THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT.
The books of the New Testament are in the same manner full of facts
which prove the apparition of good angels. The angel Gabriel appeared
to Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, and predicted to him the
future birth of the Forerunner.[22] The Jews, who saw Zachariah come
out of the temple, after having remained within it a longer time than
usual, having remarked that he was struck dumb, had no doubt but that
he had seen some apparition of an angel. The same Gabriel announced to
Mary the future birth of the Messiah.[23] When Jesus was born in
Bethlehem, the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the
night,[24] and declared to them that the Saviour of the world was born
at Bethlehem. There is every reason to believe that the star which
appeared to the Magi in the East, and which led them straight to
Jerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem, was directed by a good angel.[25]
St. Joseph was warned by a celestial spirit to retire into Egypt, with
the mother and the infant Christ, for fear that Jesus should fall into
the hands of Herod, and be involved in the massacre of the Innocents.
The same angel informed Joseph of the death of King Herod, and told
him to return to the land of Israel.
After the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, angels came
and brought him food.[26] The demon tempter said to Jesus Christ that
God had commanded his angels to lead him, and to prevent him from
stumbling against a stone; which is taken from the 92d Psalm, and
proves the belief of the Jews on the article of guardian angels. The
Saviour confirms the same truth when he says that the angels of
children constantly behold the face of the celestial Father.[27] At
the last judgment, the good angels will separate the just,[28] and
lead them to the kingdom of heaven, while they will precipitate the
wicked into eternal fire.
At the agony of Jesus Christ in the garden of Olives, an angel
descended from heaven to console him.[29] After his resurrection,
angels appeared to the holy women who had come to his tomb to embalm
him.[30] In the Acts of the Apostles, they appeared to the apostles as
soon as Jesus had ascended into heaven; and the angel of the Lord came
and opened the doors of the prison where the apostles were confined,
and set them at liberty.[31] In the same book, St. Stephen tells us
that the law was given to Moses by the ministration of angels;[32]
consequently, those were angels who appeared on Sinai and Horeb, and
who spoke to him in the name of God, as his ambassadors, and as
invested with his authority; also, the same Moses, speaking of the
angel of the Lord, who was to introduce Israel into the Promised Land,
says that "the name of God is in him."[33] St. Peter, being in prison,
is delivered from thence by an angel,[34] who conducted him the length
of a street, and disappeared. St. Peter, knocking at the door of the
house in which his brethren were, they could not believe that it was
he; they thought that it was his angel who knocked and spoke. St.
Paul, instructed in the school of the Pharisees, thought as they did
on the subject of angels; he believed in their existence, in
opposition to the Sadducees,[35] and supposed that they could appear.
When this apostle, having been arrested by the Romans, related to the
people how he had been overthrown at Damascus, the Pharisees, who were
present, replied to those who exclaimed against him--"How do we know,
if an angel or a spirit hath not spoken to him?" St. Luke says that a
Macedonian (apparently the angel of Macedonia) appeared to St. Paul,
and begged him to come and announce the Gospel in that country.
St. John, in the Apocalypse, speaks of the seven angels who presided
over the churches in Asia. I know that these seven angels are the
bishops of these churches, but the ecclesiastical tradition will have
it that every church has its tutelary angel. In the same book, the
Apocalypse, are related divers appearances of angels. All Christian
antiquity has recognized them; the synagogue also has recognized them;
so that it may be affirmed that nothing is more certain than the
existence of good angels and their apparitions.
I place in the number of apparitions, not only those of good or bad
angels, and the spirits of the dead who show themselves to the living,
but also those of the living who show themselves to the angels or
souls of the dead; whether these apparitions are seen in dreams, or
during sleep, or awaking; whether they manifest themselves to all
those who are present, or only to the persons to whom God judges
proper to manifest them. For instance, in the Apocalypse,[36] St. John
saw the four animals, and the four-and-twenty elders, who were clothed
in white garments and wore crowns of gold upon their heads, and were
seated on thrones around that of the Almighty, who prostrated
themselves before the throne of the Eternal, and cast their crowns at
his feet.
And, elsewhere: "I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the
world,[37] who held back the four winds and prevented them from
blowing on the earth; then I saw another angel, who rose on the side
of the east, and who cried out to the four angels who had orders to
hurt the earth, Do no harm to the earth, or the sea, or the trees,
until we have impressed a sign on the foreheads of the servants of
God. And I heard that the number of those who received this sign (or
mark) was a hundred and forty-four thousand. Afterwards I saw an
innumerable multitude of all nations, tribes, people, and languages,
standing before the throne of the Most High, arrayed in white
garments, and having palms in their hands."
And in the same book[38] St. John says, after having described the
majesty of the throne of God, and the adoration paid to him by the
angels and saints prostrate before him, one of the elders said to
him,--"Those whom you see covered with white robes, are those who have
suffered great trials and afflictions, and have washed their robes in
the blood of the Lamb; for which reason they stand before the throne
of God, and will do so night and day in his temple; and He who is
seated on the throne will reign over them, and the angel which is in
the midst of the throne will conduct them to the fountains of living
water." And, again,[39] "I saw under the altar of God the souls of
those who have been put to death for defending the Word of God, and
for the testimony which they have rendered; they cried with a loud
voice, saying, When, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood upon those
who are on the earth?" &c.
All these apparitions, and several others similar to them, which might
be related as being derived from the holy books as well as from
authentic histories, are true apparitions, although neither the angels
nor the martyrs spoken of in the Apocalypse came and presented
themselves to St. John; but, on the contrary, this apostle was
transported in spirit to heaven, to see there what we have just
related. These are apparitions which may be called passive on the part
of the angels and holy martyrs, and active on the part of the holy
apostle who saw them.
Footnotes:
[22] Luke i. 10-12, &c.
[23] Luke i. 26, 27, &c.
[24] Luke ii. 9, 10.
[25] Matt. ii. 13, 14, 20.
[26] Matt. iv. 6, 11.
[27] Matt. xviii. 16.
[28] Matt. xiii. 45, 46.
[29] Luke xxii. 43.
[30] Matt. xxviii. John.
[31] Acts v. 19.
[32] Acts vii. 30, 35.
[33] Exod. xxiii. 21.
[34] Acts xii. 8, 9.
[35] Rom. i. 18. 1 Cor. iv. 9; vi. 3; xii. 7. Gal. iii. 19. Acts xvi.
9; xxiii. 9. Rev. i. 11.
[36] Rev. iv. 4, 10.
[37] Rev. vii. 1-3, 9, &c.
[38] Rev. vii. 13, 14.
[39] Rev. vi. 9, 10.