And he [Abraham] lift up his          And Jacob lifted up his eyes,
eyes, and lo! three men stood         and looked, and behold!  Esau
by him; and when he saw them,         came ...  And he passed over, and
he ran to meet them from the          bowed himself to the ground seven
tent door; and bowed himself        times until he came near to his
toward the ground.                  brother. {39}

By rendering the Hebrew word[10], which means to “bow or bend oneself,” by the word “adoravit,” which is literally “to pray to,” the Latin Vulgate has laid the foundation for much unsound and misleading criticism.  But suppose the word had meant, what it does not mean, an act of solemn religious worship; and let it be granted (as I am not only ready to grant, but prepared to maintain) that Abraham paid religious adoration at that time, what inference can fairly and honestly be drawn from that circumstance in favour of the invocation of angels?  The ancient writers of the Christian Church, and those whom the Church of Rome habitually holds in great respect, are full and clear in maintaining that the person whom Abraham then addressed, was no created being, neither angel nor seraph; but the Angel of the Covenant; the Word, the eternal Son of God, Himself God[11].  Before the visible and miraculous presence of the God of heaven, who for his own glory and in carrying on the work of man’s salvation, sometimes deigned so to reveal Himself, the patriarchs of old bowed themselves to the earth.  Can this, with any shadow of {40} reason, be employed to sanction the invocation of Michael and all the myriads of angels who fill the court of heaven?

[Footnote 10:  Not only is the Hebrew word precisely the same, letter for letter, and point for point, [Hebrew:  shahah], but the Septuagint in each case employs the same, [Greek:  prosekunaesen]; and the Vulgate in each case renders it by the same word, “adoravit.”  The Roman Catholic commentator De Sacy renders it in each case, “se prosternavit,” which corresponds exactly with our English version.  The Douay Bible in each case renders it “adored.”]

[Footnote 11:  Many early Christian writers may be cited to the same purpose:  it is enough, however, to refer to Justin Martyr and to Athanasius; who are very full and elaborate in maintaining, that the angel here mentioned was no created being, but was the Angel of the Covenant, God, in the fulness of time manifested in the flesh.  The passage from Athanasius will be quoted at some length, when we come to examine that father’s testimony.  For Justin Martyr, see Dial. cum Tryph. ch. 56, &c. p. 150, &c. (Paris, 1742.)]

The only other instance to which it will be necessary to call your attention, occurs in the forty-eighth chapter of Genesis.  The passage, however, is so palpably and on the very face of it inapplicable, that its examination needs not detain us long.  “And he [Jacob] blessed Joseph, and said, God,