incapable of being proved _a priori_. Indeed, the ancient Sadducees are
represented as denying all spirits; and yet the Samaritans, and
Caraites, who are reputed Sadducees, openly allowed them: witness
Abusaid, the author of an Arabic version of the Pentateuch; and Aaron, a
Caraite Jew, in his comment on the Pentateuch; both extant in manuscript
in the king of France’s library. In the Alcoran we find frequent mention
of angels. The Mussulmen believe them of different orders or degrees,
and to be destined for different employments both in heaven and on
earth. They attribute exceedingly great power to the angel Gabriel, as
that he is able to descend in the space of an hour from heaven to earth;
to overturn a mountain with a single feather of his wing, &c. The angel
Asrael, they suppose, is appointed to take the souls of such as die; and
another angel, named Esraphil, they tell us, stands with a trumpet ready
in his mouth to proclaim the day of judgment.
The Heathen philosophers and poets were also agreed as to the existence
of intelligent beings, superior to man; as is shown by St. Cyprian in
his treatise of the vanity of idols; from the testimonies of Plato,
Socrates, Trismegistus, &c. They were acknowledged under different
appellations; the Greeks calling them dæmons, and the Romans genii, or
lares. Epicurus seems to have been the only one among the old
philosophers who absolutely rejected them.
Authors are not so unanimous about the nature as about the existence of
angels. Clemens Alexandrinus believed they had bodies; which was also
the opinion of Origen, Cæsarius, Tertullian, and several others.
Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nicene, St. Cyril, St. Chrysostom,
&c, held them to be mere spirits. It has been the more current opinion,
especially in later times, that they are substances entirely spiritual,
who can, at any time, assume bodies, and appear in human or other
shapes. Ecclesiastical writers make a hierarchy of nine orders of
angels. Others have distributed angels into nine orders, according to
the names by which they are called in Scripture, and reduced these
orders into three hierarchies; to the first of which belong seraphim,
cherubim, and thrones; to the second, dominions, virtues, and powers;
and to the third, principalities, archangels, and angels. The Jews
reckon four orders or companies of angels, each headed by an archangel;
the first order being that of Michael; the second, of Gabriel; the
third, of Uriel; and the fourth, of Raphael. Following the Scripture
account, we shall find mention made of different orders of these
superior beings; for such a distinction of orders seems intimated in the
names given to different classes. Thus we have _thrones_, _dominions_,
_principalities_, or princedoms, _powers_, _authorities_, _living ones_,
_cherubim_, and _seraphim_. That some of these titles may indicate the
same class of angels is probable; but that they all should be but
different appellations of one common and equal order is improbable. We
learn also from Scripture, that they dwell in the immediate presence of
God; that they “excel in strength;” that they are immortal; and that
they are the agents through which God very often accomplishes his
special purposes of judgment and mercy. Nothing is more frequent in
Scripture than the missions and appearances of good and bad angels, whom
God employed to declare his will; to correct, teach, reprove, and
comfort. God gave the law to Moses, and appeared to the old patriarchs,
by the mediation of angels, who represented him, and spoke in his name,
Acts vii, 30, 35; Gal. iii, 19; Heb. xiii, 2.
Though the Jews, in general, believed the existence of angels, there was
a sect among them, namely, the Sadducees, who denied the existence of
all spirits whatever, God only excepted, Acts xxiii, 8. Before the
Babylonish captivity, the Hebrews seem not to have known the names of
any angel. The Talmudists say they brought the names of angels from
Babylon. Tobit, who is thought to have resided in Nineveh some time
before the captivity, mentions the angel Raphael, Tob. iii, 17; xi, 2,
7; and Daniel, who lived at Babylon some time after Tobit, has taught us
the names of Michael and Gabriel, Dan. viii, 16; ix, 21; x, 21. In the
New Testament, we find only the two latter mentioned by name.
There are various opinions as to the time when the angels were created.
