were
at first perceived under a human form by the inhabitants of the city;
but afterwards these same angels struck the men with blindness, and
thus prevented them from finding the door of Lot's house, into which
they would have entered by force.

Thus, then, angels do not always appear under a visible or sensible
form, nor in a figure uniformly the same; but they give proofs of
their presence by an infinity of different ways--by inspirations, by
voices, by prodigies, by miraculous effects, by predictions of the
future, and other things hidden and impenetrable to the human mind.

St. Cyprian relates that an African bishop, falling ill during the
persecution, earnestly requested to have the viaticum administered to
him; at the same time he saw, as it were, a young man, with a majestic
air, and shining with such extraordinary lustre that the eyes of
mortals could not have beheld him without terror; nevertheless, the
bishop was not alarmed. This angel said to him, angrily, and in a
menacing tone, "You fear to suffer. You do not wish to leave this
world. What would you have me do for you?" (or "What can I do for
you?") The good bishop comprehended that these words alike regarded
him and the other Christians who feared persecution and death. The
bishop talked to them, encouraged them, and exhorted them to arm
themselves with patience to support the tortures with which they were
threatened. He received the communion, and died in peace. We shall
find in different histories an infinite number of other apparitions of
angels under a human form.

Footnotes:

[40] Josh. v. 29.

[41] Exod. iii. 3, 44.

[42] Exod. xiii. xiv.

[43] Psalm civ. 4.

[44] Ezek. i. 4, 6.

[45] Dan. x. 5.

[46] Rev. iv. 7, 8.

[47] Gen. iii. 24.

[48] Numb. xxii. 22, 23.

[49] 1 Chron. xxi. 16.

[50] Tobit v. 5.

[51] Matt. xxviii. 3.

[52] Acts ii.

[53] Matt. xxviii. 1, 2.

[54] John xix. 20.

[55] Luke xxiii. 15-17, &c.

[56] Deut. iv. 15.

[57] Numb. xii. 22, 23.

[58] Dan. x. 7, 8.

CHAPTER IV.

OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, CHRISTIANS, MAHOMETANS, AND ORIENTAL NATIONS
CONCERNING THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD ANGELS.

After what we have just related from the books of the Old and New
Testament, it cannot be disavowed that the Jews in general, the
apostles, the Christians, and their disciples have commonly believed
in the apparitions of good angels. The Sadducees, who denied the
existence and the apparition of angels,