jesty of God, were
hieroglyphical figures, something like the sphinx of the Egyptians;
those which are described in Ezekiel[44] are like animals composed of
the figure of a man, having the wings of an eagle, the feet of an ox;
their heads were composed of the face of a man, an ox, a lion, and an
eagle, two of their wings were spread towards their fellows, and two
others covered their body; they were brilliant as burning coals, as
lighted lamps, as the fiery heavens when they send forth the
lightning's flash--they were terrible to look upon.

The one who appeared to Daniel[45] was different from those we have
just described; he was in the shape of a man, covered with a linen
garment, and round his loins a girdle of very fine gold; his body was
shining as a chrysolite, his face as a flash of lightning; his eyes
darted fire like a lamp; his arms and all the lower part of his body
was like brass melted in the furnace; his voice was loud as that of a
multitude of people.

St. John, in the Apocalypse,[46] saw around the throne of the Most
High four animals, which doubtless were four angels; they were covered
with eyes before and behind. The first resembled a lion, the second an
ox, the third had the form of a man, and the fourth was like an eagle
with outspread wings; each of them had six wings, and they never
ceased to cry night and day, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who
was, and is, and is to come."

The angel who was placed at the entrance of the terrestrial paradise
was armed with a shining sword,[47] as well as the one who appeared to
Balaam,[48] and who threatened, or was near killing both himself and
his ass; and so, apparently, was the one who showed himself to Joshua
in the plain of Jericho,[49] and the angel who appeared to David,
ready to smite all Israel. The angel Raphael guided the young Tobias
to Rages under the human form of a traveler.[50] The angel who was
seen by the holy woman at the sepulchre of the Saviour, who overthrew
the large stone which closed the mouth of the tomb, and who was seated
upon it, had a countenance which shone like lightning, and garments
white as snow.[51]

In the Acts of the Apostles,[52] the angel who extricated them from
prison, and told them to go boldly and preach Jesus Christ in the
temple, also appeared to them in a human form. The manner in which he
delivered them from the dungeon is quite miraculous; for the chief
priests having commanded that they should appear