...] p [...]paration [...] those M [...]nsions they are [...] to agreeably [...]o which we [...]ave [...]omew [...] [...] among the Platonists, [ Vide [...], de Deo Socratis. Plato docuit, [...]bi v [...]a edit [...] [...] est, cundem illum Genium raptare illic [...], & [...] velu [...] custodiam suam ad ju [...]ium, &c.] And then, after the separat [...]on of Body and Soul asunder, they are careful and dili­gent in their attendance to Lodg the departed Spirit safely in its Rest and Happines [...]. Such a pri­viledg belongs, unquestionably, even to the poor­est and meanest of God's Servants. For so it is recorded of Lazarus, for our encouragement, The Begger died, and was carried by Angels into Abraham' s bosom, Saint Luke 10.22. that is, by them he was translated into the place of his re­freshment in the Kingdom of God, with that Father of the Faithful. And such probably was Elias his Fiery Chariot and Horses, wherein he mounted to Heav'n, 2 Kings 2.11.

They rejoice at the return and conversion of Sinners unto God, as hath been said before from Saint Luke 15.7, 10. and th [...]ir joy is increased by the receiving of them at last into their own number in the Regions of Bliss and Happiness, as those, [ per quos ruinae suae scissuras restaurari ex­pectant, Soliloq. [...]. 27. saith Saint Augustin] by whom they ex­pect the Rents among themselves by the fall of so many to be made up again and restored.

Thus the Angels are, all along, and every­where, ministring Spirits to the Elect, to keep off evil from them, and to supply them with all [Page 99] the good they stand in need of, and God sees fitting for them; watching all opportunities [...]or the preservation, health and safety, both of their Bodies and Souls, goods and good names; guard­ing them from th [...] invasion of evil and hurt [...]ul Spirits▪ making an [...]edg about them and all that they have, Vid. Max. Tyrium Diss. xxvi. working [...]ir p [...]osperity and su [...]cess in matters o [...] importance, relating to the most considerable turns of their lives, assisting them in their Vocations, providing for their escape and deliverance in dan [...]er [...] extraordinary, heal­ing of their Sicknesses [...], com [...]orting and relieving of them in [...] of the greatest per­plexity and trouble, never leaving them destitute in any condition; encouraging and strengthning of them at their death, yea and after death too waiting upon them, till they have brought them safely to those Regions of Felicity, where no hazard or danger can farther reach them.

These, saith Saint Augustin, Solil. c. 27. are the Guardian-keepers upon the Walls of the N [...]w Jerusalem, and the Mountains that encompass her about, watching and observing the vigils of the night over her Flock, that the old Serpent, our Adversary the Devil, may not as a Lion snatch our Souls, whil'st there is none to de­liver. They are sent to minister for them, who shall be heirs of Salvation, to free them from their En [...] ­mies, and keep them in all their ways, to comfort them also, and admonish them, and offer up their Prayers to God. For they love these th [...]ir fellow-Citizens, and therefore with great care and a vigilant industry are present with them, at all times, and in all places, rea­dy to come in for their relief, and provide for their necessities, and solicite to and fro, as ac [...]ve Messengers between them and Heav'n. They assist [...]em in their labours, protect them in their rest, hearten them in their Fights, and crown them upon their Victories.

SECT. V. An Objection, touching the superfluousness of Angelic-Ministry, removed.

Now, lest any should object or say within their hearts, That this Ministry of the good and holy Angels is altogether needless and superflu­ous, since God himself is Omnipresent and Omni­potent, every-where at hand, and of Power unque­stionably sufficient to do all that for us, which we [...]an desire, and much more than we can look for or receive from them; I will offer a few things here for the extirpating of this prejudice.

Far be it from any Christian to think or ima­gine such a necessity of the Angels interposure, as those Heathens did, who, confining of their Gods to the upper Regions, and looking on it as a diminution and disturbance of their ease and happiness, to concern themselves with the vast variety of affairs in the sublunary World, found out this expedient of certain middle na­tures, as Agents and Messengers for dispatch be­tween them and Mortals. [ Inter terricolas coeli­col [...]sque vectores, hinc precum, inde donorum, qui ul­ [...] citróque portant hinc petitiones, inde suppetias, ceu quidam utriusque interpretes, & salutigeri. A­pul [...]ius de D [...]o Socr. [...]. Plato in Symposio.]

The knowledg we have of God's ubiquity and in [...]inite perfection forbids to surmise thus of him, as if he were pent and coop'd up any-where, or as if any thing could be concealed at any time, or in any place, from his notice; or, as if the ef [...]ecting any th [...]ng were [...] trouble, disturbance, [Page 101] or burden to him, who created the Universe with a word speaking. Ignoratio rerum aliena naturae Deorum est, & sustinendi muneris propter imbecilli­tatem difficultas m [...]imè cadit in majestatem Deorum. Balbus apud Ciceronem, de Nat. Deorum l. [...]. But then the same knowledge forbids us also once to opine or imagine that any of his Constitutions and Appointments are in vain. We are not, 'tis true, competent Judges of his Works, so as to give the full and adequate reason or account of them; but yet both may and ought to conclude from his own Excellencies, that in the greatest and exactest wisdom, [ mensurâ, numero, & pondere, Wisd. 11.] he hath contrived and made them all.

We cannot possibly tell the need or usefulness of sundry sorts of Beings; nevertheless it is not for us hastily to pronounce, that they might therefore be spared, and serve not to any worthy purpose. M. Antoninus, I remember, speaking of such things as are apt to offend and trouble us, [as Thorns and Bryars, &c.] bids to decline them, L. 8. s. 50. if we can, for our own safety; but not to start that bold and idle question of curiosity, [ [...];] Why were these things at all in the world? This were the way, as he adds, for us to be laugh'd at by those that understand Nature better than we do; in like manner as he would deserve from an Artificer, who should come into his Shop, or Work-house, and blame thi [...] and that Tool or Contrivance for superfluous and unnecessary, which the Master well enough knew the design and use of. That profound reverence we owe unto God, L. 7. s. 4. L. 11. s. 6. (as he instructs us else-where) to pronounce, even in things not only beyond our reach, but contrary to our wills and inclina­tions, [ [...]] This hath a good and sufficient Reason, though we ken it not; nay, [Page 102] and to conclude that he would have contrived o­therwise, L. [...] 2. s. 5. [ [...]] if the matter re­quired it, or it were not best as it is. This I premise in the general, to silence all importunate and presumptuous Enquiries into the Reason and Account of God [...]mighty's Works and Provi­dence. It should su [...]ce at any time for us to be assured, that [...]hings are so and so; though we are not able to reach the Quare or Quomodo, the Grounds or Ends of them. As Iustin Martyr said well abou [...] the Mysteries of our Faith; [ [...]] It is a con­vi [...]tion of manifest unbelief to start the Questi­on [ How? Expos. [...]id de [...]ect [...] confes. p. 38 [...].] of God.

But the case before us admits of a fair and e­qual satisfaction, T [...]eod [...]r [...]. Dial. 1. See D [...]ut. 2 [...] ▪ 29 & [...]. 3.21.1 [...] 24. unto all such as are disposed to entertain it; provided they have but a compe­tent share of the Good Father's modesty, neither to pry into what is hidden, nor wilfully to over­look what is revealed.

The on [...]y reason we know of God's making the World, and the several sorts of Beings in it, was his own [...] or good pleasure, [ Who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will, Ephes. 1.11.] to produce Creatures that might be capable of the free communications of his Divine Goodness, and reflecting back the acknowledg­ment thereof to himself. But having once put all together in the most excellent order, connexi­on, and subserviency each to other, and establish­ed the Laws of their mutual dependence, and ope­rations by his Fiat, or Decree, he now governs and manageth all things according to those Laws and Rules, unless some great and considerable motive of wi [...]dom or goodness draw him to su­spend [...] while, or exceed them by Miracle. Though he b [...] every-where in the Universe, and all the [Page 103] powers and perfections of that hold of him; yet he is a Being himself really distinct from it; and where he hath setled and appointed the means to any End or Purpose, we must not sit still, and look for his immediate interposure, but in that way and method only which he hath chosen and established. I, saith he in the Prophet, will hear the Heavens, and they shall hear the Earth, and the Earth shall hear the Corn, and the Wine, and the Oyl, and they shall hear Iezreel, Hos. 2.21, 22.

God, 'tis confess'd, can do all things by him­self. He can keep us alive without our natural food, for man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word proceeding out of his mouth; but yet 'tis not his pleasure, ordinarily, so to do; nor may we, without sin and smarting for our folly, presume to tempt him by the neglect or slighting of those daily Provisions, which he hath placed within our reach. In like sort he can govern the World and the Societies of men in it, without the help and superintendency of Earthly Rulers; yet we are well assured, they are all ordained by him, and we out of conscience to that Ordinance of his, to apply our selves to, and act under them. Rom. 13.

Such is the beautiful Eutaxie of the World, as I have touched elsewhere, that all [...]gs are fra­med with a due respect each to other, [ [...], as the LXX read, Ec­cles. 7.14.] and inferiour Beings are generally govern'd by their Superiors, though all of them under God; who as he pleased at first voluntari­ly to make This scale, and gradation of Beings, [ [...]] Invisible, and [ [...]] Visible, and then Man a complex as it were of both together, [ [...]] so he now wisely orders the Things made by their just and proper Laws and Measures, and after the most excellent way and [Page 104] manner for their ministry and service each to o­ther. Si à primis inchoatis (que) naturis ad ultimas per­fectás (que) volumus procedere, ad Deorum naturam per­veniamus necesse est. Balbus in Cicerone de Nat. Deorum, l. 2.

Vid. Za [...]. de Oper. Dei, part 1. l. 3. c. 14. & 16.Of the Angelical Oeconomy in particular, I will offer but these two things.

1. That it tends extremely to our consolation, and the assuring of us touching the love, regard, and care of God to and for us, when he hath not only vouchsafed the lower World for our use and accommodation, but appointed so noble a Rank of Creatures also for our service and attendance. And,

2. It tends also to produce and increase a mighty friendship and correspondence between us and these blessed Spirits; while their love to us is heightned and improved by the continual exercise of it in all the acts of kindness and good­will they now do for us; and our gratitude back again towards them, excited by the reflections which we make upon their officiousness; and by this means we are certainly on both sides prepa­red for the great happiness of an eternal society hereafter each with other mutually in Heaven, when we s [...]l come to meet together there, and know them better, as they do us.

SECT. I. Heirs of Salvation.

Salvation is the Scripture-word for Happiness and Glory; a freedom and immunity from all Evil, attended with the fruition of whatever Good we are capable of, and that unto Eternity. Eter­nal Salvation, Heb. 5.9. Salvation, with eternal glory, 2 Tim. 2.10. which is at other times call­ed Eternal life, The Kingdom of God, and that Bles­sing, which is the sum both of all God's Promises to us, and all our desires and longings. Whence we have these ensuing Phrases remarkably answer­ing that of the Text: [ [...]] To inherit eternal life, S. Matth. 19.29. S. Mark 10.17. S. Luke 10.25. — 18.18. [ [...]] To inherit the Kingdom of God, S. Matth. 25.34. 1 Cor. 6.9, 10. — 15.50. Gal. 5.21. [ [...]] To Inherit the Promises, Heb. 6.12, 17. [ [...]] To inhe­rit the Blessing, 1 S. Pet. 3.9. Heb. 12.17. — And that we may know no good thing is here want­ing, [ [...]] To inherit all things, Rev. 21.7. all things together, all in one, viz. in God, the comprehensive Quintessence of all perfe­ctions.

But yet, there is somewhat peculiar in this Phrase of the Text, [ [...]] To in­herit Salvation; that is, the great Blessing of the [Page 106] Gospel, with reference whereto Christ is called, The Saviour of the World, and the Gospel it self, accordingly, The knowledge of Salvation, S. Luke 1.77. The word of Salvation, Acts 13.26. The way of Salvation, Act. 16.17. The Gospel of Sal­vation, Eph. 1.13. The Grace of God which bring­eth Salvation; or, The saving Grace of God, Titus 2.11. So great Salvation, Heb. 2.3.

The word hath a primary reference to that Evil and Misery we are delivered from. And so indeed we are most capable of a sensible estimate of the [...]uture state of Blessedness, by reflecting upon those miseries of all sorts which here we stand exposed to; That wrath of God whereto our sins have made us liable. Whence we read of Salvation from Sin, S. Matth. 1.21. and Salvation from Wrath, 1 Thess. 1.10. —5.9. But then, it connotes als [...] the fulness of joy and happiness, which is consequent hereunto, when God shall wipe away all tear [...], and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor pain; but perfect health, and case, and tranquillity, even all things des [...]rable, Rev. 21.4, 7.

