reckoning. Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.' Dan. vii. 10. But Bildad the Shuhite, in one word says more than all: Is there any number of his armies?' Job xxv. 3. They are past all number: how much more his several soldiers! It may not therefore seem hard to believe that the angels of one rank only, are more than can be comprehended by any arithmetical number; or that they are numerable only to God that made them, to men innumerable.

Oh great God of heaven, how doth this set forth the infinite majesty of thine omnipotent Deity, to be thus attended! We judge of the magnificence of princes, according to the number and quality of their retinue and guard, and their other military powers; and yet each one of these hath an equally absolute life and being of his own, receiving only pay from his sovereign. What shall we then think of thee, the great King of eternal glory, that hast before thy throne innumerable hosts of powerful and glorious spirits, of thine own making and upholding? And how safe are we, under so many and such mighty protectors! It might be perhaps well meant, and is confessed to be seconded with much reverend antiquity, that each man hath a special angel designed for his custody; and if it were only so, we are secure enough from all our enemies. This however may seem to come short of the bountiful provision of the Almighty, who hath been pleased to express his gracious regards to one man in the allotment of many guardians: for if Jacob speak of one angel, David speaks of more. He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Psal. xci. 11. And even those who approve of this sort of platonic divinity concerning the single guardianship of angels, have yet yielded, that according to several intimations, each one hath many spiritual keepers. The late Bishop of Wurtzburg durst assure his auditors, that each of them had ten angels at least assigned to his custody, besides those which presided over the church and the world in general. Yet even this computation is low enough, since the abundant store and bounty of the Almighty can as well afford hundreds as tens of guardians.

Yet why should it not be all one to us; since there is no less safety in the hands of one than of many; no less care of us from many, than from one? Should but one angel guard millions of men, his power could secure them no less than a single charge; but now that we are guarded with millions of angels, what can the gates of hell do? Yet whatever be the number employed about us, sure I am, that together with them, those who attend the throne of their Maker, make up no less than a world of spirits: a world so much more excellent than this visible one, by how much it is more abstracted from our weak senses.

Oh ye blessed spirits, ye are ever by me, ever with me, ever about me. I do as good as see you; for I know you to be here. I reverence your glorious persons. I bless God for you. I walk in fear, because I am ever in your eyes. I walk confidently, because I am ever in your hands. Next to my God and Saviour, I shall ever place my greatest comfort and confidence in your superintendance and watchful care.

SECTION 4.

The Power of Angels.

MULTITUDES, even of the smallest and weakest creatures, have been able to produce great effects. Swarms of flies and lice could subdue the great and mighty king of Egypt, nor could all his forces free him or his peers from these powerful adversaries. But when a multitude is seconded with strength, it must needs be irresistible. So it is with these blessed spirits. Their omnipotent Maker, who best knows what is derived from him, styles them powers,' and 'mighty ones in strength.' Psal. ciii. 20. A small force seems great to the weak; but that power which is commanded by the Almighty, must needs be transcendently great.

6

We best judge of powerfulness by the effects. How suddenly did one angel dispatch every firstborn in Egypt; and after them, a hundred fourscore and five thousand of

No; this But if we

the proud Assyrian army. 2 Kings xix. 35. And if each man had been a legion, with what ease had it been done by that potent spirit. Neither are they less able to preserve than to destroy. One angel would be able to govern all the corporeal creatures in the world. Justly was it exploded however, as the heresy of Simon Magus and his followers, that the angels made the world. was the sole work of him that made them. say that it pleases God by their ministration to sway and order the marvellous affairs of this great universe, we shall not, I suppose, vary from the truth. If we look to the highest part thereof, philosophers have gone so far as to teach us what indeed is seconded by the allowance of some great divines, That these blessed intelligences are they, by whose agency, under their almighty Creator, the heavens and the glorious luminaries thereof continue their ever-constant and regular motions. And if there fall out any preternatural appearances, any strange concussions of the earth, any direful prodigies in the sky, they have also been imputed to these mighty angels; whom it pleaseth the most high God to employ in these extraordinary services. That dreadful magnificence which attended the delivery of the law on mount Sinai, in fire, smoke, thunderings, lightnings, voices, and earthquakes; whence was it, but by the operation of angels? And indeed, as they are the nearest, both in nature and place, to the Majesty of the Highest; so it is most proper for them to participate most of his power, and to exercise it in obedience to his sovereignty. As therefore he is that Infinite Spirit who doth all things, and can do no more than all; so they, as his immediate subordinates, are the means whereby he executeth his unlimited power, in and upon this whole Created world. Hence in their glorious appearances, they have been taken for Jehovah himself; by Hagar, by Manoah and his wife, and by the better eyes of the father of the faithful. Gen. xvi. 13. xxii. 14. Judg. xiii. 22.

