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Are they not all ministring spirits, sent forth to minister for them, who shall be heirs of salvation?
'TIS the great happiness and pri∣viledge of Saints to be under the care and protection of an Almighty God: Others have the bene∣fit of his general Providence; These of his particular Love and Kindness. The clearest Evidence of that his Love ap∣pears in sending his only beloved Son
into the World to merit Salvation for them; and next to that, in employing Angels to further it; He being our a∣lone Saviour, These our Guardians and Assistants. Wherein the Almighty has abundantly provided, as well for the honour as the security of his Servants. For what greater honour, next to the having Christ for our Brother, than that we should have such glorious Creatures as Angels for our Ministers? Their Na∣ture, we know, places them above us, and yet God's Love and their Humility sets them here below us. Even while those excellent Spirits attend on the Throne of God, we may see them waiting on us Men; While they behold his Face there, they cast a benign aspect on us here. These bright Morning∣stars do at the same time praise Him, and assist and guide us; Their Employ∣ment in Heaven does not exempt them from their Services on Earth, dividing them as it were between those two pla∣ces, ever ascending and descending, i. e. perpetually employ'd in discharging their Duties to their Creator, and for his sake performing all good Offices to their fellow Creatures.
2. And hence it is, That in conside∣ration of those great and various Bene∣fits she receives by their appointed Aid and Ministration. The Church has set a∣part this Day as to praise Him who makes use of such glorious Instruments for her safeguard and protection; so gratefully to commemorate those ad∣vantageous Services they doe her. And although the Title of this Festival car∣ries but a particular denomination of St. Michael's Day, yet does the Church herein celebrate the general Memorial of all Angels; and the Text I have cho∣sen leads us to it, as the Scope thereof does to the whole Chapter; wherein the Apostle's design is to compare Christ with Angels, and to prove his Superiority over them, which He does by several Arguments taken.
Are they not all, &c.
In which Words you may observe,
These be the several Stages through which I shall lead you: And first, of the Existence or Being of Angels, sup∣pos'd in the question, Are they not all, &c.
1. Since the Being of Angels is here suppos'd and taken for granted, one would think there should need no far∣ther proof of it; and surely 'twould be needless, did not the Infidelity of some Men make it necessary. And 'tis strange
that Divine Revelation should not be sufficient to settle this Truth among Christians, which Heathens by the dim light of Nature have so clearly discern'd. For what-ever mistakes they were guilty of as to the Nature, they believ'd the Existence of spiritual Substances; and we find them very curious in ranking and disposing them into their several Classes, and describing the Hierarchy of their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 with as much exactness, (I had almost said, as good ground) as the pretended Dionyfius has done that of Angels, whom the Schoolmen so passi∣onately doat on. And the same reason which taught Heathens so much Divi∣nity, fetches this Truth also from the Order of Nature, which seems to re∣quire it. For as here we find some things without life; others living, but without sense; some again sensible, and others rational, yet so as to be of a mixt Nature, partly Corporal and part∣ly Spiritual; there would want one main link in the Chain of Providence, had not the Divine Power made some Creatures purely Intellectual, such as might be a Mean between God and Man, as Man is between them and
Beasts, to prevent a chasm or vacuum in Nature. Besides, since every part and place in the World is fill'd with Inhabi∣tants proper for it; it seems but requisite, that the highest Heavens should not be left void of such as might be fit to dwell in those pure and glorious Man∣sions.
But not to build so necessary and im∣portant a Truth on meer rational Con∣jectures, we have a more solid founda∣tion for it, which is Divine Revelation; the Scriptures every-where not only mentioning the Being of Angels, but giving us a clear account of their Crea∣tion, of their manifold Apparitions and Discoveries to Men on Earth, together with their several Actions and Operati∣ons; All which clearly demonstrate their Existence.
For the first: Their Creation may be gathered, though it be not set down in express terms from the first and se∣cond Chapters of Genesis, where they are styl'd the Host of Heaven; an usual Title afforded to all Creatures in Scrip∣ture-language, but in a more especial manner appropriated to Angels, as 'tis by the Psalmist, Psal. 148. 2. and most
suitable to them in regard of their great Power and exact Order. And so all Ex∣positors allow it. 'Tis true indeed, there is no such express mention of the Crea∣tion of Angels in Moses's Writings, as in those of the other Holy Pen-men; which he omits, not so much, as some would have it, to prevent Idolatry in the Israe∣lites, who, had they known Angels, would have been apt to have ador'd them: as for these two Reasons: 1. Be∣cause Moses applies himself to the sim∣ple Capacity of that People, and de∣scribes the Creation of visible and sensi∣ble things, leaving spiritual as above their lower apprehensions; and, 2dly, lest Men should think God needed the help of Angels either in the production or disposition of other Creatures; As if the Fabrick of the World had been too great a Task for Himself alone to under∣take, as Heathens and some Hereticks also have fancied, to the manifest deroga∣tion of the Divine Omnipotency.
But for what reason soever Moses for∣bore to speak out here, the Psalmist is plain enough; By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made, and all the Host of them by the breath of his mouth, Psal.
