Angel Guardians by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 18, 1913

Angel Guardians

By W. A. S.

What more precious promise of divine watch-care than that of Ps. 91:11: “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” To believe it is to know the secret of courage in the daily toil. Unseen, they are there, according to the promise, angels that one moment behold the Father’s face in heaven and the next come swiftly to minister to his children on earth.

A narrative of early times in America, which appeared many years ago in the Boston Christian, bears witness to the fact that sometimes the heavenly watchers have been made visible to human eyes in these modern days, even as in olden times. One C. G. Steinhofer was a faithful Lutheran pastor, in a frontier region of one of the Eastern States. In his pastoral labors, it came to his knowledge that a member of the congregation was living a double and wicked life. He labored with the man, but to no avail. Then he told the offender he would have to rebuke the sin publicly.

The man threatened the pastor, and finally, just before the public service, gave him notice that he would surely do him violence if he made the matter public. The pastor, however, discharged his duty, and called on the congregation to pray that the evil might be removed from their midst. The offender was so enraged that he immediately prepared to take the pastor’s life. Knowing that he would pass through a wood to visit a sick member, the furious man lay in wait for the minister, with gun in his hand and murder in his heart. The narrative continues:—

In due time the clergyman came in sight; but to the dismay of the watcher, two men appeared to be with him, one on either side. This, for that time, baffled his intention; but being determined to effect it, he concluded to do it when the visit was over, and therefore remained waiting in the wood. Steinhofer, after a short period, returned, but to the surprise of his enemy, the two men who had appeared to accompany him as he went were still apparently beside him; and thus he again passed safely through the wood, not knowing that it concealed an enemy.

Perplexed in mind and uneasy in conscience, the offender felt an earnest desire to know who the men were whose presence had protected his intended victim. To obtain that knowledge he sent a servant-maid on some trivial errand to the house of the minister, telling her to find out who the strangers were who accompanied him on his afternoon visit. She made inquiry, and was told that he went out alone, and took nothing with him but his Bible, which he carried under his arm. This return to his question startled the man more than ever. He immediately despatched a messenger to the clergyman, demanding who those two men were who, one on his right and the other on his left side, accompanied him to visit the sick man. The messenger was also instructed to say that his master had seen them with his own eyes.

C. G. Steinhofer, although he knew not what peril he had escaped, yet felt convinced that the Lord’s hand was in the thing, and also that he had, by his preserving providence, been round about him that day. He bade the servant tell his master that he knew of no man having accompanied him. “But,” he added, “I am never alone; the Lord whom I serve is always with me.” This message, faithfully delivered by the servant, produced a powerful effect on the master. His conscience was alarmingly awakened. He immediately complied with the requisitions of duty, and the next morning, as a humble penitent, he called on his faithful reprover, with tears confessed his past crime, and also his wicked intention so providentially frustrated.

Patriarch and prophet and apostle of old are passed away, whom angel messengers attended, guarding, delivering, and blessing. But the angels still live on—the same that have kept up the line of communication between heaven and earth since Adam’s fall. And their ministry is just the same in these latter days of unbelief in a living God. It is good to know it, not merely in times of danger, but in the common round of everyday life. They are still with us, these messengers from heaven, to help us to be ready to live in heaven, where we shall see the King in his beauty, and where we shall join in his praise with the angels that have been fellow servants with us in God’s service here on earth.

W. A. S.