Two points, especially, it imminds us of;

I. That lost and undone condition, which sin hath involved us in: For Christ came to seek and save [ [...]] that which was lost, S. Matth. 18.11. The cry of those in the Ship, ready to sink, well fits our case, Lord save us, we perish! S. Matth. 8.25. We are all sinners, and therefore miserable; Lord save us from our sins! We are by nature children of Wrath, Ephes. 2. Lord save us from thy wrath! from the Day of thy wrath! from the wrath to come! Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and [...]rant us thy salvation! Psal. 85.7.

II. Th [...] way of our escape, freedom, and deli­verance by the mediation of the Son of God in [Page 107] our nature, The Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, S. Luke 2.11. By whom we have received the atone­ment, Rom. 5.11. Neither is there Salvation in any other; for there is no other name under Heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved, Acts 4.12. Other foundation can no man lay, [1 Cor. 3.11.] to build the grounded hopes of Salvation on. Through him alone we have the assurance of it. This is the Record [which we must bide by] that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son, 1 S. Iohn 5.11. He is the way, the truth, and the life, S. Iohn 14.6. [ Vera illa via, quae ducit ad vitam aeternam] He is the appointed Heir of all things, Heb. 1.2. and by him we are admitted to a share in the Inheritance.

Here therefore we learn how Blessedness be­comes our [...], i. e. our Portion or Inheri­tance. It was no question, the ancient Patrimony which Almighty God at first designed for all his Off-spring, but yet upon the reasonable conditi­on of their silial duty and obedience to himself. Sin and disobedience entring in provoked the hea­venly Father to disinherit, and lay his curse upon them instead o [...] the Blessing. Man was made and placed in Paradise, 'till Rebellion drave him out thence; and, upon that were set at the East of the Garden of Eden, Cherubims and a flaming Sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of life, Gen. 3.24. And yet notwithstanding, such is Gods paternal grace and indulgence, that there is a Land of promise still set before us; there is a way made for our re-entrance into Paradise, the Gar­den of Eden, and the Tree of Life there; yea and a Conduct back, even by Angels too, thither. 'Tis true, if we find happiness now, it must be Salvation: yet, That Salvation may become our Inheritance, Blessed be the God and Father of our [Page 108] Lord Iesus Christ, who according to his abun [...]ant mer­cy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ from the [...]ad, to an in­heritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, — 1 Pet. 1.3, 4, 5.

God, upon the score of Christ's performances in our nature, is reconcileable to Man-kind, and actually reconciled unto all, that by him return home to himself. He is ready to forgive and ac­cept us in that his well-beloved, for his sake to admit us again as children of his special grace and favour, and heirs of Glory. As many as re­ceived him, saith Saint Iohn, to them gave he power [right or priviledge] to become the Sons of God, even to them that beli [...]ve in his Name, Saint Iohn 1.14. And this love and condescension of his ought deservedly to be admired by us, Behold, saith the same Apostle, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be call'd the Sons of God! 1 Epistle 3.1. Such Sons to whom he purposes and bequeaths the inheritance of Salvation! For if children, saith Saint Paul, then Heirs, Heirs of God, and Ioint-heirs with Christ, Rom. 8.17. If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham 's seed, and heirs according unto promise, Gal. 3.29. All things are yours, and ye are Christs, and Christ is Gods, 1 Cor. 3.22, 23. You are Heirs according to the hope of eternal life, Titus 3.7. Heirs toge­ther of the Grace of Life, 1 Pet. 3.7. Heirs of the Kingdom, which God hath promised to them that love him, Saint Iames 2.5.

SECT. II. A farther account of the same; and therein of things necessary to Salvation.

From hence then we are sufficiently resolved, who they are that shall inherit Salvation; viz. all upright-hearted, Vid. Erasm. par. in loc▪ sincere and honest Christi­ans; all the genuine Disciples of Christ, that pursue and make good the Vow of their Baptism, whereby they were solemnly entred into his Bo­dy the Church, and so made members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heav'n; provided only, that they are faithful to that sacred Stipulation, Pact and Covenant, which they are engaged in, to fulfil it.

For, as Ignatius tells, Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes. Salv. de Gubern. Dei. we must not only be cal­led Christians, but be what we are call'd, if we would be happy: and a name without the im­portance of it will profit nothing, as Salvian speaks.

This is a matter of the greatest weight and moment for us all to consider well of, and pause a while upon.

For ever happy they, who are the Heirs of Salvation! But it will be an addition to our mi­sery, [ [...]antâ de spe decidere,] if we deceive our selves with fond and vain conceits of a right and title to that blessed inheritance, while our names are legible in the black Catalogue of those, who are expresly excluded [...]hence. Here therefore our recourse must be to the Word of God, the holy Scriptures, Which are able to make us wise un­to Salvation, 2 Tim. 3.15. wherein we have the promises of Eternal Life, and the way to it▪ Saint Iohn 5.39. with a clear and satisfactory [Page 110] account of the [ [...],] things that accompany Salvation, that contain Salvation in them, and by which we may certainly lay hold on Salvation, Hebr. 6.9.

I will point briefly at some of the most obvious Texts, that treat of thi [...] matter, and leave them to such further consideration, as they d [...]serve; whi [...]h I do, the rather, for Antidote against the poiso [...]ous insinua [...] o [...] profane and licentious persons, Tract. Theol. pol. c. 14. p. 235. who number [...]p the fund [...]mentals out of their own Brain. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, saith Saint Paul, for it is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth ▪ Rom. 1.16. God so loved the World, saith our blessed Sa­viour, that he gave his only begotten Son, that who­soever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever­lasting life; for God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World, but that the World through him should be saved. He that believeth on him, is not condemned, but he, that believeth not, is condemned al­ready, because he hath not believed in the n [...]me of the only begotten Son of God: And this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the World, and men loved Darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil, Saint Iohn 3.16, &c.

There is, we see, in the first place, an evi­dent necessity of the Christian Faith in all to whom it is propounded. [...] admits us among Christ's Disciples, an [...] [...]out it we cannot be saved.

And this Faith must not only be in the heart, neither, but there must be also an outward pro­session and owning of it, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, saith the Apostle, and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation, Rom. 10.10. And whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my Words, saith Christ himself, in this adul­terous [Page 111] and sinful generation [wherein it may be to the hazard of his [...]ife, and all he hath, possibly, to ow [...] and confess them] of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy Angels, Saint Mark. 8.38. that is, he will for ever disown and renounce him. So we have it in Saint Matthew, Whosoever will confess me before men, him will I also confess be­fore my Father, which is in Heav'n; but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father, which is Heaven, Ch. 10.32, 33. From whence the Apostle tells us, if we deny him he also will deny us, 2 Tim. 2.12. [See farther, Hebr. 3.6, 14. Hebr. 10.25, 26, &c. Saint Luke 14.25. to 34 ver.] The Primitive Christians well un­derstood the necessity of this open profession of their Religion, whatever sufferings it brought upon them. Witness that of Tertullian, [Nec fas est ulli de suâ religione mentiri. Ex eo enim quod aliud à se coli dicit quam colit, negat quod colit, & cultu­ram & honorem in alterum transfert, & tranferendo jam non colit, quod negavit. Dicimus, & palàm dici­mus, &, vobis torquentibus, lacerati & cruenti voci­feramur, Deum colimus per Christum, Apol. c. 21.] The noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors, then, counted it an happiness to be reproached for the Name of Christ; and were so far from being ashamed of suffering, as Christians, that they glorified God on this behalf, according to that of Saint Peter 1 Ep. 4.14, 16. and in the midst of all torture they cryed out with courage and constancy [ Christianus sum. See E [...]s [...]b. Eccles. Hist. l▪ 5. c. 1.]

But Ecebolius of Constantinople is infamous in Story for his mutability and compliance, who, whilst Constantius was a Catholick, profess'd him­self so too, but with him after turn'd Arian, and in Iulian's days was au Idolater, but under Io­vian [Page 112] again tacked about to the Catholick side.

Let them seriously ponder upon this, who in­dulge a liberty of renouncing Chri [...]ianity and denying Christ, Leviath. c. 42. Tract. Theol. Pol. c. 5. p. 90. c. 16. p. 258, 259 c. 19. p. 308, 309. in case the higher Powers on Earth shall so require them; who call all the Ex­ternals of our Religion Ceremonies, that have not any thing of holiness in them, nor relate at all to the happiness of individual Christians, nay, which they are bound to abstain from, in case they live where the Christian Religion is inter­dicted them. — Sure I am, we have not so learn­ed of Christ and his Apostles; and such stuff as this needs only a bare rehearsal to render it, to­gether with its Authors, abominable.

Now if we once believe the Gospel of our Sa­viour, and confess that Faith, which we have re­ceived from him, we shall from thence see a ne­cessity also upon us, in order to our salvation, to repent sincerely of all our sins, to amend our ways, and to live in a conscionable and constant obedience to all Christ's Commands, Positive as well as Moral, and, among the later too, such as concern God as well as our Neighbour and our selves. For this is plainly the Doctrine which he taught.

Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, S. Mat. 4.17. Vnless ye repent, ye shall all perish, S. Luke 13.3, 5. God now commandeth all men every-where to repent, Acts 17.30. And this Repentance must not be in shew and appearance only, but in truth and reality, such as bringeth forth fruits meet for repentance, that is, reformation and amendment of heart and life, S. Luke 3.8. such as S. Paul calls Repentance unto Salvation not to be repented of, or not repented of again, 2 Cor. 7.10. [ [...]] such as we stick firm and stedfast to, not re­turning with the Dog to our vomit, or with [Page 113] the Sow, that washed, to wallowing in the Mire.

Then farther [...]or the necessity of new obedi­ence; Not every one, th [...]t saith [...]nto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heav'n, but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heav'n. Ma­ny will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophecied in thy Name, and in thy Name cast out Devils, and in thy Name done many wonderful works? and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity, Saint Matth. 7.21, &c. And, in the close of the same Chapter, He that hears Christ's sayings and doth them not, but yet hopes for happiness by and from him, is re­sembled to a foolish builder, erecting a mighty Stru­cture without a good and sure foundation. — Why call ye me Lord, Lord, saith he convincingly, and do not the things which I say? Saint Luk [...] 6.46. He became the Author of Salvation, saith the Apo­stle, unto all them that obey him, Hebr. 5.9. And to none but such. As for others, Saint Peter speaks with amazement and horrour, What shall the end be of them, who ob [...]y not the Gospel of God! 1 Ep. 4.17. How dreadful and astonishing! if we would know more plainly [what,] Saint Paul declares it; When the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heav'n with his mighty Angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ; who shall be punished with [...]verlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, 2 Thess. 1.7, 8, 9, 10. [Them that believe] that is, who obey the Gospel, Whom he hath chosen to Salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, and beli [...]f of the Truth, Ch. 2.13. to an inheritance among them that are sanctified, Acts 20.32. or, to the riches [Page 114] of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints, Ephes. 1.18. The inheritance he will give to these holy ones, and to them only; For without holiness no man shall see God's face, Hebr. 12.14.

And for the universality of that obedience, which is required of us, such-like Texts as these are plain, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars, and unto God the things which are Gods, Saint Matth. 22.21. These things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone, Ch. 23.23. whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, [allow himself in the transgression of any particular command,] he is guilty of all, Saint Iames 2.10.

These now are the declared Heirs of Salvati­on, who heartily believe in Christ, boldly con­fess that Faith, unseignedly repent of their Sins, and live conscientiously in universal obedience to all our Saviour's Laws and Institutions, so as to exclude the contempt of any one of them. [ Be­lieve on the Lord Iesus, and thou shalt be saved, and thine house [viz. on the like terms and conditions] So Saint Peter resolves the Jailor, propounding that question, What must I do to be saved? Acts 16.39. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of Sins. So he resolves others, in the like question, Acts 2.37, 38. and to the same demand in effect, Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Our blessed Saviour answers; Thou knowest the commands, What is written in the Law? How readest thou? Do this and thou shalt live, Saint Matth. 19. Saint Luke 10.]

