"f (5.) Tditametitum f Ul piano dcfinientej est voluntatis noslrte juslu sententia de eo quail 'post jv.or tern nonrain.fxn voliimus. Testamentam autcm tauquam res sacra ab omnibui& ■ gentibus religiose ubservatur, Gal. iii. 15. Jtatio atitcm tarn religiosee tnmque universalis obsendnti'd; est, quoniam uninias eorum qui Testainenta condidcraiit, etiam siiavi post viorteniy in eadem voluntate persevcrare, ejus comjdenieuta curare, ac devtique .ejus vel executrices, Del Hon prfcslita: vindices e'^se prtrsumitur.
•j [A.,) In sacris sc'ripiwis en nsuterc mo f tuns passim prohibetur, lit J)ex\i. xviii. 10, 11. ''5f<i si Iwjnines a-morluis noii suscitentur, legibus hand opus est ; et si mortui rogati non ali- iq^ianio refjmidffe*it^ ts& 'ho^iinibus haudqufi/jvxira • conmleTeniu>% Stern, de Morte> uUi
A TrtEATlSI-: OF TTIT. SOLn. Ol' MA1«T. 75
3aysno foundcatlon for religious worship, or invocation of departed souls : those that are helpful to us, are not therefore to be wor- shipped. SecQ7tdl)j^ That we must acknowledge ourselves to be under much darkness, as to the way and manner of the converse of spirits with us.
The most acute and learned * Dr. More, I find of the same opinion. He affirms, that departed souls are cajm])le of a vital union with an airy ^eliicle (or body) in which they can easily move :from place to place, and appear to the living; and act in their affairs, as in detecting murders, rebuking injurious executors, visiting and counselling their wives and children, forewarning them of such and such courses, &;c. To which we may add, the pro- 'fession of the spirit thus apjiearing, of being the soul of such a one ; as also, the similitude of the person : And all this a-do is in things very just and serious, unfit for a devil, with that care and kind- ness to promote; and as unfit for a good genius; it being below so noble a creature to tell a lie. All these things put together and rightly weighed, the violence of prejudice not pulling down the balance, I dare appeal (saith he) to any, whether it will not be certainly carried ior the present cause ? And whether any indiffer- ent judge ought not to conclude, if these stories, which are so frequent every where, and in all ages, concerning the ghosts of 'men appearing, be but true, that it .is true also, that they are their ghosts, &c.
Tliesc are the strongest arguments I meet with, for the affir- mative, that the matter is possible, it may be so ; and then adding the credible instances that it is so, the matter seems to be deter- imined.
To this purpose Br. Sterne alleges several instances out of scrip- ture:; as that appearance of Samuel unto Saul, and the conference betwixt them*, as also, the letters that were sent to Jehoram by Elijah, and that Elijah was translated to heaven ; as appears by comparing 2 Chron. xxi. 12. with ^ Kings iii. 11. in which it appears, that in Jehoshaphaf s time, who preceded this Jehoram, Elijah was dead ; and yet, in Jehoranfs time, who succeeded hin\, he is said to receive letters from Elijah. Tlie appearance and con- ference also betwixt Christ, and Moses, and Elias, upon the mount, .in tlie presence of some of the disciples, confirm it. Mat. xvii. 3.
These are the principal scripture-instances ; others are almost in- numerable. From among that vast heap, I will select some fe>^» that are most material, and of clearest credit.
" It is a thing (saith *my author) both known and frequent,
* Dr. -More's Immortality of the Soul, b. 2. c. IG.
\JasuUirumSioUcanvn I'ncoiw ad o'gros, cum pro drploraiis habentur, accedunt, et
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN,
<^ that tlie inabitants of the Scottish isles, when their friends arc " dying, come to them, and request them, that, upon such or *' such a day, after their death, and in such a place, they would " meet them ; which the dead accordingly do, at the time and " place agreed upon, and have sometimes discourse with them."
Infinite examples of murders (saith Dr. More) have been dis- covered by dreams, the souls of the persons murdered seeming to appear to some or other asleep, and to make their complaints to them; giving us a notable example out of Baronius, of Marcihus Ficinius, who having made a solemn vow with Michael Mercatus, (after they had been pretty warmly disputing of the immortaUty of the soul, out of the principles of their master Plato) that whether of them, two died first, lie should appear to his friend, and give him certain information of that truth. It was Ficinius' fate to die first, and that not long after this mutual resolution : He was mindful of his promise, when he had left the body ; for Mercatus being very intent at his studies, betimes in a morning, heard a horse riding by Avith all speed, and observed that he stopt at his wmdow, and therewith heard the voice of his friend Ficinius, crying out, aloud, O Michael^ Michael, vera, vera, sunt ilia ; that is, O Michael, Michael, those things are true, they are true. Whereupon he suddenly opened his window, and espying Marcilius upon a white steed, called after him, but he vanished out of his sight. He sent therefore presently to Florence, to know how Marcilius did, and understood that he died about that hour he called at his window.
Much to the same purpose is that so famous and well attested story of the apparition of major George Svdenham, to captain William Dyke, both of Somersetshire, attested by the worthy and learned Dr. Thomas Dyke, a near kinsman of the captain's ; and by ^Ir. Douch, to whom the major and captain were intimately known *. The sum is this : The major and captain had many disputes about the being of a God, and the immortality of the soul, in which points they could never be resolved, though they much sought for, and desired it : and therefore it was at last fully agreed betwixt them, that he that died first, should, the third night after his funeral, come betwixt the hours of twelve and one, to the little house in the garden adjoining to major Sydenham's house, at Dulverton, in Somersetshire. The major died first, and the captain happened to lie that very night which was appointed, in the same chamber and bed with Dr. Dyke; he acquainted
rogant ut certo a mnrto die, Incoque certo ipsos cnnveniant ; quod et mortui tempore et pr^&li~ iu'it prtTstant. Sterne, ibid. * Sad, Trium.part 2. p. 183.
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAK.. 7T
the doctor with the appointment, and his resolution to attend the place, and hour that night, for which purpose he had got the key of that garden. The doctor could by no means divert his purpose, but, when the hour came, he was upon the place, where he waited two hours and a half, neither seeing nor hearing any thing more than usual. About six weeks after, the captain and doctor went to Eaton, and lay both in the same inn, but not both in the same chamber, as they had done before at Dulverton.