before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.” [Gen. xlviii. 15.] Here the patriarch speaks of God as the Angel, and the Angel as God:  being the Angel or Messenger of the Covenant—­God manifested to man.  He speaks not of Michael or Gabriel, or archangel or seraph, or any created being; but of the Lord Himself, who appeared to him, agreeably to the revelation of God Himself recorded in a previous chapter, and thus communicated by the patriarch to Rachel and Leah:  “And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob; and I said, Here am I. And he said ... I am the god of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and vowedst a vow unto me.” [Gen. xxxi. 11.] The Angel whose blessing he desired for the lads was the God[12], to whom he had vowed a vow in Bethel, the Lord Himself.

[Footnote 12:  It may not be superfluous to add, that this is the interpretation of the passage adopted by primitive writers, Among others see Eusebius Demonstr.  Evan. lib. v. ch. 10:  who declares that the Angel spoken of by Jacob was God the Son.]

Independently, however, of this conclusive consideration, if the latter member of this sentence had merely expressed a wish, that an angel might be employed as {41} an instrument of good in behalf of Ephraim and Manasseh, I could readily offer such a prayer for a blessing on my own children.  My prayer would be addressed to the angel neither immediately nor transitively, but exclusively to God alone, supplicating Him graciously to employ the service of those ministering spirits for our good.  Such a prayer every Catholic in communion with the Church of England is taught and directed to offer.  Such a prayer is primitive and scriptural; and such is offered in the Church on the anniversary of Saint Michael and all angels: 

“O Everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of angels and men in a wonderful order, mercifully grant that as Thy holy angels alway do Thee service in heaven, so by Thy appointment they may succour and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.”

Such is the prayer of the Church Catholic, whether of the Roman or the Anglican branch; it is in spirit and in truth a Christian prayer, fit for faithful mortals to offer on earth to the Lord of men and of angels in heaven.  Would that the Church of Rome, preserving, as she has preserved, this prayer in all its original purity, had never been successfully tempted to mingle in the same service, supplications, which rob the one only God of his exclusive honour and glory, as the God “who heareth prayer;” and to rob Christ of his exclusive honour and glory, as our only Mediator and Advocate!