therefore to conclude, that as God prepared an habitation for all the living creatures before he made them; as the sea for the fishes; the expanse, or air, for the fowls; and the earth for men and beasts; so he made the heavens first, and then the angels to dwell in them: and these were made all at once and together; not like their kindred, the souls or spirits of men, which are made one by one, as their bodies are; for they are created, not without them, but in them, by God, who formeth the spirit of man within him, Zech. xii. 1. But the angelic spirits were made altogether; for all those morning-stars, the sons of Gol, were present, and shouted at the foundation of the earth; and all the host of heaven, which must be understood chiefly of angels, were made by the breath of God, when the heavens were created by his word, Job xxxviii. 7. Psal. xxxiii. 6. and their numbers are many; there was a multitude of them at the birth of Christ, Luke ii. 13. and our Lord speaks of twelve legions of them and more, that he could have had at asking them of his Father, Matt. xxvi. 53. According to the vision in Dan. vii. 10. thousand thousands of these ministering spirits, ministered to the Ancient of days, and which number is greatly exceeded in the vision John saw, Rev. v. 11. where those in worship with the living creatures and elders are said to be ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, and may well be called an innumerable company, Heb. xii. 22. and yet the passages referred to only speak of good angels; the evil angels are ma ny also; we read of a legion of them in one man, Mark v. 9. perhaps those that fell, may be as many as those that stood; and if so, how great must be the number of them all together, at their creation? Now these are all the creatures of God; who maketh his angels spirits, Psal. civ. v. they are made by Jehovah the Father, who is called from hence, as well as from his making the souls of men, the Father of Spirits, Heb. xii. 9. and by Jehovah the Son, for by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible; and among the latter, angels must be reckoned; and who are farther described by thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers; these all were created by him and for him, Col. i. 16. Nor is Jehovah the Spirit to be excluded from a concern in the creation of them, since, as by the word of the Lord were the heavens made, so all the host of them, the angels, by the breath, or Spirit, of his mouth, Psal. xxxiii. 6. Concerning these excellent creatures of God, the following things may be observed.

I. Their names: as for proper names, though there are many of them in the Apocryphal, and Jewish writings, yet in the sacred scriptures but few, perhaps no more than one, and that is Gabriel, the name of an angel sent with dispatches to Daniel, Zacharias, and to the virgin Mary, Dan. viii. 16. and ix. 21. Luke i. 19, 26, for as for Michael, the Archangel, he seems to be no other than Christ, the Prince of angels, and Head of all principality and power; who is as God, like unto him, as his name signifies; yea, equal with him. The names, titles, and epithets of angels, are chiefly taken from their nature,

qualities, appearances, and offices; some that are ascribed to them, do not seem to belong to them, as cherubim and seraphim, which are names and characters of ministers of the word, and the Watchers, in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, thought to be angels by many, more probably are the divine Persons in the Godhead, the same with the holy Ones, and the most High, Dan. iv. 17, 24. The name of Elohim is their principal one, translated gods, Psal. xcvii. 7. and interpreted of angels, Heb. i. 6. the same word is translated angels, Psal. viii. 5. and which is justified by the apostle, Heb. ii. 9. Now angels have this name because they have been sent with messages from God, in his name, to men; and they have spoken in his name, and been his representatives; and may be called so, as magistrates sometimes are, because God's vicegerents, and acts under him, and for a like reason have the names of thrones, dominions, principa lities and powers, Col. i. 16. Not because of any hierarchy, or order of government, established among themselves, which does not appear; but rather because of the dignity they are advanced unto, being princes in the court of heaven; and because of that power and authority which, under God, and by his direction, they exercise over kingdoms, provinces, and particular persons on earth and if the text in Job xxxviii. 7. is to be understood of angels, it furnishes us with other names and titles of them; as morning-stars, and sons of God; and they may be called morning-stars, because of the brightness, splendour, and glory of their nature; and because of the clearness of their light, knowledge, and understanding; in which sense they are angels of light; and into one of which Satan sometimes transforms himself, who was once a bright morningstar: and these may be said to be sons of God; not by grace and adoption, as saints are; much less by divine generation, as Christ is; For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? Heb. i. 5. but by creation, being made in the image of God, which consists in wisdom and knowledge, in righteousness and holiness; and being his favourites, and beloved of him. They sometimes have the name of men given them; because they have appeared in an human form; such were two of those who appeared like men to Abraham, and afterwards to Lot; and two others seen by the women at Christ's sepulchre, Gen. xviii. 2. and xix. i, 5, 8. Luke xxiv. 4. The more common name given to the celestial spirits, is that of angels; the word for which in the Hebrew language, and which is used of them in the Old Testament, signifies messengers; and so the uncreated Angel, Christ, is called the Angel, or Messenger of the covenant, Mal. iii. 1. and it comes from a root preserved in the Ethiopic dialect, which signifies to send2, because these spirits have been often sent with messages and dispatches to the children of men: the word angels we use, comes from a Greek word, which signifies the same; and are so called, from their being sent on, and bringing messages, which they declare, publish and proclaim.

