ANGEL.

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MY SAVIOUR is the " Messenger" or Angel of the Covenant," in whom I delight, even the Lord, whom I seek.* office, not of nature. on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham."† In nature he is infinitely "better than the angels;" and, in fact, he receives from them the homage which intelligent creatures owe to their Creator, and which it would be the highest treason for them to offer to another. As an equal party in the covenant of redemption, the Son of God assumed the office of Messenger, or Angel of the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, to the guilty children of men; and with the office he also took the name.

She wept,

recognized him under that title as their Guide, their Guardian, and their future Redeemer. Let me look back to a few of the most remarkable visits which he thus paid to his people.

Thy first manifestation of thyself by this form and name, O thou glorious Angel of the covenant, was to a poor, outcast, female servant, as she sat in melancholy solicitude “ by a fountain of water in the wilderness of Shur." * and thou didst observe her tears. She cried, and thou didst hear her lamentations. Thy promises to that lonely wanderer stand good to the present day, and the “ wild man " of the Arabian desert bears an unwitting testimony to the veracity of thy word! She recognizes thy divinity, “for she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou, God, seest me!” So, Lord, vouchsafe to observe me, when I weep. Hear the prayer of

my

affliction when I cry. wanderings here upon earth, may I ever retain, and be at once admonished and cheered by the recollection, that “Thou, God, seest me." Under thy guidance may I always find a fountain in the wilderness, for my support and refreshment, and find thee near to sweeten that fountain, bu thy manifested presence and thy promises.

In all my

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Wast not thou, O my Saviour, “the Angel who redeemed Jacob from all evil," and whose blessing he devoutly implored upon his grandchildren? The venerable patriarch knew thee, as his Redeemer, and supremely valued thy blessing, as the richest inheritance for his descendants. Graciously dispose and enable me to contemplate thee in the same relation to myself, and to set the same exalted value upon thy favors for those whom I love, and whom I may have to leave behind me upon earth. I might bequeath them wealth, and might thereby entail upon them a heavy curse. If I leave them under thy blessing, they will have indeed “a goodly heritage." +

And is it not respecting my Saviour, that my faith hears a voice from heaven, saying, as of old to Israel, “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in thy way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared”? | Isaiah thus spake of that period of Israel's history: “ So he was their Saviour. In all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the Angel of his presence saved them; in his love and his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them and carried them all the days of old." Ş I am often animated, in

running the race that is set before me, by the thoughts of the great cloud of angelic witnesses, who surround my course, and “who are sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." *

Yet what is this to the assurance that Thou art with me, to be my constant protector, to supply my wants, to uphold my faltering steps, and to conduct me in safety to the Canaan of my final rest? O! give me grace ever most affectionately to revere thee, to obey thy voice, and to follow thy guidance.

The ANGEL JEHOVAH, who once and again appeared unto Manoah and his wife, whose name

66 secret” wonderful,” † and who did so wondrously in the sacrifice which they offered, was no other than He whom I love, and address by the endearing title of my Saviour; and who, in the fulness of time, ascended to heaven in the flame of his own sin-offering. In every season of spiritual distress, say, Lord, unto me, as in thy angelic office thou saidst unto agitated Gideon, “ Peace be unto thee; fear not; thou shalt not die : ” for thou art the angel of life, not of death, to every penitent soul.

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Mercifully come to me, blessed Angel of the covenant, and cause me to hear thy gracious errand — the good news of pardon and justification, of peace and glory, the fruits of thine own mission and of thine own sufferings. So engage my soul with this gladdening intelligence, that I may comparatively turn a deaf ear to all besides. Aid and support my drooping soul by thy Spirit. In thy almighty hands hold thou me up, and keep me in all my ways, lest I dash my foot against a stone. I expect not to see the visible splendor of thy presence shine around my path ; but if thy word illumine my steps, as the token of thy presence, it shall suffice me. By thee may

I be ultimately carried to my heavenly and eternal home, when I shall drop the burden of the flesh, uttering with my last faint breath, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” O! unutterable joy, and joy forevermore! Methinks the first act of my disimbodied soul will be to embrace thy feet, and hail my deliverer from earth and hell — from sin, and death, and woe. Till then, whether I traverse the mighty ocean, or the wide-spread earth; whether I dwell with the rich in palaces, r with the poor in their hovels; in health or kness; in supposed safety or in evident dan