pious man, "God shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways: They shall bear thee up in their hands lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone:" (Ps. xci. 11, 12.) In all our ways then that are good, and in every step that we tread, we have the care and ministry of tutelary angels; they are our ordinary defence and guard; and in all our justifiable undertakings we may say with as much confidence as Abraham, "The Lord before whom we walk, will send his angel with us, and prosper our ways." (Gen. xxiv. 40.)

It is true that notwithstanding this care, the righte. ous sometimes suffer afflictions; but these are afflic tions which are sent in mercy, for the cultivation of their faith and holiness; and which the angels, who act only according to the commands and good pleasure of God, cannot prevent without violating their duty both to their Lord and to the objects of their charge. But even in such circumstances, the angels are not careless and indifferent spectators; they give support to the pious under these sorrows, and remove them when the merciful ends which God in. tended by them have been accomplished.

Yes, in all our afflictions and distresses, they bestow the most precious consolations. Thus they minis. tered to Jesus Christ, according to his needs in his agony in the garden; and what they did for the head they perform for the members, so far as God sees it is

expedient. Thus they comforted and encouraged the desponding Elijah: (1 Kings xix.) Thus they brought joy to the soul of Peter, confined in prison: (Acts xii. 7.) Thus they supported Paul, amidst the fury of the tempest. (Acts xxvii. 23.) And no doubt they often perform the same kind offices to christians in the present day, cheering them when dejected, and encouraging them when bowed down. For this office they are admirably qualified from the tenderness of their natures, from a more intimate acquaintance with the state of our souls than our earthly friends can have, from the more rapturous consolations which they bring, from the easier access they have to our spirits, and from the impossibility of excluding them from the solitary sufferer, to whom human sympathy is prohibited. In vain will the tyrant strengthen the walls of the dungeon in which the servant of God is laid, and surround it by his guards; all his efforts cannot shut out these messengers of heaven.

The angels suggest holy thoughts, and incite to pious actions. As the evil spirits continually attempt to seduce us into sin, so the blessed angels strive by their monitions and excitements to preserve and advance us in holiness. And as the criminal suggestions of the former are not often distinctly perceived, because they are rendered effectual only by being mingled with our corruptions-so on the other hand it is equally difficult distinctly to perceive these an,

gelical impressions, because they concur with that principle of grace infused by the Holy Ghost. Satan and his angels perpetually compass the earth, seeking whom they may devour; spreading snares and temptations for the pious: the angels of God stand prepared to resist all their assaults, to admonish and support the believer, who might otherwise be overAs they rejoiced in the first repentance of the sinner, (Luke xv. 10.) so they afterwards delight to further him in goodness.

come.

The angels minister to believers in the hour of death. In this last conflict with the king of terrors, they surround the bed of the christian to comfort and assist him, to drive off the powers of darkness that would harrass and distress him. As they stood by the Redeemer in his agony, so they are with his followers in their last and greatest need. They mingle the song of triumph with the sighs and tears of our relatives and friends, and rejoice that "having fought the good fight, and kept the faith, and finished our course," we are about to receive the crown of victory. At the moment when the soul is separated from the body, they joyfully receive it, defend it from the bands of apostate spirits who would willingly seize it, and bear it exulting to the throne of God. Thus they carried the spirit of Lazarus to the bosom of Abraham; (Luke xvi. 22.) thus they wafted Elijah through the opening clouds to the regions of glory. (2 Kings ii. 11.) They present the

happy spirit to their common Lord; they strengthen in the world of love the fellowship which was begun on earth; they unitedly raise the anthem of everlasting praise to the All-Merciful and the Redeemer.

At the resurrection and final judgment they are still employed for believers. It is not their office to raise the bodies of the saints; this is the effect of Almighty power, and is peculiar to the Deity: but at the consummation of all things, they will attend and make preparations for the great events that then will be transacted; they will descend from heaven with their Lord, when "he shall come in his glory and all his holy angels with him :" (Mat. xxv. 31.) They will be employed in summoning the sleeping dead to appear. "The voice of the archangel"

(1 Thes. iv. 16.) will penetrate every grave, and the rest of these glorious beings will add to the solemnities of this event; for Jesus "shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Mat. xxiv. 31.) They accompany the souls of believers to their former bodies. Over these bodies it is not improbable from the conduct of Michael, (Jude 9.) that they had some charge during their separation from their spirits; and now the soul which they had conducted to heaven, they re-conduct to its former tabernacle. They "sever the wicked from among the just;" (Mat. xiii. 49.) they witness and ap

prove the sentence which God pronounces; and as. cend to immutable felicity with the redeemed; who, perfectly delivered from ignorance, sorrow and sin, have no longer need of their directions, their consolations, or their incitements to holiness. Then they fall together with adoring gratitude before the Lord, and celebrate that sublime worship which was seen in vision by the beloved disciple: "I beheld and I heard the voices of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory and blessing."(Rev. v. 11, 12.)

Such are some of the principal occupations of the blessed angels towards believers. We might enumerate several other offices of love, did the limits of our discourse permit it: but we have mentioned enough to shew the high privileges of those who shall be heirs of salvation. We might have added many probable conjectures; but we chose rather to adhere to what is plainly and unequivocally taught in the word of God.

III. This subject is full of useful instructions. It is not presented to you merely to amuse your imagination, but to correct your feelings, and regulate your conduct.