344 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER from heaven iscalledan angelwhen, inpreviouslyhearingthe voiceof the lad crying,He was ratherGod ; is not under stoodto be otherthan angel,in likemanner as He was God also. And sincethiscannot be applicableor fittingto the Father,who is God only,but may be applicableto Christ, who is declaredto be not only God, but angel also,it manifestlyappears that it was not the Father who thus spoke to Hagar, but ratherChrist,sinceHe isGod ; and to Him alsoisappliedthe name of angel,sinceHe became the " angel of great counsel."1 And He is the angel,in that He declaresthe bosom of the Father,as John sets forth. For if John himself says,that He Himself who setsforth the bosom of the Father,as the Word, became fleshin order to declare the bosom of the Father, assuredlyChrist is not only man, but angel also; and not only angel,but He is shown by the Scripturesto be God also. And thisis believedto be the caseby us ; so that,if we willnot consent to apprehend thatitwas Christwho then spoke to Hagar, we must eithermake an angel God, or we must reckon God the Father Almighty among the angels. CHAPTER XIX.2 Argument. — TliatGod alsoappearedtoJacob as an angel; namely,theSon of God. What ifin anotherplacealsowe read in likemanner that God was describedas an angel? For when, to his wives Leah and Rachel,Jacob complainedof the injusticeof their father,and when he toldthem that he desirednow to go and return into his own land,he moreover interposedthe authorityof his dream; and at thistime he says that the angel of God had said to him in a dream, "Jacob, Jacob. And I said,"says he, " What is it? Lift up thine eyes, said He, and see,the he-goatsand the rams leapingupon 1Isa.ix.6,LXX. *AccordingtoPamelius,ch.xxvii.