unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye
ministers of his that do his pleasure." [Ps. ciii. 19-21.] David knew
moreover that one of the offices, in the execution of which the angels
do God's pleasure, is that of succouring and defending us on earth. For
example, in one of the psalms used by the Church of Rome at complin, and
with the rest repeated in the Church of England, and prophetic of the
Redeemer, David, to whom this psalm is probably to be ascribed, declares
of the man who had made the Most High his refuge and strength, "There
shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy
dwelling; for he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in
all thy ways; they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy
foot against a stone." [Ps. xci. 10-12.] And again, with exquisitely
beautiful imagery, he represents those same blessed servants of heaven
as an army, as a host of God's spiritual soldiers keeping watch and ward
over the poorest of the children of men, who would take refuge in his
mercy: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him,
and delivereth them[9]." And yet David, the prophet of the Lord, never
addresses to these beings, high and glorious though they are, one single
invocation: he neither asks them to assist him, nor to pray for him, nor
to pray with him in his behalf.

[Footnote 9: Ps. xxxiv. 7. (Vulg. xxxiii. 8.) "Immittet angelus
Domini in circuitu timentium eum, et eripiet eos." In the
Vulgate the beauty of the figure is lost; which, however, Roman
Catholic writers restore in their comments. Basil makes a
beautiful use of the metaphor. See De Sacy in loc.] {37}

Isaiah was admitted by the Holy Spirit to witness in the fulness of its
glory the court and the throne of heaven; and he heard the voices of the
seraphim proclaiming their Maker's praise; he experienced also