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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32847	A theological discourse of angels and their ministries wherein their existence, nature, number, order and offices are modestly treated of : with the character of those for whose benefit especially they are commissioned, and such practical inferences deduced as are most proper to the premises : also an appendix containing some reflections upon Mr. Webster's displaying supposed witchcraft / by Benjamin Camfield ...	Camfield, Benjamin, 1638-1693.; Webster, John, 1610-1682. Displaying of supposed witchcraft.	1678 (1678)	Wing C388; ESTC R18390	139,675	230

again And alittle after he heard the same Voice calling him in the same manner which made a greater Impression upon him than before so that now being awakened he call'd to his Wife lying by him and told her what had hapned and both of them for a time lay awake expecting whether they might hear the Voice again and whether it would say any thing more to them At last the Voice awakened him a third time calling him as before by Name and advising him by all means to retire speedily out of that Town with his Family for that within a few days the Plague would rage horribly there To which the Chancellor added that it was very well he followed the Direction giv'n him for as much as soon after the Plague indeed began in the Town and destroy'd a great Number of the People And this saith Amyraldus was certainly an Angel that spake to him and by the favourable and benign Providence ofGod drew him out of that danger which otherwise had been unavoidable Thus much in effect Apuleius tells us of Socrates his Daemon out of Plato that if there were danger at any time in his Enterprizes and Undertakings he heard a Voice from Heav'n admonishing him to use Caution and either forbear awhile or steer another Course And Balbus in Cicero thus expounds Homer's allowing to the principal Heroes Certos Deos discriminum periculorum comites de Nat. deorum l. 2. Thirdly It is part of the Angels Ministry to the Faithful not only to keep and defend them or prevent and ward off dangers from them as hath been said but to bring comfort also to the Disconsolate and real help supply and deliverance in the time of need The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him●punc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and delivereth them Ps. 34. Instances of this sort we may have many The Angel of the Lord found Hagar by the Fountain of Water in the Wilderness in the way to Shur and said Hagar Sarah's Maid whence camest thou and whither wilt thou go And she said I fl●e f●om the Face of my M●stress Sarai A●d the Ang●l of the Lord said unto her return unto thy Mistr●ss ●nd submit thy self under her hands A●d the Angel of the Lord said unto her farther N●me●shmael ●shmael that is God shall hear becaus●●he Lord hath heard thy affl●ction Gen. 16.7 8 c. And ag●●n when she and that Son of hers were cast forth and wandred in the Wilderness of Beersheba and the Water was spent in the Bottle and she cas● the Child under the Shrubs and went and sat down over-against him a good way off that she might not see his death and lift up her voice and wept God saith the Text heard the voice of the Lad and the Angel of the Lord call'd to Hagar out of Heav'n and said unto her what aileth thee Hagar Fear not for God hath heard the voice of the Lad where he is Arise lift up the Lad and hold him in thine hand for I will make of him a great Nation And God opened her eyes and she saw a Well of Water and she went and fill'd the Bottle with the Water and gave the Lad to drink Gen. 21.15 c. Elijah in like manner threatned by Iezebel ●led to Beersheba where he left his Servant and going a day's journey himself in the Wilderness ●at down in great discontent under a Juniper-Tree desirous rather to die than live And saith the Text as he lay and slept under the Iuniper-Tree behold an Angel touch'd him and said unto him Arise and eat and he look'd and behold there was a Cake bak'd on the Coals and a Cruise of Water at his Head And he did eat and drink and laid him down again And the Angel of the Lord came again the second time and said unto him Arise and eat because the journey is too great for thee And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that Meat fourty day 's and fourty nights unto Horeb the Mount of God 1. Kings 19.5 c. This Meat brought to Elijah we may call Angels food as possibly the Israelites Mannah from Heav'n was so call'd not only for the excellency of it as hath been before suggested but because procured and brought down by the Ministry of Angels And the same Elijah afterwards was encouraged by an Angel to go along with Ahaziah the third Captain and not to be afraid of him having before by the aid of Angelical Ministry most probably destroy'd the first and second Captains with their Fifties sent to apprehend him with Fire from Heav'n in so much as this third also terrified with their examples fell on his knees beseeching him to spare his life whereupon the Angel saith Go down with him and be not afraid of him 2 Kings 1. When the Prophet Isaiah upon the Vision Ch. 6. cryed out Wo is me for I am unclean because I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips There flew saith the Text one of the Seraphims unto him having a live-coal in his