Object. IOhn wisheth grace, and peace to be given to him that was, and is, and is to come, and from the seven Spirits which is before the Throne, that is, from the seven Angels. There∣fore Angels though they blesse not as the authors of Grace, yet a blessing may be asked of them as impetrators, and intercessors of the same, at the hands of God; as also Gen. 32. 29. where the Angel is said to blesse Jacob.
Ans. That was not an Angel, but the Son of God, which* 1.1 wrestled with Jacob, because it belongeth not to Angels to blesse, but to God himselfe; for spirituall blessings are either conferred by the Author thereof, which is only God, or by the Mediator thereof, which is Jesus Christ, or by the messengers, or instru∣ments thereof, which may be as well Angels and Men; for as Isaac blessed Jacob, and Jacob his sonnes ministerially, only as being Gods mouth to pronounce them; so Angels likewise may be the Messengers, or instruments of Gods blessing, and not otherwise. For the Apostle saith, that every good and perfect gift commeth from God, Jam. 1. 17. neither are the Angels to be s••ed unto for any spirituall or temporall blessing, but only God; for if any one Lack wisdome (saith the same Apostle) let him aske it of God, Jam. 1. 5. and so consequently in any other thing, yea the promise is made only to such as aske in Christs name, Joh. 16. 23. and no otherwise; and as to that place in the Revelations, (where mention is made of the seven Spirits,) we must understand the Spirit of God with his manifold graces, for the seven Spirits are also said to be the seven lamps of fire burning before the Throne; they are also termed the seven eyes of the Lambe, all which doe intimate as formerly.