Some think this took place when our heavens and the earth were made. For
this opinion, however, there is no just foundation in the Mosaic
account. Others think that angels existed long before the formation of
our solar system; and Scripture seems to favour this opinion, Job
xxxviii, 4, 7, where God says, “Where wast thou when I laid the
foundations of the earth?--and all the sons of God shouted for joy.”
Though it be a universal opinion that angels are of a spiritual and
incorporeal nature, yet some of the fathers, misled by a passage in Gen.
vi, 2, where it is said, “The sons of God saw the daughters of men, that
they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose,”
imagined them to be corporeal, and capable of sensual pleasures. But,
without noticing all the wild reveries which have been propagated by
bold or ignorant persons, let it suffice to observe, that by “the sons
of God” we are evidently to understand the descendants of Seth, who, for
the great piety wherein they continued for some time, were so called;
and that “the daughters of men” were the progeny of wicked Cain.
As to the doctrine of tutelary or guarding angels, presiding over the
affairs of empires, nations, provinces, and particular persons, though
received by the later Jews, it appears to be wholly Pagan in its origin,
and to have no countenance in the Scriptures. The passages in Daniel
brought to favour this notion are capable of a much better explanation;
and when our Lord declares that the “_angels_” of little children “do
always behold the face of God,” he either speaks of children as being
the objects of the general ministry of angels, or, still more probably,
by _angels_ he there means the disembodied spirits of children; for that
the Jews called disembodied spirits by the name of angels, appears from
Acts xii, 15.
On this question of guardian angels, Bishop Horsley observes: “That the
holy angels are often employed by God in his government of this
sublunary world, is indeed to be clearly proved by holy writ. That they
have power over the matter of the universe, analogous to the powers over
it which men possess, greater in extent, but still limited, is a thing
which might reasonably be supposed, if it were not declared. But it
seems to be confirmed by many passages of holy writ; from which it seems
also evident that they are occasionally, for certain specific purposes,
commissioned to exercise those powers to a prescribed extent. That the
evil angels possessed before their fall the like powers, which they are
still occasionally permitted to exercise for the punishment of wicked
nations, seems also evident. That they have a power over the human
sensory, which they are occasionally permitted to exercise, and by means
of which they may inflict diseases, suggest evil thoughts, and be the
instruments of temptation, must also be admitted. But all this amounts
not to any thing of a discretional authority placed in the hands of
tutelar angels, or to an authority to advise the Lord God with respect
to the measures of his government. Confidently I deny that a single text
is to be found in holy writ, which, rightly understood, gives the least
countenance to the abominable doctrine of such a participation of the
holy angels in God’s government of the world. In what manner then, it
may be asked, are the holy angels made at all subservient to the
purposes of God’s government? This question is answered by St. Paul in
his Epistle to the Hebrews, in the last verse of the first chapter; and
this is the only passage in the whole Bible in which we have any thing
explicit upon the office and employment of angels: ‘Are they not all,’
saith he, ‘ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them that
shall be heirs of salvation?’ They are all, however high in rank and
order, nothing more than ‘ministering spirits,’ or, literally, ‘serving
spirits;’ not invested with authority of their own, but ‘sent forth,’
occasionally sent forth, to do such service as may be required of them,
‘for them that shall be heirs of salvation.’”
The exact number of angels is no where mentioned in Scripture; but it is
always represented as very great. Daniel, vii, 10, says of the Ancient
of Days, “A fiery stream came from before him; thousand thousands
ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before
him.” Jesus Christ says, that his heavenly Father could have given him
more than twelve legions of angels, that is, more than seventy-two
thousand, Matt. xxvi, 53; and the Psalmist declares, that the chariots
of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, lxviii, 17, These
are all intended not to express any exact number, but indefinitely a
very large one.
Though all the angels were created alike good, yet Jude informs us,
verse 6, that some of them “kept not their first estate, but left their
own habitation,” and these God hath “reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.” Speculations on the
cause and occasion of their fall are all vain and trifling. Milton is to
be read on this subject, as on others, not as a divine, but as a poet.