legavit, misit nuncium, Ludolf, Lexic. Ethiop. p. 19. effero, Scapula.

*@yysλλw, nuntio, nuntium

II. The nature of angels, which is expressed by the word spirits; so good angels are called spirits, and ministering spirits, Heb. i. 7, 14. and evil angels, unclean spirits, Christ gave his apostles power to cast out of the bodies of men, Mat. x. 1. Luke. x. 17, 20. that is, spiritual subsistences, they are real personal beings, that subsist of themselves. There was a sect among the Jews, the Sadducees, who said there was neither angel nor spirit, Acts xxiii. 8. and our modern Sadducees are not less absurd, who assert that good and evil angels, are no other than good and evil thoughts; but this is to be confuted, from the nature and names of angels; from the offices they bear, and are employed in; from the works and actions ascribed unto them; from the powers and faculties of will, understanding, and affections they are possessed of; and from the happiness and misery assigned to them that do well or ill. From all which it appears that they are not imaginary, or entia rationis; nor mere qualities, but personal beings; and they are of a spiritual nature; not compounded of parts, as bodies are; and yet they are not so simple and compounded as God is, who is a Spirit; in comparison to him, they approach nearer to bodies; wherefore Tertullian, and some other of the fathers, asserted them to be corporeal, though with respect to bodies they are incorporeal. It is difficult with us to form any idea of a spirit; we rather know what it is not, than what it is; A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have, says Christ, Luke xxiv. 39. was it corporeal, a legion of spirits could never have a place in one man; nor penetrate and pass through bodies, through doors bolted and barred, as these angelic beings have: nor is it any objection to their being incorporeal, that they have sometimes appeared as men, since they have only seemed so; or they have assumed bodies only for a time, and then laid them aside: nor that they ascend and descend, and move from place to place; for this is said of the souls of men, which are incorporeal; and being spirits, or of a spiritual nature, they are possessed of great agility, and with great swiftness and speed descend from heaven, on oc➜ casion; as Gabriel did, who flew swiftly, having his order to carry a message to Daniel, at the beginning of his prayer, and was with him before it was ended; who must move as swift as light from the sun, or lightening from the hea vens: and being without bodies, they are invisible, and are among the invisible. things created by the Son of God, as before observed; and though it was a notion that obtained among the Jews in Christ's time, and does among the com mon people with us, that a spirit may be seen; it is a vulgar error, Luke xxiv. 37. Indeed, when angels have assumed an human form they may be seen, as they were by Abraham and Lot; and so when they appeared in the forms of chariots and horses of fire, around Elisha, they were seen by his servant, when eyes were opened; but then these bodies seen were not their own; and these appearances were different from what they really were in themselves. Once more, being incorporeal and immaterial, they are immortal; they do not con sist of parts, of matter capable of being disunited or dissolved; and hence the

his

saints in the resurrection will be like them in this respect, that neither can they die any more, Luke xx. 36. God, who only has immortality originally and of himself, has conferred immortality on the angelic spirits; and though he can annihilate them, he will not; for even the evil spirits that have rebelled against him, though they die a moral and an eternal death, yet their beings, their substances, continue and perish not; everlasting fire, eternal punishment, is prepared for the devil and his angels.

