1845.] Bliss of Angels different from that of Men. 109 it. But that kind of action which has for its object the direct exhibition of inward emotions-which includes all art and all forms of worship has its end in itself, its only purpose is to give expression to what is already in the mind, to give to our thoughts. and emotions an adequate external representation; and this is done in consequence of a powerful inward impulse, the mere expression of which is an immediate and high gratification. In respect to men, it will generally hold true, that their life has been toil and labor; in a future life, when our work is done, we hope to enter into rest (Heb. 4: 16), where we shall no more hunger nor thirst, where the sun shall not light on us nor any heat, where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, and where we shall sound a new song to his praise (Rev. 7: 16, 17. 14: 1-3). Yet even here God sometimes vouchsafes a foretaste of that bliss which we shall there share with the elect angels; but it is with us only transient, enjoyed in those moments when we are elevated above the painful consciousness of our own imperfection and sinfulness, are filled with adoration of the divine grace, and feel as if we had only one desire and one duty-that of pouring out the fulness of our emotions and thoughts, in words and deeds of thankfulness and praise. These states, which with us are only transient, may be considered as permanent with the angels, since they are beings who are not still striving after, but who actually possess a perfection corresponding with their nature. Again, in respect to the actions of men, we can distinguish a two-fold relation, by which they are conditioned, on the one hand a relation to nature, on the other hand to one another; and both these are requisite to give us the materials, the instruments, the arena, the motives and the occasions of our actions. Of these two it is only the second, the relation to one another, which the Bible authorizes us to consider as belonging to the angels. For, while we do not find that any relation they may bear to nature is stated as a necessary condition of their action, yet we do find hints of a certain order and subordination existing amongst them, which imply the existence of an organized community, and which by the so called Dionysius the Areopagite, and since his time, has been expanded into the notion of a heavenly hierarchy. The Baier, de Ang. § 33. not. a, says that this state non in otio consistit, sed irtoyev quandam importat, but an ivéoyea of a character wholly different from the κόποι καὶ μόχθοι of the present life. *Comp. Petar. de theol. dogm. tom. III. de ang. Lib. II., especially cap. II. and following. Evangelical (Lutheran) theologians, have not rejected this view, so far as it is accordant with Scripture; while they have carefully reduced to their true worth or rather worthlessness all those fictions respecting the angelic hierarchy which were invented by an arbitrary and poetical fancy.1 In respect to this world, the holy angels are exhibited as the ministers of divine providence for the protection of the heirs of salvation (Heb. 1: 14), and for the punishment of the ungodly (Gen. 19: 13). Though they may have important offices to perform in respect to us, yet we should never permit ourselves to look to them for aid, rather than to Him whom angels serve, as does all that is in the world. The evangelical church has, therefore, rightfully declared it unchristian and unscriptural to offer to the angels religious reverence or prayer, (Rev. 19: 10. 22:9. Col. 2: 18); nor does she admit the distinction, of which the Scriptures know nothing, that the Roman Catholic theologians make between largɛía and dovleía. Since the angels are only our fellow-servants, (úrdovλoi, Rev. 19: 10. 22: 9,) we cannot recognize any such alleged intermediate idea, between what belongs to God and what to the creature, as is necessary to be assumed in the doulia paid to angels. And experience proves that this is an insult to the honor that should be showed to God alone; it is or it becomes idolatry. Not that we deny that there is a kind of reverence, which should be paid to our fellow-creatures, in proportion to their degrees of moral perfectness, or to the authority and station they possess. This has been called a cultus non religiosus, sive civilis sive moralis; and Augustine (de Civit. Dei, X. 1.), although not in accordance with the usage of language, discriminated it by the word dovλeía, from the worship of God, the largɛía, the cultus religiosus. That angels might in like manner be honored, as we honor wise and pious men, we would not be understood to deny. But angel-worship (the cultus reli 1 Quenstedt, De ang. Sect.