All we know, is, that they are not in their first “estate,” or in their
original place; that this was their own fault, for “they left their own
habitation;” that they are in chains, yet with liberty to tempt; and
that they are reserved to the general judgment.
Dr. Prideaux observes, that the minister of the synagogue, who
officiated in offering the public prayers, being the mouth of the
congregation, delegated by them, as their representative, messenger, or
angel, to address God in prayer for them, was in Hebrew called
_sheliack-zibbor_, that is, the _angel of the church_; and that from
hence the chief ministers of the seven churches of Asia are in the
Revelation, by a name borrowed from the synagogue, called angels of
those churches.
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, or _the Angel Jehovah_, a title given to Christ
in his different appearances to the patriarchs and others in the Old
Testament.
When the Angel of the Lord found Hagar in the wilderness, “she called
the name of JEHOVAH that spake to her, Thou God seest me.”--JEHOVAH
appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre. Abraham lifted up his
eyes, and three _men_, three persons in human form, “stood by him.” One
of the three is called Jehovah. And JEHOVAH said, “Shall I hide from
Abraham the thing that I do?” Appearances of the same personage occur to
Isaac and to Jacob under the name of “the God of Abraham, and of Isaac.”
After one of these manifestations, Jacob says, “I have seen God face to
face;” and at another, “Surely the Lord (JEHOVAH) is in this place.” The
same Jehovah was made visible to Moses, and gave him his commission; and
God said, “I AM THAT I AM; thou shalt say to the children of Israel, I
AM hath sent me unto you.” The same JEHOVAH went before the Israelites
by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire; and by
Him the law was given amidst terrible displays of power and majesty from
Mount Sinai. “I am the Lord (JEHOVAH) thy God, which have brought thee
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: Thou shalt have
no other gods before me,” &c. The collation of a few passages, or of the
different parts of the same passages, of Scripture, will show that
Jehovah, and “the Angel of the Lord,” when used in this eminent sense,
are the same person. Jacob says of Bethel, where he had exclaimed,
“Surely _Jehovah_ is in this place;” “The _Angel_ of God appeared to me
in a dream, saying, I am the God of Bethel.” Upon his death bed he gives
the names of _God_ and _Angel_ to this same person: “The _God_ which fed
me all my life long unto this day, the _Angel_ which redeemed me from
all evil, bless the lads.” So in Hosea xii, 2, 5, it is said, “By his
strength he had power with _God_; yea, he had power over the _Angel_,
and prevailed.” “We found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us,
even the _Lord God of Hosts_; the Lord is his memorial.” Here the same
person has the names, _God_, _Angel_, and _Lord God of Hosts_. “The
_Angel of the Lord_ called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and
said, By _myself_ have I sworn, saith the Lord, (JEHOVAH,) that, since
thou hast done this thing, in blessing will I bless thee.” The _Angel of
the Lord_ appeared to Moses in a flame of fire; but this same Angel
“called to him out of the bush, and said, I am the God of thy fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and Moses
hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.” To omit many other
passages, St. Stephen, in alluding to this part of the history of Moses,
in his speech before the council, says, “There appeared to Moses in the
wilderness of Mount Sinai, _an Angel of the Lord_ in a flame of fire,”
showing that that phraseology was in use among the Jews in his day, and
that this Angel and Jehovah were regarded as the same being; for he
adds, “Moses was in the church in the wilderness with the _Angel_ which
spoke unto him in Mount Sinai.” There is one part of the history of the
Jews in the wilderness, which so fully shows that they distinguished
this Angel of Jehovah from all created angels, as to deserve particular
attention. In Exodus xxiii, 20, God makes this promise to Moses and the
Israelites: “Behold, I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the
way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of
him, and obey his voice; provoke him not; for he will not pardon your
transgressions, for my name is in him.” Of this Angel let it be
observed, that he is here represented as the guide and protector of the