These are the Faithful Disciples of Christ, his Little-Flock, to whom he saith, Fear not little Flock, for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom, Saint Luke 12.31. As if he had said, [Page 115] let not the thoughts of your own unworthiness discourage you; for this blessed Inheritance is setled on you by your heav'nly Father's good pleasure, and by vertue of his Promise and Co­venant; you have [ certum, Vid. G [...]ot. in Heb. 1.4. mansurumque jus] a cer­tain and abiding title, such as that of Inheritances among the Jews. But then, observe carefully, it belongs only to such as you are, the Sheep that hear my voice, and obediently follow me, the Shepheard and Bishop of your Souls. Blessed are they that do his Commandements, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in through the Gates into the City, the heav'nly Jerusalem, Revel. 22.14.

Let us fear, after all this, lest any of us come short, Hebr. 4.1. lest we be found among those, that are excluded, and shut out thence. And, to that end, it may be of some use to peruse at­tentively the Scripture-Catalogues, that look this way. — I will but nakedly recite some of them.

Without are Dogs, and Sorcerers, and Whoremon­gers, and Murderers, and Idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. So it follows immediate­ly after the place ev'n now quoted, Rev. 22.15.

Know ye not, saith Saint Paul to the Corinthians, (as in a case notorious and evident) that the un­righteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, [pathici] nor abusers of themselves with man-kind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the King­dom of God. And such were some of you, but ye are washed, — 1 Cor. 6.9, 10, 11.

Then to the Galatians, The works of the flesh are manifest, saith he, which are these, Adultery, for­nication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witch­craft, [Page 116] hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, se­ditions, Heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, re­vellings, and such-like, of the which I tell you before, as I have told you also in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, Gal. 5.19, 20, 21.

Again, to the Ephesians, This ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an Idolater, hath any Inheritance in the King­dom of Christ, and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience, Ephes. 5.5, 6.

Once more, to the Philippians: Many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are Enemies of the Cross of Christ, [such as will deny Christ crucified rather than suffer for him] whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things, Phil. 3.18, 19.

Now let us every one make a due reflection up­on our selves, impartially examining and judging of our selves, according to these Rules, that we be not hereafter judged and condemned by God.

But I return at length, from this digression (the profitableness whereof may yet plead sufficiently for it) unto that which is principally designed in the Text, the Reference, I mean, which the Mi­nistry of Angels hath unto those persons, whose character and description we have been looking into. They are sent forth to minister [ [...]] with a peculiar respect unto them.

They have not only the blessed Inheritance of Salvation secured to them in the end, but here in the way too the holy Angels have a special charge over them, as the Protectors of their minority, till they come to it.

[Page 117]Nor must we imagine this confined to that time and age only, wherein our Saviour and his Apo­stles lived, but to be continued in like manner to all future Generations of sincere Christians suc­cessively. So much the original imports and in­timates, [ [...]] For those that shall be, in all times and ages yet to come, the heirs of Sal­vation.

I understand not, I confess, the force of their reasoning, who would from hence infer and ar­gue the absolute and unconditional assurance of Salvation to any select number, of the absolute certainty of their perseverance in a salvable state, who are once entred into it. No such thing can be concluded from the word [ [...]] here made use of, but rather the contrary, if there be any thing in that distinction of Futurities, which some have suggested out of Aristotle, Dr. Hen. More Im­mort. of the Soul. L. 2. c. 3. s. 13. into [ [...]] a thing that is likely to be, but yet hath a possibility of being otherwise, and [ [...]] a thing most certainly to come to pass. —Now there is no question at all, but that the Inheri­tance of Salvation spoken of, is a [ [...]] a thing that shall certainly be the Lot of all sincere and persevering Christians; but then those, who are at present, it may be, sincere Christians, are only [ [...]] such as are likely to inherit it, and only certain so to do, upon the supposition, that they are found at death in that state, there being in the mean-while a possibility left of their miscarriage, if they take not good heed to hold on, and persevere unto the end. The righteous shall assuredly inherit eternal life; but yet the righteous man [ de praesenti] may pos­sibly cease to be such, afterwards, turning from his righteousness, and then the Prophet tells us, all that he hath done shall not be mentioned, Ezek. 18.24. —But this by the way.

SECT. I. The Christians great priviledge and Comfort.

First then, Let Christians from hence take no­tice of their great priviledge, so as to bless God heartily for it, and comfort and encourage them­selves, from it to work out their own salvation re­solutely, amidst all the oppositions and discou­ragements, whatever they are, which they meet with.

It is the commendation of our blessed Saviour's wonderful love to us, that, passing by the Angels, he took hold of man, an inferiour sort of Crea­tures; nay and exalted our humane nature into a most intimate conjunction with his Deity, See Bish. Andrews Serm. 1. on [...]he Nativity. so that the Angels now take it both for their duty and happiness to adore him clothed with that na­ture, and, for his sake, imploy themselves in at­tendance and ministries about us. And the Psal­mist represents this as comfort sufficient against the snare of the Fowler, and the noysome pestil [...]nce; the terrour by night, and the arrow that flyeth by day; the plague that walketh in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth at Noon-day; [that is, all [Page 119] the assaults of Men and Devils, that seek to do us mischief, sleeping or waking, by night or day, as some understand the words, and all man­ner and kinds of evils, secret or open; ab incur­su nequam spirituum, qui noctu vigilant & Daemonii meridiani, J. Pricaeus in Ps. 91. Nec homines n [...]c Dae­mones noc [...]re possunt; intelliguntur autem Daemones per pavorem noctis & pestem grassantem in meridic, Mun­ster. ibid.] even this, He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, Psal. 91. —And, when he had élsewhere mentioned the encamping of this Heavenly Host about them that fear God, Ps. 34. he adds immediately upon it, O taste and see, that the Lord is good! [even from this in­stance of his goodness] blessed is the man that trust­eth in him. O fear the Lord ye his Saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. —If need be, the Angels shall come and minister unto them, so that they shall have meat from Heaven, even Angels food.

It well becomes us to take some time particu­larly to consider of the manifold Benefits we reap from the holy Angels, that we may admire and praise God, with devout S. Bernard, Lord, D. Bern. in Ps. 91. what is man, that thou thus thinkest on him! Thou sendest to him thine only begotten Son. Thou sendest into him thy holy Spirit. Thou promisest him the light of thy countenance: And that nothing in the heavenly Regi­ons might be unimployed in sollicitude for him; thou sendest forth also those blessed Spirits [the Angels] to minister to us.—And again, with S. Augustine, Soliloq. c. 27. who having spent some Meditations upon this subject, thus piously concludes them. When I remember these things, O Lord, I confess before thee, and praise thee for thy great benefits, wherewith thou hast ho­noured us. Thou hast given us all things under Hea­ven, and yet countedst that but small provision, unless [Page 120] thou hadst also giv'n us the things above, even those Angels of thine, as Ministring Spirits unto us. What is man that thou makest such reckoning of him! — And, Med. xxvi. with religious Gerhard, let us engage ourselves a while in the contemplation, how im­mense the Divine Grace and Favour is towards us in this particular; The heav'nly Father, saith he, sendeth his own Son to deliver us. The Son of God incarnate is sent to save us. The holy Spirit is sent to sanctifie us. The Angels are sent to protect us. [Much to the same effect, as I noted before out of Saint Bernard.] Thus the whole heav'nly Court doth, in a manner, serve us, and hand down it's benefits to us. So that I no longer wonder, that all inferiour creatures were made for man, when the An­gels themselves, who are far more worthy, deny us not their Ministries.

Deservedly therefore hath our Church appoin­ted one Festival in the year, for a solemn comme­moration of the holy Angels from whom we re­ceive so great advantages, instructing of us then to recognize the admirable wisdom and goodness of God in ordaining of their services, and by Prayer unto him to seek the blessing of their mi­nistration, as the excellent Collect for that day L [...]ssons us.

Collect f [...]r Saint Micha [...]l and all Angels.[ O everlasting God, who hast ordained and consti­tuted the Services of Angels and Men in a wonder­ful order, mercifully grant, that, as thy holy Angels always do thee service in Heav'n, so by thy appoint­ment they m [...]y succour and defend us on earth, through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen.]

But to render both the motives of our thanks­giving unto God, and the encouragements we ought to gather to our selves from their atten­dance [Page 121] and ministry, the stronger and more effe­ctual, we shall do well to consider in our minds distinctly the many endearing qualifications of these our Guardians and Helpers; such as their knowledg and wisdom, their power and strength, their number and multitude, their unanimity and order, their care and watchfulness, their speed and agility, their fidelity and zeal in the dis­charge of their trust and commission, most of which points I have enlarged upon before, and therefore shall here again but sleightly touch up­on them.

Their knowledge and wisdom, as hath been said, is beyond the most improved intellectuals of any upon Earth. They have their advantage in the excellency of their faculties, and their free­dom from such bodies, as we dwell in, [which press and weigh down the mind that museth upon ma­ny things. Tertul. de anima, c. 52. 1 Cor. 13.12. [ Wisd. 9.15.] and darken our under­standings, so that we look on things as through an obscure Perspective:] And then, farther yet, in their long-continued observation and experi­ence from the beginning of the Creation, and their neerer approaches to, and frequenter com­munications from the Divine Majesty.

Then, for their Power and Might, they [ excel in strength] and are resembled not only to an [ Host, or Army,] but to [ Horses and Chariots of Fire.] — Both for skill and ability they surpass the evil Spirits, who are infatuated in some de­gree, and enfeebled by their wickedness.

Then, for their Number and Multitude, that exceedeth our Arithmetick, as do the Stars in the Firmament.

And this vast number of knowing and power­ful Beings is yet the more considerable, if we add the thoughts of their unanimity and order. They [Page 122] are all of a mind, and have no contests or dis­orders among themselves, which are often the undo [...]ng of Armies otherwise very formidable. They are resolved about their proper Ministries, and both know and keep their rank and station, hearkning all of them with one consent to the voice of God's Word.

Add we next their Watchfulness. They are not like unto us Mortals, subject unto heaviness, weariness, drowsiness, sleepiness, and surprize. They are full of eyes, and rest not day nor night from imployment. The darkness is all one to them with the Light. And in the Prophesie of Daniel they are call'd Vigiles, or Watchers, Ch. 4.13. be­cause, as Saint Hierom speaks on the place, [ sem­per vigilant, & ad Dei imperium sunt parati] they always watch, and are ready at the Almighty's beck and command. They neither slumber nor sleep, and so give not the enemy opportunity of advantage, nor lose not any themselves for making good their service.

And, then, such is their make and nature, that no external impediments retard or hinder their motion; but for speed and agility they fly, as it were, with wings, very swiftly, and pass to and fro, like Lightning.

And, then lastly, these knowing, powerful, numberless, unanimous, orderly, watchful, and nimble Spirits are both faithful and zealous in the charge committed to them. Not the least spot of neglect, unfaithfulness, backwardness, or indifferency to be fast'ned on them. They do always behold the Face of God to receive his pleasure, and they are as ready to do it. They are call'd Holy ones, Dan. 4.13, 17. and repre­sented as clothed with pure and white linnen, Revel▪ 15.6 without blemish. And their zeal puts life [Page 123] and vigour into all their service, with reference to which they are a flame of fire, burning with the greatest ardors of affection to God's glory, and the good of his Church and Servants.

Now, having such a Guard as this about us, we are inexcusably guilty of ingratitude, if we observe not our heav'nly Father's love and care towards us, so as to bless his name for this pro­vision among his many others mercies; or of neglect, if we open not our eyes to see, that there are always more with and for us, than those that can be against us; so as to gather from hence heart and spirit in the cheerful and undaunted prosecution of our Christian Duty in all the paths we are to tread in order to our Sal­vation. Being therefore compass'd with so great a cloud of witnesses, [and mighty helpers] we are to lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and to run with patience the Race set be­fore us, Hebr. 12.1 and having so great encourage­ment and strong consolation, we are not at any time to be weary of well-doing, or frightned from it, but to be stedfast and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, [1 Cor. 15. ult.] as it be­comes persons of such hopes for hereafter, [ the Heirs of Salvation] and such security in the inte­rim, [attended with the holy Angels.]

SECT. II. The Christian's Dignity not to be despised.

Secondly, Let us all take notice from hence of the Dignity of Christians; and thereupon take heed, lest at any time we despise, or injure them.

Be they never so mean, low, or disregarded in [Page 124] the world, they are all the Sons and Daughters of the great King of Heaven and Earth, and born to a fair Inheritance, a transcendently rich and glorious Kingdom; and in the mean while, how­ever we may look upon them as destitute and forsaken, they have an invisible Guard about them, upon occasion to minister for their supply, defence and vindication. Such honour have all the Saints. And here we may well cry out, O how plentiful is thy goodness, O Lord, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, and which thou hast pre­pared for them that put their trust in thee, even before the Sons of Men, Ps. 31.21.

