The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-05-21
1.-THE ANGEL OF THE LORD"

The May number of the clamp" records an
extraordinary incident in the Life of the late Bishop
King of Lincoln, England 1t appears that soon
after his ordination the young clergyman was sent
for to visit man in the parish who, the messenger
said, was seriously i'll 1t was a country parish, the
night was dark and the way lonely, but the young
curate at once answered the summons and entered
on walk of some two miles to the house of the dy-
ing man. When he reached the house, no light was
burning, and, in answer to his knock, he was told
there was no one sick within and that no one had
sent for him. Puzzled and perpleyel, he retraeed
his steps, wondering if he had misunderstood the
messenger Years passed, and with the passing years
the memory of that lonely visit had almost been for
gotten.
When the young curate had In time become
bishop, he visited in the prison of his do
cesar city sentenced to death for murder When the
bishop was about to leave the cell of the condemned
man he was detained by the prisoner, who said to
him: "Do you remember the dark night many
years ago when you we're summoned to visit dying
man, and when you came to the house you found no
sick man7''
81 do" answered the Bishop.
"Do you think you would now know the man who
knocked at your door that night and sent you out
INTO the darkness?''
81 do not think would"
''Well, l was that man who asked you to tramp
the lonely road, and intended to rob you on the
way
E'Why, then, did you not attack me7'' asked the
bishop. The reply was extraordinary:
tFI don't know l was afraid and let you pass,
determined to waylay you your return; but
you passed on your way back the place where 1 was
hiding, saw that you were not alone"
''But was alone,' spoke back the bishop.
"No, you were not. You were not alone. There
was with you tall, fne-looking man, who walked
beside you till you entered your house, and then
disappeared Ny chance was gone, and 1 never
again troubled you"
fFCan it be- asks the Lamp, 'Fthat in that dark
night the Angel of the Lord walked with him and
made the fact knownq''
Why mott Did not the Angel Gabriel accompany
the young Tobias to Eebactana and see him safely
back to his father7 Does not Jacob tell us of "the
angel who had delivered him out of all DANGERS"
and does not the Psalmist, In several places men
ton angels protectors of the rghteous7 This was
the common belief Of the Jews in our Savior's time
Our Lord tells us not to despse his followers "be
cause their angels continually behold the face of
their father who is IN Heaven Both the Jews and
Gentiles believed that particular angels
signed to guard good men, and had the of their
conduct and protection. Hesiod, one of the most
ancient Greek authors records the tradition among
the nations that there are:
Aerial spirits by great Jove designed
To be earth the guardians of mankind
And does not Plato tell us (de Legibus, lib X
that "every man has his own guardian angel
(daemon) prompting him to good7"
Did not an angel speak to Moses in the bush
deliver the law to him and guide his people IN the
wilderness7 And does not the Church in that beau
tiful prayer-taught us all in our childhood-"O
angel of God, to whose hoiy care / have been com
mtted by the divine charity, deign during this day
TO enghten, to guard, to guide and protect mel
tell every child that an angel of God watches
over it7
The Old and the New Testaments the literature
Of Rome and Greece H. e.. Socrates and his daemon),
the hagiology Lives of the Saints, and modern
literature in many instances (see Life Of Brougham)
all bear witness to the fact that angels guard good
and women.
To the man of faith and prayer, the angelic care
of the young curate is by no means an exceptional
occurrence There are many, very many, who, like
King, do not see the spirit which guards them. but
have often, without their knowledge, been saved