hand which he had taken with the Tongs from off the Altar and he laid it upon his Mouth and said Lo this hath touched thy Lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged Vers. 5 6 7. Our blessed Lord and Saviour himself had the Angels Ministring unto him and strengthning of him in and after his Temptations and bitter Agony as hath been shewn already in its proper place Saint Paul having related the great danger that he and his company were in at Sea adds remarkably There stood by me this night an Angel of God whose I am and whom I serve saying fear not Paul thou must be brought before Caesar and lo God hath giv'n thee all them that sail with thee Acts 27.23 24. The Angels at Sodom pull'd Lot into the house and struck those that assaulted him with blindness Gen. 19.10 11. and after that they warn him in time to bring his Kindred and Goods out of that wicked place which God had sent them to destroy Ver. 13. And not content with a naked warning when the morning arose they hasten him again saying Arise take thy Wife and thy two Daughters which are here lest thou be consumed in the punishment of the City Ver. 15 c. And while he lingred saith the Text the men laid ●old upon his hand and upon the hand of his Wife and ●pon the hand of his two Daughters the Lord being merciful unto him and set him without the City Nor do they leave them quietly there so long as there was apparent danger but When they had brought them abroad they add esc●pe for thy life look not behind thee neither stay thou in all the Plain ●scape to the Mountain lest thou be consum●d We read of an Angel in the Book of Revelations crying to the four Angels there to whom it was

produce objects capable of the continual communications thereof and that we might be surrounded with variety of particulars by piece-meals to take notice of and honour him whom we cannot at once and altogether conceive aright of Natura homines humo excitatos celsos erectos constituit ut Deorum cognitionem coelum intuentes capere possint sunt enim ex terrâ homines non ut incola habitatores sed quasi spectatores superarum rerum atque coelestium quarum spectaculum ad nullum aliud genus animantium pertinet ut Balbus ●pud Ciceronem 2. de Nat. Deorum Quod Ovidius pulchrè docet 1. Met. Pronaque cum spectent animalia caetera terram Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri Iussit erectos ad sidera tollere vultus But now whereas other Creatures are his Works and so retain some impressions of their Author the Angels are his most lively Images that nearest of all resemble him and therefore we who ought as hath been said to glorifie him in and for all his works are the more unpardonable if we observe or admire him not in these which make the nearest approach unto his Divinity and read unto us the clearest notions of his Excellencies and Perfections Bellarmine hath intituled the best of his Writings being most satisfactory to himself and useful to others De Ascensione mentis ad Deum per scalas rerum creatarum that is Of the Mind's ascent to God by the Ladder of the Creatures A Iacob's Ladder and the ninth step he takes ex consideratione Angelorum from the contemplation of Angels These indeed are every-where ascending and descending in that Ladder Well may we cry out O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the Earth Thou hast set thy Glory above the Heavens There are the greatest expressions of it viz. in this glorious Host of Heaven He telleth the number of these Stars and calleth them all by their name Great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite Ps. 147.5 6. Thus the Levites taught the Children of Israel to glorifie God Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever and blessed be thy glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise Thou even thou art Lord alone Thou hast made Heaven the Heaven of Heavens with all their Hosts the Earth and all things that are therein Nehem. 9.5 6. And the Prophet Isaiah in like manner calls upon them Lift up your Eyes on high and behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their Host by number He calleth them all by their names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong in power not one faileth Isa. 40.26 In the spiritual nature knowledg power goodness holiness immortality and glory of Angels we have competent relief towards the improving our Meditations about that infinite and eternal all-knowing all-mighty and transcendently holy and glorious Spirit who is the Father of them And it is obvious for every one to infer If these Beings are so excellent above us as hath been declared then how much more perfect and complete is that God who made them and all things else Before whom the whole World is but As a little grain of the balance yea as the drop of the morning-dew that falleth upon the Earth as the Wise-man speaks Wisd. 11.22 and to a like purpose the Prophet Isa. 40.15 Of whom therefore I cannot speak more fitly than in the excellent words of Novatian the Roman Presbyter in his Catholic Book of the Trinity The mind is too little to think and all ●loquence justly dumb in the uttering of his Majesty For he is greater than our mind and it cannot be conceived how great he is Whatever we think or speak is far below him We may indeed in some sort with silence muse upon him but cannot sufficiently explain him For whatsoever we say