The return of spirits, their apparition, the execution of the promises which certain persons have made each other, to come and tell their friends what passes in the other world, is not in their own power. All that is in the hands of God.
Footnotes:
[[556]] Vol. iv. p. 57.
[[557]] Aug. de Cura gerend. pro Mortuis, c. xiii. p. 526.
CHAPTER XL.
DIVERS SYSTEMS FOR EXPLAINING THE RETURN OF SPIRITS.
The affair of ghosts having made so much noise in the world as it has done, it is not surprising that a diversity of systems should have been formed upon it, and that so many manners should have been proposed to explain their return to earth and their operations.
Some have thought that it was a momentary resurrection caused by the soul of the defunct, which re-entered his body, or by the demon, who reanimated him, and caused him to act for a while, whilst his blood retained its consistency and fluidity, and his organic functions were not entirely corrupted and deranged.