An essay for the recording of illustrious providences

but Luther said to him, away thou confounded ⟨p. 219⟩Devil, I will have no Christ but what is in my Bible, whereupon the Apparition vanished. As for the Spirits of Men deceased, it is certain they cannot reassume their Bodies, nor yet come to Men in this World when they will, or without a permission from him, in whose hand they are. Chrysostom in his second Sermon concerning Lazarus, saith that Daemons would oftentimes appear, falsely pretending themselves to be the Souls of some lately dead. He saith, that he himself knew many Demoniacs, that the Spirits in them would feign the voices of men lately killed, and would discover the secrets of such Persons, professing that they were the Souls of those very men. But those were no other then devilish lies. Upon which account men had need be exceeding wary what credit they give unto, or how they entertain communion with such Spectres. I do not say that all such Apparitions are Diabolical. Only that many of them are so. And as yet I have not met with any [Greek or Hebrew] whereby the certain appearance of a Person Deceased, may be infallibly discerned from a mere Diabolical illusion. The Rules of judging in this case described by Malderus are very fallible.

but Luther said to him, away thou confounded ⟨p. 219⟩Devil, I will have no Christ but what is in my Bible, whereupon the Apparition vanished. As for the Spirits of Men deceased, it is certain they cannot reassume their Bodies, nor yet come to Men in this World when they will, or without a permission from him, in whose hand they are. Chrysostom in his second Sermon concerning Lazarus, saith that Daemons would oftentimes appear, falsly pretending themselves to be the Souls of some lately dead. He saith, that he himself knew many Daemoniacks, that the Spirits in them would feign the voices of men lately killed, and would discover the secrets of such Persons, professing that they were the Souls of those very men. But those were no other then devilish lies. Upon which account men had need be exceeding wary what credit they give unto, or how they entertain communion with such Spectres. I do not say that all such Apparitions are Diabolical. Only that many of them are so. And as yet I have not met with any 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 whereby the certain appearance of a Person Deceased, may be infallibly discerned from a meer Diabolical illusion. The Rules of judging in this case described by Malderus are very fallible.