It concerns us then to beware, that we despise not any of those, whom God hath so highly ho­nour'd; and that we wrong not any of those, for whose aid and relief he hath made so ample a provision.

S. Iames reproving the strange partiality among the Jewish Christians in judicature, having respect to some for their Gay-Clothes, and contemning others for their poverty, thus expostulates the case with them, ch. 2.5, 6. Hearken, my Brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and Heirs of that Kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor.—So different are the judgments of God and corrupt men. God hath so far honoured these his Servants, as to declare them Heirs of a blessed and most glorious Kingdom; but ye, saith the Apostle, have despised them, [ [...]] dis­honoured, vili [...]ied, set them at nought; nay abu­sed, oppressed, and trampled on them, as it there [...]ollows, Do not rich men oppress you? &c. —We ought indeed to honour all men, 1 Pet. 2.17. even because they are men, bearing the signatures of the Di [...]ine Image; and He that despiseth his Neigh­bour [Page 125] sinneth, Prov. 14.21. But the Brotherhood of Christians is to be esteemed at an higher rate, as having the Image of God doubly stamped on them, being his Children both by Nature and Grace; and whatever habit they go in, what­ever condition be their Lot here, the Heirs appa­rent of Salvation.

Nor have they all in hopes and Reversion, but somewhat in hand too, that is very considerable: This in particular among other Prerogatives and Priviledges, that the glorious Angels, a sort of Creatures far above us, are made by God's ap­pointment their Ministers and Servants. And upon this account too our blessed Saviour bids us to take heed how we offend or despise them. Whoso shall offend one of these little ones, that believe in me, saith he, it were better for him that a Mil­stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea, S. Matth. 18.6. The offence here spoken of relates chiefly to the turn­ing them aside out of, or causing them to stumble and fall in the ways of Salvation. But then he adds farther, v. 10. Take heed that ye despise not, [ [...]] see that ye contemn not, one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in Heaven their Angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven. This, we see, is plain­ly and evidently asserted by our blessed Saviours Authority, and not spoken according to the pre­judices and conceits of the people only, Tract. Theol. Pol. c. 2. p. 42. as some absurdly affirm. For I say unto you,] He designs, most certainly, to teach and instruct, and requires our firm assent to the truth of whatever Doctrine is so prefaced by him. The Reason here there­fore is no less divine than the Admonition—Those then that believe in Christ, however small and little they are in the estimation of the world, and [Page 126] their own too, are not so in God's, nor is his love and care little towards them. Say not then, such an one is a Carpenter, such an one a Taylor, such an one a Husbandman, such an one unlearned, &c. They are S. Chrysostom's words, St. Chrys. in Loc. [ ab Angelis, qui­bus commissi sunt, viles, fecit venerabiles] God hath of mean made them venerable [ [...]] from the Angels whom they are committed to. Vide majesta­tem hominis pii, qui etsi pauperrinus est, nec unum externum servum habet, tamen serviunt ei multa millia Angelorum. Brentius in S. Matth. 18. Hom. 1. They have their Angels assign'd them, and those An­gels of theirs have a great interest in Heaven with their Father, whom they attend upon, to receive his commands concerning them, and execute them with all speed and fidelity. They are ready to enter their Complaints against all that affront and abuse their Charge here on earth, at his Tri­bunal, and at his beck of their defence, and the avenging of their righteous quarrels.

SECT. III. An Account from hence, why no more mischief done in the World: And by the way, why so much too, notwithstanding their presidence.

Thirdly, We may from hence take some ac­count, why, notwithstanding all the power and malice of Devils, and wicked men imploy'd by and under them, yet no more mischief is done in the world.

The Devils are many, as hath been said, and their power and malice very formidable, [ [...] ▪ S. Matth. 12. [...] ▪ ch. 13.] There is the Great Dragon and his Angels, having great wrath, Rev. 12. They are vowed Adversaries to [Page 127] our happiness, and go about like roaring Lions, seeking to devour, 1 Pet. 5.8. Saint Paul warns us of a terrible host of them, Principalities, Pow­ers, the Rulers of the Darkness of this World, and Spiritual wickednesses (or wicked Spirits) in high-places, Eph. 6.12. that is, The Prince of the power of the Air, and all his Militia, the spirit that work­eth in the children of disobedience, Ch. 2.2. — And, as the Devils are thus many, malicious, and powerful, so also crafty and watchful to accom­plish their designs of mischief. I fear, saith the Apostle, lest by any means, as the Serpent beguiled Eve, so your minds should be corrupted from the sim­plicity which is in Christ, 2 Cor. 11.3. and after­wards, he speaks of Satan transforming himself in­to an Angel of Light, and his Ministers fals-Apostles, deceitful workers, &c. Ver. 14. Elsewhere, lest Sa­tan should get an advantage of us; for we are not ig­norant of his devices, Ch. 2.11. [...], his ma­chinations or contrivances. Else-where, again, The wiles of the Devil, Eph. 6.11. [...], his methods of deceit.

How many ways he assaulted Iob, and brought mischief upon his Cattel and Goods, his House and Children, and lastly his own Body; — and what miserable vexations and tortures those, that have been possess'd with evil Spirits, have la­bour'd under; and what a vast power they some­times exercise both over the outward and inward senses of men; the holy Scripture, and other ap­proved Histories, do plentifully attest.

And then, if we add the great numbers of evil instruments, slaves and vassals, [Devils incar­nate] which these wicked subtle and malicious Spirits have at their service, in league and com­bination with them; how many there are that have no fear of God before their eyes to restrain [Page 128] them, but make their own wills and humours the only Law of Justice; how many Infidels and He­retic's, that are profess'd enemies to the Church of Christ, who rage furiously and take counsel together against the Lord and against his anoin­ted; how many of those ungodly ones, who have no [...]aithfulness in their mouth, and whose in­ward parts are very wickedness, who for their own lust persecute the poor, and imagine crafty wiliness against them, lying in wait secretly, and saying in their heart, Tush, God hath forgotten, he seeth not, or, he careth not for it; how ma­ny of those, that have bent their Bow, and make ready their Arrow [...] within the Quiver, that they may privily shoot at them, who are true of heart; how many of those, who are full of cur­sing and bitterness, and whose feet are swift to shed blood, who are greedy of the prey, and spread their Nets cunningly to destroy the inno­cent; whose delight is in lies, and who plot and contrive wickedness upon their Beds continu­ally; how many of these, and of the like malig­nancy (whereof we have frequent complaints throughout the Book of Psalms:) If, I say, we consider our selves encompass'd thus with a nu­merous Host of evil Spirits, and their hellish A­gents and Instruments, we may begin to wonder, that the Earth we live in is any tolerable habi­tation; or be ready to say with Elisha's Servant, when the Enemies Army with Chariots and Hor­ses surrounded the City, [ Actum est de nobis, pe­riimus, Alas my Master! how shall we do? 2 Kings 6.15. only God be thanked, the answer is rea­dy at hand for us too, which the Prophet then gave him, Ver. 16, 17. [ plures sunt, qui stant à part [...] nostrâ, quàm qui sunt pro illis,] Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with [Page 129] them: referring to the heav'nly Legions. — We have Michael and his Angels against the Dragon and his Angels, the good against the evil, more in number, wiser for understanding, greater in power, more vigilant, couragious, zealous, and successfull. — Magna quidem est adversarii nostri Diaboli potentia; sed erigit nos Angelorum custodia, &c. D. I. Gerhard, Med. xxvi.

When God asked of Satan, that had been walk­ing his rounds, and compassing the Earth to and fro, whether he had consider'd of his servant Iob, up­right and good Iob, he readily replies, as to him, up­on it, Hast thou not made an hedg about him, and about his house, and about all he hath on every side? Job. 1.10. which Hedg is conceived by Expositors to be the Guard of Angels, as hath been said Ch▪ 4. Sect. 4. before. And Satan can do nothing against Iob, or other good men, so long as this Hedg remains, the Angels of God encamping round about them, and taking charge of them to keep and defend them.

But then, if it be so, may some say, Vid. Br [...]nt. in S. Mat. 18. homil. 1. how comes it to pass, that even those who fear God and shall inherit Salvation, do yet often fall into divers sufferings, and calamities, afflictions and troubles, as well as others, or sometimes more than others?

To this I answer briefly, in two particulars▪

I. Sometimes they offend and provoke God to make a breach or gap in this Hedg, and to say as he did to his Vineyard, I will take away the Hedg and Wall thereof, Isay 5. They sometimes foolishly leave God's ways, and wander in by-paths, which have no assurance of the Angelical custody and Protection. The Devil, Vid Span▪ hem. Dub. Evangel▪ LXI▪ when he quotes that of the Psalmist in his temptations to our blessed Saviour, He shall give his Angels charge over thee — craftily omits that clause of impor­tance, [Page 130] in all thy ways; Munster in Ps. 91. that is, [ Si modo ambules in rectitudine viarum Domini, & non tentes Deum,] if thou keepest a direct course in those paths, which he hath chalked out for thee to walk in, and dost not tempt him by the forsaking of them. If we wittingly run upon precipices and throw our selves into dangers, we have none to blame, but our selves, for what we suffer by so doing. [ Qualis via haec de pinnaculo Templi mittere se deor­sum? Non est via haec, sed ruina. Et, si via tua est, non illius,] as Saint Bernard speaks upon occa­sion of the Devil's suggestion to our blessed Savi­our, upon this motive to cast himself down from the Temple, on the presumption of the Angels attendance. What an odd way is this to cast himself down from the Pinnacle of the Temple? This is no way of safety, but of ruine; or, if it be any way, it is the Devils and none of Gods. — When we for­sake God's way, no wonder if his Guard fail us.

II. At other times God himself thinks it fit and meet to try his servants Faith, Patience, and Submission, and other Graces, [as is evi­dent in the case of Iob, before-mentioned] to difference and distinguish this World from the other, that their affections may be weaned from this, and fixed upon the other; and, in order both to their greater spiritual good here, and the increase to their eternal reward hereafter, the promoting and furtherance of their Salvation (for these I say, and the like purposes of wis­dom and kindness together) to deal unto them a larger share of afflictions and sufferings than unto others. And thus, as the Apostle speaks, He chastens them out of love, and for their profit, that they may be partakers of his holiness; which, how­ever grievous it seems for the present, afterwards [Page 131] yields them the peaceable fruit of righteousness, Hebr. 12. In these circumstances, now, the real sting of outward Evils is taken away, and the nature of them changed, and altered. They are not to their hurt and prejudice that lie under them, but to their greater benefit and advantage; such therefore as an indulgent Father chuseth for them, and such as their Guardian-Angels conse­quently cannot but approve of. — But I will not enlarge on this argument.

M. Antoninus, that generous heathen, L. 6. Sect. 10. said well, Who would desire to live in a World destitute of God and providence, where all were left to chance, and we to meet every-where with so many ene­mies and dangers?

But when we remember, what a comfortable provision God hath made for our security and welfare, we are sufficiently satisfied against the fears and anxieties, which must otherwise con­tinually haunt and posses us, and should there­fore, with that excellent Emperour, not only pay a tribute of veneration to, Ibid▪ but fix and settle our minds in a steddy and composed confidence upon him, the Governour of the World and all things in it.

Sect. IV. No disparagement for any to minister unto and serve others.

Fourthly, Since the Angels are all Ministring-Spirits, sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of Salvation, let none think it a disparage­ment, but rather an exaltation, an imployment truly Divine and Angelical, to Serve and Mini­ster unto others for their good, and in order to their Salvation.

[Page 132]Those blessed and glorious Spirits, of a more noble kind and order than we are, however it might seem to their diminution and debasement, do not yet disdain to minister unto us, but em­brace this Charge and Command of God with all chearfulness and delight. And therefore we certainly, who cannot but admire and commend their goodness and condescension, should learn to emulate and be followers of the same. We should be ambitious of the like honour, to become help­ful and serviceable unto others, especially in or­der to their Salvation, which is the greatest good they can design for themselves, or we assist them in prosecution of. Such a Ministry as this we should rejoice in, though it appear somewhat to our own hindrance, and the obscuring of our Name and Reputation in the world. Whosoever will be great among you, saith Christ to his Disci­ples, let him be your Minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your Servant, even as the Son of man came not to be ministred unto, but to minister, and to give his life a Ransom for many, S. Matth. 20.26, 27, 28.

