vertheless, it does not appear from the Scriptures that they can perform miracles of themselves, and without an immediate divine commission. On the contrary, according to the Scripture account of them, if they bring any messages to men, they first receive them from God; if they control the course of nature, it is by authority from the Lord of nature; and if they interpose at all in the affairs of our system, it is not as they see fit themselves, but according to the command of God, as the ministers of his will, which they execute as punctually as those passive instruments of his providence, the luminaries of heaven, and the elements of nature. The word angel or messenger denotes only one employed in the execution of some commission. Hence it is applied not merely to intelligent beings acting by the order of God, but even to the inanimate parts of the creation, which he employs as the instruments of his government. The Psalmist, when celebrating the empire of God over the material world, says, He maketh the winds his angels or messengers, and lightnings his ministers ↑. For *Ps. xviii. 9, 10. Ps. lxviii. 17. Ps. ciii. 20, 21. Dan. vii. 9. Matt. xviii. 10. Heb. i. 14. ch. ii. 5. ch. vii. II. ch. xix. 10. Is. vi. I, &c. Rev. v. 13. †This is the true rendering of Ps. civ. 4. (compare Exod. ix. 23, 24. Ps. lxxviii. 48, 49.) Nor is it certain that these words are applied Heb.i. 7. to intelligent beings; as the apostle seems to have had no other view in citing them, than to observe, that the very name of angels (however applied) imported ministry and subjection; whereas that of Son implied authority and dominion. Very probably the Scripture may represent the most active parts of nature as God's angels, in opposition to the Heathens, who conceived of them as deities. See below, ch, iii, sect. ii. fire and hail, snow and vapour, and stormy winds fulfil God's word*. But all that it is of importance here to observe, is, that the Scripture teaches us, that angels, of whatever dignity, are only ministering spirits, the servants of Jehovah, doing his commandments, and hearkening to the voice of his word, without having themselves any power over mankind, or over those laws by which the system to which we belong is governed. II. We are next to inquire, whether the Scripture ascribes the power of performing miracles to the devil and his angels. It is generally supposed that these wicked spirits were originally inhabitants of the ce Ps. cxlviii. 8. According to this general import of the word angel, many learned writers understand it in the following and other passages of Scripture. The angel of the Lord smiting Herod, they think is explained in the text itself of an extraordinary distemper inflicted by God, Acts xii. 23. God threatened Sennacherib, that he would send a blast upon him, a pestilential blast or burning wind, which destroyed his army; and this being done under the direction of God, and in execution of his designs, the blast or wind is called the angel, the messenger and servant of God, 2 Kings xin 6, 7. ch. xix. 35. God's sending an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, seems only another form of expression for bis sending a pestilence upon Israel, 1 Chron. xxi. 14, 15. 2 Sam. xxiv. 15, 16. We read Exod. ix. 23, 24, that the Lord sent upon the Egyptians thunder and hail and fire : and the Psalmist, speaking of these judgments, says, God sent evil angels amongst them, Ps. lxxviii. 48, 49. See Mr. Lowman's three Tracts, p. 60-74. On the other hand, it may be alleged that the sacred writers seem to have thought that God administered a particular providence by the instrumentality of his angels; and consequently, in describing the effects of a special divine interposition, would very naturally make mention of the agency of those ministering spirits, much in the same manner as is done in the passages here cited. 3 1 lestial lestial regions, and equal in rank and dignity with those who preserved their innocence Now, suppos ing this to be the case; yet if even good angels, who continue in a state of favour with God, have no power of working miracles at their own pleasure, or any dominion over mankind, (as we endeavoured to shew under the preceding article;) what reason can there be for ascribing such dominion and power to evil angels, who are fallen under the divine displeasure? Would the Deity, unchangeable as he is in rectitude and justice, reward their disobedience by enlarging their sphere of action, and advancing them to new dominion over his own creation, such as is denied to the highest archangel? Is the latter only a ministring spirit, while the former reign as sovereigns over nature, as fellow-sovereigns with the eternal God? The apostles* Peter and Jude speak a very different language, when they tell us, that inasmuch as the angels did not keep their principality, but deserted their own habitation, God did not spare them, but cast them down to Tartarust, and (there) reserves them in everlasting (or perpetual) chains, under darkness, to the judgment of the great day. If Peter and Jude are here speaking of superior spirits, it is evident that even prior to their fall they did not enjoy the liberty of a boundless range, but had a certain limited sphere of action assigned them, or their proper habitation: which we have shewn to be highly probable from reason §. And in their present state they are subjected to new restraints, like prisoners confined for their crimes in a doleful dungeon, where they remain in safe custody till they are brought forth to an ignominious execution. The place of their confinement is called Tartarus; by which some understand a deep gulph under the earth*, and others the dark airt near the earth: but whatever place it refers to, they can have no dominion there; it is not their kingdom, but their prison, their constant and perpetual prison. How inconsistent is this representation of their case, with their sharing with God the empire of the world, and controlling the laws of nature and providence! Nor does the Scripture on any occasion contradict this representation: it never ascribes to the devil the ability of revealing secrets, foretelling future events, or working miracles; never guards mankind against being deceived by the outward effects either of his miraculous power or inspiration; necessary as such a caution would have been, had he been able to inspire prophecies and work miracles; and earnestly as it warns us against a less danger, the pretences of men to divine miracles and inspiration, when they were not sent and assisted by God. It is indeed urged by some ‡, that the Scripture represents evil spirits as presiding over distinct regions, * This seems to be the strict import of the word, Homer. Il. viii. 1. 13, 14. Hesiod. Theogon. 1. 119, 718. Plato in Phædone, p. 399, ed. Ficini. Virgil. Æn. vi. 1. 577. +Consult the commentators on 2 Peter ii. 4. Ephes. ii. 2. ch. vi. 12. ‡ Dr. Doddridge's Family Expositor, vol. i. p. 427, second edition, note f on Luke viii. 31. by by the direction of Satan their prince. In proof of this assertion, we are referred to that passage in the book of Daniel where mention is made of Gabriel's being opposed by the princes of the kingdom of Persia, and of his fighting the prince of Persia. It is not the design of this vision to assert the presidency even of good angels, (who at most only exccute the divine orders,) but to represent the peculiar providence which God exercised over the Jewish nation, and his care to frustrate the councils of their enemies. As to evil spirits, there is here no reference to them. For by the princes of the kingdom of Persia the prophet intends the nobles of that kingdom, and especially Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who in his father's absence stopped the execution of his decrees, and forbade the building of the templet. It is the more reasonable to understand this passage of some opposition against the Jews in the court of Persia by the prince and some of the nobility, inasmuch as the prince of Grecia mentioned in the very same passage cannot so well be referred to an angel or evil spirit as to Alexander the Great, who overturned the empire of Persia; he and his successors being the main subject of the following prophecy. Some learned writers ascribe to the devil a power of changing the constitution of the air . This elcment" is so wonderfully contrived as at one and the same time to support clouds for rain, to afford winds *Ch. x. 13, 20. † See the Assembly's Annotations in loc. Dr. Macknight's Truth of the Gospel History, p. 17 |