A26888:135
The certainty of the worlds of spirits and, consequently, of the immortality of souls…
The certainty of the worlds of spirits and, consequently, of the immortality of souls of the malice and misery of the devils and the damned : and of the blessedness of the justified, fully evinced by the unquestionable histories of apparitions, operations, witchcrafts, voices &c. / written, as an addition to many other treatises for the conviction of Sadducees and infidels, by Richard Baxter.The certainty of the worlds of spirits and, consequently, of the immortality of souls of the malice and misery of the devils and the damned : and of the blessedness of the justified, fully evinced by the unquestionable histories of apparitions, operations, witchcrafts, voices &c. / written, as an addition to many other treatises for the conviction of Sadduces and infidels, by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for T. Parkhurst, 1691
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
XVI Simon Jones, a Strong and healthful Man of Kidderminster (no way inclined to Melancholy or any Fancies) hath oft told me, that being a Soldier for the King in the War against the Parliament, in a clear Moon-shine Night, as he stood Sentinel in the College Green at Worcester, something like a headless Bear, appeared to him; and so affrighted him, that he laid down his Arms soon after, and returned home to his ⟨p. 59⟩Trade, and while I was there afterward, which was fourteen years, lived Honestly, Religiously, and without blame, and I think is yet living, which mindeth me of that which followeth, though to me not known.
XVI Simon Iones, a Strong and healthful Man of Kederminster (no way inclined to Melancholy or any Fancies) hath oft told me, that being a Souldier for the King in the War against the Parliament, in a clear Moon-shine Night, as he stood Sentinel in the Colledge Green at Worcester, something like a headless Bear, appeared to him; and so affrighted him, that he laid down his Arms soon after, and returned home to his ⟨p. 59⟩Trade, and while I was there afterward, which was fourteen years, lived Honestly, Religiously, and without blame, and I think is yet living, which mindeth me of that which followeth, though to me not known.
XVII. When I was young, most credible and religious persons born in Wilden-Hall near Wolver-hampton in Stafford-Shire, oft told me (dwelling with me in the same House) that one Richard White a Smith of Wilden-Hall, was a profane Atheistical Man, and believing that there was no Devils, in his Cups would wish he could once see the Devil, if there were such a thing; and that suddenly he changed his Life, and became a professor of zeal, and strictness in Religion, and told them, that in a clear Moonshine Night. the Devil in the shape of a great ugly Man, stood by his Bed side, opening the Curtains, and looking him in the Face, and at last took up the Blanket; and sometime smiled on him, and then was more ugly, and after a while (in which he lay in great Terror) the Apparition Vanished, and he was affrighted into the aforesaid change of Life (as Bruno is said to be the Founder of the Order of Carthusian Fryers.