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CHAP. V.

Concerning ANGELS and SPIRITS.

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GOOD ANGELS.

THERE is an innumerable Company of Angels in Heaven; which excel in Strength and which are greater in Power, and Might, and Wisdom, and Goodness, than Men; who in their first Eftate were made a little lower than the Angels.

This is God's Hoft; the Minifters of his that do his Pleasure.

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Thefe are the Holy Elé& Angels, and Angels of Light, which stand round about the Throne of God; and Michael the Archangel is the great Prince among them.

In old Time God fent his Angels unto Men to commune with them; to inform them, and fhew them several Matters; to fignify to them

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Things which must come to pafs; and to testify that fuch Things as had been told them before, were faithful and true.

Sometimes they appeared in a Dream, in à Vifion of the Night, when deep Sleep falleth upon Men, and in Slumberings upon the Bed. And fometimes they talked with Men Face to Face; and their Appearance was as the Appearance of a Man, and their Voice as a Man's Voice.

f The Children of Ifrael received the Law by the Difpofition of Angels; for it was ordained by Angels in the Hand of a Mediator.

• But in these last Days hath God spoken unto us by his Son. And unto the Angels hath he not put into Subjection the World to come, whereof the Lord and they that heard him fpake to us. For to which of the Angels faid he at any Time, Sit en my Right-hand, till I make thine Enemies thy Footstool?

On the Day that Christ our Saviour was born, there was a Multitude of the heavenly Hoft, praifing God and faying, Glory to God in the Higheft, and on Earth Peace, Good Will towards Men.

i The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. God fhall give his Angels Charge over them, to keep them in all their Ways. The Lord, before whom they walk, will fend his Angel with them, and profper their Way, and redeem them from all Evil.

Rev. 22. 16, 6.

Rev. I. I.
15.1 Dan. 8. 18.
Judges 13. 6.

1.2, I.

e Mat. 1. 20. ¶ Job 33. Judges 6. 12, 17, 22. Dan. 8. 15, 16. f Acts 7. 37, 53.

g Heb.

Gal. 3. 19.
h Luke 2. 11, 13, 14.

Heb. 2. 5, 3. Heb. 1. 13.
Pfal. 91. II. Gen. 24. 20. Gen. 48, 16.

i Pfal. 34. 7.

The

* The Angels are all miniftring Spirits, fent forth to minifter for them who fhall be Heirs of Salvation.

There is Joy in the Prefence of the Angels of God over a Sinner that repenteth; and when a good Man dieth, he fhall be carried by the Angels into Abraham's Bofom.

m Take Heed that ye despise not one of those little ones which believe in Chrift: For in Heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of their Father which is in Heaven.

The Angel of the Lord ftandeth in the Way for an Adversary against him that goeth beyond the Word of the Lord his God.

• The Lord fendeth his Angels to destroy Cities and Nations, when he is difpleafed with them; and to fmite him who giveth not God the Glory of what he doth.

PAt the End of the World, when the Son of Man fhall come in the Clouds with great Power and Glory, then fhall he fend his Angels, and fhall gather together his Elect; and the Angels fhall come forth, and they fhall gather out of his Kingdom all Things that offend, and them which do Iniquity; and they fhall fever the Wicked from among the Juft, and fhall caft them into the Furnace of Fire: There fhall be Wailing and Gnafhing of Teeth. But of that Day and Hour knoweth no Man, no not the Angels of Heaven.

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EVIL ANGELS.

There are alfo other Angels, which kept not their first Eftate, but left their own Habitation.

And thefe Angels that finned, God fpared not, but caft them down to Hell, and delivered them into Chains of Darkness, to be reserved unto the Judgment of the Great Day.

• And the great Dragon was caft out, that old Serpent called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the World; that Accufer of our Brethren, which accufeth them before God Day and Night: He was caft out into the Earth, and his Angels were caft out with him; neither was their Place found any more in Heaven.

The lying Spirit in the Mouth of the false Prophets; the familiar Spirits and Spirits of Divination, which Men inquired of that they might make known unto them what they fhould do; and the evil and unclean Spirits, with which Men were poffeffed and grievously vexed. All these were evil Angels, or Devils.

The Things which the Gentiles facrificed, they facrificed to Devils, and not to God. For they worshipped Devils, and Idols of Gold, and Silver, and Brafs, and Stone, and of Wood.

w And in the latter Times, fome fhall depart from the Faith, giving heed to feducing Spirits, and Doctrines of Devils.

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The Devils believe that there is a God, and fremble; and they know Jefus, who he is, the Holy One of God, the Son of the Moft High. For with Authority he commanded the unclean Spirits, and they obeyed him. And when they faw him, they fell down before him, and cried, faying, Thou art the Son of God.

y He gave also his Difciples Power and Authority over all Devils and unclean Spirits, and even the Devils were fubject unto them, through his Name.

2 Our Adverfary the Devil is come down unto, us, having great Wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a fhort Time; and he goeth to and fro in the Earth; and walketh up and down in it, as a roaring Lion, feeking whom he may devour.

a This is Beelzebub; the Prince and Chief of Devils; who is alfo filed the Prince and God of this World, the Wicked One, the Enemy, and Tempter of Mankind; who had the Power of Death, till Chrift through Death destroyed him.

How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the Morning! Thou who faidft, I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God, I will be like the moft High: Behold thou art fallen as Lightning from Heaven..

This is the Prince of the Power of the Air; the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of

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