that he received this answer, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow fervant, and of thy brethren, that have the teftimony of Jefus, worship God, Rev. xix. 10, there is no worshipping of angels; and yet we must not throw away the comfortable doctrine of angels; I hope before I have done to convince you of a wonderful pledge of Chrift's love to your perfons in the administration of angels, Are they not all miniftring fpirits? &c.

In this text is a difcription of angels, wherein. 1. Of their nature, Are they not Spirits? 2. Of their office, Are they not miniftring Spirits? 3. Of their conjunction in this office, Are they not all miniftring Spirits? 4. Of their commiffion and execution of this office fo undertaken, Are they not all miniftring fpirits fent forth to minifter ? 5. Of the object about which the execution of their office is moft converfant, Are they not all miniftring fpirits, fent forth to minifter for them, who fhall be heirs of falvation.

FRO

SECT. II.

Of the feveral Doctrines deduced from the Words. ROM every part I may deduce a feveral doctrine; as, 1. That the angels are spirits. 2. That the office of the angels is to minifter and ferve. 3. That the higheft angel is not exempted from this office. 4. That they have their commiffion from God and Chrift to execute their office of miniftration. 5. That the miniftring office of the angels is not for all, but only for heaven's heirs. On the four first I shall only give a touch, but on the last I shall infift, and (if the Lord help) enlarge my difcourfe to the full of my design.

CHA P. II.

1

SECT. I.

Of the first Doctrine.

HE angels are fpirits; and fo is God, and fo are the Tfouls of men, with this difference, God is a Spirit moft fimple, without any compofition at all; the fouls of men are fpirits conjoined with flesh and blood; thus the philofopher defcribes the foul to be the act of the body: Now betwixt these two fpirits are the angels, who are neither without all compofition, as God is, nor are they covered with flesh and blood, as the foul of man is. I

know it is a queftion whether the angels have bodies? And,

1. The Peripatetics and fchoolmen are for the negative: The angels, fay they, are altogether incorporeal: And for this opinion are brought in by others thefe very texts, Who maketh his angels fpirits; and are they not all miniflring Spirits? Pfal. civ. 4.

2. The Platonics and many of the antients are on the other fide: The angels have their proper bodies, faith Tertullian, and altho' invisible to us, yet visible to God. Auguftine is of the fame mind: And herein, faith Lombard, he followed many famous authors, as all the Platonics, Origen, Lactantius, Bafil, with all the writers almost of his time: And fome more modern agree with them herein; all fpirits have their bodies, faith Bernard, as need is, excepting only God himself; and the need that the an gels have, he proves from this text, Are they not all miniftring fpirits? For how can they execute their ministry, faith he, without a body, efpecially amongst them that are in the body? befides, they could not difcourfe, nor move from place to place, without a body. Nor fpeaks he of bodies affumed, but of bodies proper and peculiar to themIlves.

Methinks a middle betwixt both these comes nearest truth, That in comparison of God they are bodies, but in comparison of us they are pure and mighty fpirits. Certainly the angels are not fimply fpirits as God is, who is a fpirit moft fimple, without any compofition at all; nor are they infinite or immenfe, as God is, but are ter minated in their dimenfions, and move from place to place as bodies do. Hence Zanchy approves rather of the antients, than of the fchoolmen, That angels are not fimply and altogether incorporeal, only their bodies, faith he, are not earthly, nor airy, nor heavenly, as the Stoics would have them, for all fuch bodies were created of that chaos, Gen. i. I. but rather as the imperial heaven is a corporeal fubftance far different from those nether heavens vifible to us, fo the angels made together with that heaven, are corporeal fubftances far purer, and more fubtile than either earth, or air, or fire, or the matter of thefe vifible heavens. I will not fay they are of the fame body, but they may

have like bodies to that glorious body of the highest heaven, or feat of the blessed; and fo in refpect of us or of our crafs bodies, they may be called pure and mighty fpirits. CHAP. III.

Of the fecond Doctrine.

HE office of the angels is to minifter and ferve. It is true, they are called principalities, powers, mights, thrones, dominions; fo the apoftle fpeaks of Chrift, That he was fet at God's right hand in heavenly places, far above all principalities, and powers, and mights, and dominions, Eph. i. 20, 21. And by him were all things created in heaven, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, Col. i. 16. by all which, tho' we understand not divers dignities of angels, whereby in nature they excel one another, yet we must needs understand the dignity, excellency, authority, and power, of every one of the angels.

