(5.) The Incarnation marks a new epoch of angelic ministration. " The Angel of Jehovah," the Lord of all created angels, having now descended from heaven to earth, it was natural that His servants should con- tinue to do Him service here. Whether to predict and glorify Ilis birth itself (Matt, i, 20; Luke i, ii),
to minister to Him after His temptation and agony (Matt, iv, 11 ; Luke xxii, 43), or to declare His res- urrection and triumphant ascension (Matt, xxviii, 2 ; John xx, 12; Acts i, 10, 11), they seem now to be in- deed " ascending and descending on the Son of Man," almost as though transferring to earth the ministra- tions of heaven. It is clearly seen that whatever was done by them for men in earlier days was but typical of and flowing from their service to Him. (See Psa. xci, 11 ; comp. Matt, iv, 6.)
(6.) The New Testament is the history of the Chur-ch of Christ, every member of which is united to Him. Accordingly, the angels are revealed now as "minis- tering spirits" to each individual member of Christ for his spiritual guidance and aid (Heb. i, 14). The rec- ords of their visible appearance are but unfrequent (Acts v, 19 ; viii, 2G ; x, 3 ; xii, 7 ; xxvii, 23) ; yet their presence and their aid are referred to familiarly, almost as things of course, ever after the Incarnation. They are spoken of as watching over Christ's little ones (Matt, xviii, 10), as rejoicing over a penitent sin- ner (Luke xv, 10), as present in the worship of Chris- tians (1 Cor. xi, 10), and (perhaps) bringing their prayers before God (Rev. viii, 3, 4), and as bearing the souls of the redeemed into paradise (Luke xvi, 22). In one word, they are Christ's ministers of grace now, as they shall be of judgment hereafter (Matt, xiii, 39, 41, 49; xvi. 27; xxiv, 31, etc.). By what method they act we cannot know of ourselves, nor are we told, j perhaps lest we should worship them instead of Him, whose servants they are (see Col. ii, 18 ; Rev. xxii, 9) ; but, of course, their agency, like that of human ministers, depends for its efficacy on the aid of the Holy Spirit.
The ministry of angels, therefore, a doctrine implied in their very name, is evident, from certain actions which are ascribed wholly to them (Matt, xiii, 41, 49 ; xxiv, 31 ; Luke xvi, 22), and from the scriptural nar- ratives of other events, in the accomplishment of which they acted a visible part (Luke i, 11, 26; ii, 9 sq. ; Acts v, 19, 20 ; x, 3, 19 ; xii, 7 ; xxvii, 23), prin- cipally in the guidance of the destinies of man. In those cases also in which the agency is concealed from our view we may admit the probability of its exist- ence, because we are told that God sends them forth "to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation" (Heb. i, 14 ; also Psa. xxxiv, 8, 91 ; Matt, xviii, 10). But the angels, when employed for our welfare, do not act independently, but as the instruments of God, and by His command (Psa. ciii, 20; civ, 4; Heb. i, 13, 14) : not unto them, therefore, are our contidenee and adoration due, but only to him (Rev. xix, 10; xxii, 9) whom the angels themselves reverently wor- ship. (See Mostyn, Ministry of Angels, Lond. 1841.) 3. Guardian Angels. — It was a favorite opinion of the Christian fathers that every individual is under the care of a particular angel, who is assigned to him as a guardian. See Guardian Angel. They spoke also of two angels, the one good, the other evil, whom they conceived to be attendant on each individual : the good angel prompting to all good, and averting ill, and the evil angel prompting to all ill, and avert- ing good (Hermas, ii, 6). See Abaddon. The Jews (excepting the Sadducees) entertained this belief, as do the Moslems. The heathen held it in a modified form — the Greeks having their tutelary danwn (q. v.), and the Romans their genius. There is, however, noth- ing to support this notion in the Bible. The ] assages ( I'sa. xxxiv, 7; Matt, xviii, Id) usually referred to in support of it have assuredly no such meaning. The former, divested of its poetical shape, simply de- notes that God employs the ministry of angels to de- liver his people from affliction and danger; and the celebrated passage in Matthew cannot well mean any thing more than that the infant children of believers, or, if preferable, the least among the disciples of Christ, whom the ministers of the Church might be
ANGELA
ANGELUS
disposed to neglect from their apparent insignificance, are in such estimation elsewhere that the angels do not think it below their dignity to minister to them. — Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v. See Satan.
IV. Literature. — For the Jewish speculations on Angelology, see Eisenmenger, Entdecktes Judenthum, ii, 370 sq. ; the Christian views on the subject may be found in Starr and Flatt's Lehrbuch der Chr. Dogma/ik, § xlviii; Scriptural views respecting them arc given in the A merican Biblical Repository, xii, 356-368 ; in the Bibliotheca Sacra, i, 766 sq. ; ii, 108 sq. ; on the ministry of angels, see Journal Sac. Lit. January, 1852, p. 283 sq. ; on their existence and character, ib. October, 1853, p. 122 sq. Special treatises are the following, among others : Loers, Be angelorum cor- porib. et natura (Tuisc. 1719, F. a. Rh. 1731) ; Goede, Demonstrationes de existentia corporum angelicor. (Hal. 1744) ; Hoffmann, Num angeli boni corpora hominum interdum obsideant (Viteb. 1760); Sehulthess, Engel- welt, Engslgesetz u. Engeldienst (Ziir. 1833); Cotta, Doctrines de Angelis historii (Tub. 1705); Damitz, De lapsu angelorum (Viteb. 1693) ; Wernsdorf, De com- mercio angelor. c. filiabus hominum (Viteb. 1742) ; Schmid, Enarralio de lapsu dasmonum (Viteb. 1775); Maior, I>e natura et cultu angelor. (Jen. 1653) ; Mer- heim, Hist, angelor. spec. (Viteb. 1792) ; Seiler, Erron&e doctrine de angelis (Erlang. 1797) ; Driessen, Angelor. corpa (Gron. ,1740) ; Beyer, De Angelis (Hal. 1698); Carhov's ed. of Abarbanel, De creatione angelorum (in Lat. Lpz. 1740); Mather, Angiography (Bost. 1096); Ambrose, Ministration of and Communion with Angels (in Works, p. 873); Cam field, Discourse of Angels (Lond. 1678); Lawrence, Communion and Warre with Angels (s. 1. 1646); Gasman, Angehgraphia (Frcft. 1 597) ; Herrenschmidt, Theatrum angelorum (Jen. 1629) ; Clotz, Angehgraphia (Rost. 1636); Dorsche, Singula- rium angelicorum septenarius (Argent. 1045) ; Muskus, Angelogia apostolica (Jen. 1G64) ; Schmid, Senarius an- gelicas (Helmst. 1695); Meier, De archangelis (Hamb. 1695); Oporin, Lehre von den Engeln (ib. 1735); Stro- dimann, Cute Engel (Guelph. 1744) ; Renter, Reich des Tenfels (Lemg. 1715) ; Nieolai, De grarlbus nequitice dia- bolicee (Magd. 1750) ; Herrera, De angelis (Salam. 1595) ; Grasse, Biblioth. magica (Lpz. 1843). See Spirit.