Israelites; to him they were to owe their conquests and their settlement
in the promised land, which are in other places often attributed to the
_immediate_ agency of God; that they are cautioned to “beware of him,”
to reverence and stand in dread of him; that the pardoning of
transgressions belongs to him; finally, “that the _name_ of God was in
him.” This _name_ must be understood of God’s own peculiar name,
JEHOVAH, I AM, which he assumed as his distinctive appellation at his
first appearing to Moses; and as the names of God are indicative of his
nature, he who had a right to bear the peculiar name of God, must also
have his essence. This view is put beyond all doubt by the fact, that
Moses and the Jews so understood the matter; for afterward when their
sins had provoked God to threaten not to go up with them _himself_, but
to commit them to “an angel who should drive out the Canaanite,” &c, the
people mourned over this as a great calamity, and Moses betook himself
to special intercession, and rested not until he obtained the repeal of
the threat, and the renewed promise, “My _presence_ shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest.” Nothing, therefore, can be more clear than
that Moses and the Israelites considered the promise of the Angel, in
whom was “the name of God,” as a promise that God _himself_ would go
with them. With this uncreated Angel, this _presence_ of the Lord, they
were satisfied, but not with “an angel” indefinitely, who was by
_nature_ of that order of beings usually so called, and therefore a
created being; for at the news of God’s determination not to go up with
them, Moses hastens to the tabernacle to make his intercessions, and
refuses an inferior conductor:--“If thy presence go not with me, carry
us not up hence.”
The Jews held this Word, or Angel of the Lord, to be the future Messiah,
as appears from the writings of their older rabbins. So that he appears
as the Jehovah of all the three dispensations, and yet is invariably
described as a separate person from the unseen Jehovah who sends him. He
was then the Word to be made flesh, and to dwell for a time among us, to
open the way to God by his sacrifice, and to rescue the race, whose
nature he should assume, from sin and death. This he has now actually
effected; and the Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian religions are thus
founded upon the same great principles,--the fall and misery of mankind,
and their deliverance by a _Divine Redeemer_.
ANGELICS, worshippers of angels. Those who consider this as a sect of
the Apostolic age, think St. Paul, Coloss. ii, 18, cautions Christians
against a superstitious reverence of these celestial agents of the
Deity, which they conceive to have been borrowed from the idolatrous
reverence paid by the Heathen to genii and demons. The Jews of that time
are also accused of worshipping angels, and probably this superstition
might through them influence the Judaizing members of some of the
Apostolic churches. This idolatry may now be too justly charged upon the
Romish and some other corrupt churches.
ANGER, a resentful emotion of the mind, arising upon the receipt, or
supposed receipt, of an affront or injury; and also simple feeling of
strong displacency at that which is in itself evil, or base, or
injurious to others. In the latter sense it is not only innocent but
commendable. Strong displeasure against evil doers, provided it be free
from hatred and malice, and interferes not with a just placableness, is
also blameless, Eph. iv, 26. When it is vindictive against the person of
our neighbour, or against the innocent creatures of God, it is wicked,
Matt. v, 22. When anger, hatred, wrath, and fury, are ascribed to God,
they denote no tumultuous passion, but merely his holy and just
displeasure with sin and sinners; and the evidence of it in his terrible
threatenings, or righteous judgments, Psalm vi, 1, and vii, 11. We must,
however, take care that we refine not too much. These are Scriptural
terms, and are often used of God; and though they express not a
tumultuous, much less an unjust, passion, there is something in God
which answers to them. In him they are _principles_ arising out of his
holy and just nature; and for this reason they are more steady and
uniform, and more terrible, than if they were emotions, or as we say
passions. Nor can we rightly regard the severity of the judgments which
God has so often executed upon sin without standing in awe of him, “as a
consuming fire” to the ungodly.
