All nations have agreed in considering it as the prin cipal employment of the angels to wait upon the Al mighty, and execute his commands. It has also been a generally prevalent and very ancient opinion, that cer tain classes of the angels are appointed to watch over the welfare and safety of the human race ; and that every man from his birth is under the protection of a tutelar or guardian angel. This belief universally prevailed among the Persians, JeWS, Greeks, and Romans, and indeed among most heathen nations. It is found in Ilesiod, the most ancient of the Greek poets except Homer, who tells us in his " works and days," that " the men of the golden age are the good angels of the present degenerate race. They watch near us, and protect us from harm ; and strive to the utmost of their power to purify our hearts, and save us from crime and miser••" Every; one knows that Socrates publicly avowed himself to be under the guidance of such a good genius, as Noma claimed the peculiar protection of the goddess Egeria. Each tutelary genius, it • was sup posed, did his utmost for the interest of his charge ; and when a man was overcome, it was considered as a proof of the inferiority of his protecting angel, a circum stance supposed to be governed by chance. The tu telary genius of Augustus, it was said, had such an ascendant over that of Antony, as to abash him by his very presence. Est genius natale comes qui temnerat antrum.
The doctrine of an evil as well as a good genius, influencing the fate of every member of the human race, seems to have been borrowed from the Persian school, and did not prevail among the earlier Greeks and Ro mans. Yet we know only of the evil genius of Brutus, which appeared to him before the battle of Philippi. The words of our Saviour, Math. xviii. 10. are supposed to give countenance to the belief in guardian angels.
Take heed," says he to his disciples, " that ye despise not one of these little ones ; • for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." This seems to imply, that children at least are under the protection of these divine beings ; and, with this limitation, the doctrine may be considered as by no means inconsistent with the dic tates of reason. The expressions of our Saviour however, may have been employed only in compliance with the popular prejudice of the age.
With respect to the rank and gradations subsisting in the angelic host, various opinions have been enter tained. The Jews reckoned four orders or companies of angels, each headed by an archangel ; the first order being that of Michael, the second of Gabriel, the third of Uriel, and the fourth of Raphael. This doctrine seems to have been borrowed from the ancient Chaldeans or Persians, who paid such deference to the superintend ing power of angels, that they gave their names to their months, and the days of their months ; and the Jews acknowledge having copied them in this particular, and to have received from them the sacred names by which they denoted their divisions of time. We find no men
tion in scripture of the names of the superintending archangels, till after the period of the Babylonish cap tivity. Michael and Gabriel are named for the first time by the prophet Daniel ; and the name of Raphael occurs only in the apocryphal book of 'Cobh. The an cient Jewish tradition, however, according to Ben Mai mon, admits ten degrees or orders of angels. I. Chaios, acodesh, or saints. 2. °swain, or the rapid. S. Oralim, or the strong. 4. Chasmadim, flames. 5. Seraphim, sparks. 6. il/u/akinz, messengers. 7. Eloim, gods or judges. 8. Bendoim, sons of the gods. 9. cherubim, images ; and 10. rchim, or souls. Some of the Christians of the middle ages, have distributed the angelic host into three hier archies, each consisting of three orders. The first or highest hierarchy consisted of Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones; the second of Dominions, Virtues, and Powers ; and the third of Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. Of these orders, it was imagined that some constantly reside in heaven; and others, especially of the subordinate ranks, are occasionally sent forth to execute the purposes of the Almighty. This distribu tion of the angelic host, has been ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, and pope Gregory I.
Of no less general extent than the belief in the exist ence of angels, has been the opinion, that some of these beings, though originally created pure and obedient to the will of their Maker, nevertheless became sinful, and rebelled against the Almighty, in consequence of which they forfeited their high estate, were cast out of heaven, and, from the most blessed and glorious, became the most wicked and miserable of all God's creatures. With heaven they lost their heavenly disposition, which de lighted once in doing good, and praising their Maker; and assumed a temper suitable to hell, the dark and dis mal abode to which they were now condemned. They breathed a fixed and gloomy rancour against the Al mighty and all his works ; and strove, with the most malevolent arts, to counteract the happiness of the hu man race, the offspring of his power and goodness. Re vengeful thoughts and despair now took entire posses sion of them, and created an eternal hell within them ; and as they were themselves condemned to everlasting misery, their only pleasure consisted in endeavouring to reduce other creatures to the same deplorable condi tion.