33. 6. and clearer yet, Psal. 104. 4. He maketh his Angels spirits, and his Mini∣sters a flaming fire. And whereas our Apostle. v. 4. tells us, That God made the Worlds, Colos. 1. 16. He explains the meaning of that expression by things visible and invisible; and these invisible things by Thrones, Dominions, Principali∣ties and Powers, the usual Titles Angels are design'd by. So void of all Reason, as well as of Religion, is that bold, or ra∣ther impudent, Assertion of the Author of the Leviathan, concerning the Crea∣tion of Angels, there is nothing deliver∣ed in Scripture.
2. A second proof of the Existence of Angels may be taken from their sun∣dry Apparitions, both before and under the Law, and in the first dawning of the Gospel. There is nothing more cer∣tain than that under those several Dis∣pensations, especially at the beginning of them, such Apparitions were very frequent. Holy Men in those times had a familiar acquaintance and correspon∣dency with Heaven. 'Twas no news then to see an Angel of God. The Pa∣triarchs scarce convers'd so much with Men as with blessed Spirits. They were
their Guests and their Companions; of their Family and of their Counsel. No∣thing of importance was done either at home or abroad without their privity and direction. And he must be a great stranger to the New Testament that finds them not there too very often a∣mong the Servants of God. For though God had for a long time withdrawn from the Jews all means of supernatu∣ral Revelations, yet at the first publi∣cation of the Gospel he began to restore them. 'Twas no marvel, that when that wicked people became strangers to God in their Conversation, God should grow a stranger to them in his Apparitions. But when the Gospel approacht, he vi∣sited them afresh with his Angels, be∣fore he visited them with his Son. Jo∣seph, Mary, Zachary, the Shepherds, Mary Magdalen, the gazing Disciples at the Mount of Olives, Peter, Philip, Cor∣nelius, St. Paul, St. John the Evange∣list, were all blessed with the sight of them. In succeeding times, 'tis also ve∣ry credible what Ecclesiastical Writers report, That the good Angels were no∣whit more sparing of their Presence for the comfort of Holy Martyrs and Con∣fessors,
who suffered for the Name of Christ. I doubt not but Constant Theo∣dorus saw and felt the refreshing hand of the Angel no less than he reported to Julian the Persecutor; Nor do I que∣stion but that those retired Saints too of the prime Ages of the Church had sometimes such heavenly Companions for the Consolation of their forced Soli∣tude, as St. Jerome reports of them. But this is evident too, that the elder the Church grew, the more rare was the use of these Apparitions, as of all other Miracles, Actions and Events; not that the Arme of God is shortned, or his Care and Love to his abated, but that his Church being now setled in an ordinary way, has no need of any extra∣ordinary ones, no more than the Israe∣lites had of Manna when they were once got out of the Wilderness. Nay, such extraordinary ones now would perhaps be not useless only, but dangerous; and we may justly suspect those strange Re∣lations of the Romanists concerning later Angelical Apparitions to Saints of their own Canonizing, when we see them made use of to countenance Doctrines of Men. And yet notwithstanding
their false play here, 'tis hard to say that all those instances which sober learned Men have given us of Modern Apparitions are utterly incredible. But it has often fallen out indeed that Evil spirits have appeared in this wicked and corrupt Age more than good ones. The frequent experience of later days gives in here its Evidence, and 'tis unreason∣able wholly to reject it, there being no other reason but this to doe so, that our selves doe not see what others so pe∣remptorily affirm they did, which were to call in question all that our own Eyes have not been witnesses to; and if we will believe nothing but what we see, we may as well doubt whether there be Souls as Devils. And yet so far as men's Eyes may discern Spirits, they may doe it in those possessed Bodies they usurp. For that such Possessions have been and still are in the World, (though more frequent in our Saviour's time than ours) is as hard to deny as that there are Witchcrafts, which yet many will not allow of; and the Pa∣pists would take it ill we should de∣prive them of this one great Argument to prove the truth of their Doctrines,
who, though they feign Possessions where there are none, and conjure up imaginary Devils that they may have the credit to lay them, yet this is no good reason to say there are no such things at all. And this once granted, as we must needs doe, unless we will contradict all credible sensible Experi∣ence, there will be no ground left to dispute the real Being of bad Angels, which is an Argument of equal force to prove that there are good ones.
