144 An Expojitton ofthe CSI A P. I, inventedfor them innumerable, and thofe many of them uncouth and infignificant. Orders alto or Degrees theyaffign unto them,fome four,fomefive,fome feven,föme nine, forte thirteen, accórding as it hath feemedgood unto this or thatGreat Mailer among them. From them the Pfeudodionyfius about thefourth orfifthCentury after Chrifl, took the occafion and rife of his operant figment about the Celeftial Hierarchy, though he Mixed their inventions with many Peripatetical and Pythagorean notions. Arilfotle proportioned the number ofthe Intellìgencier unto the Spheres of the Heavens, more he granted not. ThePythagoreans and Platonicks afferted all things herebelow to be influenced by the Planets in their Orbs, the infcriaur receiving a communication of vertue from the higher, and imparting itunto them beneath. So they interpreted the Exfeffian of Saturn by Jupiter, as that of Ccelum by Saturn to be the interceptionof their procreative influence , that it fhould not immediately becommunicated unto things below but by them. Out ofall there fancies did Dionyfius raife his Hierarchy. From the Jews he took the Difpoltion ofhis Angels intoOrders ofSuperioriiy, and Rule ; from Ariftatle their number, placing an Order inflead of atingle Intelligence, to anfwer What is taught in the Scripture concerning their multitude; and from thePytha- goreán Platáaicks the communication of 'Light Knowledge and Illumination from God by the bigheff to the loweft Series or Order, and from them to Men on earth. Andon this foundation, filch as it is, arebuilt the Difcourfes of many Commentators on thisplace ; in their Enquiries, whether Angels of the Superisur.Orders. are feste forth to minifter for the goodof Believers ; which is denied by many, though by Come later Expofitors, as Effius, Ribera, Tena, A Lapide granted; and proved not with- out much ado. So hard is it fometimes for men to call downfear-crows of their own fetting up. It remaineth only that we clofe our wholedifcourfes on this Chapter with fome Obfervations for our own ufeandinfiruttion from this Ian Verfe ; as, I. The higheeff Honour of the moltglorious Spirits inHeaven, if to miuiffer unto the Lord in thefervice whereuntobe appoints them. This is the Office, this the work ofAngels ; and this is their Honour and Glory. For what greater Honour can a Creature be more partaker of, than to be emploied in the fervice ofhis Creator ? What greater glory than to (land in thePrefence, and to do theWill of the King of Heaven ? Ifit be an Honour on earth toftandbefore Princes, dying periíhingmen, and that unto men in nature and kind equal unto thole before whom theynand, what is it for them, who bynature are at an infinite difiance from the Glory ofGod, to Rand before him who lives for ever and ever? And finely it will be unconceivably woful unto poor fouls at the lofi day, tofind how they defpifed in this world a (hare and intereft in that fervice, which is and ever was theGlory and HonourofAngels. 2. Such is the love andcape ofGod towards his saints labouring here below, that he fends the mofi glorious Attendashes on his Throne to minifter unto him, in taking care of them. He who gavé his only Son for them, will not fpare to fend his holy Angels unto them. Heaven and earth (hall be witneffes of his care of them, and the value that he puts uponthem. Now this beinga matter of fogreat importance as it is unto the Churches confelation, and theDodhrine diréétly taught in the Text, we may a little farther enquireinto it, in anfwer unto thefe two Ogellions. Firfi.,Wherefore God is pleafed to ufe the Minifiry ofAngels in the diffienfation ofhis care andgoodwill unto the Church, the Heirs of falvation, Peeing he can by an Almighty facility exert all the cffels of it by his own immediate Power ? Secondly, `Unto what efßecialend andpurple doth God make ufe of theMiniftery of An- gels for the goodof them thatbelieve ? For theftrft ofthefe, the principal account ofit is to be refolved into his own So- vereignWill Wifdom and Pleafure. Thus arewe always to live in an holy Admira- tion of him, whenever we confider any ofhis worksor ways,Rom. Ir. v. 33. Herein are we to refs; and to puta flop unto 'all our enquiries : So itpleafedhim, Matth. r r. v. 25. Andhegivetb no account ofhis martert, Job 33. v. r 2, 75. Thiswe are to ne- quiefce in as thegreat Reatn ofall God's difpenfations and ways, even his own infinite Wifdom and fovereign Pleafure. He alone knows what becomes his own Goodnefs and Greatnefs, and ofcreatures not one, but as he is pleafed to reveal it. For can we find the the Almighty unto perfe ion? can we by ( earthingfind out God? Job II. v.7. How ¡hall'poor limitedfinite creaturescome to know what befeems the Infinite Holy One to do, any ótherwile butas himfelf declareth that he hath done it ? And then we
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=