sheweth rather some creature or excellency of his than himself What can we speak or think worthily enough of him who is beyond all our speech and sense Vnless perhaps by this one way we ●nderstand in our mind so far as we are able what ●od is if we conceive he is that which for excellency and greatness can never be understood fully by us or enter into our thoughts to comprehend For as the bodily ey-sight is weakened by poring on the Sun so that we cannot fixedly behold his bright Orb overcome with the lustre of his radiant beams so the more intense our mind is in viewing God the more darkned it becomes in its thoughts about him For what can one say worthily of him who is more sublime ●nd hi●h than all sublimity and height more profound than all profundity more lucid bright and splendid than all light brightness and splendor more strong and powerful than all strength and power more beautiful than all beauty truer than all truth greater than all Majesty or greatness richer than all riches wiser and more prudent than all wisdom and prudence juster than all justice better than all good●ess and more merciful than all mercy For all sorts of vertues must of necessity be less than the God and Parent of all vertues and in a word it may be truly said he is that which nothing can be compared unto above and beyond all we can say of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Max. Tyr. Diss. 1. The knowing Angels who better understand his perfections than we Mortals do yet Cover their faces with their wings before him Isa. 6. Nempe sicut homines solem con●ra tueri non audent ità Angeli Deum Grot in Loc. as not able to look upon the brightness of his Majesty and for an expression of their reverence towards him and if any upon Earth presume to make more bold with him 't is wholly from their ignorance In velata facie reverentiam tantae Majestatis cogit● Fov●rius For as Saint Chrysostom speaks upon this very occasion having mention'd the admiration and reverence of the Angels towards God by reason of their more excellent wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The extension and increase of knowledg will advance proportionably our fear and reverence To conclude this Inference learn we from hence to admire and fear and love God exceedingly To admire him whose Creatures are so admirable and whom the most knowing of his Creatures do most admire To fear him who hath such powerful Hosts at his command● and to love him who is yet so good as to make all things even Angels themselves to serve us SECT VII Why and how the Ministry of Angels is to be obliged by us In the last place let us do what we can to oblige and secure the Ministry of Angels to our selves which is as hath been declared so many ways and upon so many accounts beneficial And here I need not offer any thing new by way of motive or inducement when 't is our apparent Interest so to do that

we must not gratifie or hold league and amity with their and our professed Enemies but as the holy Scripture directs us Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might be sober and vigilant and putting on the whole Armour of God for our help and safe-guard stand it out against the Devil and resist him stedfastly that he may f●ye from us And Diabolo s●cede●ti succedunt Angeli his flight will be an invitation and encouragement to the holy and good Angels to resort to us and dwell wit● us Resist we the Devil more especially when he tempts us by Allurements or Threatnings to revolt and apostatize from our Religion and that Oath of fidelity whereby we were devoted unto God at Baptism The four resolute Confessors whom I have mentioned else-where out of Dan. ch 3. and ch 6. found the blessed Angels then most ready at hand for their wonderful deliverance when they generously exposed their lives and fortunes rather than they would deny their God with-hold his Worship from him or give it to any other And so did the Apostles of Christ too when they freely hazarded all of this world rather than to desist from the preaching of the Gospel committed to them Acts 5. and Acts 12. Fifthly We are to shun and avoid with all the circumspection we are able whatsoever we know to be offensive and grievous to them Such to be sure is all wilful transgression and disobedience for which God threatens to remove this Fence from about us They are at hand unto Believers saith S. Basil if we drive them not away by our wicked doings For as smoke chaseth away Bees and a noisom smell the Doves so do our filthy practices our Guardian Angels from us We do not only by base and sinful actions wound our own Spirits and grieve the holy Spirit of God Eph. 4.30 but offend these good Spirits too that wish us well and attend us S. Augustin writes excellently to this purpose in his Soliloquies The Angels love saith he to God those whom thou lovest and keep those whom thou keepest but forsake those whom thou forsakest and do not love the works of iniquity because thou hatest them As often as we do well the Angels rejoice and the Devils are troubled but when we depart from the ways of goodness we make the Devil to rejoice and defraud thy Angels of their gladness for there is joy among them over one sinner that repenteth but with the Devil over a righteous man that forsakes repentance Grant therefore O Father grant that they may always joy concerning us by our continuing