But then 3dly, What if we do no longer now-a-days see Angels in visible shapes, may we not discover them by their several actions and operations? And do not these necessarily imply the Being of things? Now, besides the Te∣stimony of Scripture, which represents Angels standing, moving, talking, and the like; It is apparent that there are many effects in Nature, which as they cannot be attributed to any natural Causes, unless we will have continual recourse to Miracles, we must of ne∣cessity conclude them to be of a higher Efficiency. Those many more than or∣dinary Tempests, devouring Earth∣quakes,
firey Inundations and Appariti∣ons, which have been seen and heard of so many, though they may indeed have natural Causes; yet 'tis highly probable that these things are not the ordinary Effects of Nature, but that the Almighty, for the Manifestation of his Power and Justice, may set Spirits, whe∣ther good or evil, on work, to do the same things sometimes with more State and Magnificence of horror: As the Frogs of Egypt, ordinarily bred out of putrification and generation, were yet for a plague to that wicked Nation su∣pernaturally also produced. I might instance in sundry miraculous Preserva∣tions, whereunto, in all probability, An∣gels concur. How many have fallen from very high Precipices into deep Pits, past the natural probability of hope, which yet have been preserved not from Death only, but from Hurt? How many have been raised up from deadly Sicknesses, when all natural Helps have given them for lost? God's Angels, no doubt, have been their se∣cret Physicians. Have we had instinc∣tive intimations of the Death of some absent friends, which no humane intel∣ligence
had bidden us to suspect, who but Angels have been our Informers? Have we been kept from Dangers, which our best Providence could neither have foreseen nor diverted, we owe these strange escapes to our invisible Spies and Guardians? And thus Gerson at∣tributes the wonderfull preservation of Infants; from so many perils they usu∣ally run into, to the super-intendency of Angels. Indeed where we find a proba∣bility of second Causes in Nature, we are apt to confine our Thoughts to them, and look no higher, yet even there many times are unseen Hands. Had we seen the House fall upon the Heads of Job's Children, we should per∣haps have ascrib'd it to the natural force of a vehement Blast, when now we know it was the work of a Spirit. Had we seen those Thousands of Israe∣lites falling dead of the Plague, we should have complain'd of some strange infection in the Air, when David saw the Angel acting in that Mortality. When the Israelites forcibly expell'd the Canaanites, nothing appear'd but their own Arms; but the Lord of Hosts could say, I will send mine Angel before
thee, by whom I shall drive them thence, Exod. 33. 2. Nothing appear'd when the Egyptians first-born were struck dead in one night; the Astrologers would perhaps say they were Planet∣struck, but 'twas an Angel's hand that smote them. Balaam saw his Ass dis∣orderly starting in the path; He who formerly had seen Visions, now sees nothing but a Wall and a Way; but his Ass (who for the present had more of the Prophet than his Master) could see an Angel and a Sword. Nothing was seen at the Pool of Bethesda but a mo∣ved Water, when the sudden Cures were wrought, which perhaps might be at∣tributed to some beneficial Constella∣tion; but the Scripture tells us; that an Angel descended and infused that heal∣ing quality into the Water. Elias could see an Army of the Heavenly Host en∣compassing Him, when Gehezi could not till his Master's Prayers had opened his Eyes. We need not make use of Cardan's Eye-salve to discern Spirits in the Air; our Reason may discover them, though our Eyes cannot; and by the manifest good Effects they produce, we may boldly say, Here hath been an An∣gel,
though we have not seen Him.
All this may serve to confute the an∣cient Error of Sadducees, who made An∣gels to be nothing but good Motions or good Thoughts, turning them into an Allegory, as Hymeneus and Philetus did the Resurrection. And 'tis observed, that they who deny'd Angels, did with∣all deny a Resurrection, and both upon the same ground; their loose temper which prevails so much with their Suc∣cessors, inclining 'em to baffle them∣selves out of the belief of those things whose real Being brings them so little advantage. 'Tis not strange that such men's Senses should swallow up their Faith, since it deprives them of their Reason; though probably such fancies are rather the issues of their Desires, than of their Judgment. Behold here a cloud of Witnesses against them; not Revela∣tion only, but even Sense too, backt with Reason, Authority and Experience of all Ages, and of all Conditions of Men, Good and Bad, Heathens and Christians. If nothing will satisfie their curiosity but a Vision, I must tell them, that the commerce we have with Spirits is not now by the Eye; nor shall
any thing confute their Infidelity but Hell, where to their cost, they shall meet with those Devils, whose compa∣ny they are here so fond of; and yet their very Infidelity methinks, were they not stupid as well as impious, might serve to rectifie their belief here; which being the unquestionable effect of Satan, is no small evidence of his Existence. I shall not stand to con∣fute them, the Text does it for me; If their Faith be not strong enough, their Eyes to be sure will be too weak to dis∣cern Angels; these cannot be the Ob∣jects of Sense, since they are Spirits; which points to the first thing exprest here, their Nature.
Spirits.] 'Tis an easier matter to prove that there are Angels, than to describe what they are. Spirits have so little affinity with our Natures, that 'tis no marvel, if they exceed our Ap∣prehensions. But this notion suggests so much to us, that they are intellectual Substances, immaterial, incorporeal, and consequently immortal. In all which capacities, most resembling the Almigh∣ty, and the fairest Copies of the great
Original of all things. Yet are they not void of all kind of matter, no more than the Soul of Man is; it being pe∣culiar to the Father of Spirits to be one most pure and simple Act; whereas every created Being, though never so refin'd, admits of some dross, some al∣loy; is compounded either by natural composition, as consisting of matter and form, or at least Metaphysical, of the Act and the Power. Yet so far we may and ought to allow Angels to be im∣material, as not to consist of any corporeal matter, though never so fine and sub∣tle; for this were to destroy the very Nature of a Spirit and our Saviour's ar∣gument, whereby he convinced the Dis∣ciples that he was no Spirit as they took him for: Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I my self, for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have, Luk. 24. 39. I shall not trouble you with any Philosophical discourse, to prove Angels incorporeal, nor with those te∣dious and impertinent Niceties of the Schools grounded upon their being so; How Millions of Angels can lodge to∣gether in one point, as a Legion of them did in one Man; How they move in
