That apparitions or Spectres do exist; or that the Ghosts of Men do appear at, before, or after their Deaths.
We would not be thought, in the following Discourse, to call in Question that great Miracle of our Saviour's rising again the third Day, and appearing to the Twelve: What shall be here said, will rather prove the Miracle to be the greater, and therefore more worthy the interfering Hand of Omnipotence.
But we must not suppose that the Supreme Being will condescend to pervert the Order of Nature for Individuals. The ancient Heathens had a true Notion of the Greatness of him, qui Templa Cœli summa sonitu concutit. Ter. Eun. And Horace observes,
Nec Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus.
Art. Poet.
Since it must be no less than a Miracle which causes an Apparition, I shall proceed, without any Scruple, to prove that there is no such Thing in Nature really existing.
Of all the Errors with which the Brains of Mankind have been troubled, there is none of such ancient Standing as this. We have Ghosts and Hobgoblins even in Homer; not that there is Reason to suspect that Homer ever believed in them himself; he seemed too well versed in the real Phœnomena of Nature, to entertain any such chimerical Dreams as Truth; for Dreams they are, and no better: the true Somnia Vatum of the Ancients, handed down to Posterity, even to these enlightened Times. How many horrible Nights have been passed in cold Sweats, by otherwise very sensible People, owing to nothing else but the Apprehensions which they have had of these no-existing Gentry! How was even the Metropolis itself terrified the other Day, by the Scratching
Ghost at Cock Lane! I think enough has been said, even in this little Book, to prove that no Noise can be made, unless by the Vibration of some elastic Body. If a Noise is made by a Voice, it must be from an Animal, which has Lungs and Breath to do it; if a Scratching is made, it must be done by something which has Hands, and Sinews to move those Hands; and it must have Nails, or some other bodily Substance, to scratch with, before it can cause a Sound to proceed from an elastic Body. So much for Scratching, and dismal Yellings, and Groanings of all Sorts, which have been fabled of Ghosts.
It will require a little Dissertation upon Optics, in order to explain the Cause of Light and Colours, before we can confute the Possibility of seeing an Apparition.