St. Paul says of the angels, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?" (Heb. i. 14). God employs them as His agents, as intermediate, secondary causes of the works of various kinds which He carries out for the benefit of mankind. God also uses men as the agents of His dealings with other men; to exercise the functions of Providence towards them, enlighten their minds, move them to goodness, help them to save their souls. God uses further the intelligence of man for the material development of this earth, by the discovery of its secrets and the manipulation of its great forces, such as electricity, for example. The angels are an innumerable multitude of immense intellectual forces. Every creature of God has its utilities, and these are proportioned to its nature and activity. The angels have functions to fulfil on this earth, as Scripture itself informs us, and these may be material as well as spiritual. It may well be, in accordance with a widely received supposition, that the Almighty made use of the instrumentality of the angels in the development of the universe, and in the maintenance and guidance of it subsequently. How grand a conception of nature this opens out to us! The possibilities that we can imagine are wonderful, and it is certain that the actual facts are more wonderful still. When we see in God all things as they are, we shall discover for the first time marvellous harmonies of the spiritual and material universes which are hidden from our present science. Continue Reading.