an instant, and pass from one extream to another, without going through the middle parts, and the like curious mat∣ters contributing nothing at all to our edification. Some passages there are indeed in Scripture which at first blush seem to favour the corporeity of An∣gels, but in effect make nothing for it. As, first, that they have often appeared to Men in visible forms and shapes, and perform'd such actions as are proper to us, as eating, drinking, and the like; All which was by divine Dispensation for a time, the better to accomplish their en∣joyn'd Duties. Yet were those Bodies, whereby they perform'd such actions, no other than assum'd ones; they were no part of their Natures, but only as Garments are to us, and were laid aside when there was no farther use of them: which being made of Air, quickly re∣solv'd into it, and vanisht away as their Meat also did. One passage there is in the 6th of Genesis, which being mista∣ken, has occasion'd gross conceits in some of the Nature of Angels; 'tis on the second Verse of that Chapter, where 'tis said, That the Sons of God saw the Daughters of Men that they were fair,
and took them Wives of all which they chose. The not understanding of which place has betrayed many, and among those some Ancient Fathers of the Church, as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Lactantius, Ambrose, and Sulpitius Seve∣rus, into so foul an error, as to conceit, That those Sons of God were no other than Angels, who being enamoured with the Beauty of Women, and defiling them∣selves with Lust, of Angels became De∣vils: and which is yet as ridiculous a Paradox, That those Gyants there men∣tion'd were their Off-spring: As if those blessed Angels, who continually behold the Face of God, could be taken with the Beauty of a little varnisht Dust and Ashes; As if Spirits could beget Men, or Holy Spirits wicked Men. Nay, Ter∣tullian (who as he had greater Parts than most of the Fathers, so had greater Errors too) to establish one Error by a∣nother; adds withall, That for this rea∣son the Apostle bids Women be Veil'd in the Church, lest some of the Angels should once more be Captivated by them. Thus does one gross mistake usually draw on another as gross; and the first great one proceeds only
from hence, That in many Copies of the Seventy Interpreters, heretofore the word Angel crept in, as St. Augustine has observ'd. But that those Sons of God were not Angels, but Men, and of the Posterity of Seth, besides the ex∣press words of Moses, both St. Cyril and St. Augustine have at large demonstra∣ted. And what some erroneously have fancy'd of the good, others as ridicu∣lously have done of bad Angels, which Aquinas and Fr. Valesius maintain as a probable opinion; and accordingly Bel∣larmine himself is not asham'd to affirm, That Antichrist shall be born of the De∣vil, and a Woman. (Surely none so fit to be his Father as the Devil, the Father of Lies; nor to be his Mother, as the great Whore in the Revelations.) And therefore one of his Tribe in a book to the like purpose, fraught with no less malice than absurdity, endeavours to prove that Luther was so. But 'tis no marvel that they who hold that Acci∣dents can subsist without their Subjects, should also with equal contradiction to Philosophy, affirm, That Devils can be the Fathers of Men; or they who can paint God the Father in a piece of Ar∣ras,
should make Angels corporeal. All this, I say, proceeds from a false appre∣hension of the Nature of Spirits; and Philastrius ranks such Opinions among his other Heresies, which Wierus at large shows, to be as void of Sense as they are full of evil Consequences. For we find that Heathens, who held the Corporeity of their Deities, did withall render them obnoxious to all those vile Lusts and Impieties, which the most profligate Wretches on Earth were ca∣pable of committing, and found oppor∣tunity of doing so upon the strength of that prevailing fancy. To which pur∣pose I might produce several instances, and among them one famous one, re∣corded by Josephus of one Paulina, the Wife of Saturninus, in the Reign of Ti∣berius, a noble, beautifull and vertuous Lady, whom one Dacius Mundus, by the assistance of the Priests of Isis, much abus'd upon such an account. These are the wicked Consequents of drawing Spirits into a participation of our Na∣tures, and then of our Vices. I shall not dwell any longer on this subject, nor trouble my self to satisfie their curi∣osity, who cannot understand how such
incorporeal Beings can be capable of that punishment by Fire, which the Scripture says shall be their, as well as their associates, portion. Surely no Man ought to question how they can be ly∣able to such a punishment, that finds a Soul within him troubled with Passion, even while no offence or distemperature ariseth from that corporeal part; nor how such spiritual Beings can be wrought on by material Fire, till he can un∣derstand what nature Hell-fire is of. That they shall suffer by it, the Scrip∣ture assures us, but how, it tells us not; nor can our best Reason tell us, no more than St. Augustine's could tell him, who plainly here confesses his ignorance. Our care should be not to examine what Hell-fire is, but to avoid it; and though we cannot resolve all those diffi∣culties which arise from the Nature of Angels, yet since the Text here tells us they are Spirits, we must have so much Faith as to believe it, and conse∣quently that they are Immortal; it be∣ing impossible that Spirits, as such, should be Mortal, since there can be no internal Cause of their corruption, nor any external physical one: but God, who
as he made them of nothing, can in∣deed reduce them to nothing. In which respect no Creature is Immortal, none but the great Creator of all things, who alone, as the Apostle tells us, hath im∣mortality, 1 Tim. 6. 16. as eternally sub∣sisting by himself, and by no other. But not to speak of the absolute Power of God; 'tis certain, that as to their Nature, Angels are immortal; and therefore by God's Decree too 'tis said of them that have their share in a blessed Resurrection, that they cannot dye for this reason, because they shall then be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Angels in Hea∣ven, Luk. 20. 36. And this is a quality as proper to bad as good Angels, who though Devils are still Spirits, and shall remain objects of God's everlasting Ju∣stice as the elect Angels of his Love and Mercy. For though they lost their Pu∣rity, they can never lose their Nature. All of them then are Spirits, and so by Nature immortal; and those good ones which kept their station, glorious,† hea∣venly, and ‖ elect ones, and yet such noble Creatures as these has God design'd for the Ministry of his Saints: The second Particular to be considered.
