Angel Visions

The Bible has a great deal to say about angels. We read that early in Abraham's spiritual experience divine messages were brought to him by some who are spoken of as angels and also as men, yet the important thing is the fact that the divine Mind was guiding him continually, and that he was always ready to recognize the message and respond to it. We further read that Abraham was warned in this way of the impending destruction of Sodom, and that the messengers went from him to Lot and helped to rouse him from the awful mesmeric condition into which he had seemingly fallen. We see that save for this divine guidance Lot would have perished with those who continued to love darkness rather than light; and this surely is a most important lesson for us, showing, as it does, that in the crises of human history, when faith in material things falters and falls, the word of God points the way to deliverance.

In Daniel's very remarkable experiences we find that the divine messages came to him through what seemed to be messengers not wholly unlike the human concept of man, and yet different. Here again we should see the necessity of holding firmly to the essential truth that however they may appear to the human sense, angels really are, as Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 581 of Science and Health: "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality." When we come to the book of Revelation we find this divine idea very frequently presented. We read of seven angels engaged in the divine ministry, and then many angels doing the will of omnipotent Mind in the midst of human conditions. In the twelfth chapter of Hebrews we read of "an innumerable company of angels." Take these passages as we may, there can be no question that throughout the ages those who were spiritually illumined were fully aware that God draws near to men, and that His messages are going forth continually and reaching those whose ears are attent to catch and obey the divine purpose.

In a grossly material age the thought of angels being recognized by humanity is treated with doubt if not with scorn, and yet we may remember that a famous writer has declared mere incredulity to be "the surest sign of a weak head and a corrupt heart." The statements made by a large number of men in the allied forces respecting angelic visions which they claimed to have seen at Mons, when facing what appeared to be certain annihilation, were regarded by many as due to overwrought nerves, or something of the sort. The fact remains, however, that those who saw the vision not only gathered new courage to dare and to do, but inspired their comrades to face fearlessly the issues of the hour and to escape what seemed deadly peril. To the student of Christian Science it is of small consequence that a number of the men who had this experience made written statements respecting it to nurses and others immediately after having seen the vision; that which would impress him more deeply would be the fact that in a number of instances the men were conscious of a moral transformation beginning at that very hour and remaining to do its uplifting work.

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Among the Churches
June 22, 1918
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