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"parallel to the Church; not from North to South, "athwart the regular Line. This I think is meant.” Johnson in loco.

1

Moresin* tells us, that in popish Burying Grounds, those who were reputed good Christians lay towards the South and East, others who had suffered capital Punishment, laid violent Hands on themselves, or the like, were buried towards the North; a Custom that had formerly been of frequent Use in Scotland.--One of the Grave-diggers supposes Ophelia to have drowned herself. This Quotation therefore seems to confirm the learned Annotator's Explication.

*-In Cœmeteriis pontificiis, boni, quos putant, ad austrum et Oriens, reliqui, qui aut supplicio affecti, aut sibi vim fecissent, et id genus ad Septentrionem sepeliantur, ut frequens olim Scotis fuit Mos. Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. & Increm. p. 157.

If Rain fell during the Funeral Procession, it was vulgarly considered as a Presage of the Happiness of the Deceased in the other World!" Happy (says the old Proverb) is the Bride the Sun shines and the Corpse the Rain rains on.”

on,

CHAP.

CHAP. VI.

Of the Time of Cock-crow: Whether evil Spirits wander about in the Time of Night; and whether they fly away at the Time of Cock-crow. Reflections upon this, encouraging us to have Faith and Trust in God.

IT is a received Tradition among the Vulgar, That at the Time of Cock-crowing, the Midnight Spirits forsake these lower Regions, and go to their proper Places. They wander, say they, about the World, from the dead Hour of Night, when all Things are buried in Sleep and Darkness, till the Time of Cock-crowing, and then they depart. Hence it is, that in Country-Places, where the Way of Life requires more early Labour, they always go chearfully to Work at that Time; whereas if they are called abroad sooner, they are apt to imagine every thing they see or hear, to be a wandring Ghost. Shakespear hath given us an excellent Account of this vulgar Notion, in his Tragedy of Hamlet.

Ber. It was about to speak, when the Cock crew,
Hor. And then it started like a guilty Thing

Upon a dreadful Summons. I have heard,

The

The Cock that is the Trumpet to the Day,
Doth with his lofty and shrill sounding Throat
Awake the God of Day: And at his Warning
Whether in Sea, or Fire, in Earth or Air,
The extravagant and erring Spirit hyes
To its Confine, and of the Truth herein,
This present Object made Probation.

Mar. It faded at the Crowing of the Cock.

Some say that e'er against that Season comes,
Wherein our Saviour's Birth is celebrated,
The Bird of Dawning singeth all Night long.
And then, they say, No Spirit doth walk abroad,
The Nights are Wholsome, then no Planet strikes,
No Fairy takes, no Witch hath Power to harm,
So gracious and so hallowed is that Time.

Now to shew what Truth there is in this vulgar Opinion, I shall consider, First, What Truth there is in the Roaming of Spirits in the Night. And, Secondly, Whether they are obliged to go away at Cock-crow.

I believe none who assent to the Truth of Divine Revelation, deny that there are good and evil Angels attending upon Men; the one to guard and protect them, and the other to harm and work their Ruin; that the one are those * ministring Spirits, which are sent out to minister to the Heirs of Salvation; the other the roaring Lion, and his Instruments, + who wander too and fro in the Earth; these ‡ un

* Heb. i. 14.

↑ Job. ii. 2.

Matt. xii. 43.

clean

clean Spirits who wander through dry Places, seeking Rest and finding none.

NOR, I believe, will it be question'd, that there have been Apparitions of good and evil Spirits, and that many, with our SAVIOUR'S Disciples, have been affrighted and cried out, not only with supposing they had seen, but really with seeing a Spirit. Of this the Testimony of all Ages, and Scripture it self are a sufficient Demonstration.

What then could these have ordinarily been, but the Appearances of some of those Angels of Light, or Darkness? For I am far from thinking that either the Ghosts of the Damn'd or the Happy, either the Soul of a Dives or a Lazarus, returns here any more. For as St.

Athanasius observes,* These Visions and Shades of the Saints, which appear in the Temples and at the Tombs, are not the Souls of the Saints themselves, but the good Angels appearing in their Shapes. Not that GOD could not remand the Ghost of Samuel, and order it again to visit the Earth, as he made Moses and Elias to appear at our SAVIOUR'S Transfiguration; but that a Thing of this Nature was very uncommon, and seldom happen'd.

* Hai en tois naois, &c. Athan. Tom. 2. P. 34.

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cre for granted, that there actions of Angels, I believe it ed, that these Apparitions have → gratia,pen'd in the Night. And truly, e direct Proof of this, yet the Noneir appearing in the Night, being as d and chained to our Idea of an reen, would almost perswade us, that eight is the most proper Time for such Larances. Whether it is, that the Fables

Nurses,* as an ingenious Author imagines, - have so associated the Idea of Spirit to the Night, that the one never appears with" out the other;" or whether there is something in the Presence of Night, some Awfulness and Horrour, which naturally dispose the Mind of Man to these Reflections. I am indeed very inclinable to believe, that these Legendary Stories of Nurses and old Women, are the Occasion of much greater Fears, than People without them, would generally have of these Things; but I cannot help thinking, that the Presence of Night, would naturally lead a Man to some Reflection of Spirits, without any such Cause as that learned Author mentions. There are some particular Times, which

*Lock, on Human Underst.

will

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