with regard to the being and attributes of God, but
also taught us that there were hosts of spiritual beings, called
Angels; good beings, opposed to the demons of paganism. Bishop
Kaye, in his excellent work on Justin Martyr, which the reader
will do well to consult (p. 53), tells us he was sometimes
inclined to think that Justin referred to the host of good
angels who should surround the Son of God when he should come to
judge the world. The view adopted by myself here was recommended
by Grabe and by Langus, called The Interpreter of Justin; whilst
Petavius, a Jesuit, though he does not adopt it, yet
acknowledges that the Greek admits of our interpretation. Any
one who would pursue the subject further may with advantage
consult the preface to the Benedictine edition referred to in
this work. Lumper Hist. Part ii. p. 225. Augustae Vindelicorum,
1784. Petavius, Theologicorum Dogmatum tom. vi. p. 298. lib. xv.
c. v. s. 5. Antwerp, 1700.

The whole passage is thus rendered by Langus (as read in
Lumper), "Verum hunc ipsum, et qui ab eo venit, atque ista nos
et aliorum obsequentium exaequatorumque ad ejus voluntatem
bonorum Angelorum exercitura docuit, Filium, et Spiritum ejus
propheticum, colimus et adoramus."]

This interpretation is strongly confirmed by the professed sentiments
both of Justin and of his contemporaries, {112} with regard to the Son
of God and the holy angels.

It was a principle generally received among the early Christians, that
whatever the Almighty did, either by creation or by the communication of
his will, on earth or in heaven, was done by the Eternal Word. It was
God the Son, the Logos, who created the angels[38], as well as
ourselves; it was He who spoke to Moses, to Abraham, and to Lot; and it
was He who conveyed the Supreme will, and the knowledge of the only true
God, to the inhabitants of the world of spirits. Agreeably to this
principle, in the passage under consideration, Justin affirms (not that
Christians revered and worshipped the angels, but), that God the Son,
whom Christians worshipped as the eternal Prophet, Angel, and Apostle,
of the Most High, instructed not only us men on earth, but also the host
of heavenly angels[39], in these eternal verities, {113} which embrace
God's nature and the duty of his creatures. [Trypho, Sec. 141. p. 231.]

[Footnote 38: Thus Tatian (p. 249 in the same edition of