r6o The Nature, Office, and Employment Vol. J, remarkable Deliverances of a Perfon upon whomfó much depends; but either to the immediate Hand of God, or to the Miniftry of Angels ? And where God is provided fo abundantly, with fuch powerful Beings and Minifters of his Will; though they may be invifible to . us, yet there is great Reafon tobelieve, that he very fèldom works without them. And now what an aftonifhing Regard is this, which the Great God is pleafed to have for the Sons of Men, that he fhould make the whole Creation ferviceable to us ; not only the vifible Creation, for the Support ofour Bodies, and the Diver- fon of our,Minds ; but even the nóbleft of all his Creatures, the great and glo- rious Inhabitants of the invifible World, mightily furpaffing us mortal Men, in the Simplicity and Purity of their Nature, in the Quicknefs and Largeneh of their Underítandings, and in their Power'andVigour ofAiling; I fay, that God fhould give there excellent and glorious Beings the Charge over us, and fend them forth to minïfter to us, for the Safeguard of our Perfons, for the Succefs of our Af- fairs, and for the Security and Furtherance of our eternal Salvation ! Lord, what is Man, that thou art thus mindful of him; that when thou madefl him lower than the Angels, thou fhouldeft yet make the Angels to minifler unto him! Thirdly, If the Angels have the particular Charge of Good Men, we fhould take heed howwe defpife, or be any way. injurious to them : For howdefpicable foever they may appear to us, they are certainly very dear to God ; fence he deems them fo confiderable, as to employ his Chief Minifters about them, and to commit the' Charge ofthem to thofe, who, by their Office, do more immediately attend upon hinifelf. This is our Saviour's own Argument, Match. i 8. Take heed that ye defpife not one _of thefe little ones; for Ifay untoyou, their Angels do con- tinually behold the Face ofyour Father, which is in Heaven. With how much Contempt foever we may look uponapoor goodMan, he hath Friends and Patrons of a higher fort, than any of the Princes of this World. Fourthly, If God, appointed Angels to be 11'Iinring Spirits in our behalf; we may thence very reafonably conclude, that God did not intend that we fhould sooifhïp them. This teems tobe a clear Confequence, if the Reafoning of the Angel in the Revelation be good ; where he forbids St. John to woifhip him; becaufe he was his Fellow-fervant. Yea, the Confequence feems to be yet ítronger from the Text ; that if they be not only Fellow-Servants, but do infoine fort minif!er unto us; then we arenot to worfhip them. And yet this Pra&ice is openly avowed`in the Church of Rome ; though it be reproved fo very feverely by the Apoftle, as an Apoftacy fromChriftianity, 2. i8, 19. Letno Man (fays he) deceiveyou, in a voluntary Humility, andwor- Jhipping of Angels ; not holding the' Head ; as if it were a renouncing of Chrift, out of a pretended Humility, to make ufe of other Mediators befides him to the Father. And notwithítanding alfo that the Angel in the Revelation does fo vehe- mently forbid it, 'best pA, by no Means, upon no Terms do it ; and he forbids it for fuch a Reafon, as makes it for ever unlawful ; namely, that we ought not to worfhip thofe who ferve and worfhip God together with us ; Do it not, Jays the Angel, I am thy Fellowfervant, worfhip thou God. Ìn which Words, he plainly directs us to thePole and proper Obje&'of our Worfhip. Bellarmine, the great Champion of the Popifh Caufe, never ufed more grofs and apparent Shuffling, than in Anfwer to this Text. He faysfirfi, Why are we reprovedfor doing ,what, St. John did? To which the Anfwer is very eafy ; Be- caufe St. John himfelf was reproved by an Angel for doing what he did. And now that his Queftion is anfwered, one might, methinks, ask him a croft Que- ftion or two. - Why do the Church of Rome prefume to do that, which an Angel does fo exprefly forbid to be done ? Or was it, fit for St. ohn to worfhip one, Who (according to Bellarmine) was fo ignorant in the Doctrine of the Catholick Church, as to reprove 'him for doing his Duty ? As is evident from his Second crafty Anfwer to this Text, That St. John did well togive due Worfhip to the An- gel : And yet it is pläin from this Text, that the Angel did not think the Wor- Chip which St. John gave him, to be his due.
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