Now, Lord, what a protection hast thou provided for thy poor worms, creeping here on thine earth; and what can we fear, in such mighty and sure hands? He that passeth with a strong convoy through a wild and perilous

desert, scorns the danger of wild beasts or robbers, no less than if he were in a strong tower at home: so do we the onsets of the powers of darkness, while we are thus invincibly guarded.

When God promised Moses that an angel should go before Israel, and at the same time threatened to withdraw his own presence; I marvel not, if the holy man were no less troubled, than if they had been left destitute and without a guard, and that he ceased not his importunity till he had won the gracious engagement of the Almighty, for his presence in that whole expedition. For what is the greatest angel in heaven, without his Maker? But let thy favour, oh God, order and accompany the deputation of the lowest of thine angels; and then what can all the troops of hell do to us? As soon may the walls of heavens be scaled, and thy throne disturbed, as he can be foiled, that is defended with thy power. Were it possible to conceive that the Almighty would be only a spectator in the conflict of spirits, we know that the good angels have as much advantage of their strength, as they have of their station, nor could those subdued spirits stand in the encounter. But now he that is strong in our weakness, is strong in our strength for us. Blessed be God for them, as the Author of them and their protection; blessed be they under God, as the means used by him for our protection and blessing.

SECTION 5.

The Knowledge of Angels.

IF Sampson could have had his full strength in his mill, when he wanted his eyes, it would have availed him but little. Such is power without knowledge: but where both of these concur in one, how can they fail of effect? Which of these is most eminent in the blessed spirits, it is not easy to determine. So perfectly knowing are they, that the very heathen philosophers have styled them Intelligencies, as if their very being were made up of

understanding. And what is there in this whole universe that is hid from them. Only the closet of man's heart, which is reserved solely to their Maker: yet they can by some insensible chinks, by some secret notifications which fall from us, look into them also. All other things, whether secrets of nature, or closest counsels or events, are as open to their sight as the most visible objects are to ours. They do not, like ourselves, look through the dim and horny spectacle of the senses, or understand by the medium of images; but rather as clear mirrors, they receive at once the full representation of all intelligible things; having, besides that connatural light which is universally in them all, certain special illuminations from the Father of lights.

Even we think we know something, for which indeed we ought to be thankful; but alas, he that is reputed to have known most of all the heathen,* and whom some have styled the Genius of nature, confessed that the clearest understanding is to those things which are most manifest, but as a bat's eyes to the sun. If we only see a worm crawling under our feet, we know not what it is which in itself gives it a being. If we hear a bee humming about our ears, the greatest naturalist cannot know whether that noise comes from within the body, or from the mouth, or from the wings of the fly.† How then can we hope or pretend to know those things which are abstruse and remote. But these heavenly spirits not only know things as they are in themselves, and in their inward and immediate causes, but clearly see the First and Universal Cause of all things, and that in his glorious essence. How much more do they know our shallow dispositions, affections, inclinations, which show them. selves out of the windows of our hearts; together with all perils and events, that are incident unto us. We walk therefore amidst able and watchful overseers, and are so looked through in all our ways, as if heaven were all eyes. Under this blessed vigilance, if the powers of hell can

* Aristotle. + Lord Bacon in his Natural History.