Proposition 4. The souls of' the righteous, at the instant of their separation, are received hy the blessed angels, and by them trans- Jerrcd unto the place of blessedness.
Though angels are by nature a superior order of spirits, differing from men in dignity, as the nobles and barons in the kingdoms of this world, differ from inferior subjects ; yet are they made minister- ing spirits, i. e. serviceable creatures in the kingdom of providence, to the meanest of the saints, Heb. i. 14. And herein the Lord put-» a singular honour upon his people, in making such excellent croa-
8^ A TREATISE OF THE SOtL OF MAN.
tures as angels serviceable to them : Luther assigns to them a double office, to wit, to sing the praises of God on high, and to watch over his saints here below. Their ministry is distinguished into threo branches : Nif^sr/xov, for admonition or warning ; <pu/.axrr/.ov, for pro- tection and defence; Bor^irrAov, for succour, help, and comfort. This last office they perform more especially at the souFs departure : Like tender nurses, they keep us whilst we live, and bring us home in their arms to our Father's house when we die.
They are about our death-beds, waiting to receive their precious charge into their arms and bosoms. When Lazarus breathed out his soul, the text saith it was " carried by angels into Abraham's " bosom," Luke xvi. 23. And upon this account, Tertullian calls them evocatores animarum, the callers forth of souls. At the trans- lation of Elijah, they appeared in the form of horses and chariots of fire, 2 Kings ii. 11. Horses and chariots are not only designed for conveyance, but for conveyance in state, and truly, it is no small honour to have such a noble convoy and guard to attend our souls to heaven.
Object. If it be demanded. What need is there of their help or company ? Cannot God by his immediate hand and power gather home the souls of his people to himself at death? He inspired them into our bodies without their help, and can receive them again when we expire them, without their aid.
Sol True, he can do so ; but it hath pleased him to appoint this method of our translation, not out of mere necessity, but bounty. Souls ascend not to God in the virtue of the angels wings, or arms, but of Christ's ascension. Had he not ascended as our head and representative, all the angels in heaven could not have brought our souls thither : He ascended by his own power, and we ascend by virtue of his ascension. It is therefore rather for state and decorum^ than any absolute necessity, that they attend us in our ascension.
God will not only have his people brought home to him safely, but honourably : They shall come to their Father's house in a be- coming equipage, as the children of a king. This puts honour upon our ascension-day ; that day is adorned by the attendance of such illustrious creatures upon us. It is no small honour which God herein designs for us, that creatures of gi'eater dignity than ourselves, shall be sent from heaven to attend and wait upon us thither.
Yea, that our ascension-day, should, in this, resemble Christ's ascension, is an honour indeed. When he ascended, there were multitudes of these heavenly creatures to wait upon him, Psal. Ixviii. 17, 18. " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even *' thousands of angels ; the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 33
^' the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high,'' &c. A cloud ^vas prepared as a royal chariot, to carry up the king of glory to his princely pavilion ; and then a royal guard of mighty angels to wait upon his chariot ; if not for support, yet for the greater state and solemnity of their Lord's ascension. And O what jubilations of blessed angels were heard that day in heaven ! How was the whole city of God moved at his coming ! The triumph is not ended to this day, no, nor ever shall.
Now, herein God greatly honours his people, that there shall be some resemblance and conformity betwixt their ascension and Christ's : * Angels rejoice to attend those to heaven, who must be their fellow-citizens for ever in heaven ! It is convenient also, that those who had the charge of us all our life, should attend us to our Father's house at our death : In the one they finish their ministry ; in the other they begin their more intimate society.
Moreover, the angels are they whom God will employ, to gather together his elect from the four winds of heaven, at the great day, Matth. xxiv. 31. And who more lit to attend their spirits to hea- ven singly, than those who must collect them into one body at last, and wait upon that collective body, when they shall be brought to Christ.? Psal. Ixv. 14.
Object. But the sight and presence of angels is exceeding anyful and overwhelming to human nature : It will rather astonish and terrify^ titan refresh and cheer us, to find ourselves, all on a sudden^ surrounded, and heset zvith such majestic creatures. We see what effects the appearance of an angel hath had upon good men in this world: " We shall die, (saith Manoah) for we have seen God," Judges xiii. 22. So Eliphaz, " a spirit passed before my face ; " the hair of my flesh stood up," Job iv. 15.
Sol. True, whilst our souls inhabit these mortal and sinful bo- dies, the appearance of angels is terrible to them, and cannot be otherwise, partly upon a natural, and partly upon a moral account. The dread of angels naturally falls upon our animal spirits : They shrink and tremble at the approach of spirits ; not only the spirits of men, but of beasts, quail at it. A dog, or an ass is terrified at it, as well as a man, Numb. xxii. 25. The dread of spirits strikes the animal, or natural spirits prhnarily ; and the mind, or rational soul by consent. There is also another cause of fear in man, upon the sight or presence of angels, viz. a consciousness of guilt. Wherever there is guilt, there will be fear, especially upon any extraordinary appearance of God to us, though it be but mediately by an angel.
■* As they, (i. e. angels) served the head, in like manner do they serve the members. Tliey rejoice to serve them on earth, whom they shall have afterwards fur companions ia heaven. Gerhard,
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