A26888:339
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.
And they are strongly at last tempted to destroy themselves: If they see a Knife, t••y feel as if one within them said, Now cut thy […] or s••b thy self: Do it, do it. If they go by a Water they feel as if one urged them presently to leap in. And often are they urged vehemently to hang themselves, or to cast themselves headlong from some high place. And, alas! many do it. And it is so in other Lands, as well as here. How many doth Platerus, in his Observations, tell us of, that near him, in Helvetia, destroyed themselves.
And they are strongly at last tempted to destroy themselves: If they see a Knife, t••y feel as if one within them said, Now cut thy 〈…〉 or s••b thy self: Do it, do it. If they go by a Water they feel as if one urged them presently to leap in. And often are they urged vehemently to hang themselves, or to cast themselves headlong from some high place. And, alas! many do it. And it is so in other Lands, as well as here. How many doth Platerus, in his Observations, tell us of, that near him, in Helvetia, destroyed themselves.
And it is to be noted, that unless it be God's Judgment for some heinous Crime, it is few of the ungodly Rabble that have any such Trouble and Temptation; for Satan holds them faster by presumptuous Unbelief, and Carelessness, and worldly Love, and Pleasure: But those that will not be so deceived, that he cannot torment hereafter, he would torment here. Alas! divers Persons have I known thus destroy themselves, who I have great reason to believe were as really Godly as any that I have known.
And it is to be noted, that unless it be God's Judgment for some heinous Crime, it is few of the ungodly Rabble that have any such Trouble and Temptation; for Satan holds them faster by presumptuous Unbelief, and Carelesness, and worldly Love, and Pleasure: But those that will not be so deceived, that he cannot torment hereafter, he would torment here. Alas! divers Persons have I known thus destroy themselves, who I have great reason to believe were as really Godly as any that I have known.