"And the angel said: Lift up now thine eyes, for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. Genesis 31:12
In the scriptures we have frequent notice of spiritual intelligences, existing in another state of being, and constituting a celestial family, or hierarchy, over which Jehovah presides. The Bible does not, however, treat of this matter professedly, and as a doctrine of religion, but merely adverts to it incidentally as a fact, without furnishing any details to gratify curiosity. It speaks of no obligations of ours to these spirits, and of no duties to be performed towards them. A belief in the existence of such beings is not, therefore, an essential article of religion, any more than a belief that there are other worlds besides our own; but such a belief serves to enlarge our ideas of the works of God, and to illustrate the greatness of his power and wisdom. Kitto.
But if God's angels are sent to "wait on them who are the heirs of salvation," and if they "encamp around them that fear Him," why may not angelic agencies have been acting in some mysterious manner upon us? Swedenborg.
Which of the petty kings of earth
Can boast a guard like ours,
Encircled from our second birth
With all the heavenly powers?
Myriads of bright cherubic bands,
Sent by the King of Kings,
Rejoice to bear us in their hands,
And shade us with their wings.
Charles Wesley.
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