(1.) Because the scriptures every where describe the state of de- parted souls as a fixed state, either in heaven or in hell ; and assign the good or evil done in this world by spirits, not to the departed spirits of men, but to angels or devils : And it is our duty to regu- late our conceits by scripture, and not according to the vain philo- sojphy of the heathens, or the superstitious traditions and opinions joi men.
As for the souls of the godly, they are at rest with Christ, Rev. %'iv. 13v Isa. Ivii: 2. and fixed as pillars hi the house of God, Rev. iii. 12.
As for the wicked, their spirits are confined, and secured in helL as in a prison, 1 Pet. iii. 19. there is a fixed gulph betwixt them and the living, Luke xvi. 27, to 32.
"What good offices are to be done by suirits for us, the angels are God's commission-officers to do them, Heb. i. 14. " They are all •' ministeting spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be
* Etligio Med. Sect, 37. p- 32,
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" heirs of salvation :'' These are the spirits sent forth to walk to and fro through the earth, Zech. i. 10. Their ministry was emble- matically represented in Jacob's vision, where they were seen as- cending and descending as upon a ladder, betwixt heaven and earth, Gen. XXV iii. 12. Yea, their very name angel, is a name of office, signifying a messenger, or one sent.
And for the mischief done by spirits in this world, the scriptures ascribe that to the devils ; those unquiet spirits have their walks in this world, they compass the whole earth, and walk up and down in it, Job i. 7. and 1 Pet. v. 8. they can assume any shape ; yea, I doubt not but he can act their bodies when dead, as well as he did their souls and bodies when alive : How great his power is this way, appears in what is so often done by him in the bodies of witches. They are not ordinarily, therefore, the spirits of men, but other spirits that appear to us.
(2.) If God should ordinarily permit the spirits of men inhabit- ing the other world, a liberty so frequently to visit this, what a gap would it open for Satan to beguile and deceive the living ! What might he not by this means impose upon weak and credulous mor- tals ? * There hath been a great deal of superstition and idolatry already introduced under this pretence : he hath often personatecl saints departed, and pretended himself to be the ghost of some ve- nerable person, whose love to the souls of the people, and care for their salvation, drew him from heaven to reveal some special secret to them. Swarms of errors and superstitious and idolatrous opini- ons and practices, are this way conveyed by the tricks and artifices of Satan, among the Papists, which I will not blot my paper withal ; only I desire it may be considered, that if this were a thing so fre- quently permitted by God, as is pretended, upon what dangerous terms had he left his church in this world, seeing he hath left no certain marks by which we may distinguish one spirit from another, or a true messenger from heaven, from a counterfeit and pretended one.
But God hath tied us to the sure and standing rule of his word ; forbidding us to give heed to any other voice or spirit leading us another way, Isa. viii. 19-2 Thess. ii. 1, 2. Gal. i. 8. It was therefore a discreet reply which one of the antients made when in a prayer, a vision of Christ appeared to him, and told him, thy pray- ers are heard, for thou art worthy: the good man immediately clapt his hands upon his eyes, and said, Nolo hie videre Christum^ &c. i. e. / will not sec Christ here, it is enough for me that I shall behold him in heaven.
* For what hath more propagated idolatry among Heathens and Christians r Hence did flow many peregrinations, monasteries, temples, festival days, and such like. Dav. t>n Job.
A TREATISE or THE SOUL OF MAN". 81
To conclude. — My opinion upon tlie whole is this, that altliough it cannot be denied, but in some grand, extraordinary cases, as at the transfiguration and resurrection of Christ, God did, and perhaps sometimes, though rarely, may order or permit departed souls to return into this world; yet, for the most part, I judge those appa- ritions are not the souls of the dead, but other spirits, and, for the most part, evil ones.
Of this judgment was * St. Augustine, who when he had at full related the story above of the father's ghost directing his son to the acquittance ; yet will not allow it to be the very soul of his father, but an angel : where he farther adds, If (saith he) the souls of the dead may be present in our affairs, they would not forsake us in this sort ; especially my mother Monica, who, in her life, could never be without me, surely she would not thus leave me being dead.
Obj. 1. But it loas pleaded before^ that ice allozv the apparition of angels ; and departed soids, if they he not angels^ at least are equcd unto angels^ and in respect of their late relation to tiSj are more propense to help us, thaii spirits of another sort can be supposed to be.
Sol, It seems too bold and imposing upon sovereign Wisdom to tell him what messengers are fittest for him to send and employ in his service ; Avho hath taught him, or been his counsellor ?
Obj. 2. But these offices seem to pertain properly to them, as they are not only fello-w-members, hut the most excellent members of the mystical body, to whom it belongs to assist the meaner and weaker.
Sol. If there be any force of reason in this plea, it carries rather for the angels than for departed souls: for angels are gathered under the same common head with saints ; the text tells us, we are come to an innumerable company of angels : they and the saints are fellow-citizens, and we know they are a more noble order of spirits ; and as for their love to the elect, it is exceeding great, as great to be sure as the departed souls of our dearest relatives can be. For after death they sustain no more civil relation to us: all that they do sustain is as fellow-members of the same body, or fel- low-citizens, which the angels also are as well as they.
Obj. 3. But, saith the doctor, the reason why all nations pay so great honour and religious care to the will of the dead, is a suppo- sition tlmt they still continue in the same mind after death, and will avenge the falsifications of trusts upon injurious executors, else no reason can be given zvhy so great a stress should he laid upon the will of the dead.
Sol. This is gratis dictum, to say no worse, a cheap and unwary expression : Can no reason be given for the religious observance of the testaments of the dead, but this supposition ? I deny it : for though they that made them be dead, yet God, who is witness to
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