The disciples of Christ, seeing him walking upon the sea, (_Matt._ xiv. 26, and _Mark_ vi. 49) supposed him to be a _Spirit_, meaning thereby an aerial _body_, and not a phantasm; for it is said, they all saw him; which cannot be understood of the delusions of the brain, (which are not common to many at once, as visible bodies are; but singular, because of the differences of fancies,) but of bodies only. In like manner, where he was taken for a _spirit_, by the same apostles, (_Luke_ xxiv. 37): so also (_Acts_ xii. 15) when St. Peter was delivered out of prison, it would not be believed; but when the maid said he was at the door, they said it was his _angel_; by which must be meant a corporeal substance, or we must say, the disciples themselves did follow the common opinion of both Jews and Gentiles, that some such apparitions were not imaginary, but real, and such as needed not the fancy of man for their existence. These the Jews called _spirits_, and _angels_, good or bad; as the Greeks called the same by the name of _demons_. And some such apparitions may be real, and substantial; that is to say, subtle bodies, which God can form by the same power, by which he formed all things, and make use of, as of ministers, and messengers, that is to say, angels, to declare his will, and execute the same when he pleaseth, in extraordinary and supernatural manner. But when he hath so formed them, they are substances, endued with dimensions, and take up room, and can be moved from place to place, which is peculiar to bodies; and therefore are not ghosts _incorporeal_, that is to say, ghosts that are in _no place_; that is to say, that are _no where_; that is to say, that seeming to be _somewhat_, are _nothing_. But if corporeal be taken in the most vulgar manner, for such substances as are perceptible by our external senses; then is substance incorporeal, a thing not imaginary, but real; namely, a thin substance invisible, but that hath the same dimensions that are in grosser bodies. [Sidenote: Angel, what.] By the name of ANGEL, is signified generally, a _messenger_; and most often, a _messenger of God_; and by a messenger of God, is signified, any thing that makes known his extraordinary presence; that is to say, the extraordinary manifestation of his power, especially by a dream or vision.