N00620:79
Angelographia, or A discourse concerning the nature and power of the holy angels, and…
Angelographia, or A discourse concerning the nature and power of the holy angels, and the great benefit which the true fearers of God receive by their ministry: delivered in several sermons: : to which is added, a sermon concerning the sin and misery of the fallen angels: also, a disquisition concerning angelical-apparitions. / By Increase Mather, president of Harvard College, in Cambridge, and preacher of the Gospel at Boston, in New-England. ; [Two lines from Hebrews]Angelographia, or A discourse concerning the nature and power of the holy angels, and the great benefit which the true fearers of God receive by their ministry: delivered in several sermons: : to which is added, a sermon concerning the sin and misery of the fallen angels: also, a disquisition concerning angelical-apparitions. / By Increase Mather, praesident of Harvard Colledge, in Cambridge, and preacher of the Gospel at Boston, in New-England. ; [Two lines from Hebrews]
printed by B. Green & J. Allen for Samuel Phillips, 1696
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. When it is a time of War, […] are obtained by the Invisible Agency of th• Angels of Heaven. Thus in 2 Sam. 5.24. the•e was […] of going in the Tops of the Mulberry Trees: Angels caused that Sound; and then David obtained a wonderful Victory over the Philistines. Thus when Samaria was Besieged by the Syrians, the Syrians thought they did hear a noise of Chariots, and of Horses, as i• it had been the noise of a great Host: whereupon they arose, and fled, 2 King. 7.6. God sent his Angels, and they caused that noise to be heard. Thus in Jehoshaphat's time, when the Edomites, the Ammonites, and the Moabites did Combine against Judah, it is said, 2 Chr. 20.22 That the Lord set Ambushments against them: and then the other two Nations stood up against the Edomites, and after that they destroyed one another. How did the Lord set Ambushments, but by the Ministry of Holy Angels? Doubtless, the Angels in the shape and appearance of Moabites, and Ammonites, fell upon them of Mount […], and then they all fell upon one another, till the whole Army was destroyed. Sometimes when there have been but very few, they have obtained marvellous Victories, over far greater numbers, than themselves, because Angels were with them, and helped them. In the ⟨p. 36⟩time of the Maccabees, Judas Maccabeus, with Six Thousand Men, destroyed above Twenty Thousand of the Enemy. The Historian relates, that when the two Armies were set in Battle Array, the Jews General began the Battle with Prayer, Lord, (said he) Thou art the God, who in the time of Hezekiah, didst send thy Angel, to destroy the Host of Sennacherib; send, I pray thee, an Angel before us. The Lord heard that Prayer: Their chief Enemy was taken Prisoner, and Five and Thirty Thousand were Slain, by a small number of the Jews; their Enemies professing, that they saw two men standing, one at the Right, and the other at the Left hand of Maccabeus, (the Jews General) who kept off the Arrows, that they could not hurt him. We read also in Histories, how the Graecians did sometime with small numbers prevail against the Persians. The Prince of Persia came against the Realm of Greece, with the mightiest Army, that ever was, which was foretold by