dians of our safety and salvation. The angel Raphael, who was appointed by God the companion and guide of Tobias, [1] " conducted him and brought him safe again." [2] He assisted to save him from being devoured by a large fish, and pointed out to him the singular virtue of its gall and heart: [3] he expelled the evil demon, and, by fettering and binding up his power, protected Tobias from injury: he taught the young man the true and legitimate rights of marriage, and restored to the elder Tobias the use of his sight. [4]
The angel who delivered the prince of the Apostles also af fords abundant matter of instruction on the admirable advantages which flow from the care and guardianship of angels. To this event, therefore, the pastor will also call the attention of the faithful: he will point to the angel illuminating the darkness of the prison; awakening Peter by touching his side; loosing his chains; bursting his bonds; admonishing him to rise, and, taking his sandals and other apparel to follow him. [5] He will also direct their views to the same angel restoring Peter to liberty; conducting him out of prison through the midst of the guards; throwing open the door of his prison; and ultimately placing him in safety without its precincts. The sacred Scriptures, as we have already observed, abound in examples which give us an idea of the magnitude of the benefits conferred on us by the ministry of angels, whose tutelary protection is not confined to particular occasions or persons, but extends to each individual of the human race, from the hour of his birth.
In the exposition of this point of doctrine, the diligence of the Pastor will be rewarded with one important advantage: the minds of the faithful will be interested, and excited to acknowledge and revere the paternal care and providence of God. [6] In the first place, the pastor will here exalt and proclaim the riches of the goodness of God to man, of that God, who, not withstanding that ever since the transgression of our first parents, who entailed upon us the evil consequences of sin, we have never ceased to offend him by innumerable crimes and enormities, even to the present hour, yet retains his love for us, and still continues his special care over us. To imagine that he is unmindful of his creatures were insanity, and nothing less than to hurl against the Deity the most blasphemous insult. God is angry with the people of Israel, because they suppose them selves deserted by his care: tempting the Lord, they said, " Is the Lord amongst us or not?" [7] And again, " The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth." [8] The faithful are, therefore, to be deterred by these authorities from the impiety of imagining that God can at any time be forgetful of man. The Israelites, as we read in Isaias, make the complaint against God; and its unreasonableness God exposes by a similitude,
