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    1 . What is intended by the parties engaged in this contest , —Michael the Archangel and the Devil . 2 . What is meant by the body of Moses , the subject of the contest . 1 . Theilj we are to inquire what is intended by the persons engaged in this contest , —Michael the Archangel and the Devil . One of these is

    Michael , but who is Michael , and what is he ? Is he a celestial or a terrestr ial or a symbolical being ? We are told that he is the Archangel ; but this , in itself , furnishes no answer to the above questions , because neither of the terms , angel or archangel \ is a name of nature but of office . In

    order , therefore , to understand the subject , we must inquire into the meaning of these termfe , and endeavour to trace out their application . The term angel , yBko <; y is a Greek word , from the verb afyeXXa , to tell or deliver a message , formed into a

    noun by the masculine termination oq . The English translation rejects the Greek termination , ar id retains angel only ; but still the word is Greek , and re qu ires to be explained . Its literal meaning is , one sent or employed by another , a messenger , a legate , an

    agent , a minister , a servant ; it is a relative term , implying one who is sent or commissioned by another . The word angels , therefore , does not necessarily mean ( as it is generally subposed to mean ) a species of incorporeal celestial beings superior to mankind , of different degrees of dignity , power and

    perfection , but simply messengers or agents . In the , Scriptures it has a variety of applications . It is applied to John the Baptist , Matt . xi . lQt " Behold , I send my angel , messenger . " It is applied to the two disciples of John , who were sent by him with a message to Jesus , Luke vii . 24 : f < When the

    angels , the messengers of Joih , were departed . " When Jesus steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem we ' told , chap . ix . 52 , he * ' sent angels , messengers , before his face : and they went , and enterecj into a village of the

    Samaritans , to make ready for him . " It is said of Kajiab , the hartot , that she received the angels , the ' spies / and sent them out another Way , James ii . 25 . We have the same application of the term angel in the Old Testament . 2 Sam . ii . 5 , David sent angels unto

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    the riaen of Jabesh Gilea'd ; Joab sent an angel to inform David bf the death of Uriah , chip . xi . 19 ; see also Vers . 22 % 23 , 25 . The prophet Hagg-ai is called an angel , ch . i . 13 ; it is applied to a priest , Mai . ii . 7- The prophet ' s name , Malachi , is my ang&L The term is applied to the elements , to storms , to pestilence , and to every agtetit in nature which God is pleased

    to make use of to accomplish his own purposes . The p lagues which God sent among the Egyptians are said to l > e evil angels 9 Ps . Ixxviii . 49 . The winds and the lightning are God ' s angels . And of these angels , mes- ..

    sengers , the ScriDture S saith . (( Ps . civ sengers , the cripture saith , Ps . civ 4 , ) " Who maketh the winds his messengers , and the flames of lightning his ministers . " * In these passages the term an&cl is a

    personification of that to which it is applied . In prophecy , angels are probably nothing more than symbolical or typical characters ; for we know that none of the prophecies relate to the affairs arid transactions of celestial

    and infernal spirits in the upper or lower world , but to the affairs of the inhabitants of this world , to the convulsions of nations , to the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires , and the various revolutions to which they are

    subject , and to the accomplishment of the purposes of God respecting the children of men . Angels , theti , who are represented in these scenes as agents emplojred for the accomplishment of those great events which are the subject of prophecy , are not

    spiritual but human beings ; for the fact is , that the prophecies which have been fulfilled have been accomplished by human agency . Thus in the Revelation of John , angels sounding trumpets represent those agents or inessetigers who gave the alarms of wars ; and the first of these is supposed , by

    the best commeittators , to predict the hostile invasions of Italy by the Goths and Huns : the second , by the etnblem of a great moantkin cast into the sea , the naval invasion of Italy by the Vandals , tinder the command of Genserie , wh 6 m Gibbon Calls the tyrant of the se'a . J shall Only notice two Other of the trumpets , the fifth ? Imp . " Version .

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    674 Attempt to illustrate Jude , Vet . 9 . Letter II .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1822, page 674, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2518/page/18/