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XVI.

SERM.World, and is by Way of Eminency called Satan in many Places of the Bible. This evil Spirit was once a chief Commander in the heavenly Regions, and upon his Fall, continued the chief among Devils, who are therefore ftiled his Angels.

Concerning the Occafion of this fad Catastrophe, the Holy Scriptures are filent; but as an innumerable Company fell toge ther with their Leader, and were condemned with him, it is not improbable that he look'd with Envy on fome Angel placed in a higher Station, or affected a Superiority over thofe of equal Dignity and Authority, and entered into a Conspiracy with those under his Command, to pursue his ambitious Projects, and to break thorough the Order which the Almighty had established in Heaven.

But whether this Conjecture be right or no, yet from all the Paffages before-mentioned it plainly appears, that there are Diftinctions of Power and Dignity among the Angels of Heaven; and that the great Governor of the Universe hath established this Hierarchy both for the fake of Order and discipline, and for the Glory and Grandeur of his heavenly Court. I come 3dly, To

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3dly, To the Offices and Employments SER M. of Angels. I have just touched upon one of thefe, for as God is faid to have made all Prov. 16. 4 Things for himself, that is, for his own Honour and Glory, the use of these highest of all created Beings, is partly to minister to the Dignity of his fupreme Majefty, and attend about his Throne, and to worship and praise him. This noble Employment is defcribed in the Revelations, 5. II, 12. And I bebeld, and I heard the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne, and the Beasts, and the Elders, and the Number of them was ten thousand times ten Thousand, and ThouSands of Thousands; faying with a loud Voice, worthy is the Lamb that was flain, to receive Power, and Riches, and Wisdom, and Strength, and Honour, and Glory, and Bleffing. In the Verse following, all Creatures are represented as joining in a Chorus, and faying, Blessing, and Honour, and Glory, and Power be unto him that fitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever, and the four Beafts faid Amen, and the four and twenty Elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

Various Conjectures have been offered by learned Men upon the Meaning of thefe

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SER M. Paffages, tho' with little Certainty as to the Particulars; but in general, they give us a true Idea of the Employment of the Blessed in Heaven, which is to praise and adore God, and our Redeemer; in which delightful Work the Angels bear a chief Part; and as Confufion and Difcord muft naturally attend the mixture of so many Voices, without keeping Time and Order, the Whole is described as a regular Concert of Mufick, with Refponfes or Antiphonies. At the 9th Verfe it is faid, They fung a new Song. It was a Song compofed particularly in Honour of Christ the Redeemer of Mankind; and from its being called a new Song, we may justly conclude, that Songs and Mufick had been the standing Employment of the heavenly Inhabitants.

At the 8th Verse the Concert is made fuller; for the four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them Harps. And in the 14th Chap. 2d Verse, St. John fays, And I heard a Voice from Heaven, as the Voice of many Waters, and as the Voice of a great Thunder, and I heard the Voice of Harpers barping with their Harps, which in the 15th Chap. 2d Verfe are called the Harps of God. It may look

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like indulging the Imagination too much; SER M but this appears to be a Defcription of a compleat Concert of Mufick, both vocal and inftrumental, performed in all its Parts.

They who do not approve of inftrumental Mufick in divine Worship, may call this an allegorical Vifion; and I will not deny that there is fomething of both, but it is highly probable that fome Parts of it are real; for it is allowed on all Hands, that Mufick having a mighty Power to excite and raise the Affections, is a very apt Inftrument for Praife and Thanksgiving in divine Worship; and as there will be Bodies. with their proper Senfes in Heaven, there is no Reason to doubt, but that better Mufick, ftriking upon more perfect Ears, must have greater Effect upon the celeftial Inhabitants than it has upon mortal

Men.

The Offence taken against Instruments, feems to have been ill confidered; for a human Voice is, properly speaking, no more than a meer Inftrument of a different Structure, and it is an Inftrument apt to be out of Tune, and fubject to frequent Disorders and Difabilities, which others are not. But fuppofing that this whole Reprefentation of

Ii2

Vocal

SRM. vocal and inftrumental Mufick in Heaven to

XVI. bé an Allegory, yet I hope that no Chriftian

will fay, that St. John would use Figures of Speech, that might tend to deceive and milead us into falfe Notions of divine Worfhip, either upon Earth or in Heaven, and yet this would be the cafe, if fuch Mufick were contrary to the Purity of Chriftian Worship.

The Offices of Angels upon this Earth, may be confidered either as they are occafional, or conftant.

Upon great and extraordinary Occafions, wherein the Honour of God, or the Good of Mankind are concern'd, God has been pleased for the greater Solemnity to make ufe of the Ministry of Angels.

The earliest of thefe Occafions was the Creation of this earthly Globe, concerning which God is introduced as queftioning Job Job 38.6,7.in the fublimeft Stile; Whereupon are the Foundations thereof faftened? or who laid the Corner Stone thereof, when the Morning Stars fang together, and all the Sons of God fhouted for Joy? By the Sons of God we are here to understand the Angels, which will appear by comparing it with the 6th Verse of the firft Chapter, where we read that there

was

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