according to some, means an angel occupying the eighth rank
in the celestial order or hierarchy; but others reckon it a title only
applicable to our Saviour; Jude 9; Dan. xii, 1; 1 Thess. iv, 16. On this
point Bishop Horsley has the following observations:--“It has been for a
long time a fashion in the church to speak very frequently and
familiarly of archangels as beings of an order with which we are
perfectly well acquainted. Some say there are seven of them. Upon what
solid ground that assertion stands, I know not; but this I know, the
word ‘archangel’ is not to be found in any one passage of the Old
Testament: in the New Testament it occurs twice, and only twice. One of
the two passages is in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians; where the
Apostle, among the circumstances of the pomp of our Lord’s descent from
heaven to the final judgment, mentions ‘the voice of the archangel;’ the
other passage is in the Epistle of St. Jude, where the title of
archangel is coupled with the name of ‘Michael the archangel.’ This
passage is so remarkably obscure that I shall not attempt to draw any
conclusion from it but this, which manifestly follows, be the particular
sense of the passage what it may: since this is one of the two texts in
which alone the word ‘archangel’ is found in the whole Bible; since in
this one text only the title of archangel is coupled with any name; and
since the name with which it is here coupled is Michael; it follows
undeniably that the archangel Michael is the only archangel of whom we
know any thing from holy writ. It cannot be proved from holy writ, and,
if not from holy writ, it cannot be proved at all, that any archangel
exists but the one archangel Michael, and this one archangel Michael is
unquestionably the Michael of the book of Daniel.
“I must observe by the way, with respect to the import of the title of
archangel, that the word, by etymology, clearly implies a superiority of
rank and authority in the person to whom it is applied. It implies a
command over angels; and this is all that the word of necessity implies.
But it follows not, by any sound rule of argument, that, because no
other superiority than that of rank and authority is implied in the
title, no other belongs to the person distinguished by the title, and
that he is in all other respects a mere angel. Since we admit various
orders of intelligent beings, it is evident that a being highly above
the angelic order may command angels.
“To ascertain, if we can, to what order of beings the archangel Michael
may belong, let us see how he is described by the Prophet Daniel, who
never mentions him by that title; and what action is attributed to him
in the book of Daniel and in another book, in which he bears a principal
part.
“Now Daniel calls him ‘one of the chief princes,‘ or ‘one of the capital
princes,’ or ‘one of the princes that are at the head of all:’ for this
I maintain to be the full and not more than the full import of the
Hebrew words. Now we are clearly got above the earth, into the order of
celestials, who are the princes that are _first_, or _at the head of
all_? Are they any other than the three persons in the Godhead? Michael,
therefore, is one of them; but which of them? This is not left in doubt.
Gabriel, speaking of him to Daniel, calls him ‘Michael _your_ prince,’
and ‘the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people;‘
that is, not for the nation of the Jews in particular, but for the
children, the spiritual children, of that holy seed the elect people of
God; a description which applies particularly to the Son of God, and to
no one else; and in perfect consistence with this description of Michael
in the book of Daniel, is the action assigned to him in the Apocalypse,
in which we find him fighting with the old serpent, the deceiver of the
world, and victorious in the combat. That combat who was to maintain? in
that combat who was to be victorious, but the seed of the woman? From
all this it is evident, that Michael is a name for our Lord himself, in
his particular character of the champion of his faithful people, against
the violence of the apostate faction and the wiles of the devil.” To
this opinion there is nothing irreconcilable in the “voice of the
archangel” mentioned in 1 Thess. iv, 16: since the “shout,” the “voice,”
the “trump of God,” may all be the majestic summons of the Judge
himself. At the same time we must feel that the reasoning of Bishop
Horsley, though ingenious, is for from being conclusive against the
existence of one or more archangels.
in the celestial order or hierarchy; but others reckon it a title only
applicable to our Saviour; Jude 9; Dan. xii, 1; 1 Thess. iv, 16. On this
point Bishop Horsley has the following observations:--“It has been for a
long time a fashion in the church to speak very frequently and
familiarly of archangels as beings of an order with which we are
perfectly well acquainted. Some say there are seven of them. Upon what
solid ground that assertion stands, I know not; but this I know, the
word ‘archangel’ is not to be found in any one passage of the Old
Testament: in the New Testament it occurs twice, and only twice. One of
the two passages is in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians; where the
Apostle, among the circumstances of the pomp of our Lord’s descent from
heaven to the final judgment, mentions ‘the voice of the archangel;’ the
other passage is in the Epistle of St. Jude, where the title of
archangel is coupled with the name of ‘Michael the archangel.’ This
passage is so remarkably obscure that I shall not attempt to draw any
conclusion from it but this, which manifestly follows, be the particular
sense of the passage what it may: since this is one of the two texts in
which alone the word ‘archangel’ is found in the whole Bible; since in
this one text only the title of archangel is coupled with any name; and
since the name with which it is here coupled is Michael; it follows
undeniably that the archangel Michael is the only archangel of whom we
know any thing from holy writ. It cannot be proved from holy writ, and,
if not from holy writ, it cannot be proved at all, that any archangel
exists but the one archangel Michael, and this one archangel Michael is
unquestionably the Michael of the book of Daniel.
“I must observe by the way, with respect to the import of the title of
archangel, that the word, by etymology, clearly implies a superiority of
rank and authority in the person to whom it is applied. It implies a
command over angels; and this is all that the word of necessity implies.
But it follows not, by any sound rule of argument, that, because no
other superiority than that of rank and authority is implied in the
title, no other belongs to the person distinguished by the title, and
that he is in all other respects a mere angel. Since we admit various
orders of intelligent beings, it is evident that a being highly above
the angelic order may command angels.
“To ascertain, if we can, to what order of beings the archangel Michael
may belong, let us see how he is described by the Prophet Daniel, who
never mentions him by that title; and what action is attributed to him
in the book of Daniel and in another book, in which he bears a principal
part.
“Now Daniel calls him ‘one of the chief princes,‘ or ‘one of the capital
princes,’ or ‘one of the princes that are at the head of all:’ for this
I maintain to be the full and not more than the full import of the
Hebrew words. Now we are clearly got above the earth, into the order of
celestials, who are the princes that are _first_, or _at the head of
all_? Are they any other than the three persons in the Godhead? Michael,
therefore, is one of them; but which of them? This is not left in doubt.
Gabriel, speaking of him to Daniel, calls him ‘Michael _your_ prince,’
and ‘the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people;‘
that is, not for the nation of the Jews in particular, but for the
children, the spiritual children, of that holy seed the elect people of
God; a description which applies particularly to the Son of God, and to
no one else; and in perfect consistence with this description of Michael
in the book of Daniel, is the action assigned to him in the Apocalypse,
in which we find him fighting with the old serpent, the deceiver of the
world, and victorious in the combat. That combat who was to maintain? in
that combat who was to be victorious, but the seed of the woman? From
all this it is evident, that Michael is a name for our Lord himself, in
his particular character of the champion of his faithful people, against
the violence of the apostate faction and the wiles of the devil.” To
this opinion there is nothing irreconcilable in the “voice of the
archangel” mentioned in 1 Thess. iv, 16: since the “shout,” the “voice,”
the “trump of God,” may all be the majestic summons of the Judge
himself. At the same time we must feel that the reasoning of Bishop
Horsley, though ingenious, is for from being conclusive against the
existence of one or more archangels.