thing to God's word, as a new way of righteousness or falvation.

2. When they are of a wife, fober, just, and orderly frame and compofure, without any tincture of lightness, gingling or vanity in them.

3. When they come unto us being in an holy temper and difpofition of fpirit.

4. When they leave both an holy and humble, and alfo a ftrong and certain impreffion upon the mind, moving not upon carnal, but fpiritual principles and motives; to which we may add, an holy clearness and confolation in the fpirit, an increase of vigour and readiness to godly obedience and holiness.

5. When they agree with fome work that God hath in hand, and have fomething in them that feem to be above human inventions, and have an excellent agreement in the feveral parts thereof, prefenting the fame, or feveral things.

6. When they come unfought and unexpected; for if any man doth purpofely feek divination by dreams, composing himself thereunto by fuperftitious rites and ceremonies, this were exprefly against the word: For thus faith the Lord of hofls, the God of Ifrael, let not your prophets and diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye caused to be dreamed. But enough of this matter.

.

2. The angels perfuade us to that which is good, they do not only declare to us what is God's will, but they advife us to it. This is the ordinary office of bleffed angels, to inftil good motions, to fuggest good thoughts, to admonish and persuade us on all occafions to that which is good. As Satan is ever compaffing the earth, feeking whom he may devour, here and there laying his fnares to catch poor fouls in. tempting and enticing them to all forts of fin, as he efpies occafion and opportunity for it, fo are the good angels ever and anon fuggefling good and pious thoughts; they tacitly admonifh our minds, and provoke us to good duties of holiness and obedience. This makes fome affirm, That whatfoever the evil angels can do in evil, the elect angels can do in good. If the

devils can fuggeft fin, furely the angels of God are stronger and wifer than devils.

Queft. But how do the good angels fuggeft good?

Anfw. I anfwer, 1. They infpire, inject, or caft into our minds fome holy motions. Seldom paffes the day over our heads, but we may feel these injections; Come, this is the way, walk in it, strive to enter in at the strait gate, &c.

2. They provoke and ftir us up with much importunity to this or that duty; Ho every one that thirfteth, come ye to the waters, &c. They know well enough our fluggih, dull and heavy difpofition, our fpiritual laźinefs, and therefore they add stirring, quickning, and foul-enlivening expreffions or exclamations, Ho, come ye to the waters; yea, they double it, or treble it, Come ye to the waters; and come ye, buy and eat; and come ye, buy wine and milk without money, and without price. They are not willing to give over till they have made us willing to yield to their motions for our own falvation.

You may object, Surely this is the genuine work of the Holy Ghoft, thus to infpire and provoke us to good. Very true, and yet that hinders not but that the good angels may be inftruments or agents. We fay the Holy Ghoft is the prime Spirit, and yet the angels are as miniftring fpirits; the Holy Ghoft is the fountain, or head of water, but the angels are as cifterns and channels of water; it is the will of the Holy Ghoft to employ the an gels, and to communicate himself to us by the ministry of angels, and therefore the Holy Ghoft and angels need not clash. Indeed motions, infpirations, and holy fuggeftions are ever originally and primarily from the Spirit of Christ; and hence it is, that commonly we put them all on that fcore, we give them all to Chrift's Spirit; yet I cannot forget the author's opinion I cited before, That God's works in the world are ufually by inftruments, and not immediate; and that good angels are his inftruments in conveying his mercies both to foul and body. Another fpeaks as confidently every whit; for my part, (with the good leave of my learned and religious brethren be it fpo ken) I doubt not but good angels fuggeft good counfels, $

tendet

tender holy motions, offer pious thoughts, yea, refresh the often parched fpirits of gracious men with inward joy. Shall the devil work in the children of difobedience? Eph. ii. 2. enormously difquiet the affections, 1 Sam. xvi. 15. Yea, inject wicked thoughts into godly men with fuccefs, 1 Chron. xxi. 2. And hall the good angels be excluded from all actings and operations upon the inward fenfes of man? I can never believe it.

