A26888:35
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.
But he forfeiteth the Benefit of his own Eye-sight, who thinks that none see, because some Beggars counterfeit Blindness.
§ 4. The Instances tell us, 1. That the State, Converse, Policy, Laws of the Aerial World, or Regions, are much thought not wholly) unknown to us here. 2. And so is the Natural State of the departed Souls of wicked Men, as to their having Bodies, or no Bodies, their Power, their Wits, their Motions, and Passions. 3. And also whether they be proper Devils when joined with them, or of another Species. 4. And 'tis hard to know by their Words or Signs, when it is a Devil, and when it is a Humane Soul that appeareth. 5. Yea, it is oft hard to know whether it be the Soul of a good Person, or a bad. 6. And consequently, what distance ⟨p. 4⟩there is in their Habitations. 7. Yea, and oft whether it be a good Angel, or a bad, seeing bad ones may do good deceitfully, or by Constraint. 8. And 'tis unsearchable to us, how far God leaveth Invisible, Intellectual Powers to Free Will about inferior things; suspending his predetermining Motion, though not his general Motion and Concourse. 9. Yea, we are not fully certain whether these Aerial Regions have not a third sort of Wights, that are neither Angels, (Good or Fallen,) nor Souls of Men, but such as have been there placed as Fishes in the Sea, and Men on Earth: And whether those called Fairies and Goblins are not such.
§ 4. The Instances tell us, 1. That the State, Converse, Policy, Laws of the AErial World, or Regions, are much thought not wholly) unknown to us here. 2. And so is the Natural State of the departed Souls of wicked Men, as to their having Bodies, or no Bodies, their Power, their Wits, their Motions, and Passions. 3. And also whether they be proper Devils when joyned with them, or of another Species. 4. And 'tis hard to know by their Words or Signs, when it is a Devil, and when it is a Humane Soul that appeareth. 5. Yea, it is oft hard to know whether it be the Soul of a good Person, or a bad. 6. And consequently, what distance ⟨p. 4⟩