To be near unto God - pagina 148

has also used observable representation, however transient.

In the New. as well as in the Old Testament, of angel-appearances and of appearances of the Messiah before his incarnaAnd are not angels spirits like God himtion. self, incorporeal and immaterial? We hear repeatedly that angels appear, and speak and act. The angel that smote the armies of Sennacherib stands in line with the angel that led Peter out of prison. Before his incarnation the existence of Christ was purely spiritual, but with him the outward manifestation, and with it the clear representation, went so far in ancient times that the patriarch received him in his tent and entertained him with a meal at his table. It is well known that this is scoffed at, and that it is put to the score of innocent fiction; but less superficial psychology is not satisfied with this, and inclines to attach to such an account a much higher, inner value. When during his earthly ministry Christ accepted the Old Testament records of such including appearances literally, those which

we read repeatedly

referred

and ratified them in their what other conclusion can than that a certain appearance and a

to

immediate

himself,

signification,

we reach, certain representation, of a Being which like that of God is purely spiritual by itself, is not unthinkable.

The

Scripture always pictures this appearance in the religious hfe, with human features. In connection with the Cherubim we read of animal forms, of a lion and so on, which serve to represent great power and glory. But in every meeting with man the appearance of an

and representation

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