of the Reverend Prelate, similar to some around us, of whom he thus speaks in the same sermon; "God has of late visibly made bare his arm on our behalf, though some are still so blind and obstinate that they will not see it; like those of whom the prophet complains, Lord, when thy hand is lifted up they will not see, but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at thy people:" In the estimation of Mr. W., the recent calamities of Europe "may be satisfactorily explained by referring to the operation of secondary causes, without unnecessarily supposing the miraculous intervention of the arm of Omnipotence."* Such is the obscurity in which they are involved, that it is impossible for him to determine their specific character, whether judgments or mere misfortunes! We are not, in fact, to consider any thing as a "punishment for crimes;" and the only instructions to be received from such events, are "lessons of the frailty and instability of human life!"

Mr. W. in his Appendix,† quotes an article from the Methodist Magazine, for March 1818, in support of what he has advanced on the absurdities of the Methodists. The circumstance is found under the head of "The Providence of God asserted," and refers to the case of Mr. Keighly and Mr. Burbeck, two preachers who were going to their circuit. The most remarkable particulars in the relation seem to be, the appearance-the audible voice-the predictionits fulfilment-and the means employed by the latter to evade it. As to the circumstance itself, I am as little disposed to contradict it, as I am remote from the means of further confirming its truth. The case was extraordinary; and many extraordinary things have occurred. The predictive part will be kept in countenance by Bishop Usher's prophecy concerning the slaying of the witnesses, together with his other predictions. Possibly some warm friend of the Prelate might, in his defence, contend that the spirit of prophecy was, in some particular cases, promised to persons under the present dispensation, from-" I will pour out my Spirit Dr. Parr's Life of Usher, Folio, p. 76, 82.

* P. 84.

+ P. 212

upon all flesh: and your sons and your DAUGHTERS shall PROPHESY, and your YOUNG MEN shall see VISIONS.' Possibly, I say, this might have been the case: but I leave it; only observing, that if the events corresponded with the pre. dictions, this passage of Scripture would weigh more with the Bishop's friends than the bare assertions, or unsupported denial of his opponents. When Burbeck saw, according to what had been foretold, the death of his pious companion, he was anxious to guard against his own dissolution, but could not. Something similar to this once happened in another country. A person of the name of Micaiah foretold the death of Ahab, king of Israel. To evade it, the monarch disguised both his person and his armour; and yet, notwithstanding all his precautions, an arrow found its way between the joints of the harness. Jehoshaphat, on the contrary, in the same battle, and in more imminent danger than Ahab, was preserved: "And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel, (having on his royal robes.) And they turned aside to fight against him: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him."+ The case of Ahab is adduced as an illustration, only so far as his conduct is concerned in endeavouring to evade the accomplishment of the prediction. Indeed, your good sense, Sir, would never allow you to demand a perfect illustration. Such a demand would restrict the Divine Being to only one mode of working; and persons would consider it a sufficient justification of their conduct to deny any work to be of God, because, in every instance, it did not correspond with other preceding events, however visible his hand might be in detached parts.

It is neither repugnant to Scripture, nor incompatible with reason to suppose, that in this remarkable case, the ministry of angels was employed. I am aware, Sir, that this doctrine has but a slight hold on the minds of many, who, otherwise, are every way worthy the appellation of Chris+1 Kings xxii. 28-36; 2 Chron. xviii, 32. R

Acts ii. 17.