This is the commendation S. Paul gives of the highest Powers upon Earth, He is the Minister of God to thee for good, [to thee who doest good:] and again, the Minister of God, a Revenger to exe­cute wrath upon him that doth evil, Rom. 13.4. And again, Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing, AElian. l. 2. c. 20. v. 6. Whence Antigonus call'd a King­dom truly [...], splendidam servitutem] a noble and glorious servitude; and it was wont to be spoken solemnly to the Prince of the Exiles in Babylon, Grot. in S. Matth. 20.25. that he should not swell or lift up him­self with pride, [ officium ipsi, non potestatem in­jungi, & ab eo die incipiendum ipsi servire omnibus] That Duty, rather than Power, was committed to him, [Page 133] and from that day forward he was to become a Ser­vant of all. According to the Greek Verse, ‘ [...]’ The Master is the chief Servant of the Family, [...]. Epict. Diss. L. 3. c. 26.

It was the glory of the Apostles of Christ so to be esteemed, how contemptibly soever some now think and speak of their heavenly and Angelical calling. The Prophet foretells it as an honour, Ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord; men shall call you the Ministers of our God, Isa. 61.6. And Let a man account of us, saith one of them, as the Ministers of Christ, 1 Cor. 4.1. adding of himself in particular to the Corinthians, I seek not yours but you, and I will very gladly spend and be spent for your Souls, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved, 2 Ep. 12.14, 15. And he com­mends Timothy and Epaphroditus by a like Chara­cter to the Philippians, willing them to hold such in reputation, Phil. 2.19, 20, 25, 29.

The Angels are all Ministring Spirits, as hath been shew'd, and 'tis a real Dignity and Advance­ment for us to participate their office, as we may do, every one more or less, by being helpful what we can to others. So that what S. Paul injoin [...]d to be said unto Archippus, should in its measure and proportion, sound in all our Ears, Take heed to the Ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it, Col. 4.17— The Glory which we expect and look for in the life to come, is de­scribed by this (as hath been said too elsewhere) that we shall be [...], Like unto the Angels; Ch. 1. Sect. 2. and now if this have any thing endearing in it, it can­not, certainly, but highly r [...]commend their work and subserviency to us here.

[Page 134]But what I have said of Ministring unto o­thers, even the meanest, holds with advantage as to that other part of the Angels Ministry, which is towards God Almighty. They do with the greatest joy stand in his presence, and wor­ship and adore him, as I have Ch. 4. Sect. 1. shew'd at large. They are all unanimous and uniform, and order­ly, and zealous, and constant in their sacred Li­turgy, which is made up chiefly of lauds and prai­ses, Doxologies and Thanks-givings. The Queen of Sheba admired and proclaimed the happiness of Solomon's Attendants, 1 Kings 10.8. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy Servants, which stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom! But how much more deservedly may we celebrate the ho­nour and happiness of these heavenly Courtiers, that do always behold the Face of the most glo­rious and incomprehensible Majesty of God him­self? And then it cannot but behove us to testifie, that we unfeignedly esteem their honour and hap­piness, by desiring and endeavouring, so far as we are capable, to partake of the same; brea­thing out of holy flames, with the Psalmist, How amiable are thy Tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! my Soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord; my Heart and my Flesh cryeth out for the living God. When shall I come, and appear before God? Blessed are they that dwell in thy house! They will be still praising hee. A Day in thy Courts is bet­ter than a thousand.—Psal. 84. It should be our great delight, as often as we can, with Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Host of Heaven, to laud and magnifie the glorious name of God in our Christian Assemblies, as we are admirably in­structed and trained up to do by the Service and Liturgie of our Church, which, I had almost said, none can be offended at, who are upon deliberate [Page 135] and mature thoughts throughly reconciled to the Angelical.

SECT. V. Angels to be reverenced, but not adored.

Fifthly, Since the Angels are thus Ministring Spirits, sent forth by God to minister unto us, and for our good and happiness; let us express an awful sense of their attendance, and shew them all due regard and reverence.

It was I confess, a speech of generous honesty, which A. Gellius commends from Peregrinus the Philosopher, whom he heard at Athens, Noct. At­tic. l. 12. c. 11. L. 4, & 10. Reipub. [ Virum quidem sapientem non peccaturum etiamsi peccâsse eum Dii atque homines ignoraturi forent.] That a wise man would not sin, though the Gods and men should never know it, because he forbears not out of the fear of punishment and infamy, so much as from a sense and love of duty and goodness it self. [So the Poet describes his Golden Age;

But this is an Idea of such perfection, as this state of ours on Earth affords very few, if any, instances of. It is rare to find any, who are got to this high improvement; the greatest part need other motives and restraints; yea, and our very make and constitution is fitted to them. The thoughts of secrecy and hopes of impunity tempt most men to transgress. To such there­fore the same Philosopher thought good to pro­pound this consideration, out of Sophocles and [Page 136] ot [...]ers, [...] V [...] [...] Ep. 11. & Ep. 25 That tim [...] wi [...] [...] and [...]. — And i [...] [...]as [...] a [...]v [...]ce to L [...] ­cil [...], [...] we [...]pan [...] good M [...]n [...] ▪ and [...] all [...]: as [...] ▪ [...] he had learn't himself from [...] ▪ w [...]ose pre­cept t [...]erefore [...]e a [...]edge [...] for it. A gre [...] [...]word of Mens s [...]n [...] and m [...]scar [...]iages, saith he▪ [...] ta [...]en away, if [...] if a [...] they are [...]. And [...] do w [...] to have in mind [...] Au [...]rity may render [...] Ha [...]y that man▪ as he [...], w [...] referres [...] only his [...], but his [...]! Happy he was [...] learn's so to re [...]ere a [...]other, as u [...]n every remem­brance of him to com [...]ese and [...] Such a man will quickly [...]ecome [...]nerabl [...]. [...] therefore, saith he, a Cato▪ or, if he seem too ri [...]s and severe, ch [...]se a Lae [...]s to t [...]y self, one whose life as well as [...] is most approvea [...]le▪ and, having his very Soul and countena [...]ce before thee, represents [...] to thy self at all times as a Guardian and Exa [...] ­ple. — But we need not so much this wholsom cou [...]el▪ neither, if we call but to mind those ma­ny invisible witnesses, which are for certain con­tinually about us, Vid. Ze [...]s­p [...]o [...]. Me­morabil. l. 4. Gr [...]eco. Lat. p. 802, & 803. Isocr. ad D [...]mon. Cic. ad Attic. l. 12. Ep. 27. Se [...]. Ep. 43. and the heathen Moralists too have sometimes taken notice of.

There is, first, a Spirit within us, which regi­sters all our Actions in order unto judgment, and from whose observance we can conceal no­thing. Never therefore do a base act with hopes of secrecy, saith Isocrates, for though thou keep it from others, thou must needs be privy to it thy self. My conscience, saith Cicero, is more to me than the words of all besides. And What booteht it, saith Seneca, for none to know, when thou thy self knoweth? O wretched Soul, if once thou despisest this Witness! [Page 137] T [...]e [...] a sacred Spirit within [...] is the obser­ver [...]f [...] good and ev [...]. Agreea [...]ly w [...]ereto saith Saint Be [...]rd excellently, Wheresoever I go, D. Ber [...]. Med. c. 13. my [...] is with [...] it [...] I [...] or evil. [...] is [...] is a [...], w [...]ile I [...]ove, and will [...] it as [...] I am [...]ead [...].

Secondly, there is the great God, our Crea­tor, Go [...]ernou [...], and Judg, always with us, Be­f [...]re w [...]se all- [...]eeing eye [...] [...]ings are naked and [...] [ c [...]jus [...], [...] l. [...]. c. [...]7.] as H [...]d a [...]o acknow [...]edgeth. ‘ [...].’

This, saith Ep [...]erus, [...] l. [...]. c. 14. is amo [...]g our first rudi­ments, T [...]at there is a God▪ and that [...]is providence [...] o [...]er all [...] that neither our doings nor [...] can be c [...]cealed [...]rom [...]im. — So live with men, saith Seneca▪ [...]s under God's eye. S [...]. Ep. 10. Id. Ep. 83. Ex Ci [...]e­rone, Lac­ [...]a [...]s. in­ [...]it l. c. 24. Nothing is [...]idden from him; he is present to our very Souls and thoughts. Let us always [...] ▪ [...]aith Cicero ▪ [...] those [...] we must give an account, and consider, that we are every [...], not in some T [...]e [...]er of the World seen of Men, but beheld from above by him who will be both Iudg and Witness. And therefore, as Boer [...]ius hath it, If men would not dissemble, Booth. de consol. l. 5. they are under a great necessary of honesty, as acting before the eyes of the All-seeing Iudg. Our very inwards should be such, saith M. Anto [...]us, L. 11. sect. 13. that the Gods may see us vertuous. And this is that we meet so often with in holy Writ, to walk [ [...],] before [...]od, and righteous before God,&c. — These two Rules, I have now spoken of, Epist. Diff. l. 2 [...]. c. 13. the Stoick excel­lently puts together, Chuse, saith he, to please thy self, and chuse to approve thy self unto God.

But then, thirdly, (to say nothing of those [Page 138] many malignant Spirits that watch an occasion of doing us mischief, to accuse, tempt and ruine us) there are also the holy Angels about us, whom God commissions for our defence and welfare. And that is the point, which here I am to re­commend; that we shew an awful respect and due regard to these invisible Spectators. Know ye, Diss. l. 1. c. 14. O men, saith Epictetus, that every one of you is committed to a certain diligent and excellent keeper and observer; such is every man's Genius or Daemon ap­pointed by God. When therefore you shall have shut the doors, and made all dark about you, remember that you never say, you are alone, for indeed you are not. But God is within, and your Genius (or Daemon) is within. And they have no need of light to see your doings by. Ap. de Deo So­cratis. And Apuleius, having discoursed the Doctrine of Guardian-Angels out of Plato, con­cludes it in this manner, All you who have heard me expound this divine sentence of his, so form and compose your minds, to the devising and doing of all things, as those that know, th [...]re is nothing at all within or without, secret and hidden from those Observers, &c.

D. Ber [...]. in Ps. 91. Serm. 13.Thus Saint Bernard lessons us, Since the Angels are present in all thy ways, see that thou walk wari­ly shew a reverence to thy Angel in every Inn, in every Nook and Corner. And do not thou presume to commit that in his presence, which thou durst not v [...]nture on in mine. — Again, saith he, This word [He hath given his Angels charge over thee] O how great a rev [...]rence should it produce! Id. Serm. 10. [...] how great devo­tion! how great assurance! in regard of the pre­sence of Angels, awe and reverence; for their good­will, devotion [with thanks-giving;] and upon the ac­count of their safe-guard, confidence and assurance! And again, Id. Serm. 22. — Let us shew our selves grateful to so worthy and excellent Guardians. Let us love them, as much as we can, and as far as we ought. —

[Page]The holy Scriptures in like manner point us out to the presence and attendance of Angels, as a singular motive unto watchfulness and cir­cumspection in our behaviour. Behold (saith God to Moses and his People the Jews) I s [...]nd an An­gel before thee, to keep the way, &c. Exod. 23.20, 21. [ Cave à facie ejus, i. e. ne coram [...]o aliquid ini­quum designes, as Vatab.] Beware of him [that thou do nothing unrighteous in his view] and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is in him. — And, when the Preacher cautions against rash Vows, he adds, Eccles. 5.6. Neith [...]r say thou before the Angel that it was an error, or ignorance. The Greek hath it Say thou not [ [...]] before the presence, or face, of God. Iacob so call'd the place, where the Angel appear [...]d to him and wrestled with him, Peniel, that is, the face of God, Gen. 32.30. And God himself said of the Angel, that attended the Israelites, as we read even now, My name is in him, that is, my Authority. He acts as in the person of God. And agreeably the Hebrew Rabbies stile the Angels [ Oculos De [...]] The eyes of God; Grot. in S. Matth. 18.10. and so the holy Scripture is thought to call them too, Zech. 4.10. Revel. 5.6. Say not then before the Angel, Id. in Ec­cles. 5.6. that oversees thy acti­ons, and will not bear with them▪ if they are evil and provoking, so and so. Excuse not thy fault as small and inconsiderable. Adstat Angelus vindex, there stands an Angel by to observe, and punish. We are made a spectacle to the World, to Angels, and to Men, saith Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 4.9. We do, as it were, Act upon an open Stage or Theatre, sur­rounded with many Spectators, a great circle of Witnesses, Angels as well as Men, and therefore should endeavour to act and manage our part well, [See Hebr. 12.1.] And for this cause he [Page] exhorts women to such a decent habit in the Congregation as becomes their state and con­dition, Vid. Eras. par. [...], 1 Cor. 11.10. because, saith he, of the Angels, who are presumed to frequent the Christian Churches, as before they did the Temple and Synagogues among the Jews, as hath been Ch. 4. Sect. 1. else-where declared. Therefore all things should be done with a special reverence and decorum there. And indeed, proportiona­bly, every-where besides. I charge thee, saith the same Apostle unto Timothy, before God and the Lord Iesus Christ, and the elect Angels, that thou ob­serve these things, 1 Tim. 5.21. As if he had said there is not only the Omnipotent God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he hath ordained Judg of all, to take notice of thee; but there are also many other Witnesses, the holy and elect Angels to testifie at last for or against thee, when he shall come in the Glory of his Father, and that Retinue of his, to judg the quick and dead. They walk with us, Soliloq. c. 27. saith Saint Agustin, in all our ways, they enter in and go out with us, attentively considering how piously and honestly we converse in the midst of an evil Nation, and with what study and desire we seek the Kingdom of God and the righte­ousness thereof, and with what fear and trembling we serve him and rejoyce before him, &c.