III. The qualities and excellencies of angels may be next considered; and they are more especially three, holiness, wisdom or knowledge, and power.— 1. Holiness; they are holy creatures, called holy angels, Mark viii. 38. and so they were created, even all of them: not indeed so holy as God is; for there is none holy as the Lord, 1 Sam. ii. 2. in comparison of him all creatures are unholy; the heavens are not clean in his sight, Job xv. 15. that is, the inhabitants of them, the angels; nor were they created immutably holy, but so as that they were capable of sinning, as some of them did; who, being left to the mutability of their own free will, departed from their first estate, which was a state of holiness, as well as happiness; and abode not in the truth, in the truth of holiness, in that uprightness and righteousness in which they were created; and they are called the angels that sinned, 2 Pet. ii. 4. Jude 6. John viii. 44. But others of them stood in their integrity, and are become impeccable; not owing to the power of their free will, and their better use of it than the rest; but to the electing grace of God, and the confirming grace of Christ, who is the Head of all principality and power, 1 Tim. v. 21. Col. ii. 10. These now as they persist in their obedience, they are perfect in it; hence the petition Christ directed his disciples to; Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven, Matt. vi. 10. they are subject to the same laws and rules of morality and righteousness, that men are, excepting such as are not suitable to their nature; as some duties belonging to the fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, and tenth commands of the Decalogue; but to the rest in such manner as their nature will admit of; with all other orders, prescriptions, and directions of the divine will, they chearfully and constantly yield an obedience to; for they do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word, Psal. ciii. 20. 2. Wisdom and knowledge; angels are very wise and knowing creatures; it is an high strain of compliment in the woman of Tekoah to David; My Lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God; to know all things that are in the earth, 2 Sam xiv. 20. yet it shews the general opinion entertained of the wisdom of angels; though in comparison of the all-wise and only-wise God, they are by him chargeable with folly, Job iv. 11. Very wise and knowing creatures no doubt they are; but they are not omniscient; they know much, but not every thing; they know much of themselves, through the strength and excellency of their nature, being rational and intelligent creatures, of the highest form and class; and by observation and experience, for which they have had a long time, and great oppor. tunity; and also by divine revelation, through which they are acquainted with

many things they otherwise would not know: they know much of God, being always in his presence, and beholding his face, and whose perfections displayed in his works, they have the clearest knowledge of; and much of their fellowcreatures, of the same species with them, the holy angels; who, having a language peculiar to themselves, can converse with, and communicate to each other; and much of the apostate angels, who they are set to oppose, conflict with, and counter-work; and much of men, of wicked men, on whom, by divine direction, they inflict the judgments of God; and of good men, the heirs of salvation, to whom they are sent, as ministering spirits: they know much of the mysteries of providence, in the execution of which they are often employed; and of the mysteries of divine grace, not only by divine revelation, but by the church, and by the ministry of the word, they attending the congregations of the saints; though it seems that this their knowledge is imperfect, since they bow their heads, and desire to pry more into these things: and there are many things which they know not, unless by marks and signs, in a conjectural way, or by a particular revelation; as the thoughts of men's hearts, which of others, men themselves know not, only the spirits of men within them; and which to know, peculiarly belongs to God, the searcher of the hearts, and trier of the reins of the children of men: nor do they know future contingencies, or what shall be hereafter, unless such as necessarily and ordinarily follow from natural causes, or may be guessed at, or are revealed unto them of God, in order to impart them to others; of the day and hour of the end of the world, and the last judgment, as no man knoweth, so neither the angels of heaven, Matt. xxiv. 36. Rev. i. 1.-3. Power is another excellency of the angels; they are called mighty angels, and are said to excel in strength; that is, other creatures, 2 Thess. i. 7. Psal. ciii. 20. their strength is great, and their power and authority under God very large, yet finite and limited; they are not omnipotent, nor sovereign; they do not preside over the celestial bodies, move the planets, dispose of the ordinances of heaven, bind or loose their influences, and set their dominion in the earth; they have not the power of the air, nor the command of the earth; the world is not in subjection to them: they are capable indeed, under a divine influence, and by divine direction, help and assistance, of doing great and marvellous things; of holding the four winds of heaven; of quenching the violence of fire; and of stopping the mouths of lions; and of restraining other hurtful things: they have great power over the bodies of men, of moving them from place to place; as an evil spirit, by permission, carried Christ, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple; and a good spirit caught away Philip, and carried him to Azotus: they have power, when they have leave, or are ordered to smite the bodies of men with diseases; as the men of Sodom with blindness, yea, with death itself, as seventy thousand Israelites, on account of David's numbering the people; and a hundred and forty-five thousand Assyuans in one night, as they lay encamped against Jerusalem; and Herod the king,