Metaphors, Allegories, Similes, Types, &c. RELATING TO THE HOLY ANGELS AND TH~ OF GOD , s 0 u L AND s p I R I T OF M A N. Wherein the Nature, Order, Office, and Minill:ration of Angels is opened. THE Creatures of God are divided into lnvifible and Vijible: The hvijible an: Spirits, a~Wf'"T"• afomatoi, without Bodies; and by them we undedbnd /lngeli, becaufe being in their Nature incorporeal, they cannot be feen by human Eyes. The 1/ijible, are whatfoever Things have exiftence in the villble World, whether jimple or mixedBodies. In what Notions Metaphors are taken from good and evil Angels, fee our Sacred Philology, Book i. p. 99· 1. Angels then in their Natures are Spirits created of God. 2. Called Mini.fters or Angels, to !hew their Office. Take Mr. Ainfworth's Defcription of Angels, Gen. xvi. '7· ' Angels, fo named of the Greek ""Y"l"'•'• /lngelos, in Hebrew 1~NO Ma!eac, by In– ' terpretation a Mef!enger or Legate, one knt and employed in any Work, whether of ' God or Man. And thofe fent of God were fometimes Men, as Haggai is called the 'Lord's Angel, or Meffenger, Hag. i. 13· and Jolm Bapti.ft, Matt. iii. r. and gene– ' rally the Lord's Prie!l:s under the Law. Mal. ii. 7· and Chrift's Mini!l:crs und,r the ' Gofpel, Rev. i. 20. Unto the /lngel of the Church, &c. that is, the M1nifter or Paftor ' of the Church. But in fpecial, Angels art thofe heavenly Spirits, and fiery r lames, ' that are wife, 2 Sam. iv. 20. excel in 'I"ruth, Pfal ciii. 20. Which are all mimjlering 'Spirits, Jent forth to mini.fter unto them who jhall be Heirs of Salvation, !.eb. i. 7• 14. ' The Hebrew Doc1ors Opinion of Angel; is, That they arc elfent1al Forms, created ' without any material Subltance or Body. And whereas the Prophet fays, he faw an 'Angel like Fire, and with Wi11gs, &c. It is alfo lpoken of prophttical V1!ionc, and ' by way of dark Parables. Alfo that the Angels are lower and' higher one than ano– ' ther; it is not in the Highnefs of Place, as when one Man fits higher or above ano– ' ther; but as we fpeak of two wife Men, which excel one another in vVit"dom, that ' that Man is higher than this. Likewife that there are ten Names that Angels are ' called by, and accordingly ten Degrees of them; and the Tenth, calkd Mm, are ·· - • the Angels which fpake with the Prophets, and appeared to them in 1/ijions, for which ' they are called Men, as Maimon. fheweth in Mifneh Jeji<dei Hnto~·ab, Chap. ii. ' That there are ten Degrees of Angels, the holy Scriptures !hew not; but Degrees 'there are, as the Apoftle mentioneth, Ram. viii. 38. Col. i. 18. Angels, Principafties, ' Powers, 'I"hrones, Dominions, &c. Howbeit, we are warned not to intrude into tbo(e ''I"hings which we have not Jeen, Col. i. 18. Sometimes the Word Angel is given to 'Chrilt himfelf, who is the /lngel of the Covenant, and the Angel of God's Face or Pre- ' fence, !fa. lxiii. 1. In whom God's Name is, Exod. xxiii. 20. Thus /linfworth. And in another Place he faith, 'That one of the two Angels that appeared to /lbraham was 'Jefus Chrifl:, whom Abraham called the Judge of ai/Jhe Earlh, Gm. xviii. 2. who is 'called Jehovah, v. 13. It
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