3. The angels repel temptations, or prevent occafions of fin. This was the meaning of Michael's contending with the devil about the body of Mofes: It was the devil's defign to difcover Mofes' grave, and the archangel was ready to refift him. But why would the angel refift him? To what end was the difpute about the body of Mofes? Why might not the body and burial place of Mofes have been discovered to all? Surely the angel would not have it known, left the people should have idolized and worship. ped it in after times. The devil loves idolatry, and of all kinds of idolatry, the devil abufeth the world moft with the idolatrous refpects to the bodies and relicts of dead faints. Now the archangel knew his defign, and there fore he would by no means have those burial places known. Thus Ainsworth paraphraseth on that text of Deuterono my, He was buried in a valley of Moab over against BethPeor, but no man knoweth of his fepulchre unto this day, Deut. xxxiv. The angel would have no occafion of fuperftition or idolatry thereby. Oh what bleffed helps have we for preventing of fin? How bufy are the angels in our behalf (when we little think of it) to repel temptations, and to prevent occafions of evil? as our good endeavours are often hindred by Satan, I would have come to you, e ven I Paul, once and again, but Satan hindred us, I Thef. ii. 1o. So are our evil actions hindred by the heavenly angels, elfe were not our protection equal to our danger. A good angel opposed Balaam in an evil way; and if an heavenly fpirit. obftruct the courfe of the evil, and stand in the way of a forcerer's fin, how much more ready are thofe fpiritual powers to flop the fpiritual mifcarriages of God's dearest children?

4. The angels quicken our dulnefs, encourage our

weakned

weakness, and comfort us in our forrow. All these we may read together in one chapter; I was in a deep fleep (faith Daniel, chap. x. 10, 11, 12) on my face, and my face towards the ground, and behold an hand touch⚫ed me, which fet me upon my knees, and upon the palms "of my hands; and he faid unto me, O Daniel, a man 'greatly beloved, understand the words that I fpeak unto thee, and stand upright, for unto thee am I now fent;" "and when he had fpoken this word unto me, I stood trembling, then faid he unto me, Fear not.-And! 'there came again and touched me, one like the appear"ance of a man, and he ftrengthned me, and faid, O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be ftrong; yea be ftrong; and when he had fpoken unto me, I was ftrengthned, and faid, Let my Lord fpeak, for thou haft ftrengthned me,' ver. 18, 19. In like manner we find an angel quickning, encouraging and strengthning Elijah in his work, 2 Kings i. 3, 15. and Ifaiah to his work, Ifa.. vi, 6, 7. and Paul to his work, Acts xxvii. 23, 24. But efpecially in the fufferings of his faints, how ufual was it with God to fend down his angels for their comforters? When Chrift was in his agony, there appeared an angel to him from heaven frengthning him, Luke xxii. 43. When Peter was in prifon. Behold the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light fbined in the prifon, Acts xii. 7 When Paul was in his dangerous voyage, There ftood by him in the night the angel of God, whofe he was, and whom he ferued, faying, fear not, Paul, Acts xxvii. 23. In the fucceeding times of the church, how frequently did the angels appear to bleffed martyrs for their comfort and encouragement? Thus Theodorus faw and felt the ravishing hand of an angel: Thus Theophila, Agnes, Lucia, Cecilia, and others, faw the good angels as their comforters, and pra tectors of their chastity. And altho' they do not now ap pear to us in bodily fhapes, as in thofe times, yet the fame offices are performed by them in their fpiritual and myf terious ways; now they quicken our dulnefs, encourage our weaknefs, and comfort us in heaviness.

SE C T. IV.

Whether the Angels contribute any thing to our Converfion. EFORE I pass this, I would propound a question or two: As,

B'

1. Whether the angels contribute any thing to our converfion? We have heard at large, that devils do what they can to hinder our converfion: And are the angels lefs active to good than they are to evil, I cannot think it? We may be fure, that as the bad angels do bad offices, fo the good angels are in their way prompt and ready to do all the good offices they can as to our good; and my reafon is, their willis conformed to the, will of God, They do his commandments, they hearken to the voice of his word. Pfal. ciii. 20. What foever God wills they will: Now God wills the converfion of finners; As I live, I defire not the death of a finner, but rather that he should repent and live, Ezek. xxxii. 11. and therefore they will it, and as they will it, fo they reduce that will into feveral acts or else it were in vain. But what those acts are, may be another question.

SECT. V.

Wherein do the Angels contribute, as to our Conversion? HE feveral acts of angels, as, to our converfion, are

THE
T fuch as thefe.

1. They inform our judgments: We have heard before how they invifibly teach us, inftruct us, enlighten us, and herein do they contribute to our converfion: For what is the firft work of converfion, but illumination? as in the first creation, the first born of God's works was light, God faid, let there be light, and there was light, Gen. i. 3. So in new creation the first work is light; God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath fbined into our hearts, to give the light of the knowlege of the glory of God in the face of Jefus Chrift, 2 Cor. iv. 6. Hence the state of nature is called darknefs, and the state of grace is called light; Eph. v. 8. Ye were fometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. And, He hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light, 1 Pet. ii. 9. Now if in this work the angels are affiftant, they muft needs contribute