We are then to express an awful sense of, and regard unto the presence of those our dayly In­spectors and Attendants, with all the grateful re­spect we are able to shew them.

But yet we must take heed, that we give them not any of that Adoration, Divine Worship and Honour, which is peculiar unto God, remem­bring, how it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve, Saint Matth. 4.10. He that sacrificeth unto any God, save unto the [Page 141] Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed, Exod. 22.20. Nec bonis igitur, nec malis Diis sacrificari voluit, qui hoc cum tanta comminatione praecepit, D. Aug. de [...]i­vit. Dei, l. 19. c. 21.

Theophylact tells us upon the Text, that our A­postle seems in those words to reprove those, Theoph. in Hebr. 1.14. that ascribe too much to Angels, making men­tion of them as obliged to like services with us, and so differenced from us, but as Creatures are from one another. — Nay, which is more, we find here, that they are appointed to Minister unto us. Orat. con­tra Grae­cos. And that Reason Tatianus thought good against the worship of the Sun and Moon, [...]; Why should we fall down in a religious obedience to those that serve us?

This would certainly be offensive to those righ­teous Spirits themselves, instead of being accep­table. When Manoah, Sampson's Father, would have offered a Kid in Sacrifice to the Angel, that appeared unto him, he not only declares it, but gives this wholsom advice upon it, Iudges 13.15, 16 If thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou must of­fer i [...] unto the Lord. Intimating, that he could not sacrifice to any other without the guilt and peril of Idolatry. And when Saint Iohn in a Transport, fell at the Angels foot to worship him, he would by no means admit of it, but saith unto him, See thou do it not; I am thy fel­low-Servant, and of thy brethren, that have the Te­stimony of Iesus, worship God, Revel. 19.10. And again, when he offered the like a second time, he persists also to answer him the same manner, See thou do it not, for [...] am thy fellow-Servant, and of thy Brethren the Prophets, and of them, which keep the sayings of this Book, worship God, Ch. 22.9.

The words of Saint Paul, in his Epistle to the Colossians, do cut off all temptations to, and ex­cuses [Page 142] of this fond Excess. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility, and worship­ping of Angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up with his fleshly mind, Col. 2.18. [ [...], &c.] that is, as a Reverend Person paraphraseth it; See Dr. H. Par. & Annot. in Loc. Let no man please himself and condemn you in point of worshipping of Angels, as if there were some special humility in so doing, undertaking to scarch into those things which he knows nothing of, having no other ground for his Do­ctrine, but his own carnal fansie.

De Hae­res. ad Quod­vult De­um. De Civit. Dei, l. 10. c. 7. Id. c. 16.Such Hereticks as these S. Augustine calls [ Ange­licos] and he frequently reflects upon their per­verse practise. The Angels, saith he, are not willing that we should sacrifice unto them, but unto him, whose Sacrifice they acknowledge themselves to­gether with us to be, —And what is Invocation but Sacrifice, as the Scripture calls it? The Sacrifice of praise.—And again, They are not good, but evil Angels and Devils, that desire men to Sacrifice unto them. Contra Faustum, Man. l. 20. c. 21.—And again, The Saints themselves, both men and Angels, will not admit that to be exhibited unto them, which they know to be due unto God alone. This appear'd in Paul and Barnabas; This appear'd in the Angels also, as we read in the Revelations.—And again, We honour the Angels, but with love, not with service; Id. de ve­râ Rel. c. 55. Contra Max. Ar­rian. Epis. l. 1. nor do we build Temples to them; for they are not willing to be honour'd by us.—Once more, If we should rear a Temple of wood a [...]d stone to any holy Angel, be he never so excellent, should we not be anathematized by the Truth of Christ, and from the Church of God, for exhibiting of that service to a Creature, which is due only unto God?

Lact. In­stit. l. 2. c. 17. Lactantius tells us in like manner, that the good and holy Angels will not have any Divine honour given them, whose honour is in God; but those that revolt­ed [Page 143] from the service of God, being enemies unto and prevaricators from the Truth, endeavour to appropri­ate the Name and Worship of Gods to themselves.

Hear we also Origen, Those, saith he, Orig. con­tra Cel [...]. l. 5. p. 233. whom from their work we call Angels, we find because of their par­taking the Divine Nature to be called Gods, even in the holy Scriptures. Yet, not so, as to enjoin us to worship, in the room of God, those that minister unto us and bring us the things of God. For all prayer and supplication, and intercession, and thanks-giving is to be sent up to him, who is God over all, by that High-Priest, who is above all Angels, the living word and very God. And again, Id. l. 8. p. 416. We speak well of them and count them happy, as being ordained by God for the good and benefit of mankind. But we do not distri­bute the honour due to God unto them: For this is nei­ther the will of God, nor of those who are thus ordain­ed by him.

Let me adde farther, That this worshipping of Angels was condemned in the Council of Lao­dicea, Concil. Laod. Can. 35. [ Anno 365.] the 35. Canon whereof runs in these words, That Christians ought not to leave the Church of God, and go and invocate Angels, and make conventicles, which things are forbidden. If any one therefore be found indulging to this secret Ido­latry, let him be Anathema, Vid. Car­ranzae summam Concil. Laod. Can. 35. Theodor. col. 2.18. cited by Dr. Stil­lingfleet, Idol. of the Ch. of Rome. c. [...]. sect. 11. p. 1 [...]5. because he hath left our Lord Iesus Christ, and come over to Idolatry.

In the version of which Canon Carranza lamen­tably mistakes, or prevaricates, by reading of [ An­gulos] instead of [ Angelos] i. e. [ Corners] for [ An­gels] so wide a difference may the change of one let­ter make. Of which I will say no more but the old Proverb, Veritas non quaerit Angulos. Theodoret saith, They were the Jews who perswaded men to worship Angels, because the Law was deliver­ed by Angels, which practice continued a long time in Phrygia and Pisidia; and that therefore [Page 144] the Syno [...] [...]f Laodicea forbad the praying unto Angels, &c.

If any desire to see farther into this Mystery, I refer him to the learned Discourses of Mr. Mede upon the Apostasie of the last Times, and Do­ctrine of Demons.

Zanch. de oper. Dei. part 1. [...]. 3. c. 22.I will end with the words of Zanchy, If we may not invocate, saith he, those that hear and see us, and take care of us, how then dead men? So that they are convinced of most manifest Idolatry who worship Saints departed and Angels, and dedicate and consecrate Temples to them. And 'tis to [...]very little purpose for such as do thus to boast that they cannot erre in things that relate to Faith and Religion.

SECT. VI. God in and for them to be admired and glorified.

Sixthly, It will not be amiss, if we take the hint from the Angels double admonition to Saint Iohn, mentioned in the last Section, [ Worship thou God] to turn our thoughts a while from these ex­cellent Creatures, and, upon the occasion of their perfections, to raise up our minds to observe, ad­mire and adore their Maker.

This is a Tribute we ought to pay unto him from all his works; O lord, our Governour, saith the Psalmist, Ps. 8. ult. how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth! 19.1. And again, The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work. And again, 145.10. All thy works praise thee, and thy Saints bless thee. The glory of him that made them is conspi­cuous in them all, and they praise him, [ objectivè] by suggesting matter to all intelligent or reasona­ble Beholders, of acknowledging and blessing him thereupon. The invisible things of God, saith the [Page 145] Apostle, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood [or considered] by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are left without excuse, Rom. 1.19, &c. Even they who having thus far the manifestation of Gods being, and means of knowing him, glo­rified him not as God, neither were thankful, but gave away his glory to the meaner sort of his Works. And, Surely, saith the Author of the Book of Wisdom, ch. 13.1, &c. vain are all men by nature, who are ignorant of God, and could not out of the good things that are seen, know him that is; neither by considering the works did they acknowledge the Work-master; but deemed either Fire, or Wind, or the swift Air, or the Circle of the Stars, or the vio­lent Water, or the Light of Heaven to be the God [...] which govern the World; with whose Beauty if they being delighted took them to be Gods, let them know how much better the Lord of them is; for the first Au­thor of Beauty hath created them. But if they were astonished at their power and vertue, let them under­stand by them, how much mightier he is that made them. For by the Greatness and Beauty of the Crea­tures, proportionably the Maker of them is seen. Diss. [...]. 1. c. 16.— If we are well in our wits, saith Epictetus admirably, what else should we do both public [...]ly and privately, but celebrate, praise, and give thanks unto the Deity? For, even while we are digging and ploughing, and [...]ating, this Hymn is to be sung unto God, Great is God who hath given us these Instruments to cultivate the Earth! Great is God who hath given us hand [...] to labour with! Great is God who hath given us the power of swallowing, and a Stomach to receive and digest our food, who causeth us by this means to grow up imper­ceptibly, and makes us breath when we sleep! Thus we are to sing to his praise in all things. But a most [Page 146] Divine Hymn is due for this, that he hath given us the understanding of things, with capacity and reas [...]n to make use of them.—And then a little after he adds, Ibid. ‘If I were a Nightingal, I should do what belongs to the Nightingal; if a Swan, what be­longs to such a Bird; but now I am a reasonable Creature, it behoves me to praise God. This is my work and business. And this I do, nor will I quit this Station as long as I am able, but exhort others also to join in the same Song with me.’ Like that of the Psalmist, Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my Soul! while I live I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my God, while I have any being, Psal. 146.1, 2. For this end certainly did God make the world, and sent man at last into it, to di­splay his own goodness, & produce objects capable of the continual communications thereof; and that we might be surrounded with variety of particu­lars, by piece-meals to take notice of and honour him, whom we cannot at once and altogether con­ceive aright of. [ Natura homines humo excitatos celsos & erectos constituit, ut Deorum cognitionem, coe­lum intuentes, capere possint: sunt enim ex terrâ homi­nes, non ut incola & habitatores, sed quasi spectatores superarum rerum at (que) coelestium, quarum spectaculum ad nullum aliud genus animantium pertinet, ut Balbus [...]pud Ciceronem 2. de Nat. Deorum.—Quod & Ovi­dius pulchrè docet. 1. Met. Prona (que) cum spectent ani­malia caetera terram, Os homini sublime dedit, coelum (que) tueri Iussit & erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.]

But now, whereas other Creatures are his Works, and so retain some impressions of their Author, the Angels are his most lively Images, that nearest of all resemble him, and therefore we who ought, as hath been said, to glorifie him in and for all his works, are the more unpardonable, [Page 147] if we observe or admire him not in these, which make the nearest approach unto his Divinity, and read unto us the clearest notions of his Excellen­cies and Perfections. Bellarmine hath intituled the best of his Writings (being most satisfactory to himself, and useful to others) [ De Ascensione mentis ad Deum per scalas rerum creatarum] that is, Of the Mind's ascent to God by the Ladder of the Creatures [A Iacob's Ladder] and the ninth step he takes [ ex consideratione Angelorum] from the contemplation of Angels: [These indeed are e­very-where ascending and descending in that Lad­der.] —Well may we cry out, O Lord, our Lord, Ps. 8.1. how excellent is thy name in all the Earth! Thou hast set thy Glory above the Heavens. There are the greatest expressions of it, viz. in this glorious Host of Heaven. He telleth the number of [these] Stars, and calleth them all by their name▪ Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite, Ps. 147.5, 6. Thus the Levites taught the Children of Israel to glorifie God, Stand up, and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever; and bles­sed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone: Thou hast made Heaven, the Heaven of Heavens with all their Hosts, the Earth and all things that are therein, Nehem. 9.5, 6. And the Prophet Isaiah, in like manner, calls upon them, ‘Lift up your Eyes on high, and behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their Host by number. He calleth them all by their names by the greatness of his might: for that he is strong in power, not one faileth, Isa. 40.26.’

