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world serving and enjoying Christ, notwithstanding all the troubles and persecutions he endured? answer yes; for did not Moses pray, Num. 11: 15, that God would kill him as a favor, rather than leave him to bear all the burden of the children of Israel? And did not God grant it as a special favor to the king of Judab, to gather him to his grave in peace, that his eyes might not see all the evil he was to bring on Jerusalem? 2 Kings 22: 20, and 2 Chron. 34:27, 28. Besides, in Isai. 57: 1, 2, men are blamed for not laying it to heart, "none considering that the righteous are taken away from the evil to come.' But Solomon expressly says, Eccles. 4: 1, 4, "so I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power: but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead, more than the living which are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they which hath not been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun." See on the next passage.

Rev. 14: 13, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them," or go with them, as it is rendered by some. See Wakefield and Improved Version. The remarks made on the last passage apply here. I would add-John says, that the dead who died in the Lord, from the time he wrote, were henceforth blessed. How blessed? Not surely by their souls going to heaven; for according to the common opinions the dead who died in the Lord, were blessed with this before just as much as after John wrote. How then were they blessed? I answer;

they were removed by death from the evil to come, for the context shows severe calamities were coming on the earth, which John goes on to describe. It was being blessed, thus to be delivered from them. Death to a good man under such circumstances, is a resting from his labors as the passage affirms. Yes, say some, but it is said, " and their works do follow them, or go with them." True, but the question is, go with them where? Is it said to heaven, I answer, this is the very thing the objector has got to prove! But can he show, that the souls of any persons go to heaven at death? This text, nor no other that I know of asserts this. Those persons rested from their labors, where Job and all rested from theirs, which was in the dust. Job 3: 13-20. 7: 21. 17: 16. what! Did those persons' works go with them to the dust? I answer yes, for the context shows, when they were removed from the earth, good works were removed with them, hence their works are said to go with them. This is still more obvious from chap. 20, where the resurrection of such persons is mentioned, which is allowed to be, not a resurrection of their persons, but of their faith and works to flourish again on earth. Their works went with them when they died, in the language of John's vision, and when practised again on earth, those persons are represented as raised from the dead.

SECTION II.

On Ghosts and their intercourse with this world after death.

A ghost is understood to be the disembodied spirit of a dead person. Though we often meet with the

phrase Holy Ghost in Scripture, and read of persons giving up the ghost, yet we never read of a ghost or disembodied spirit, either as holy or unholy. In most modern versions of Scripture, the old English word. ghost is laid aside, and the word spirit is used in place of it. Though the doctrine of ghosts, and their visiting our world, are rather becoming obsolete among us, still some good people are prejudiced in favor of them, and even appeal to Scripture in justification of their opinions. The passages generally referred to I shall now attempt to consider. The first is

1 Sam. 28: 15, "And Samuel said to Saul why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up?" See the whole chapter. It is alleged from this history, that this woman, commonly called the witch of Endor, could bring up Samuel's ghost or whom she pleased from the dead. To see how this matter stands, let us

1st, Inquire into the nature of this woman's profession. Her place of residence was Endor, a city belonging to the half tribe of Manasseh, on the west side of Jordan, and four miles south of mount Tabor, Josh. 17: 11. See Dr. Parish's Sac. Geog. It is said in Calmet's Fragments, that it received this name from the worship there instituted: for Endor is compounded, en-dor, and signifies, the fountain of light, the oracle of the god Ador. This oracle was probably founded by the Canaanites, and had never been totally suppressed. The person sought for by Saul, was a woman that hath a familiar spirit." Such persons are mentioned along with wizzards, and others who practised heathen superstitions. See 2 Chr. 33: 6. Lev. 20: 27. Deut. 18: 11. 2 Kings 21: 6. All such impostors were banished Canaan, and this Saul had himself done, which shows he believed. they were impostors. See verse 3. and comp. Deut. 18: 9, 14. The Jews were prohibited on pain of

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death from having any thing to do with them. See Deut. 18: 9-14. Lev. 19: 31. 20: 6, 27. Isai. 19: 13, 31. When Israel departed from the Lord such persons were connived at; but when a reformation took place, they were again sent out of the land, 2 Kings 23: 24. It was a sure sign Saul had departed from God, when he sought after such a woman. This with other things were the cause of his ruin, 1 Chron. 10: 13.

What, then, was the nature of this woman's profession? For as a professional woman Saul sought her. The only passages I can find descriptive of this, are Isai. 8: 19, and 29: 4. "And when they shall say unto you seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizzards that peep and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? For the living to the dead? And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust." It is evident from these texts, 1st, that persons who had a familiar spirit pretended to consult with the dead in behalf of the living. Saul wanted to consult with Samuel, and accordingly applied himself to a woman of this profession. The whole history agrees to the business of this woman. 2d, Those who had a familiar spirit, pretended to consult with the dead by means of their voice. In the above passages it is said, they peeped, and muttered, that they whispered, and whispered out of the dust; or, made it appear that their voice was out of the ground, where the dead were understood to be. The Hebrew phrase rendered

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a woman that hath a familiar spirit," signifies a mistress of aub, or ob. Ob is understood to mean a bottle or cavity in general. See Job 32: 19. Hence it is generally interpreted of a person who speaks

from his belly, or that practised ventriloquism. This appears to have been the art of this woman, for she could whisper out of the ground. See Calmet, vol. iv, p. 82, Am. edit.

2d, The situation of Saul and Israel at the time he went to consult with this woman. Saul had long been subject to hypochondria, or an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. He was an old man, and had long pursued a course of disobedience to God's commandments, for which Samuel reproved him. But Samuel was now dead, and Saul was left to pursue his own headstrong course. The Philistines had an immense army pitched in Shunem, and Saul had gathered all Israel together in Gilboa, where both armies were prepared for battle. Seeing the vast host of the Philistines with which he had to contend, "he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled," verse 5. He consulted the Lord, but "the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets," verse 6. His next resource was"then said Saul unto his servants, seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her," verse 7. His servants soon informed him where such a professional woman was to be found; and disguising himself he took two of his servants, and started for Endor. By comparing verses 8, 20, 25, it appears he arrived there at night, faint and weary, in addition to all his trouble of mind, a very fit subject for this woman's impositions.

3d, Let us now examine the transactions, between Saul and this woman on this occasion. Saul opens his case thus: "I pray thee divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee." Saul here shows, that he went to consult with her in the way of her profession, the same as any man now goes to consult a lawyer or a physician. But suspicious and cautious, she replies,