Ministring Spirits.] To God himself in the first and chiefest place; They are his Creatures, and consequently his Ser∣vants. The Psalmist expresly calls them so, Psal. 103. 21. O praise the Lord all ye his Hosts, ye servants of his that doe his pleasure: and Psal. 104. 4. his Mini∣sters. Such they are, and Estius well ob∣serves it out of the Text; Non dicit Apo∣stolus, says he, eos mitti in Ministerium hominum, sed propter homines, quod est longè diversum. They are God and Christ's Ministers, but employ'd by them for the procuring and furtherance of the Elects Salvation. So that their Looks and Services are directly levelled to∣wards God, and but glance and reflect from Him upon us. All things, says our Apostle, even Thrones, Dominions, Principalities and Powers, were created as by Him, so for Him, Col. 1. 16. For Him in the first, and for our help and benefit in the second place. And therefore they adore and ascribe glory to him, Esay 6. 3. & Luk. 2. 14. They stand in his presence, ready to execute his Commands; some of them being for this very reason, says a School-man, styl'd Thrones, because they
still attend on God's. Hence the Ark of God's presence was between the two Cheru∣bins, Exod. 25. 22. And as the Psalmist, in allusion to that place, represents Him sitting between them, Psal. 99. 1. so ri∣ding and flying upon them, Psal. 18. 10. in regard of that quick and ready Obe∣dience they perform to his Commands, and to Christ as the Head of his Church, as 'tis ver. 6. Let all the Angels of God worship him. They proclaim'd his Con∣ception, Mat. 1. 20. and his Birth, Luk. 2. 11. They Ministred to Him at his Temptation, Mat. 4. 11. Comforted Him in his Agony, Luk. 22. 43. Waited on Him at his Sepulchre, Mat. 28. 2. At his Resurrection, Mat. 28. Ascension, Act. 1. And give glory to the Lamb now in Heaven, Revel. 5. 11, 12.
But as their chiefest and immediate Services are for God, so by his appoint∣ment do they minister to his Elect, to their Bodies and Souls.
1. Their Bodies. These are not with∣out their care; the very dead Bodies of Saints they have a care of, Jude 9. much more of the living. And our Lord deters Men from doing any hurt to his little ones by this argument, that
the Angels of God are appointed for their Guardians, Mat. 18. 10. and when the Psalmist says, There shall no evil be∣fall thee, nor any plague come nigh thy dwelling, Psal. 91. 10. He gives the rea∣son, ver. 11. For he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all his ways; They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. It is impossible to describe the variety of their assistances to us here below. One while they lead us in our way as they did Israel, another while they fight for us as they did for Joshua; They purvey for us as for Elias, fore∣tell our danger as to Lot, Joseph and Mary, and free us from it as they did St. Peter, and the three Children; They cure our Diseases as at the Pool of Be∣thesda; They instruct us as they did Daniel and St. John; The Law was gi∣ven by them, Act. 7. 53. and they were the first Preachers and Publishers of the Gospel, Luk. 1. 31. ch. 2. 10, 11. And as God made them instruments to con∣vey Knowledge to his Church; so by the Ministry of the Church, as it were in requital of that good Office, the ma∣nifold Wisdom of God is made known
unto them too, Ephes. 3. 10. Do we run on in our own evil ways, they resist us as they did Moses, Balaam, and St. John, who would have adored them, re∣straining our presumption as the Cheru∣bin before the Gate of Paradise. Does Satan tempt us to Sin, they rebuke him, and hinder him when he is most busie, as in the case of Joshua the High Priest, Zach. 3. 1. They remove our hindran∣ces from good, and our occasions of e∣vil; mitigate our temptations, comfort us in our sorrows, further us in our good purposes, assist us in our devoti∣ons, present our prayers and holy per∣formances to God, promote our con∣version and rejoyce at it; and as if this life were too narrow a bound for their Charity, they extend it to the next, car∣rying up our Souls to Heaven, when our Bodies return to the Earth, as they shall gather together the Elect of God at the last day, when those Reapers shall separate the Tares for the fire, and the Wheat for God's barn.
This is their Ministry to the Saints of God. But what need of it, some will say? Is it not the Lord that order∣eth all our steps? And have we not
Him for our help who never slumber∣eth nor sleepeth? Did he need the Mi∣nistry of Angels in the Creation of the World? and if not there, why in the Government of it? True indeed, he needed it not, nor does need it, yet is he pleas'd to use it, to manifest and il∣lustrate the Order of his Providence in the conduct of his Creatures, resigning some part of its administration and exe∣cution to them, while he reserves the whole authority to himself; Not out of any inability or necessity as Earthly Princes, who make use of others Eyes and Hands in the managing of their af∣fairs, since they cannot be present every∣where but by their Substitutes, but to express his Wisdom in this Order and Power in this subordination and depen∣dence of one Creature on another, and of all upon himself. Nor does that Wis∣dom more clearly appear any-where than in the choice of those instruments which he has design'd to govern the World under him. The Kings of the Earth do not always observe the strict Rule of Justice in the distribution of Charges and Employments, allowing something to Favour and something to
Passion, setting many times such per∣sons over others as are fitter to be com∣manded than to command, assigning blind Guides to the more clear-sighted: But the All-wise God disposeth things in a far different manner; He chuses out the noblest, strongest and most enlight∣ned Creatures to guide the meanest, most infirm and least knowing; makes his Angels so many Intelligences, not only to move and turn about the Hea∣vens, but to regulate and steer the mo∣tions of all sublunary affairs. So that the Ministry of Angels is so far from extenuating, that it very much extolls the Goodness and Greatness of the Al∣mighty towards us, in the execution of his high and holy Providence. It adds to God's glory, and to the honour of Angels themselves to be employ'd by him in so many good and great Affairs; It advances the order and beauty of the Universe, while no creature in it is idle; It begets a greater and more strict friendship between Men and Angels, and affords us strong Consolation in having such a powerfull and mighty Protection.