tians. From a perusal of your vindication of some facts in Mr. Fletcher's Life, I am confident I have you on my side:* and surely, Sir, we may be permitted innocently to indulge in the opinion, without provoking others to such a degree of warmth as to occasion them to brand us as fools in public. That there are evil angels, cannot for a moment be disputed, except by the followers of Dr. Priestley, and others, who rather wish, perhaps, that there were none, than seriously believe in their non-existence; a desire, partly arising from the same source as that which induces the criminal to wish that there were no judge, no prison, no punishment: he does not wish the annihilation of these things, because they have no tendency to promote order, deter from crime, and advance the public good, but because he himself is a sinner against the laws of his country, is desirous of giving full scope to every improper propensity, and is deserving of that punishment he anticipates. If fallen angels are as malicious and mischievous as they are represented to be in the oracles of truth, they would, without a curbing power in Providence,+ deface the beauty of every creature of God, and convert the world into a scene of confusion. The circumstance of Michael the archangel contending with the devil about the body of Moses,‡ may lead us to conclude, that good angels frequently counteract the evils inflicted by, and frustrate the designs of, wicked spirits. The apostle asks, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ?" This text is general in its application. It would be ridiculous to argue against the agency of good angels from their invisibility; for, by the same rule, lapsed intelligencies would not be agents, unless they were to assume a visible form. It will admit of a doubt whether Job beheld the devil with the naked eye, and yet he felt him to his sorrow. The angelic hosts are incessantly employed, though inapprehensible to the faculty of sight; and it is Appendix, p. 423. + This power is fully maintained in Job, chap. ii. Matt. viii. 31, 32. ↑ Jude 9. § Heb. i. 14.

possible they might have some share in what befel Keighly and Burbeck. Daniel had no reason to suppose that the angel was indifferent to the concerns of the church, because he saw him not for the space of one and twenty days.* There are many well-attested facts respecting angelical appearances in later ages. We are far from supposing that they preach any new doctrine; in such a case, they would incur the apostolic curse.+ We are not, however, to infer from hence, that the Supreme Being does not, in a more than ordinary manner, occasionally permit them to aid the understanding in the right perception of truth, to give directions for the prevention of danger, to warn of approaching dissolution, and to relieve distress. At a time the most seasonable, Zuinglius, it is said, had a portion of Scripture suggested to him in a vision, which fully illucidated the meaning of that text,-"This is my body." Scultetus relates a fact concerning Gryneus, which took place at Spires; of one who visited Melancthon at his lodgings, of singular appearance, which bespoke him, as was believed, an inhabitant of the celestial regions. He asked for Gryneus, who was then absent, and intimated that there were snares preparing for him, into which he was desirous that worthy character should not fall, and immediately disappeared. On the return of Gryneus, Melancthon informed him of the circumstance, and advised him to hasten from Spires to Heidelberg. Just after his departure, a company of armed men arrived to apprehend him. Luther also relates a circumstance of a woman and two children, who suffered from extreme want in the time of great scarcity at Eiliben. They went to a well, where they were met by a person supposed to be an angel, who asked the woman whether she thought she would obtain proper nourishment at the fountain? She, in reply, asked, "Why not? All things are possible to God, and can be done with ease. He that fed the Israelites forty

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years with manna, can preserve me and mine with water.” She was commanded by the being who accosted her, to return to her home, where she would find an ample supply of provision, which was actually the case. Some, it is probable, Sir, will be inclined to lay these relations, from the times in which they are said to have taken place, at the door of popish superstition. But it should be recollected, that the persons concerned had emerged from the darkness of popery,-that, from the share of intellect they possessed, they were not likely to be the dupes of imposition themselves,— and that, from their known piety, they were not at all likely to impose upon others. The person who doubts the truth of these relations, may be defied to prove their inconsistency with any text of Scripture, or repugnancy to reason. is as rational to suppose, that God appoints good angels to aid the righteous, as that he permits devils to tempt them: and these stories, if correct, only go to form a practical comment on what God himself, in an interrogative way, instructs us to expect; "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Still more ridiculous must be the prayer which Dr. Johnson offered up, to such characters, than that of the ministry of angels? "O Lord! Governor of heaven and of earth, in whose hands are disembodied and departed spirits, if thou hast ordained the souls of the dead to minister to the living, and appointed my departed wife to have care of me, grant that I may enjoy the good effects of her attention and ministration, whether exercised by appearance, impulses, dreams, or in any other manner agreeable to thy government. Forgive my presumption, enlighten my igno

* A gracious Providence was remarkably visible in one of the Irish Rebellions, though without any angelic appearance. It is reported that a poor woman was driven to the mountains with her infant child; and not being able to suckle it, she beheld the object of her love ready to perish. During her agony she found a bottle full of milk, which saved them both. Can religion sustain any injury from attributing this to the kind interposition of the God of Hagar? Gen. xxi. 14—20.

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