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The City of God

Chapter 15.--Of the Ministry of the Holy Angels, by Which They Fulfill the Providence of God.

And so it has pleased Divine Providence, as I have said, and as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, ¹ that the law enjoining the worship of one God should be given by the disposition of angels. But among them the person of God Himself visibly appeared, not, indeed, in His proper substance, which ever remains invisible to mortal eyes, but by the infallible signs furnished by creation in obedience to its Creator. He made use, too, of the words of human speech, uttering them syllable by syllable successively, though in His own nature He speaks not in a bodily but in a spiritual way; not to sense, but to the mind; not in words that occupy time, but, if I may so say, eternally, neither beginning to speak nor coming to an end. And what He says is accurately heard, not by the bodily but by the mental ear of His ministers and messengers, who are immortally blessed in the enjoyment of His unchangeable truth; and the directions which they in some ineffable way receive, they execute without delay or difficulty in the sensible and visible world. And this law was given in conformity with the age of the world, and contained at the first earthly promises, as I have said, which, however, symbolized eternal ones; and these eternal blessings few understood, though many took a part in the celebration of their visible signs. Nevertheless, with one consent both the words and the visible rites of that law enjoin the worship of one God,--not one of a crowd of gods, but Him who made heaven and earth, and every soul and every spirit which is other than Himself. He created; all else was created; and, both for being and well-being, all things need Him who created them.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XV: De ministerio sanctorum angelorum, quo prouidentiae dei seruiunt.

Sic itaque diuinae prouidentiae placuit ordinare temporum cursum, ut, quemadmodum dixi et in actibus apostolorum legitur, lex in edictis angelorum daretur de unius ueri dei cultu, in quibus et persona ipsius dei, non quidem per suam substantiam, quae semper corruptibilibus oculis inuisibilis permanet, sed certis indiciis per subiectam creatori creaturam uisibiliter appareret et syllabatim per transitorias temporum morulas humanae linguae uocibus loqueretur, qui in sua natura non corporaliter, sed spiritaliter, non sensibiliter, sed intellegibiliter, non temporaliter, sed, ut ita dicam, aeternaliter nec incipit loqui nec desinit; quod apud illum sincerius audiunt, non corporis aure sed mentis, ministri eius et nuntii, qui eius ueritate incommutabili perfruuntur inmortaliter beati; et quod faciendum modis ineffabilibus audiunt et usque in ista uisibilia atque sensibilia perducendum, incunctanter atque indifficulter efficiunt. haec autem lex distributione temporum data est, quae prius haberet, ut dictum est, promissa terrena, quibus tamen significarentur aeterna, quae uisibilibus sacramentis celebrarent multi, intellegerent pauci. unius tamen dei cultus apertissima illic et uocum et rerum omnium contestatione praecipitur, non unius de turba, sed qui fecit caelum et terram et omnem animam et omnem spiritum, qui non est quod ipse. ille enim fecit, haec facta sunt, atque ut sint et bene se habeant, eius indigent, a quo facta sunt.