Ancient Mysteries
Witches/Goblins/Evil
Phantom World & Ghosts Who Return To Earth Bodily (2 Books in 1 Volume)
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Among the many phases presented by human credulity, few are more interesting than those which regard the realities of the invisible world. If the opinions which have been held on this subject were written and gathered together they would form hundreds of volumes-if they were arranged and digested they would form a few, but most important. It is not merely because there is in almost every human error a substratum of truth, and that the more important the subject the more important the substratum, but because the investigation will give almost a history of human aberrations, that this otherwise unpromising topic assumes so high an interest. The superstitions of every age, for no age is free from them, will present the popular modes of thinking in an intelligible and easily accessible form, and may be taken as a means of gauging (if the expression be permitted) the philosophical and metaphysical capacities of the period. In this light, the volumes here presented to the reader will be found of great value, for they give a picture of the popular mind at a time of great interest, and furnish a clue to many difficulties in the ecclesiastical affairs of that era.
Large print 12 point font.
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Excerpt:
The apparitions or appearances of good angels are frequently mentioned in the books of the Old Testament. He who was stationed at the entrance of the terrestrial Paradise was a cherub, armed with a flaming sword; those who appeared to Abraham, and who promised that he should have a son; those who appeared to Lot, and predicted to him the ruin of Sodom, and other guilty cities; he who spoke to Hagar in the desert, and commanded her to return to the dwelling of Abraham, and to remain submissive to Sarah, her mistress; those who appeared to Jacob, on his journey into Mesopotamia, ascending and descending the mysterious ladder; he who taught him how to cause his sheep to bring forth young differently marked; he who wrestled with Jacob on his return from Mesopotamia,-were angels of light, and benevolent ones; the same as he who spoke with Moses from the burning bush on Horeb, and who gave him the tables of the law on Mount Sinai.
That Angel who takes generally the name of GOD, and acts in his name, and with his authority; who served as a guide to the Hebrews in the desert, hidden during the day in a dark cloud, and shining during the night; he who spoke to Balaam, and threatened to kill his she-ass; he, lastly, who contended with Satan for the body of Moses;-all these angels were without doubt good angels.
We must think the same of him who presented himself armed to Joshua on the plain of Jericho, and who declared himself head of the army of the Lord; it is believed, with reason, that it was the angel Michael. He who showed himself to the wife of Manoah, the father of Samson, and afterwards to Manoah himself. He who announced to Gideon that he should deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites. The angel Gabriel, who appeared to Daniel, at Babylon; and Raphael who conducted the young Tobias to Rages, in Media.
The prophecy of the Prophet Zechariah is full of visions of angels. In the books of the Old Testament the throne of the Lord is described as resting on cherubim; and the God of Israel is represented as having before his throne seven principal angels, always ready to execute his orders, and four cherubim singing his praises, and adoring his sovereign holiness; the whole making a sort of allusion to what they saw in the court of the ancient Persian kings,21 where there were seven principal officers who saw his face, approached his person, and were called the eyes and ears of the king.