ANIMAL, is an organized and living body, endowed with sensation.
Minerals are said to grow or increase, plants to grow and live, and
animals alone to have sensation. The Hebrews distinguished animals into
pure and impure, clean and unclean; or those which might be eaten and
offered, and those whose use was prohibited. The sacrifices which they
offered, were, 1. Of the beeve kind; a cow, bull, or calf. The ox could
not be offered, because it was mutilated; and when it is said oxen were
sacrificed, we are to understand bulls, Lev. xxii, 18, 19. Calmet
thinks, that the mutilation of animals was neither permitted, nor used,
among the Israelites. 2. Of the goat kind; a he-goat, a she-goat, or
kid, Lev. xxii, 24. 3. Of the sheep kind; a ewe, ram, or lamb. When it
is said sheep are offered, rams are chiefly meant, especially in
burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin; for as to peace-offerings, or
sacrifices of pure devotion, a female might be sometimes offered,
provided it was pure, and without blemish, Lev. iii, 1.
Besides these three sorts of animals, used in sacrifices, many others
might be eaten, wild or tame; as the stag, the roe-buck, and in general
all that have cloven feet, or that chew the cud, Lev. ix, 2, 3, &c. All
that have not cloven hoofs, and do not chew the cud, were esteemed
impure, and could neither be offered nor eaten. The fat of all sorts of
animals sacrificed was forbidden to be eaten. The blood of all kinds of
animals generally, and in all cases, was prohibited on pain of death,
Lev. iii, 17; vii, 23–27. Neither did the Israelites eat animals which
had been taken and touched by a devouring or impure beast, as a dog, a
wolf, a boar, &c, Exodus xxii, 3; nor of any animal that died of itself.
Whoever touched its carcass was impure until the evening; and till that
time, and before he had washed his clothes, he did not return to the
company of other Jews, Lev. xi, 39, 40; xvii, 15; xxii, 8. Fish that had
neither fins nor scales were unclean, Lev. xi, 20. Birds which walk on
the ground with four feet, as bats, and flies that have many feet, were
impure. The law, however, excepts locusts, which have their hind feet
higher than those before, and rather leap than walk. These were clean,
and might be eaten, Lev. xi, 21, 22, as they still are in Palestine. The
distinction between clean and unclean animals has been variously
accounted for. Some have thought it _symbolical_, intended to teach the
avoidance of those evil qualities for which the unclean animals were
remarkable; others, that, in order that the Hebrews might be preserved
from _idolatry_, they were commanded to kill and eat many animals which
were sacred among the Egyptians, and were taught to look with abhorrence
upon others which they reverenced. Others have found a reason in the
unwholesomeness of the flesh of the creatures pronounced by the law to
be unclean, so that they resolve the whole into a _sanative_ regulation.
But it is not to be forgotten that this division of animals into clean
and unclean existed both before the law of Moses, and even prior to the
flood. The foundation of it was therefore clearly _sacrificial_; for
before the deluge it could not have reference to health, since animal
food was not allowed to man prior to the deluge; and as no other ground
for the distinction appears, except that of sacrifice, it must therefore
have had reference to the selection of victims to be solemnly offered to
God, as a part of worship, and as the means of drawing near to him by
expiatory rites for the forgiveness of sins. Some it is true, have
regarded this distinction of clean and unclean beasts as used by Moses
by way of _prolepsis_, or anticipation,--a notion which, if it could not
be refuted by the context, would be perfectly arbitrary. Not only are
the beasts, which Noah was to receive, spoken of as clean and unclean;
but it will be noticed, that, in the command to take them into the ark,
a difference is made in the _number_ to be preserved--the _clean_ being
to be received by _sevens_, and the _unclean_ by _two_ of a kind. This
shows that this distinction among beasts had been established in the
time of Noah; and thus the assumption of a prolepsis is refuted. The
critical attempts which have been made to show that animals were allowed
to man for food, previous to the flood, have wholly failed.