In the spiritual nature, knowledg, power, goodness, holiness, immortality, and glory of Angels, we have competent relief towards the [Page 148] improving our Meditations about that infinite and eternal, all-knowing, all-mighty, and tran­scendently holy and glorious Spirit, who is the Father of them. And it is obvious for every one to infer; If these Beings are so excellent above us, as hath been declared, then how much more per­fect and complete is that God, who made them and all things else? Before whom the whole World is but As a little grain of the balance, yea as the drop of the morning-dew, that falleth upon the Earth, as the Wise-man speaks, Wisd. 11.22. [and to a like purpose the Prophet Isa. 40.15. —] Of whom therefore I cannot speak more fitly, than in the excellent words of Novatian, Inter ope­ra Te [...]tul. the Roman Pres­byter, in his Catholic Book of the Trinity. The mind is too little to think, and all [...]loquence justly dumb in the uttering of his Majesty. For he is great­er than our mind; and it cannot be conceived, how great he is. Whatever we think or speak is far below him. We may indeed in some sort with silence muse upon him, but cannot sufficiently explain him▪ For, whatsoever we say, sheweth rather some creature or excellency of his, than himself. What can we speak or think worthily enough of him, who is beyond all our speech and sense? Vnless perhaps by this one way we [...]nderstand in our mind, so far as we are able, what [...]od is, if we conceive, he is that which for excellen­cy and greatness can never be understood fully by us, or enter into our thoughts to comprehend. For, as the bodily ey-sight is weakened by poring on the Sun, so that we cannot fixedly behold his bright Orb, over­come with the lustre of his radiant beams; so the more intense our mind is in viewing God, the more darkned it becomes in its thoughts about him. For what can one say worthily of him, who is more sublime [...]nd hi [...]h than all sublimity and height, more profound [Page 149] than all profundity more lucid, bright and splendid than all light, brightness and splendor; more strong and powerful, than all strength and power, more beautiful than all beauty, truer than all truth, greater than all Majesty or greatness, richer than all riches, wiser and more prudent than all wisdom and prudence, ju­ster than all justice, better than all good [...]ess, and more merciful than all mercy? For all sorts of vertues must of necessity be less than the God and Parent of all ver­tues; and (in a word) it may be truly said, he is that, which nothing can be compared unto, above and beyond all we can say of him. [...]. Max. Tyr. Diss. 1.

The knowing Angels, who better understand his perfections, than we Mortals do, yet Cover their faces with their wings before him, Isa. 6. Nem­pe sicut homines solem con [...]ra tueri non audent, ità An­geli Deum, Grot in Loc.] as not able to look up­on the brightness of his Majesty, and for an ex­pression of their reverence towards him▪ and, if any upon Earth presume to make more bold with him, 'tis wholly from their ignorance; [ In vela­ta facie reverentiam tantae Majestatis cogit [...], Fov [...] ­rius.] For, as Saint Chrysostom speaks, Hom. 4 de incompr. Dei nat. upon this very occasion, (having mention'd the admiration and reverence of the Angels towards God, by reason of their more excellent wisdom) [...] The extension and increase of knowledg will advance proportiona­bly our fear and reverence.

To conclude this Inference, learn we from hence, to admire, and fear, See Zanch. de oper. Dei, part. 1. l. 3. c. 14. and love God ex­ceedingly. To admire him, whose Creatures are so admirable, and whom the most knowing of his Creatures do most admire. To fear him▪ who hath such powerful Hosts at his command [...] [Page 150] and to love him, who is yet so good, as to make all things, even Angels themselves, to serve us.

SECT. VII. Why, and how the Ministry of Angels is to be obli­ged by us.

In the last place, let us do, what we can, to oblige and secure the Ministry of Angels to our selves, which is, as hath been declared, so many ways and upon so many accounts beneficial. And here I need not offer any thing new by way of motive or inducement, when 'tis our appa­rent Interest so to do, that we may have the com­ [...]ort of this reflection, among others, in cases of the greatest trouble and adversity, and the most perplexing difficulties, that at any time befal us.

Now this we shall best effect, if we make sure to our selves the character of those persons, who have the promise from God of such a blessing; that is, If we are found in the number of them, that truly fear God, for ‘The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them, Ps. 34.’ ‘In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge, Prov. 14.26.’ — If we set our chiefest love upon God, put ou [...] trust in him, know and own his name; for of them, that do so, it is said, Ps. 91. ‘He shall give his An­gels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.’ — If we approve our selves sincere and faithful Christians, honest and obedient Disci­ples of our blessed Lord and Saviour; for, as the Text tells us, ‘They are sent forth to Mini­ster [Page 151] for them who shall inherit Salvation.’ Thus in the general.

But, then, there are some more particular di­rections to be given, worthy of our most care­ful observance, namely, such as these that fol­low.

First, pray we to God, from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift, for this a­mong other benefits. They are all at his beck, sent forth and imployed at his will and pleasure; and therefore it is but fitting, that we own him in the favour, and make our humble requests to him for it. The success of Prayer in this mat­ter was observable in the instance I have before recommended out of Bodinus. This was part of Iacob's Benediction upon Ioseph's Sons, Ch. 4 [...] Sect. 4. even his Prayer to God for them, 'The Angel, which re­deemed me from all evil, bless the Lads, Gen. 48.15, 16. For so I construe it, as [ votum Deo] and not [ invocatio Angeli.] And Iudas Maccab [...]us, we read, besought the Lord, that he would send 'a good Angel to deliver Israel, 2 Macc. 11.6. And again, in another distress, ‘He said in his Prayer after this manner, O Lord, thou didst send thine Angel in the time of Hezekias King of Iudea, and didst slay in the Host of Senna­cherib, an hundred fourscore and five thousand. Wherefore now also, O Lord of Heav'n, send a good Angel before us for a fear and a dread un­to them, and through the might of thine Arm let those be stricken with terror, that come against thy holy People to blaspheme, Ch. 15.22, &c.’ 'Tis part of the Psamists Imprecation against his and the Churches Enemies, ‘Let them be as Chaffe before the Wind, and let the Angel of the Lord chase or scatter them. Let their way be dark and slippery, and let the Angel of the [Page 152] Lord persecute them, Ps. 35.5, 6.’ And this is part of the Jews Form of Prayer still in their Eu­chology, [...]ud. Cap­pellus in Hebr. 1.14. [ ‘Command, O Lord, thine Angels, who are placed over humane affairs, that they be ready for my aid, to help, save, and deliver me.’]

Secondly, keep we our selves diligently with­in the Pale and Communion of the Christian Church, the society of those, who are the de­clared Heirs of Salvation, [ ‘The Lord added to the Church dayly such as should be saved,] Acts 2.47.’ For to such, as hath been shewn, they are parti [...]ularly sent as Guardians and Protectors. [ Vbi non est D [...]i gratia, ibi nee locum habet Ange­lorum custodia,] ‘The custody of Angels, saith Luther, hath no place, where the Grace of God is not; In cap. 2. Heb. D. I. Ger­ [...]ard [...]. Med. Sacr. and G [...]rhard to a like purpose, [ Recon­ciliandus priùs es Deo per fidem, si Angelum vis ha­bere custod [...]m,] Thou must first be reconciled to God by Faith, if thou wouldst have an Angel of his for thy Guardian.’

The Form of Excommunication is call'd re­markably, 'A delivering over unto Satan, 1 Cor. 5.5. 1 Tim. 1.20. The Devil claims a peculiar power over those, who are rightfully cast out of the Church of Christ, and so barr'd and depri­ved of the succour and assistance of good Angels. ‘This is notoriously apparent, saith Doctor H. More, Mystery of Godli­ness, l. 4. c. 6. in some of the forlorn and giddy-head­ed Sects of these times, among whom, I dare say, a man may find out a greater number of true Demoniacks than Christ and his Apostles are said to cure. For to what more rationally, than to the possession of these deceiving Spirits, can be attributed those wild extasies they are in? &c.’

We must be careful then, by holding fast the [Page 153] form of sound words, the Faith once deliver'd to the Saints, and avoiding of all wicked Schism from, and disobedience to the Church of Christ, to secure our selves from being exposed to the Tyranny of evil Spirits.

Thirdly, Let us continue honestly and indu­striously within the compass and bounds of our lawful Vocations respectively. [ Angelis suis man­davit de te] ambulante scilicet in tuâ vocatione & ti­mente Deum, Brentius in Heb. 1.14.] 'Tis an use­ful Rule delivered from S. Hierom [Semper boni a­liquid operis facito, ut Diabolus te sempèr inveniat occupatum.] ‘Be always doing some good work, or other, that the Devil may find thee still em­ployed, and not at leisure for his motions.’ — We are studiously to avoid those curious and un­warrantable Arts and Practices, whereby we may tempt and invite evil Spirits to our company; Act. 19.19. and having betaken our selves to innocent and law­ful Callings, to keep close unto them. The E­gyptians, as I have before intimated, assigned an Angel to every man in his respective Calling, whom they stiled the Spirit of his Profession. The good Angels, to be sure, are all for order, and have no kindness for those that are [...], dis­orderly and unruly ones, who will not keep their place and rank; [...] (in the words of M. Antoninus) Deserters of the Station and work assigned them, L. 10. Sect. 25. L. 11. Sect. 9. and fugitives from their particular charge and duty; such as the evil An­gels are, on the contrary, described, Who forsook their first Estate, and left their proper Habitation, S. Iude v. 6. And ever since they are all for con­fusion and every evil work (which follows upon that) with those Children of Disobedience, who are busie bodies in other mens matters, but neg­lect their own Offices and Duties.

[Page 154]Undoubtedly, whensoever any leave their pro­per Callings and Ministries, they go out of those ways wherein the holy Angels have a special charge over them.

Fourthly, we must with courage and vigilance resist the Devil and all his wicked instruments, be­tween whom and the good Angels there is Anti­pathy, and a continual fight and contest. 'Tis said of our blessed Saviour, upon his defeat of the Evil One, and vanquishing of his Temptations, S. Matth. 4.11. Then the Devil leaveth him, and, behold, Angels came and ministred unto him. Where­by is shewn, Cit. in Cat. D. Ibo. as S. Hilary notes, ‘That the Ministe­ries of Angels, and good Offices of the heaven­ly Powers will not be wanting to us if we over­come the Devil and trample upon him.’—That we may secure their delightful abode with us, we must not gratifie, or hold league and amity with, their and our professed Enemies; but, as the holy Scripture directs us, Ephes. 6.1 Pet. 5.8, 9. S. James 4.7. Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might: be sober and vigilant, and putting on the whole Armour of God for our help and safe-guard, stand it out against the Devil, and resist him stedfastly, that he may f [...]ye from us.—And [ Diabolo s [...]cede [...]ti succedunt Angeli] his flight will be an invitation and encouragement to the holy and good Angels to resort to us, Spanhem. D [...]b. E­vang. and dwell wit [...] us.

Resist we the Devil more especially, when he tempts us by Allurements or Threatnings to re­volt and apostatize from our Religion, and that Oath of fidelity whereby we were devoted unto God at Baptism. The four resolute Confessors (whom I have mentioned else-where out of Dan. ch. 3. and ch. 6.) found the blessed Angels then most ready at hand for their wonderful deliverance, when they generously exposed their lives and for­tunes, [Page] rather than they would deny their God, with-hold his Worship from him, or give it to any other. And so did the Apostles of Christ too, when they freely hazarded all of this world, rather than to desist from the preaching of the Gospel committed to them, Acts 5. and Acts 12.

Fifthly, We are to shun and avoid, with all the circumspection we are able, whatsoever we know to be offensive and grievous to them. Such to be sure is all wilful transgression and disobedi­ence, for which God threatens to remove this Fence from about us. ‘They are at hand unto Believers, saith S. Basil, if we drive them not a­way by our wicked doings. In Ps. 33.—For as smoke cha­seth away Bees, and a noisom smell the Doves, so do our filthy practices our Guardian Angels from us.’