good and righteous that both thou mayest evermore be praised by them in and For us and we may be brought with them into thy one Sheepfold there to confess together jointly unto thy holy name O thou Cr●ator of men and Angels Sixthly that I may draw towards an end we shall certainly oblige and secure their attendance and ministry by doing of those things wherewith they are most pleased and delighted the exercise I mean of such Vertues and Graces especially whereby we most of all resemble and imitate them per bonae voluntatis similitudinem as S. Augustine speaks by a likeness of good and holy temper and disposition For nothing conciliates Friendship more than similitude of manners The main Reason as I conceive saith a Reverend Author why the Examples of the consociation of good Spirits are so scarce in History is because so very few men are heartily and sincerely good And again The safest Magick is the sincere consecrating a mans Soul to God and the aspiring to nothing but so profound a pitch of humility as not to be conscious to our selves of being at all touch'd with the praise and applause of men and to such a free and universal sense of Charity as to be delighted with the welfare of another as much as our own And he observes it particularly concerning that person whose story we had before out of Bodinus That he was not only frequent in Prayer but used to spend some hours in Meditation and reading of the Scriptures And once among the rest while he was busie in his Enquiries about the matters of Religion that he light on a passage in Philo-Iudaeus his Book d● Sacrificiis where he writes that a good and holy man can offer no greater nor more acceptable Sacrifice to God than the oblation of himself and therefore following Philo's counsel That he offered his Soul to God And that after-that amongst many other Divine Dreams and Visions he once in his sleep seem'd to hear the Voice of God saying to him I will save thy Soul I am he that before appeared unto thee It is noted of Socrates among the Heathens so famed for his Demon that conversed with him upon all occasions that he was a person most remarkable for righteousness and innocency purity and goodness sobriety and exactness in the Government of himself piety towards God and holiness among men and therefore upon that account that it was no wonder he should enjoy so great a Priviledge while those Coelestial Spirits shun the habitation of wicked and polluted Souls For the exemplifying whereof I refer the Reader to the Quotations here annexed whereby he may perceive himself upon the like terms a Candidate for the like Benefits Hic quem dico prorsus custos singularis praefectus domesticus specula●or proprius curator intimus cognitor assiduus observator individu●s arbiter inseparabilis Testis malorum improbator bonorum probator si ritè advertatur sedulò cognoscatur religiosè colatur ità ut à Socrate Iustitiâ innocentiâ cultus est in rebus incertis prospector dubiis praemonitor periculosis tutator egenis opitulator qui tibi queat tum insomniis tum signis tum etiam fortasse coràm cum usus postulat mala averruncare bona prosperare humilia sublimare nutantia fulcire obscura clarare secunda regere adversa corrigere Apuleius de Deo Socratis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Max. Tyrius Diss. XXVI eodem de argumento 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id ibid. And now let me close all with a serious recommendation of some of those particular Excellencies wherein we are to endeavour an imitation of the Angels in order to the more effectual securing and obliging of their Ministry to our selves The principal of them I shall comprize under the ensuing heads viz. I. A ready chearful and sincere obedience unto all Gods commands For so we have found them described by the Psalmist Ye Angels of his that excel in strength that do his Commandments hearkning unto the voice of his word Ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure Psal. 103. who are upon the wing as hath been said more than once already at every beck or intimation from him And now in order unto this we must certainly study the knowledge of Gods will that we may obey it as they do

giv'n to hurt the Earth and Sea saying Hurt not till we have sealed the Servants of our God in the foreheads Revel 7.2 3. King Hezekiah in a great strait and distress begirt with the Assyrians whose Power and multitude he was no-ways able to resist prayeth to God and he sends his Angel to work a sudden and wonderful deliverance for him destroying in one night as hath been touch'd before an hundred fourscore and five thousand of the insulting Enemy 2 Kings 19. And such another story we have of the great deliverance of Maccabeus and the Jews by an Angel or helper from Heav'n in the Apochrypha 2 Maccab. 