¡I. qu. 8. thesis; "we concede that there is a certain order and distinction among the good angels, but we reject as uncertain and false such statements as these; that there are just nine orders or choirs of angels, and that these are divided into three classes or ternions, which are called the hierarchical classes, and that these classes are distinguished in dignity, grades and offices-as that, for example, the first or highest has an immediate knowledge of divine things, and teaches the second, and the second the third; that the first rules over the second, and the second over the third; and likewise that the highest class assists but does not serve, but the middle and lowest serve, etc; concerning which matters from the times of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, scholastics and Pontificals have much philosophized." 1845.] Wrong Views of the Ministry of Angels. 111 giosus) is to be entirely rejected. And it is a perversion of the distinction that Augustine makes, when the word that he used to fix the contrast between this two-fold mode of reverence, is made to bear an intermediate signification that can only serve to destroy the distinction. For in truth there can as little be an intermediate between the cultus religiosus and non religiosus, as between God and the creature. As to the question-what are the services in which God employs the angels-some theologians enumerate so many, that there would seem to be hardly any condition of life or any religious or moral object, in which we should not be justified in anticipating and expecting angelic assistance.1 In corroboration of such statements, passages of the Bible are indeed adduced. But where these are not to be interpreted as figurative descriptions of divine providence (e. g. Ps. 34: 8. 91: 11, 12), they are by no means, generally speaking, of universal application. They refer rather to special cases of extraordinary divine interposition; to the principal eras in which God has made a revelation to man (e. g. the giving of the law, Gal. 3: 19; the advent of Christ or his departure from the world, Luke i. ii. xxiv. Acts 1: 10; his return to judgment, Matt 24: 30, 31); or to those persons who were the chief instruments in promulgating God's revelation (e. g. prophets or apostles, Dan. 6: 22. Acts 12:7). As a general rule, then, there is no reason, in addition to the two-fold dependence of things upon God and upon the finite causes that belong to the visible world, to assume a third kind of dependence, a dependence upon the world of spirits. Some divines, indeed, if we may judge from scattered intimations,2 have held the opinion that the beneficent powers of nature are under angelic protection, or that angels work 1 Comp. Erasmus Schmid upon Heb. 1: 14, in his Opus Sacrum Posthumum, 1658; and Baier, Compend. de Ang. § 35-40. According to the latter, "the ministry of the angels is partly expended upon individual believers, and partly upon the ecclesiastical body; they minister to the former when they protect the germs of life and the years of infancy; the adults they serve in every honorable function, and are present with the dying. In reference to the ecclesiastical state, they assist in the ministry of the word; they prevent the introduction of idolatry into the church; they are present in the sacred assemblies. Further, they aid the body politic, by preventing the bonds of the State from being broken; by assisting and defending the magistrate and other officers; by warding off dan. gers and troubling unjust foes. And in fine they are of much use in domestic matters, by bringing about the marriages of godly people; by guarding household affairs; by protecting those nearest and dearest to the family, children," etc. 2 When Erasmus Schmid, as cited in the preceding note, among other things thus discourses: "There is no doubt but that as intensely as evil angels strive in them; but when they have attempted to state this as a matter of doctrine, it has uniformly been repelled;1 and it can hardly be justified by Scripture. Still less importance can be attached to the notion of special guardian angels, to whom God has committed the weal of nations, communities or individuals. What advantage, then, may we derive or expect from their tutelage? Is it not enough to have the protection of the omnipresent God, the care of an omniscient and all-loving Father? Can we or need we perfect or enhance our union with Him through Christ and his Holy Spirit, by means of other spirits more closely united to him? The passage in Acts 12: 15 is, at the best, only a weak support for this notion; and the opinion of the Christians then assembled in the house of Mary, is refuted by the narrative itself. The words of Christ (Matt. 18: 10), do indeed bear witness that, as the conversion even of the sinner causes joy in heaven (Luke 15: 7), so is likewise the least in the kingdom of heaven an object of affectionate interest to the highest of the angels who behold the face of