For these and the like reasons it seems good to the Almighty to use the Mini∣stry of Angels; and as they are most zealous for his glory and the good of Mankind, especially since 'tis reconcil'd to God by Christ, so is there not one amongst them but is most willing here to be employ'd. All of them, says the Text, are Ministring spirits. It has been a question much disputed, whether eve∣ry one Man have a particular Angel for his Guardian. I find several of the An∣cient Fathers, most of the School-men, and some Protestant Divines on the af∣firmative. And were this the worst opi∣nion of the Romanists, we should not quarrel much with them, since some passages of Scripture seem to favour it. Whether this be so or no, I shall not here undertake to determine, nor in∣deed need I. For to what purpose were it to prove that every Man has a pecu∣liar Angel assign'd him, when we are here and elsewhere so clearly told that all of them do serve every one of us, while we serve and obey God. He hath given his Angels charge over thee, says the Psalmist in the fore-cited Psal. 91. 10. i. e. many Angels over one particular
Man. And as we find more than one appointed to carry Lizarus's Soul into Heaven, Luk. 16. 22. so sometimes we reade of one Angel attending many Men, as in the case of Israel in the expulsion of the Canaanites and Amorites, Gen. 24. 7. and at other times of many Angels atten∣ding one Man; as in that of Jacob, Gen. 32. 1, 2. and of Elisha, 2 King. 6. 17. 'Tis not for us to limit the Almighty, nor to retrench that guard He has assign'd us. While we have an heavenly Host a∣bout us, why should we content our selves with one single Assistant? And when we are certain of their protection, why should we dispute their Number? And as it may seem some scanting of the bountifull provision of the Almighty, who is pleas'd to express his gracious respects to one Man in the allotment of many Guardians; so a Platonick piece of Divinity in the School-men, to re∣duce them to one single one, for each individual person.
But to let this pass as an innocent, though perhaps erroneous Opinion, their conceit of an exterior and interior Mission, whereby some are said to illu∣minate others, and fit them for their
several Charges, but never to stir a∣broad themselves, may justly, in St. Paul's expression, be styl'd an intruding into things which they have not seen nor can see, and is indeed no better than a flat contradiction to the Text, which tells us, That All, none excepted, are Ministring spirits, to serve the necessity of God's Elect ones. These blessed Spi∣rits know no such state, as to think it a disparagement to wait on the meanest Saint. When God sends them, the best of them go, be the errant never so slen∣der. They measure not their Obedi∣ence by the lowness of their employ∣ment, but the Will of him that employs them, thinking no message beneath their Dignity, which God is pleas'd to put them upon. The highest Angel does not esteem himself too good to obey his Commands in the lowest in∣stances of Obedience. And since the Son of God came down on Earth to minister to Men, no Arch-angel will deem it an abasement unbefitting him to serve them. The measures of hu∣mane Grandeur are not to be apply'd to that of Heaven, where every abasement (if there can be any such thing in do∣ing
God's Will) is Exaltation. Let us then imitate them in their humble sub∣missions to their Maker; but then let our Prudence be as Angelical as our Hu∣mility; if that teaches us to go when God sends us, this should teach us also not to stir or act till he sends us; which leads me from their Office to their Com∣mission, They are sent.
The very name Angel signifies a Mes∣senger, and consequently implies a sub∣ordination and dependence on some su∣perior Being that employs him. 'Tis a name of Office, not of Nature; This belongs to him as he is a Spirit, That, as he is an Agent. God is the supreme cause and disposer of all things, Angels but his instruments. They act not but by his Commission; nor do they run, till he sends them. The Heavenly Host do nothing without Orders from their General, and, like the Centurion's Soul∣diers in the Gospel, go and come when he bids them. He gives his Angels charge, says the Psalmist, and as his Ministers they doe his pleasure; not their own, ours much less; They are not our Fa∣miliars. And though their Help be
more powerfull, yet is it not more ab∣solute than that of other means, since it dependeth still on the Will of God too; and what-ever Message they deli∣ver, or Commands they execute, 'tis that Will still that gives them Motion and Authority. And therefore when St. Stephen says the Law was received by the disposition of Angels, we must not fancy them to be Authors of it, but only the Heralds. 'Twas Christ that gave, these did but publish it. The Law was ordained by Angels, but still in the hand of a Mediator, Gal. 3. 19. The Mi∣nistry was indeed of Angels, but the Authority of Christ. And therefore Ju∣nius renders those words, Act. 7. 53. You have received the Law in the midst of the ranks of Angels, i. e. among them, attending God, when he delivered it. Thither then they came only to assist at the Ceremony, not as Law-givers, but Attendants, That being a Title pe∣culiar to the one great Law-giver, who gives Laws as well to Angels as to Men. These they constantly observe; and if we doe so, they shall be Ministring spi∣rits to us, for their Employment lasts still, and the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a Par∣ticle
of the Present tense implies it: Thus as they are God's Ministers, they shall still be ours too, if we be God's Servants, and consequently heirs of Sal∣vation: The last Particular.