11.6 8 9 10 11. with his prayer at another time for the like aid encouraged by this example of Hezekiah Ch. 15.22 23 24. The three famous Confessors Shadrach Meshach and Abednego whose proper names were Hananiah Michael and Azariah Dan. 1. when cast into a Fiery Furnace heated seven times hotter than ordinary were yet strangely preserved from all harm and indemnified amidst the raging Flames by an Angel of God who appeared there with them so that that most furious and devouring Element had no power upon their Bodies nor was an hair of their Head singed neither were their Coats changed nor did the smell of the Fire pass upon them though it was so fierce and scorching that it consumed the men who cast them in Dan. 3. And when Daniel another of the Confessors of those times as they are reckon'd up Ch. 1. call'd there The four Children to whom God gave great knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom when he I say was cast into the Lions Den on purpose to be devoured an Angel of God there restrains the wild appetite of those greedy beasts of prey and after a most unwonted manner preserves him in the very Jaws of Death Dan. 6. My God saith he hath sent his Angel and hath shut the Lions mouths that they have not hurt me for as much as before him innocency was found in me and also before thee O King have I done no hurt Ver. 22. And these four are the persons plainly referr'd to in the Apostle's Martyrology Hebr. 11.33 34. Who are said through faith to have stopt the mouths of Lions and quenched the violence of Fire viz. God by his Angels as hath been said rescuing and delivering them When the Apostles were by the procurement of the High-Priest put in the Common-Prison the Angel of the Lord by night open'd the Prison-doors and brought them forth and animated them to speak openly to the People in the Temple Acts 5.18 c. And Saint Peter after that imprisoned by Herod and deliver'd over for security to four Quaternions of Souldiers to be kept was thence notwithstanding all their care set at liberty by an Angel loosing of his Chains causing the Iron-gates of the City to open to him and conducting of him through the Streets thereof in such a manner as he thought himself but in a Dream for a great while till he came at last to acknowledg Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his Angel and hath deliver'd me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the People of the Iews Acts 12.4 c. Thus the Angels we see are the Commissioned Instruments of extraordinary Escapes Preservations and Deliverances Sometimes too they are sent as Physitians to cure and heal in case of Hurt Sickness or Disease Hence we read of the Pool of Bethesda where lay a great multitude of impotent Folk Blind half-wither'd waiting for the moving of the Water For an Angel saith the Text went down at a certain season which Heinsius tells us out of Cyril was yearly at Pentecost into the Pool and troubled the Water and whosoever then fi●st after the troubling of the Water step'd in was made whole of whatsoever Disease he had Saint Iohn 5.3 4. To this head we may refer perhaps those choice Receits which M. Antoninus acknowledgeth himself a Debtor for to the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in the Book of Tobit we are told of the Angel Raphael whose name as I have said elsewhere signifies a Divine Physitian sent to heal old Tobit of his blindness and Sarah the Daughter of Raguel his daughter-in-Law of her reproached barrenness To scale away the whiteness of Tobit 's eyes and to give Sarah the daughter of Raguel for a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit and to bind Asmodeus the evil Spirit that had kill'd her seven former husbands before they had lain with her Tobit 3. And the good old man was so ready in his belief of this Divinity concerning the help and protection of God's Angels vouchsafed to his Servants upon occasion that he cheers and comforts his troubled and discontented Wife upon his Son's journey from her with it Take no care saith he he shall return in safety and thine eyes shall see him for the good Angel will keep him company and his journey shall be prosperous and he shall return safe Ch. 5.20 21. Hitherto I have given sundry apposite instances as I conceive of the Ministry of Angels to pious and good men throughout their life instructing defending comforting helping and delivering them And we may be sure their aid and assistance is then most ready at hand when they have most need of it At the Agony of Death therefore they may look for strength and support from them even as they ministred to our Lord and Saviour in his as hath been more than once suggested already That is a time certainly wherein their help cannot but be very acceptable all other visible help then failing and the Devil plying of his assaults because he knows his time is short which gave occasion to Gazaeus to insert this intercalare Distichon in a Poem of his to his Angel-keeper Angele mi bone dux animae bone mentis Achates Quo sine non possum vivere nolo mori In death as Gerhard speaks we fear especially the craft of our Adversary that Serpent who doth insidiari calcaneo ply at the heel The heel saith he is the extreme part of the Body an th extreme term of Life is Death In that agony of death therefore the custody of Angels is chiefly necessary to keep us from the fiery darts of the Devil and convey the Soul wh●n it leaves the Body into the heav●●ly P●●adise Tertu●●●●● stile● them 〈…〉 the C●●lers forth of 〈◊〉 and ●uch a● 〈◊〉 ●hem 〈◊〉 ●uram diversorii 〈◊〉 p●●paration 〈◊〉 those M●nsions they are 〈◊〉 to agreeably ●o which we ●ave ●omew●●●● 〈◊〉 among the Platonists Vide 〈◊〉 de Deo Socratis Plato docuit ●bi v●●a edit● 〈…〉 est cundem illum Genium raptare illic● 〈◊〉 velu● custodiam suam ad ju●●●ium c. And then after the separat●on of Body and Soul asunder they are careful and diligent in their attendance to Lodg the departed Spirit safely in