out their Souls? and how then did they talk and converse with our Lord? But these he will say were sent on an extraordinary occasion. Be it so, they are sometimes then imployed in such, and so Mr. Webster must eat his words. And if blessed Souls are, or have been employed at any time, how is he so certain the real Samuel was not sent here;
Thus briefly to his bold Assertion. But he pretends a reason. They were never created for this purpose. If that were so, what then? The Stars were never made to fight against Sisera, nor any one. Nor the Waters to drown the World. Nor the Ravens to feed Prophets or other Men. May not they therefore be used in those Services? Again, No sensitive Being was made primarily for another, but to enjoy it self, and to partake of the goodness of its Maker. May it not therefore minister to others? and doth not every Creature so? All things serve him. Thirdly, The Angels are Ministring Spirits, he saith, ordained to be such. Doth he think they were made for that purpose only to serve us? Fourthly, Reasonble humane Creatures are for one another. Non nobis solum, &c. Souls are most proper to serve such not here only, but in the next World. They are <...> like unto Angels, and they are as proper at least for the service, of Men. They have the same nature and affections. They feel our infirmities, and consider us more than abstract Spirits do. Which is the reason given why our Saviour took not upon him the nature of Angels, but of Men. Fifthly, Souls departed have Life and Sense and Motion, capacity of being employed, and no doubt inclination to it; and whither more properly may they be sent, than to those of their own nature, whom they affect, are allied to, and so lately came from? Sixthly, The Angels are not confined to their celestial habitation, but are sent often to this nether World, as M. Webster and the rest confess, and why then should we think that the Souls of the Just are so limited and restrained?
And Lastly it is supposed both by Jews and Christians, that the Soul of the Messias appeared to the Patriachs, and was the Angel of the Covenant; and we know he was pleased to appear to St. Stephen at his Martyrdom, though then in Glory. And in the various Apparitions of Angels recorded in the Scripture, we have reason to think that some were humane Souls, called Angels from their Office.
So that on the whole, we see we have no cause to rely on Mr. Webster's certainty, that Samuel's Soul came not on a Divine Command.
