426 SPECULATION ON GHOSTS. 



The late John Wesley, and many others, seem to consider that 

 although the doctrine may be a mistaken one, yet there may be some 

 danger attending the radicating the belief of ghostly visitation, and 

 the existence and possibility of apparitions ; for, as long as such a 

 persuasion holds possession of a man's mind, so long scepticism may 

 be defied. On the contrary, it is one grand object of the infidel in 

 making converts to prove, by means of physical logic and philoso- 

 phical principles, the impossibility of their existence. This done, the 

 impossibility and absurdity of miracles succeed a denial of revelation 

 then follows as a matter of course and thus, although for the sake of 

 argument the doctrine of spiritual intercourse may be one of error, 

 yet seeing that it has been upheld and countenanced by the wisest and 

 best of men, there is less harm in embracing it than, by putting it 

 aside, of becoming a prey to scepticism and infidelity. 



With this view of the doctrine, apart from the idle gossip tales of 

 elfs, bogles, brawnies, and the whole fraternity of fairy-land, the per- 

 suasion that there are troops of ministering spirits haunting our path, 

 employed as agents in the unseen world, or as instruments through 

 means of which the Deity, in whom we live, and move, and have our 

 being, is pleased to employ in our behalf, is neither unreasonable or 

 wanting in probability. Taken in this light, I say that the idea is 

 calculated rather to inspire devotion, and a religious sense of the 

 goodness of our Maker, than a superstitious dread of those phantoms 

 which owe their origin to the harsh appalling rites of our pagan 

 ancestors. 



With respect to dreams, although, generally speaking, they may be 

 considered as the wild vagaries of the fancy let loose from the con- 

 trol of our judgment during the dormant state of the physical powers, 

 yet a remarkable faith has been observed in almost all ages in the 

 circumstance of their being chosen as a medium for disclosing some 

 important event that has baffled perhaps the most diligent investiga- 

 tion. It is almost unnecessary to cite the numerous instances in 

 Scripture of the divine visitation by means of dreams as well as visions, 

 &c., and which, from their import, could not have been the result 

 of mere physical causes. The Greeks and Romans were clearly im- 

 bued with the same belief in the truth of nightly visitation ; and hence 

 we read of many important transactions that are said to have been 

 brought about by the instigation of some divinity. 



If we again soar from classic ground, and alight on our own isle, 

 we may still find innumerable traces of this early impression. I do 

 not now advert to those of vulgar belief, arising probably from the 

 influence which monkish ingenuity possessed over the mental con- 

 dition of darkened Europe by means of pretended miracles, dreams, 

 and visitations ; but I speak now of that sober and implicit faith 

 which some excellent and learned individuals have possessed, whose 

 refined taste and classical attainments have given lustre to the age in 

 which they lived. I have been led to these reflections from a cir- 

 cumstance that transpired many years ago ; but still, as it was some- 

 how connected with part of my own family, and related circumstan- 

 tially and faithfully by those whom I was ever taught to venerate 

 and respect, I may be excused if I refrain from turning into ridicule 



