SECTION V.

The unknown Means by which the Supreme Being specially guards and protects Individuals, and Societies of Men,

GEN. xxiv. 7. Abraham faid, the Lord God of heaven who took me from my father's houfe, and who fware unto me, &c. he fhall fend his messenger before thee, &c. Ver. 40. Jehovah fhall fend his messenger with thee, and profper thy way. That is, God fhall profper thee. Comp. 12, 21, 27, 42, 48, 50, 51, 52, 56.

xlviii. 15, 16. Ifrael bleffed Jofeph, and faid, God, before whom my fathers, &c. did walk; the God who fed me all my life; the messenger who delivered me from all evil, blefs the lads. See on Gen. xxviii. 12, fec. iv. fubd. 2.

Pf, xxxiv. 7. The messenger of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. The fingular for the plural. Encamping is a fimi

litude taken from war, as in Pí. xxvii. 3. A figurative manner of expreffing the protection of Divine providence. Comp. Pf. cxxi. 3 to 8.

Pf. xci. 9 to 14. Because thou haft made the Moft High thy habitation, there fhall no evil befal thee,

for he fhall give his messenger charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, &c. The four first verses, and the three laft of this pfalm, fay that the Most High himself is the preferver and deliverer.

Dan. iii. 28. Bleffed be the God of Shadrach, &c. who hath fent his messenger, and delivered his ferSee on the following text.

vants.

vi. 22. My God hath fent his messenger, and hath fhut the lion's mouth, that he hath not hurt me. Mr. Lowman afks, what fenfe feems moft natural and proper; that the fiercenefs of the lions fhould be reftrained by a special act of divine power? or that it fhould be the proper act of a feparate spirit to shut the lions' mouths, and to muzzle them, that they might not hurt the prophet?

Matt. xvii. 10. In heaven their messengers do always behold the face of my Father, who is in heaven. "This seems to mean (after the Jewish "manner of expreffing it) only thus much, that God's providence has an efpecial care of them." Bishop Pearce's note.

xxvi. 53. Thinkeft thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he fhall presently give me more than twelve legions of messengers (i. e. ample affiftance) to deliver me. It is common in the Eaft to express a general idea by specifying fome particular circumstance or fact that implies it. See Gen. xlviii. 22; Exod. xi. 7; Matt. x. 28 to 31, 34; xix. 24; xxi. 21, 23, 24, 25; Acts xxvii. 34; 2 Tim. i. 16; Micah iv. 3, 4.

Matt. iv. 11; Mark i. 13. And the messengers (i. e. of God) miniftered unto him. That is, he received peculiar divine aid.

Matt. iv. 6; Luke iv.

fengers charge over thee.

10. He fhall give his mef See on Pfa. xci. 11.

Lukexvi.22. The beggar was carried by the messengers into Abraham's bofom. "This, agreeably to the "Jewish manner of expreffion, fignifies that he was “received into a state of happiness.”—Pearce's note.

xxii. 43. There appeared to him a messenger from heaven strengthening him: i. e. peculiar divine aid.

John i. 52. Hereafter (an agt, from this time) ye fhall fee heaven opened, and the messengers of God afcending and defcending on the Son of man. "That Chrift does not here foretell the visible afcent " and defcent of angels upon him, during his ministry, is evident from hence, that the prophecy was

not accomplished in this fenfe of it. Chrift might "mean that his miracles would be fenfible difplays of "the divine power in his favour, or open proofs of "an immediate intercourfe between heaven and "earth." Farmer on Mir. ch. iii. fect. i. p. 147: an allufion to Jacob's vifion; Gen. xxviii. 12, &c.

Acts v. 19. The messenger of the Lord by night opened the prifon doors, and brought forth Peter, and the other Apoftles, and faid, go, fpeak in the temple to the people all these words of (everlasting) life. Comp. ver. 21, 28, 29. This command, as well as the general injunction to preach the gospel publicly, the Apostles afcribe to God; ver. 29.

If any perfons think that the texts under this fection imply more than unknown methods of divine guardianship, and that fuperior beings were employed by God to fecure their fafety and protection, we refer them to. Part II. ch. i. of this Inquiry. If the following texts be alleged to confirm their opinion, namely, Gen. xvi. 7 to 13; xxi. 17 to 20; xxviii. 12 to 22; Exod. xiv. 9, 24; xxiii. 20 to 23; xxxiii. 2; Numb. xx. 16; Ifa. lx ii. 9; Acts xii. 7 to 11; we refer to the explanations which are given of them in this treatise, in which it is fhewn, that the texts themselves, or the contexts, manifeft that it is the Supreme Being himself who guards and protects.

Some paffages in the book of Daniel having been fuppofed to justify the opinion that angels, or fuperior spirits are employed by the Most High to prefide over, and protect, particular nations, it will be proper to examine into the real import of them.

Dan. x. 13. But the prince of the kingdom of Perfia oppofed me twenty and one days, when, lo, Michael one of the chief princes came to affist me, fo I left them there among the rulers of Perfia. Ver. 20. Now prefently will I return and contend with the prince of Perfia; and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia will come. Ver. 21. But yet I will declare to thee what is deeply noted in the writing of truth, though there is no one that fupporteth me in these things, but Michael your prince. The Latin tranflation of the Syriac, ver. 20, is, " præfidem per

"fidis, et præfes Græcorum;" ver. 21, "Michael præfes vefter."

For the speaker here, see ver. 5, 9, 16, 18. The difcourfe is about human tranfactions. What ground then is there for understanding the different princes to mean any other beings than men? when in chap. viii. ver. 10, 11, the Jewifh high prieft is called the prince of the host of heaven.

xii. 1. Moreover, at that time, fhall rise up Mi ́chael the great prince that standeth up for the children of thy people.

"Michael and Gabriel are fuppofed to be the tute“: lary angels of the Jews. These names do not occur "in any books of the Old Teftament that were writ"ten before the captivity. Some imagine they were "borrowed from the Chaldeans, with whom and "the Perfians the doctrine of the general adminis"tration and fuperintendance of angels over empires "and provinces was commonly received."-Wintle on Dan. x. 21.

"It is alfo urged by fome, that evil fpirits prefide "over diftin&t regions, by the direction of Satan. "In proof of this, Dan. x. 13, 20, is referred to, "where mention is made of Gabriel being opposed

by the princes of the kingdom of Perfia, and of his "fighting the prince of Perfia. But it is not the defign "of this vifion to affert the prefidency even of good

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angels, but to reprefent the peculiar providence "which God exercifed over the Jewish nation, and