Who shall be heirs of Salvation.] i. e. To those that shall one day possess, what they now doe certainly expect and wait for. They who are already in Heaven, need not the assistance of An∣gels, being themselves, though not An∣gels, yet like them, and equally happy in the fruition of the same God. Their Ministry is necessary to bring us thi∣ther, but ceases when we are there. They are our Guides here, There they shall be our Companions. Nor are their Services design'd but for those whom God has chosen out of the rest of lost Mankind to fill up the void places of Apostate Spirits. For as Christ him∣self is by our Apostle styl'd the Saviour of all Men, but in an especial manner of those that believe: So may Angels be said to be, in some sort, Ministring spirits to Mankind, but with a reserve to those who are God's chosen Vessels. Those may possibly have their common
protection, but their particular atten∣dance is on these. For as the Almighty makes his Sun to shine as well upon the just as the unjust, and sometimes more gloriously on the latter than the for∣mer; so is it in the Ministry of Angels, from which even wicked Men may reap a general benefit, in some instances more perhaps of an external help and assistance than the good, while the best of their Offices are reserved for the best. We know, that whosoever stept down first into the Pool of Siloam, was cured, whether good or bad; and the Angels brought down Manna in the Wilderness to the rebellious, as well as to the obedient Israelites. These are fa∣vours scattered promiscuously on all; which God is pleas'd to deal out to all Men by the hands of his Ministers, the Angels. But they come not down on the Ladder, but to his Jacobs; nor res∣cue any out of the spiritual Sodom, but his Lots. Nor did the Almighty ever design them to be Ministers for good to any but the Righteous: Over them he gives his Angels charge, and They are styl'd Their Angels, with an Empha∣sis; and, Psal. 34. 7. The Angel of the
Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. And, as our Apostle, endured all things for the Elect sake; so doe the Angels doe all for them: To this purpose 'tis observed, That God never speaks by his Angels, but he puts some character on those he speaks to; as such as fear the Lord, are heirs of Salvation, and the like. And this is so true, that if wicked Men enjoy any good in this life by the Angels, 'tis for the Elect's sake they doe so. I will bless them that bless thee, says God to Abra∣ham, Gen. 12. 3. Even Reprobates fare the better here for the Saints. God sometimes gratifies his Children with the Temporal preservation of the wick∣ed, as he did St. Paul with the Lives of those Infidels that were in the Ship with him, Act. 27. 24. and Lot with all that were in Zoar. The Jews have a Say∣ing, Absque stationibus non staret Orbis; The Prayers of God's People uphold the World. The Holy Seed are Statumen Ter∣rae, Esay 6. 13. with David, They bear up the Pillars of the Earth. Hippo could not be taken, while St. Augustine lived; nor Sodom destroy'd, while Lot was in it. And St. Ambrose is said to have been
the Wall of Italy. And therefore 'tis ill policy, as well as impiety, in any to wrong the Saints of God, much more to endeavour to root them out of the World, as Heathen Persecutors did. Wherein they resembled the Stag in the Emblem, that by feeding on those Leaves which hid him from the Hunter, did but betray themselves to his fury; and, Sampson-like, by pulling down those Pillars, brought the house upon their own heads. Were it not for the Elect, God would make a short work in the Earth, and no flesh should be saved. Every Angel of his would then be a destroying one; so that whether they preserve or punish the wicked 'tis still in order to the Salvation of those who shall be the heirs of it.
And now what remains, but that while we behold God's Angels ascen∣ding and descending, we make their Ladder ours too, to mount up to God, who sits at the top of it, and employs them for our good, and with them give him the glory of those his benefits, which they convey unto us: For all the helps and assistances they afford us,
are nothing without his. And therefore when God promised Moses that an An∣gel should go before Israel, but withall threatned them with the subduction of his own Presence; I marvel not if that Holy Man were no less troubled, than if they had been left destitute and guard∣less; and that he ceased not his impor∣tunity, till he had won the gratious Engagement of the Almighty for his Presence in that whole Expedition. For what is the greatest Angel in Heaven without his Maker? Or what are their Services to us, if his Favour go not a∣long with them? Let him then have the chiefest glory who is the Author of them. The Psalmist directs us to this duty; For no sooner had he said, Psal. 34. 7. The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him: but he adds in the following Verse, O tast and see how gratious the Lord is; To let us know whom we are beholding to for all the good Angels doe us, and to whom we are to pay our Thanks.
