It might be expected I should enter upon the subject of apparitions, and discourse concerning the reality of them; and whether they can revisit the place of their former existence, and resume those faculties of speech and shape as they had when living; but, as these are very doubtful matters, I shall only make a few observations upon them.
I once heard of a man that would allow the reality of apparitions, but laid it all upon the devil, thinking that the souls of men departed, or good men, did never appear. To this very man something did appear: He said, he saw the shape of an ancient man pass by him in the dusk, who, holding up his hand in a threatening posture, cried out, _O wicked man, repent, repent_. Terrified with this apparition, he consulted several friends, who advised him to take the advice. But after all, it was not an apparition, but a grave and pious gentleman, who met him by mere accident, and had been sensible of his wickedness; and who never undeceived him, lest it should hinder his reformation.
Some people make a very ill use of the general notion, that there are no apparitions nor spirits at all: which is worse than those who fancy they see them upon every occasion; for those carry their notions farther, even to annihilate the devil, and believe nothing about him, neither of one kind or other: the next step they come to, is to conclude, _There is no God_, and so atheism takes its rise in the same sink, with a carelessness about futurity. But there is no occasion to enter upon an argument to prove the being of the Almighty, or to illustrate his power by words, who has so many undeniable testimonies in the breasts of every rational being to prove his existence: and we have sufficient proofs enough to convince us of the great superintendency of Divine Providence in the minutest affairs of this world; the manifest existence of the invisible world; the reality of spirits, and intelligence between us and them. What I have said, I hope, will not mislead any person, or be a means whereby they may delude themselves; for I have spoken of these things with the utmost seriousness of mind, and with a sincere and ardent desire for the general good and benefit of the world.