A26888:448
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.
1. That Corporeal Crassitude is an abasement, and therefore fittest for the more Ignoble sort of Spirits: We that dwell here in Bodies, are of a lower Order, than those of the more high and invisible Regions.
2. And the bad Spirits as they have a baser Consistence, have also a more base and ⟨p. 222⟩Terrene Inclination. And therefore it is the less wonder, that they mind matters of Money and Lands: And no doubt but the Souls of wicked Men carry with them much of the Vicious Habits, in which they lived here: That is, of Covetousness and Revenge; And they that tell us, that such as Dives retain no Love to their Brethren on Earth, speak more than they can prove; and are not so Credible as Christ that seemeth to say the contrary. Some make a state of departed Souls, Good and Bad, out of their own Inventions, which it's very likely Death will Confute.
3. And it is far greater things than Visible Appearances, that we constantly receive from Angels, more suitable to their Nature and Dignity, and to our good. Some Men have long Laboured to attain a Visible or Sensible Communion with them, and think they have attained it: But while they presumptuously desire to pervert the Order of Gods Household and Government, it is no wonder if in stead of Angels, they Converse with Devils that are Transformed into seeming Angels of Light, that by Delusion, they may Transform such Men into Ministers of Righteousness.
3. And it is far greater things than Visible Appearances, that we constantly receive from Angels, more sutable to their Nature and Dignity, and to our good. Some Men have long Laboured to attain a Visible or Sensible Communion with them, and think they have attained it: But while they presumptuously desire to pervert the Order of Gods Houshold and Government, it is no wonder if in stead of Angels, they Converse with Devils that are Transformed into seeming Angels of Light, that by Delusion, they may Transform such Men into Ministers of Righteousness.