Yet while we pay the main tribute of our Thanks to God, he is content we should have a respect too for his Ambassadors. They are to be honoured
for his sake, and next to him that sends them. Nor can any Reverence be too high, which diminishes not of that we owe to our common Maker. We ought to be willing to give them so much as they will be willing to take from us. If we go beyond these bounds, we of∣fend them, as much as St. John did, when he would have ador'd them. The excess of Respects to them, have turn'd to abominable Impiety; which, how∣ever St. Hierome seems to impute to the Jews ever since the Prophet's time; yet Simon Magus was the first that we find guilty of this impious flattery of the Angels; who fondly holding that the World was made by them, could not think fit to present them with less than divine Honour. And near a-kin to these were the Angelici of old, who pro∣fessing true Christianity and Detestation of Idolatry (as having learn'd that God only was to be worshipped properly,) yet reserved a certain kind of lesser Ado∣ration to the Angels. Against this opi∣nion and practice, the Apostle seems to bend his style in his Epistle to the Co∣lossians, forbidding a voluntary humility in worshipping of Angels, whether
grounded upon the superstition of an∣cient Jews, as St. Hierome; or the Eth∣nick Philosophy of some Platonicks, as Estius imagines; or the damnable Pre∣cepts of the Simonians and Cerinthians, as Tertullian, we need not enquire. No∣thing is more clear than the Apostle's Inhibition, nor more evident than the Papists direct opposition to that Inhibi∣tion, who are no less guilty of the same voluntary humility than they were, who thought it too much boldness to come immediately to God, without making their way to his favour by the Media∣tion of Angels; which whether it be not justly to be charged on Papists, let any sober Man judge. Surely as the Good Angels deserve our Reverence, so do they not desire our Adoration. The Evil Angels indeed still required it, and the Devil begg'd it of Christ, that he would fall down and worship him, Mat. 4. 9. but the Good refuse it, Revel. 19. 10. And therefore St. Bernard is too liberal, when he tells us, we owe to the Good spirits Reverence for their Presence, Devotion for their Love, and Trust for their Cu∣stody. The former indeed we doe, and we come short of our Duty to them,
if we entertain not in our Hearts a high and venerable conceit of their wonder∣full Majesty, Glory and Greatness, and such a reverential awe of their Presence, as to doe nothing which may offend them. Take heed that ye despise not these little ones, says our Lord, for their Angels are with my Father in Heaven. They may perhaps forgive us, these will not. And therefore we shall doe well to consider whether they who behold the face of God, will endure to look upon us (much less to assist us) when we doe that which makes God turn his face from us. We are a spectacle to Angels as well as Men, 1 Cor. 4. 9. They are observers and wit∣nesses of all our Actions, but especially of our religious Duties. And for this cause ought the Woman to have power on her head, because of the Angels, says St. Paul, 1 Cor. 11. 10. While Zachary and the Peo∣ple were praying, he sees an Angel of God; who, as Gideon's Angel went up in the smoak of the Sacrifice, came down in the fragrant smoak of his Incense too. Those glorious Spirits are indeed always with us, but most in our Devotions; They rejoyce to be with us, while we are with our God; nor will they any
longer be with us, than while we are with Him; while we keep in his ways, they will keep us safe; if we go out of his Precincts, we forfeit their Protection: They will certainly leave us, when we forsake God; and when the Good ones go from us, the Evil will come to us, as in Saul's case: And therefore, to prevent the coming of the bad, let us be sure to make the good ones our friends; which we shall best doe, by being like them, by imitating them in their Obedience, as our Saviour bids us, in their Purity and Humility, as also in their Charity, by ministring to others, though never so mean, as they doe to us, who are so much below them, that so we may be the true heirs of Salvation; be sure of their Protection here, and enjoy their Society hereafter. Which God of his in∣finite Mercy grant for his sake, who is the Angel of the Covenant, &c. Amen.
oh. 3. 1••6.
Psal. 8.
Job 1. 6. 38. 7. Luk. 3. 38. See Phil. 2. 10.
Divis.
Part 1. Their Exi∣stence.
V. Grot. in locum.
Part 3. c. 34.
V. Bucan. l. 1. p. 77.
Luk. 16. 31 Gal. 1. 8.
Act. 23. 8.
Part. I. Their Na∣ture.
Luk. 8. 30.
V. Crack∣enthorp. Metaph. p 85, 86.
Lib. de Ve∣land. Vir∣gin. c. 7.
1 Cor. 11. 10.
Incubi Suc∣cubi.
Part. 1. Sum. Qu. 51. Art. 3.
Lib. 18. Jud. An∣tiq. c. 4.
Ps. 104. 29.
Heb. 9. 5.
Mat. 24. 36.
1 Tim. 5. 21.
Part. II. Their Office.
Dan. 7. 10.
Gen. 24. 7.
Gen. 32.
Act. 12. 7.
1 Pet. 1. 12.
2 Kin. 2. 11. Luk. 16. 22 Mat. 24. 31 13. 30. 1 Thes. 4. 16.
Psal. 37. 23.
Mat. 18. 10
Col. 2. 18.
Mat. 20. 28
Part. III. Their Com∣mission.
Psal. 91. 11
Ps. 103. 21.
Acts 7. 53.
Part. IV. The End or Design of their Mini∣stry.
Joh. 5. 8.
Psal. 78. 25.
Psal. 91. 12. Mat. 18. 10
2 Tim. 2. 10.
Rom. 9. 28.
Exod. 33.
Rev. 19. 10
Exod. 23. 21.
Luk. 1. 10, 11.
1 Sam. 16.
Mat. 6. 10.