God; but from these words it cannot, with certainty, be inferred that to any individual angel is committed the special care of such a little child. But, on the other hand, we are not warranted in absolutely denying it; we know too little of the functions God has assigned to the anto injure man's prosperity, with as much intensity, yea, with much greater, do the good angels repel the attempted evil, and likewise fight against the evil angels themselves. And as the evil angels try to inflict upon men typhonic whirlwinds, hail-storms, tortures, diseases, the plague, and other evils of that kind; so, on the other hand, do the good angels help to years of fruitfulness (ɛɛrnoiav), tranquil air, moderate breezes, beneficent rains, take care of the salubrity of the air, and point out remedies for diseases. And as, in John 5: 4, it is said of the pool called Bethesda, at Jerusalem, that an angel went down, at a certain season, and troubled the water; there is, therefore, no doubt that, by command of God, the ministry of angels extends to warm springs, metallic mines, and such like. But how few there are that know these things?" And such views could hardly be maintained, unless the very powers of nature are considered as the workings of angels; or the latter (in conformity with our third canon, vide Bibl. Sacra, Vol. I. p. 774) are conceived of as working through and in the same way with the powers of nature-In the above passage, Schmid leads us to another view of the offices committed to the good angels,-that is, that they directly oppose the evil spirits, and prevent them from doing injury. And if this be so, it is conceivable how we seldom or never become aware of the attempts of evil spirits against us. But where shall we stop, when we begin to hunt out causes to account for effects, and effects to account for causes-both of which are equally beyond the bounds of our experience? Such as Hutter's copious refutation of the notion, that the motions of the planets are to be ascribed to angels, as intelligentiis motricibus orbium coelestiuin;' loc. de creat. qu. vii. 1845.] Evil Spirits have Self for their Object. 113 gels, in general or in particular. Our theologians have therefore expressed themselves rather problematically than decisively upon this point, and are not entirely agreed in their statements. For, while some of them think it to be certain that every man is guarded by angels, but are doubtful whether by one tutelary angel in particular; others think the last to be probable, yet without denying that, in certain cases, a number of angels may be sent to a man's assistance. But it is much more important for us than the determination of this question, to be careful lest such representations of aid from angels keep us back from giving our whole trust to Him, who, above all things, demands an undivided heart; or from conscientiously making use of all the powers and means, which God has assigned to us in this world. As it is, now, the object of the holy angels to glorify God, so on the contrary, the evil spirits, in all their doings, have self for their object. Although we are not able to state, definitely, what are the ways in which they promise to themselves gratification of their self-love, their pride and their ambition, we yet know as much as this, that only such motives impel them to action, and prescribe to them their aim. In respect to ourselves, moreover, while the holy angels are the willing ministers of God in promoting our salvation, the evil spirits are intent upon drawing us away from God and plunging us into ruin. For even if we regard it as their special purpose to bring us into subjection to themselves, this itself is our destruction. And since it is impossible for them, by the use of their own powers, or by such an application of the agencies which God alone can create, as is conformed to the nature and destination of their powers, to produce anything which can have permanent existence; they consequently exercise their might and satisfy their desires in a continual work of destruction. And in this they have but too well succeeded. The devil has made himself to be the god and prince of this world (John 12: 31. 2 Cor. 4: 4); he has established a kingdom of darkness, of which he is the head, whose members are the other evil spirits subordinated to him, whose arena is our earth, whose instruments are the men that have given themselves over to his authority. For even the evil spirits form an organized community, not indeed based upon love nor upon the voluntary recognition of a higher law, which annuls Thus far can what is related in Matt. 8: 28-34, of the demons who did not know what else to do with the swine in which they had asked permission to take up their abode, excepting to plunge them into the sea, be found to be characteristic of the mode of action of evil spirits in general. |