Pneumatologia, a treatise of the soul of man wherein the divine original, excellent and immortal nature of the soul are opened, its love and inclination to the body, with the necessity of its separation from it, considered and improved, the existence, operations, and states of separated souls, both in Heaven and Hell, immediately after death, asserted, discussed, and variously applyed, divers knotty and difficult questions about departed souls, both philosophical, and theological, stated and determined, the invaluable preciousness of humane souls, and the various artifices of Satan (their professed enemy) to destroy them, discovered, and the great duty and interest of all men, seasonable and heartily to comply with the most great and gracious design of the Father, Son, and Spirit, for the salvation of their souls, argued and pressed / by John Flavel ...

Concession 2.

It cannot be doubted but upon some special and extraordinary reasons and occasions, some departed Souls have returned to, and ap∣peared in this World by order and commission from God.

This is too manifest to be doubted by any that under∣stands and believes the instances recorded in Scripture. Mo∣ses and Elias long after their departure, appeared to, and talked with Christ upon the holy Mount, in the presence of some of his Apostles, Matth. 17.3. nor is there any reason to question the reality of their Apparition, or to think it to be no more than a Phantasm,* 1.1 or imaginary resemblance of these persons; but very Moses and Elias themselves. For they came to be Witnesses to Christs Prophetical office, and it was not fit so great a point should be attested by ima∣ginary Witnesses: or that they should be called Moses and Elias, if they were not the very same persons.

'Tis therefore most likely they both appeared in their own Bodies:* 1.2 for Moses's Body we know was hidden by the Lord, aud Elias his Body immediately translated with his Soul to Heaven: when therefore the Lord would send them upon this solemn errand, the Soul of Moses probably re-assumed that Body which was never found by man, and Elias was already embodied and fit immediately for this Expe∣dition.

In like manner we read, Matth. 27.52, 53. that at the Re∣surrection of our Lord, many Bodies of the Saints arose, and appeared unto many: these were no Phantasms, but the very Souls of the departed Saints returned (having re-assumed their own Bodies) unto this World, not only to confirm the truth of Christs Resurrection, and adorn that great day: But as a Specimen or handsel of the Resurrection of all the Saints in the vertue of his Resurrection at the great Day.

Nor will I deny, but upon some lesser (though never without weighty and solemn) occasions and reasons, God may sometimes send the Souls of the dead back again into this World, as in the cases before recited, to evidence against the Atheism of men, &c. Augustine relates a memorable ex∣ample which fell out at Millan,* 1.3 where a certain Citizen be∣ing dead, there came a Creditor to whom he had been indeb∣ted, and unjustly demanded the money of his Son. The Son knew the Debt was satisfied by his Father, but having no Acquittance to shew, his Father appeared to him in his sleep, and shew'd him where the Acquittance lay: whether it were the very Soul of his Father, or rather an Angel, as Au∣gustine thinks, is not certain, though the one as well as the other be possible. But though rarely, and upon some weigh∣ty and solemn occasions some Souls have returned and ap∣peared; yet I judge this is not frequently done, upon slight and ordinary errands: and therefore to give you my own thoughts, I judge

(3) That those Apparitions which seem to be, and are generally reputed and taken for the Souls of the Dead, are not indeed so, but other Spirits putting on the shapes and resemblances of the Dead, and (for the most part) tricks of the Devil to delude, or dis∣quiet men.

* 1.4In this I think the learned Dr. Brown delivered his judg∣ment more solidly and orthodoxly, than in some other points, when he saith,

I believe that the whole frame of a Beast doth perish, and is left in the same State after death, as before it was martialled into life. That the Souls of men know neither contrary, nor corruption? that they subsist beyond the body, and continue by the priviledge of their proper nature, and without a Miracle: that the Souls of the faithful, as they leave earth; take possession of Hea∣ven. That those Apparitions and Ghosts of departed per∣sons, are not the wandering Souls of men, but the unquiet Walks of Devils, prompting and suggesting us unto mis∣chief, blood and Villany.

