Angels and their Ministry

Although this quotation was written for children (it is taken from a Letter to the Children) its content will be meaningful to all who are interested in Angels. It is one of many passages in which the Reverend Ferrier affirmed the reality of Angels and their ministry.

In these days when all the world should feel young and sense its oneness with the Unseen World from which all blessings come, I would have a word with you concerning the Angels.

When I was a boy in this incarnation, the stories of Angels fascinated me. I did not understand who they were and what they were, nor how they could approach a child like myself and talk with him; for at that time I knew nothing about this world in its fallen states, except that all men, women and children were accounted sinful; nor did I understand the nature of the Spiritual World, though I had my dream-visions by day and night. The chief thing that impressed me was a sense of unutterable loneliness. Amid this aloneness the stories about the Angels had the effect of bringing nearer to me something I thought of as Heaven. There seemed to be sweet breaths in the atmosphere. The Angels that were said to have visited Abraham, Jacob and the Prophets, I often longed to meet on my way. At that age I did not know that I should have to be guarded by them, and often meet them and have speech with them.

I also wondered what the Angels would look like in form; the kind of raiment they would wear, if they came to me; and likewise I wondered much about the nature of their wings, and how they would use their wings. It is therefore out of my experience I speak thus to you; for I have the consciousness that you may also have often read and thought about the Angels and have longed to meet them, not only in the visions of the night-watches, but at any time when you needed their companionship and communion. And my heart would be filled with joy if I knew that the Angels had become real Beings to you, most lovely presences filling your room, making a heavenly garden full of the most lovely flowers and breaths.

To dream of Angels is exhilarating and joy-giving; to hear them speak in their own tongue, is most refreshing; to be able to see them has the effect of filling the heart and mind with sweet assurance. Such experiences may be gifted to you; and if so, rejoice in the gift, and let your experience help you to bring to others the great blessing of the Angelic ministry.

Though the Angelic Presences may not always be seen, yet you may feel them. We cannot see the aqua in the upper atmospheres before it becomes mist or cloud; yet we can feel it. We may not seem to be able to touch the aqua as something tangible and real; yet it is present. Often we can sense it on our faces, and even in the air we breathe.

And just as truly are the Angels real and never very far away from us, floating as it were in spiritual aqua, and so breathing into and through it that we may become baptized with the waters of the upper spheres. In their forms the Angels are very much like ourselves. They have most delicate human bodies, very pure and capable of revealing through them the Mystery of GOD. Their garments vary according to their Order, for they have Orders of Service in the Heavens. They never wear black, for they love all the colours of the Rainbow and Spectrum. Some are in White, others in Ruby, Sardius, Topaz, Emerald, Sapphire, Indigo-Amethyst, and Violet-Amethyst or Heliotrope. But all of them are most radiant, and their robes are of such fine spiritual fabric that they can become translucent and transparent. When they extend some of their Planes, as is the case in special service, they appear to have wings for flight. But they also have the power to use their wings for defence, should such be necessary. And some are given a ministry of protection to children.

We are all endowed with Powers which we may speak of as Wings. Like the Living Creatures in Ezekiel’s vision, and that also described in the Apocalypse, and those most wonderful Beings called Cherubim and Seraphim, we have been endowed by our FATHER-MOTHER, in a way that enables us to respond to HIM, just as the Angels do. We have Powers by the exercise of which we may move upward and inward to HIM; and we possess Powers by which we can move outward and downward in service for HIM. We are all rich in gifts, having given to us Angelic potencies and attributes. We are, therefore, capable of becoming Angels in Love, Life and Wisdom, and in serving the FATHER-MOTHER in our degree, even as the Angels do.

Thus would I have you walk and serve in your life, conscious always that the Angels are near you ministering, guarding you in so far as they may without taking from you the wisdom you yourselves must exercise and the responsibilities you must carry. And in your daily life, in joyful play or earnest service and study, remember the Angels are near you to talk with you, and to help you to serve others even as they minister unto you.

Quotation from the Herald of the Cross Vol. 8 (pp. 80-82) by John Todd Ferrier.
© The Order of the Cross

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