We do not only by base and sinful actions wound our own Spirits, and grieve the holy Spi­rit of God, Eph. 4.30. but offend these good Spi­rits too, that wish us well and attend us. S. Au­gustin writes excellently to this purpose, Solil. c. 27. in his So­liloquies: ‘The Angels love, saith he to God, those whom thou lovest, and keep those whom thou keepest, but forsake those whom thou forsa­kest, and do not love the works of iniquity, be­cause thou hatest them. As often as we do well, the Angels rejoice and the Devils are troubled▪ but when we depart from the ways of goodness, we make the Devil to rejoice, and defraud thy Angels of their gladness; for there is joy a­mong them over one sinner that repenteth, but with the Devil over a righteous man that for­sakes repentance. Grant therefore, O Father, grant, that they may always joy concerning us, by our continuing good and righteous, that both [Page 156] thou mayest evermore be praised by them, in and For us, and we may be brought with them into thy one Sheepfold, there to confess together jointly unto thy holy name, O thou Cr [...]ator of men and Angels.’

Sixthly, that I may draw towards an end, we shall certainly oblige and secure their attendance and ministry by doing of those things, where­with they are most pleased and delighted, the exercise I mean of such Vertues and Graces espe­cially, whereby we most of all resemble and imi­tate them, [ per bonae voluntatis similitudinem] as S. Augustine speaks, De Civ. Dei. l. 8. c. 25. by a likeness of good and ho­ly temper and disposition: For nothing concili­ates Friendship more than similitude of manners.

‘The main Reason, as I conceive, saith a Re­verend Author, Antidote against A­theism. l. 3. c. 13. Ibid. why the Examples of the conso­ciation of good Spirits are so scarce in History, is, because so very few men are heartily and sin­cerely good.’ — And again, ‘The safest Ma­gick is the sincere consecrating a mans Soul to God, and the aspiring to nothing but so pro­found a pitch of humility, as not to be conscious to our selves of being at all touch'd with the praise and applause of men, and to such a free and universal sense of Charity, as to be delight­ed with the welfare of another, as much as our own.’—And he observes it particularly con­cerning that person whose story we had before out of Bodinus; Ibid. ‘That he was not only frequent in Prayer, but used to spend some hours in Me­ditation and reading of the Scriptures,—And once among the rest, while he was busie in his Enquiries about the matters of Religion, that he light on a passage in Philo-Iudaeus his Book d [...] Sacrificiis, where he writes, that a good and holy man can offer no greater, nor more acceptable [Page 157] Sacrifice to God than the oblation of himself; and therefore following Philo's counsel, That he offered his Soul to God. And that after-that, amongst many other Divine Dreams and Visions, he once in his sleep seem'd to hear the Voice of God saying to him, I will save thy Soul, I am he that before appeared unto thee.’

It is noted of Socrates among the Heathens, so famed for his Demon that conversed with him up­on all occasions, that he was a person most re­markable for righteousness and innocency, puri­ty and goodness, sobriety and exactness in the Government of himself, piety towards God, and holiness among men; and therefore upon that account that it was no wonder he should enjoy so great a Priviledge, while those Coelestial Spirits shun the habitation of wicked and polluted Souls. For the exemplifying whereof I refer the Reader to the Quotations here annexed, whereby he may perceive himself, upon the like terms, a Candi­date for the like Benefits.

[ Hic quem dico prorsus custos, singularis praefectus, domesticus specula [...]or, proprius curator, intimus cog­nitor, assiduus observator, individu [...]s arbiter, insepa­rabilis Testis, malorum improbator, bonorum proba­tor, si ritè advertatur, sedulò cognoscatur, religiosè colatur, ità ut à Socrate Iustitiâ & innocentiâ cultus est, in rebus incertis prospector, dubiis praemonitor, pe­riculosis tutator, egenis opitulator, qui tibi queat tum insomniis, tum signis, tum etiam fortasse coràm, cum usus postulat, mala averruncare, bona prosperare, hu­milia sublimare, nutantia fulcire, obscura clarare, se­cunda regere, adversa corrigere. — Apuleius de Deo Socratis.]

[ [...] [Page 158] [...]. Max. Tyrius Diss. XXVI. eodem de argumento. [...]. id. ibid.]

And now let me close all with a serious recom­mendation of some of those particular Excellen­cies, wherein we are to endeavour an imitation of the Angels, in order to the more effectual se­curing and obliging of their Ministry to our selves. The principal of them I shall comprize under the ensuing heads. viz.

I. A ready, chearful, and sincere obedience unto all Gods commands.] For so we have found them described by the Psalmist, Ye Angels of his that ex­cel in strength, that do his Commandments, heark­ning unto the voice of his word: Ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure, Psal. 103. who are upon the wing, as hath been said more than once already, at every beck or intimation from him.—And now, in order unto this, we must certainly study the knowledge of Gods will that we may obey it, as they do, hearkning to the voice of his word; that word of his which is written for our learning and instruction in the holy Scriptures. The good An­gels are Angels of light, and love to keep them company who walk in the light: They are no friends to blind Obedience, but for a reasonable service. The Devil, on the other side, is the Prince of Darkness, and labours what he can to keep men in the mist and darkness of ignorance, errour, and delusion. The good Angels promote to their uttermost the knowledge of the Gospel of Christ. We read of one of them, in the Reve­lations, Flying in the midst of He [...]ven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to every Nation, ch. 14.6, 7. And of another of them calling S. Paul into Macedonia to further this work, Acts 16. But the Devil, by all the means and ways he is able, en­deavours [Page 159] to obstruct and hinder it: We would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again, (saith he to the Thessalonians) but Satan hinder'd us, 1 Epist. 2.18. And, where the Word is preached, he does what he can, either to put it out of the hearers memories, or to prejudice them against the belief and love it: When they have hea [...]d, saith our blessed Saviour, Satan cometh immediate­ly, and taketh away the Word, that was sown in their hearts, Saint Mark 4.15. And, The God of this World, saith the Apostle, hath blinded the minds of them, which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the Image of God, should shine into them, 2 Cor. 4.4.

II. An assiduous, constant and orderly devoti­on.] Of their example herein I have spoken suf­ficiently, Ch. 4. Sect. 1. by the copying out where­of we shall invite them to us. [ Si verbi & prae­cum gaudes exercitio, Angelorum quoque gaudere po­teris patrocinio,] saith the devout Gerhard, D. I. Ger­hardi Med. Sacr. ‘If thou delight in the Word of God and Prayer, thou shalt be gratified with the Angels Patro­nage. While I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my People Israel, saith the Prophet Daniel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy Mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in Prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the Vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening Oblation, Dan. 9.20, 21.’ And of Cornelius it is recorded, that ‘being a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, and gave much Alms to the People, and prayed to God alway, [ viz. upon every season and op­portunity] He saw in a Vision, about the ninth hour of the day, when he was praying, an An­gel [Page 160] of God that said unto him, thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a memorial before God, Acts 10.2, 3, 4, 30. And we read, in the Revel [...]tions, of 'Angels with Golden Vials full of Odours, (or Incense) which are the Pray­ers of the Saints, Revel. 5.8.—8.4.’ Learned Mr. Mede will needs have Revel. 8.4. understood of Christ alone, as our only high-Priest in Heaven, Apost. of lat. Times, par. 1. c. 7. which I know not how to reconcile unto Ch. 5.8. where it is plainly enough spoken of the four living Crea­tures [the Angels before described, Ch. 3.] and the 24 Elders in conjunction [ ‘having every one of them Harps and Golden Vials full of Odours or Incense, which are the Prayers of the Saints] unless it be said, that these all deliver their Gol­den-Vials of Incense to that other singular An­gel, Ch. 8.4. that he should offer it with the Pray­ers of all the Saints upon the Golden-Altar be­fore the Throne.’]

These, it seems, they delight upon occasion to present unto God, adding their own, probably, together with them, according to the pattern of the Angel in Zechary, Ch. 1.12. O Lord of Hosts▪ how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the Cities of Judah! — They are careful Mes­sengers between God and us, saith both Saint Ber­nard and Saint Augustin [though, to be sure, they never meant it in the Heathen-Notion] faithfully to bear our groans to him, and devoutly to bring back the tidings of his Grace and favour unto us. [ Solliciti discurrunt medii inter nos & Deum, nostros gemitus fidelissimè ad eum portantes, ipsiusque gratiam devotissimè ad nos reportantes, D. Bern. Med. c. 6. cujusmodi etiam apud D. Augustin. solil. c. 27.

But then, with our Confessions and Petitions, we must not forget to intermingle those Doxo­logies, [Page 161] Lauds and Praises, I have else-where spo­ken of, which are their continual imployment. We must be sure to join with them in Psalms, and Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, making melody in our hearts to the Lord, as the Apostle speaks, Ephes. 5. Nothing is more acceptable to these Celestial-Spirits; nothing can tie them and us together more strictly, than our union and communion with them in the same beloved Service and Ministry, making our selves a Temple for God's praise, which he may vouchsafe to dwell in, bringing these his Attendants along with him; and con­versing delightfully, as they do, with heav'nly and divine objects. [ Nihil magis supernis civibus spectare libet. — O quam faelix esses [...] si spiritualibus oculis intueri possis, quomodo praeveniunt principes, con­juncti psallentibus in medio juvencularum Tympanistri­arum! Videres proculdubio, quâ curâ quóve trip [...] ­dio intersunt cantantibus, assistunt orantibus, adsunt me­ditantibus, D. Bern. ubi anteà: quò spectat & Ephre­mi illud, Habitante in Deo animâ, Angeli festinant honorare eam utpote, Templum Dei effectam.]

III. A profound humility and ready condescen­sion unto all fo [...] their good.] This is most con­spicuous throughout the whole Ministry of the blessed and glorious Angels unto us; and we find them ever most forward in their errands and em­bassies to the meek and humble, such lowly ones, as God himself hath a special regard unto, Isa. 66.2. The humble Virgin, the humble Shepherds, &c. Whereas [ procul absunt à superbis, qui nemini inserviunt —] as Saint Cyril speaks, In Isa. 6. they are far from the proud and haughty, who use the ser­vices of others imperiously enough, but disdain themselves to serve others. Pride is the noted [...]in of Devils, and draws us into their Snare, and estranges the good Angels from us. — The tears [Page 162] of [...]enitent Sinners are the Wine of Angels, Med. Sacr. as Ger­hard hath it; They are humble and lowly themselves, and pride and scornfulness is perfectly hated by them. Th [...]y are not ashamed to serve Christ's little ones. Why then is Dust and Ashes proud, when those [...]ea­v'nly Spirits so much abase themselves?

IV. An unspotted purity and chastity.]

Id. ibid.They are all holy and undefiled, clothed con­tinually with clean and white linnen, the robes of righteousness; and their joy is in those that keep their garments clean and unspotted with their flesh, that maintain an holy, pure, chast, and un­corrupted life and conversation, holy and pure thoughts, and words, and practices. As on the contrary, the Devil is known by the name of an unclean and impure spirit, Saint Luke 11.24. and takes up his habitation upon choice among the Swine, Saint Matth. 8.31.

V. And lastly, a fervent love and peace, and concord, as much as lieth in us, one with and towards another.] For thus it is among the holy Angels. Oth [...]-Cas­ma [...]. An­gelogr. par. 2. c. 7. Q. 3. And to this some refer that of Bildad [qui facit concordiam in sublimibus] Job 25.2. He maketh peace in his high places; And again, that of God unto Iob. ch. 38.37. which the vulgar Latin reads [ conc [...]tum coeli quis dormire faciet?] Who can lay asleep the harmony of Heav'n. — And no­thing, doubtless, is more grateful to them than to see the like among us below. Behold, how good, and how pl [...]asant a thing it is (to them as well as our selves) for brethren to dwell together in unity! Ps. 133. Ep. 75. This, saith Saint Cyprian, brings the great­est pleasure, not only to faithful men and those that know vertue, but unto the Coelestial Spirits also, whom the Scripture represents as rejoycing over one Sinner that r [...]pent [...]th (and so returns to the bond of unity) which could not, saith he, be verified of the Angels, [Page 163] that have their conversation in Heaven, were they not some way united also unto us; who rejoice in our uni­on, and on the contrary are troubled, when they see us divided and at variance. — There is not any temper, that gratifies and invites the envious and mischievous one, the Devil, more than malice and ill-will, strife and contention. By our undue heats and inordinate wrath we give place unto him. He is known by his foaming rage, and cloven-foot.— And, on the other side, there is nothing more acceptable, as I said, to the good Angels, than brotherly love and unity, peace and agreement, whereby we conform our selves to their charity, and participate in a degree their blissful and se­rene state of amity and friendship, which is in­deed a very Heav'n upon Earth.