Citations:angel


 * 1678 — John Bunyan. The Pilgrim's Progress.
 * Things without life, that is, without the true faith and grace of the gospel; and consequently, things that shall never be placed in the kingdom of heaven among those that are the children of life; though their sound, by their talk, be as if it were the tongue or voice of an angel.


 * 1719 — Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe.
 * Is it a real man or an angel?” “Be in no fear about that, sir,” said I; “if God had sent an angel to relieve you, he would have come better clothed, and armed after another manner than you see me; pray lay aside your fears; I am a man, an Englishman, and disposed to assist you; you see I have one servant only; we have arms and ammunition; tell us freely, can we serve you?


 * 1843 — Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol.
 * "I don't know what to do!" cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoön of himself with his stockings. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world. Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!"


 * 1851 — Herman Melville. Moby Dick.
 * But high above the flying scud and dark-rolling clouds, there floated a little isle of sunlight, from which beamed forth an angel's face; and this bright face shed a distinct spot of radiance upon the ship's tossed deck, something like that silver plate now inserted into the Victory's plank where Nelson fell. "Ah, noble ship," the angel seemed to say, "beat on, beat on, thou noble ship, and bear a hardy helm; for lo! the sun is breaking through; the clouds are rolling off — serenest azure is at hand."
 * You is sharks, sartin; but if you gobern de shark in you, why den you be angel; for all angel is not'ing more dan de shark well goberned.
 * "When dis old brack man dies," said the negro slowly, changing his whole air and demeanor, "he hisself won't go nowhere; but some bressed angel will come and fetch him."

angel meaning 'angelic being, or minister or bishop' in Revelation

 * 1755, The Parliamentary Or Constitutional History of England: , volume XVIII, page 354:
 * As for the Angel of the Church of Epheſus, much inſiſted upon in the Iſle of wight, to prove an Epiſcopacy, Jure Divino, diſtinct from Preſbytery, I never read that this Angel ordained any Preſbyters, either quatenus Angel or Biſhop; not find I the Name of a Biſhop in any of St. John&apos;s Writings, but the Title of a Preſbyter or Elder very frequent, [...] And I wonder much the King or his Biſhops ſhould now ſo much inſiſt upon this Angel, and aſſert him to be a Lord Biſhop, not an ordinary Miniſter.
 * 1841, Robert Calder, Thomas Stephen (ed.), The True Difference Betwixt the Principles and Practices of the Kirk and the Church of Scotland, Exemplified in Several Instances ... London ... MDCCXII, page 6:
 * Antipas, whom Christ calls his “faithful martyr,” was bishop of Pergamos; and to the angel, or bishop, his successor in that see, Christ's Epistle in the Revelations is addressed. Epaphroditus was bishop of Philippi, and he is called an “apostle” ...
 * 1860, Bishop Gillis's Defence of Popery refuted. A tract for the times. By Verus, page 12:
 * It is impossible to doubt this, for it is not only established by the Apocalyptic Epistles addressed to the angel or bishop of each of the seven Churches of Asia,  which John especially superintended, but by the testimony of Eusebius and the ...
 * 1888, Thomas Livius, S. Peter, Bishop of Rome: , page 268:
 * In the Apocalypse the Episcopate appears clearly and unmistakably. The Lord sends written messages to the presidents of the seven Asiatic Churches, who are called in prophetic language ‘angels,’ or messengers of God. . . . The name comes nearest that of an Apostle, [...] The angels are always spoken of in the singular number, which is then first changed into the plural when the communities are spoken of. . . . Thus the angel or bishop is always distinguished from the community. . . . These angels are praised for the good found in their churches, and made responsible for the abuses, [...]

angel apparently meaning 'minister or bishop' and outside Revelation

 * 1817, Thomas Stackhouse, A history of the holy Bible, corrected and improved by G. Gleig, page 504:
 * An apostle, or angel, or bishop, as he is now called, resided with a college of presbyters about him, in every considerable city of the Roman empire; to that angel or bishop, was committed the pastoral care of all the Christian in the city and its suburbs, exending as far on all sides as the jurisdiction of the civil magistrate extended;
 * 1832 March, Edward Irving, speech before the Presbytery of London, quoted in 1862, Margaret Oliphant, The Life of Edward Irving, Minister of the National Scotch Church, London: Illustrated by His Journals and Correspondence, page 429:
 * [...] the head of that Church, in whose place I stand in my Church, and in whose place no other standeth (the elders and deacons have their place, but this belongeth to the angel or minister of the Church), and the Lord commendeth him for trying ...
 * 1878, Edward Miller, The History and Doctrines of Irvingism Or of the So-called Catholic and Apostolic Church, § 9 Pastors, page 50 (discussing the structure of the early Christian church and of the Catholic Apostolic Church):
 * The second or highest grade consists of the Angels or Bishops of Churches. Each Church has its Angel, who has (1) the higher supervision and care of all the flock, (2) the supervision and care of the Priests under him, and (3) the care of the Church itself.