And yet this hinders not, but that thefe mighty powers are miniftring fpirits; and therefore in other places of fcripture we find other titles given to them, as fometimes they are called watchers, 1 faw in the vifions of my head, and behold a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven, Dan. iv. 13. And fometimes they are calied foldiers, And fuddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly foldiers (or of the heavenly hoft) praising God, Luke ii. 13. Moft frequently they are called angels, which is not a name of their nature, but of their office; the word fignifies a messenger, as if they were ever running errands betwixt heaven and earth. So Jacob dreamed of a ladder fet on earth, whofe top reached to heaven, and behold the angels of God afcending and defcending on it, Gen. xxviii. 1 2. Now this is clear, that watchers, foldiers, and meffengers, are but minifters and fervants. If it be demanded what is their miniftry, or fervice, it is either to God, or to men; in refpect of God, they are faid to do his commandments, ta hearken to the voice of his word, to behold the face of God, to celebrate the praifes of God, and of Jefus Chrift, Pfal. ciii. 20. Mat. xviii. 10. And in refpect of men, they do them many offices of love and fervice, which we fhall dif Cover in the last point, for are they not ministring spirits

fent

fent forth to minifter unto them, I say unto them, who sbai

be heirs of falvation?

TH

CHA P. IV.

Of the third Doctrine.

HE highest angel is not exempted from this office. Are they not all miniftring fpirits? It is not one, or ten, nor a hundred, nor a thoufand, but all angels and archangels, principalities and powers, thrones and dominions, are all miniftring fpirits. A question there is, Of the order of angels, and if that be admitted, 2. Whether the chief of that order may be confidered as miniftring fpirits?

I.

For the firft, Dionyfius (I will not fay the Areopagite) tells of nine orders, because of nine words in fcripture relating to the angels, as feraphims, cherubims, thrones, powers, hofts, dominions, principalities, archangels, and angels, and at large he defcribes their feveral natures, diftinctions, properties, as that the first three orders are for immediate attendance on the Almighty; and the next three orders for the general government of the creatures; and the last three orders for the particular good of God's elect; that the archangels furpafs the beauty of angels ten times, principalities furpass the archangels twenty times, powers furpals the principalities forty times, &c. How he, or any other, came to this learning, is yet paknown, yet hath this hierarchy, in these feveral orders, paffed for current thro, many ages of the church.

Learned Mede in his Diatribe of the angels, tells of le ven principal angels which minifter before the throne of God, and therefore are called archangels, fome of whole names we have in fcripture, as Michael, Gabriel, Raphael; to this purpose he cites feveral texts, as, I am Raphael, one of the feven holy angels, which fand and minifter before the glory of the holy One, Tobit xii. 15. And thefe feven are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro thro' the whole earth, Zech. iv. 1o. And I faw, faith John, feven lamps before the throne, which are the feven spirits of God; and I beheld, and lo in the midst of the throne ftood a Lamb, as it had been flain, having feven horns, and feven eyes, which are the feven fpirits of God, fent forth into all the earth;

and

and I faw the feven angels which stood before God, Rev. iv. 5. and v. 6. and viii. 2. And the archangel Gabriel fpeaks of himfelf to Zacharias in the very fame language, I am Gabriel, that ftand in the prefence of God, Luke

i, 19.

That there is order amongst the angels, I do not doubt; God is the God of order, and as he orders all things below, fo no question he obferveth a most exact order in the court of heaven: Amongst us fome are fuperior, and fome inferior, fome greater, and others leffer; equality hath no place either on earth, or in hell; and in this visible heaven, one far, faith the apostle, differs from another in glory, I Cor. xv. 41. how then fhould we imagine any ataxy or confufion to be in heaven? Certainly there is a most beautiful diftinction and order amongst the bleffed angels, yet I am apt to think and do believe, that the difference of thofe glorious fpirits in heaven, is not their nature, but in their offices; for as among men there is a parity and equality in refpect of nature, and the excellency of the one above the other is but by accident, fo it is with angels, they are equally fpiritual fubftances, all equally created good, and pure, and perfect, and their imparity is because of the divers kinds of their offices, wherein they are employed: Hence fome are fimply called angels, fome archangels, fome principalities, fome dominions, &c.

But, 2. Admitting this order and distinctions of an. gels, whether are not the highest angels miniftring fpirits? The Platonics that firft divided them into three orders, as fome above heaven, called fupercæleftes, others in beaven, cæleftes, and others under heaven, called fubcæleftes, do fuitably give them feveral offices: As, 1. They above heaven (I mean this vifible heaven) conftantly ftand before God (as they fay) praifing, and lauding, and magnifying his name. 2. They in heaven are there feated to move, and rule, and govern the stars. 3. They under heaven, are fome to rule kingdoms, others provinces, other cities, others particular men. Many Chriftians that write of the hierarchy of the angels, follow thefe opinions. Now by this furmife the highest angels do not minifter to the faints, but only and immediately to God himfelf. But on the contrary,