And with this Opinion I concur, as to the ordinary and common Apparitions of the dead: and my Reasons are,

(1) Because the Scriptures every where describe the state of departed Souls as a fixed state, either in Heaven, or in Hell: and assigns the good or evil done in this World by Spirits, not to the departed Spirits of men, but to Angels or Devils: and it is our duty to regulate our Conceits by Scripture, and not according to the vain Philosophy of the Heathens, or the Superstitious Traditions and Opinions of Men.

As for the Souls of the godly, they are at rest with Christ, Rev. 14.13. Isai. 57.2. and as fixed as pillars in the house of God, Rev. 3.12.

And for the wicked, their Spirits are confin'd and se∣cured in Hell as in a Prison, 1 Pet. 3.19. there is a fixed Gulph betwixt them and the living, Luke 16.27, 28, 29, 30, 31.

What good offices are to be done by Spirits for us, the Angels are Gods Commission-Officers to do them, Hebr. 1.14. They are all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation: these are the Spirits sent forth to walk to and fro through the earth, Zech. 1.10. their Mini∣stry was emblematically represented in Iacob's Vision, where they were seen ascending and descending as upon a Ladder, betwixt Heaven and Earth, Gen. 28.12. Yea, their very name Angel, is a name of office, signifying a Messenger, or one sent.

And for the mischief done by Spirits in this World, the Scriptures ascribe that to the Devils: those unquiet Spirits have their Walks in this World, they compass the whole earth, and walk up and down in it, Iob 1.7. and 1 Pet. 5.8. they can assume any shape, yea, I doubt not but he can act their Bodies when dead, as well as he did their Souls and Bodies when alive: how great his power is this way, ap∣pears in what is so often done by him in the Bodies of Witches. They are not ordinarily therefore the Spirits of men, but other Spirits that appear to us.

(2) If God should ordinarily permit the Spirits of men inhabiting the other World, a liberty so frequently to visit this, what a gap would it open for Satan to beguile and de∣ceive the living!* 1.5 What might he not by this means impose upon weak and credulous Mortals? There hath been a great deal of Superstition and Idolatry already introduced under this pretence: he hath often personated Saints departed, and pretended himself to be the Ghost of some venerable person, whose love to the Souls of the people and care for their Salvation drew him from Heaven, to reveal some spe∣cial Secret to them. Swarms of Errors, and superstitious and idolatrous Opinions and Practices, are this way convey∣ed by the tricks and artifices of Satan among the Papists, which I will not blot my Paper withal: only I desire it may be considered, that if this were a thing so frequently per∣mitted by God, as is pretended, upon what dangerous terms had he left his Church in this World, seeing he hath left no certain marks by which we may distinguish one Spirit from another, or a true Messenger from Heaven from a counter∣feit and pretended one.

But God hath tied us to the sure and standing rule of his Word, forbidding us to give heed to any other voice or spirit, leading us another way, Isa. 8.19. 2 Thes. 2.1, 2. Gall. 1.8. It was therefore a discreet reply which one of the Ancients made, when in Prayer a Vision of Christ appeared to him, and told him, Thy Prayers are heard, for thou art worthy: The good man immediately clapt his hands upon his eyes and said, Nolo hic videre Christum, &c. I will not see Christ here, it is enough for me, that I shall behold him in Heaven.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Non enim con∣veni••bat ut ve∣ritas menda∣cio, vel ima∣ginariis testi∣bus probaretur. Maldon. Ca∣pellus in loc.
• * 1.2

  Credibilius est verè corporibus suis apparnisse. Parcus in loc.
• * 1.3

  Aug. in lib. de cura promor∣tuis agenda.
• * 1.4

  Religio Med. Sect. 37. p. 82.
• * 1.5

  Quid enim idololatriam inter Ethnicos & Christianos magis propa∣gavit? Hinc flux••runt multae perigrinatio∣nes, monasteria, delubra, dits festi, & alia. Lav. In Job. 33.