ought to be insisted upon; but even imposture and error pre-suppose a previous, opinion in favour of what is pretended or mistaken; and if but one account in twenty, or a hundred, stands upon credible evidence, and is corroborated by circumstances in which, from their nature, there could be no mistake, that is sufficient to disturb the quiet, and confound the systems, of the whole body of infidels. (1) Every age has its dangers. In former times, the danger lay in believing too much; in our own, the propensity is to believe too little. (2) The only

(1)" And for as much as such coarse-grained philosophers as those Hobbians and Spinosians, and the rest of the rabble, slight religion and the Scriptures, because there is such express mention of spirits and angels in them, things that their dull souls are so inclinable to conceit to be impossible; I look upon it as a special piece of Providence, that there are ever and anon such fresh examples of apparitions as may rub up and awaken their benumbed and lethargick minds into a suspicion at least, if not assurance, that there are other intelligent beings besides those that are clad in heavy earth or clay; in this, I say, methinks the Divine Providence does plainly outwit the powers of the dark kingdom."--Dr. Henry Moore.

(2) "There are times in which men believe every thing; in this wherein we now are, they believe nothing; I think there is a mean to be chosen ; we may not believe every thing, but surely something ought to be believed. For this spirit of incredulity, and this character of a brave spirit, is good for nothing, and I have not as yet discovered the use thereof. 'Tis true, credulity hath destroyed religion, and introduced a thousand superstitions. For which reason I am content that men stand upon their guard, when any thing is debated and reported concerning wonderful and pious histories. The generality of those which are called honest men are come so far from thence, that they have cast themselves on the other extreme, and believe nothing. Nevertheless whither goes this, and what will be the issue of it? 'Tis to deny Providence, 'tis to make ourselves believe God does not intermeddle in the affairs below, and to ruin all the principles of human faith, and by consequence to cast ourselves on a perfect scepticism, which is peradventure a disposition of mind the most dangerous to religion of any in the world. By doubting all matters of

ground which a Christian can safely take on these questions is, that the à priori arguments of philosophic unbelievers, as to the "absurdity" and " impossibility" of these things, go for nothing, since the Scriptures have settled the fact, that they have occurred, and have afforded not the least intimation that they should at any time cease to occur. Such supernatural visitations are, therefore, possible; and when they are reported ought to bc carefully examined,

fact which have any appearance of extraordinary, they tell us they have no intention to extend it any farther than the history of the world. But we don't perceive, that we insensibly entertain a habit of doubting, which extends itself to every thing. There is a God; we all consent thereto. There is a Providence; we all profess and avow it. 'Nothing comes to pass without him. Is it possible, that God should so hide himself behind his creatures, and under the veil of second causes, that he should never at any time, though never so little, draw aside the curtain? If we have taken the resolution to deny the truth of all extraordinary matters of fact, what shall we do with history, both sacred and profane? He must have a hardness and an impudence that I understand not, that can put all historians in one rank, and range them all together as forgers of lies. I admire the argument of those writers, which lived two or three thousand years from one another, who nevertheless have all conspired to deceive us, according to our moderns, and there are neither sorcerers, nor magicians, nor possessions, nor apparitions of demons, nor any thing like it. "Tis much that these gentlemen have not pushed on their confidence, even to deny the truth of matters of fact contained in the Scriptures, which would be very convenient for them. In the times that the sacred writers writ their books, there were all these things; and where do we find, that they ought to cease, and that a time was to come, in which devils should no more deceive men, and in which the heavens should speak no more in prodigies? Because historians have not been infallible, must we believe they have been all liars, and in all things? Let us conclude, therefore, that the credulity of our ancestors hath caused many mischievous tales to be received as faithful histories; but also that it hath been the cause, that very faithful histories do at this day pass for false tales.”—Jurieu's Pastoral Letters.

and neither too hastily admitted, nor too promptly rejected. An acute and excellent philosopher of modern times has come to the same conclusion. "Although Agidayona, or a fear of spirits, hath been abused by vain or weak people, and carried to extremes, perhaps by crafty and designing men, the most rigorous philosophy will not justify its being entirely rejected. That subordinate beings are never permitted or commissioned to be the ministers of the will of God, is a hard point to be proved."(3)

Mr. Wesley's belief in these visitations is, therefore, generally considered, no proof of a peculiar credulousness of mind. On this he thought with all, except the ancient Atheists and Sadducees, modern infidels, and a few others, who, whilst in this point they agree with infidels, most inconsistently profess faith in the revelations of the Scriptures. Mr. Southey himself cannot attack Mr. Wesley on the general principle, since he gives credit to the account of the disturbances at Epworth, as preternaturally produced, and thinks that some dreams are the results of more than natural agency.

How then does the author prove the "voracity and extravagance" of Mr. Wesley's credulity? Mr. Southey believes in one ghost story; Mr. Wesley might believe in twenty, or a hundred. Mr. Southey believes in a few preternatural dreams, say some four or five; Mr. Wesley may have believed in twice the number. This however proves nothing; for credulity is not to be measured by the number of state

(3) Mr. Andrew Baxter's Essay on the Philosophy of Dreaming, in the "Inquiry into the Nature of the Human Soul."

ments which a person believes, but by the evidence on which he believes them. To have made out his case, Mr. Southey should have shown that the stories which he presumes Mr. Wesley to have credited, stood on insufficient testimony. He has not touched this point; but he deems them "silly and monstrous;" that is, he judges of them a priori, and thus reaches his conclusion. He did not however reflect, that his own faith in ghosts and dreams, as far as it goes, will be deemed as silly and monstrous by all his brother philosophers, as the faith which goes beyond it. Their reasoning concludes as fully against what he credits, as against what Mr. Wesley credited; and on the same ground, a mere opinion of what is reasonable and fitting, they have the right to turn his censures against himself, and to conclude his credulity "voracious,” and his mind disposed to superstition. As to the accounts of apparitions inserted by Mr. Wesley in his Magazine, Mr. Southey thinks that he had no motive to believe and insert them, except the mere pleasure of believing. I can furnish him with several other motives, which I doubt not influenced their publication. The first was to collect remarkable accounts of such facts, and to offer them to the judgment of the world. It is assumed by Mr. Southey, that Mr. Wesley believed every account he published. This is not true. He frequently remarks, that he gives no opinion, or that " he knows not what to make of the account," or that "he leaves every one to form his own judgment concerning it." He met with those relations in reading, or received them from persons deemed by him credible, and he put them on record

as facts reported to have happened. Now as to an unbeliever, I know not what sound objection he can make to that being recorded which has commanded the faith of others. As a part of the history of human opinions, such accounts are curious, and have their use. But if Mr. Wesley's readers were believers in such prodigies, it was surely not uninteresting to them to know what had been related. It neither followed, that the editor of the work believed every account, nor that his readers should consider it true because it was printed. It was for them to judge of the evidence on which the relation stood. I should make a very large deduction from the stories of this kind which might be brought together; but I should feel much obliged to any one to form such a collection, that I might be able to judge of them for myself. Many of these accounts, however, Mr. Wesley did credit, because he thought that they stood on credible testimony; and he published them for that very purpose, for which he believed they were permitted to occur, to confirm the faith of men in an invisible state, and the immortality of the soul. These, then, were Mr. Wesley's motives for inserting such accounts in his Magazine; and to the censure which Mr. Southey has passed upon him on this account, I shall oppose, at least the equally weighty authority of the learned Dr. Henry More, in his letter to Glanville, the author of " Sadducismus Triumphatus." "Wherefore let the small philosophic Sir Toplings of this present age deride as much as they will, those that lay out their pains in committing to writing certain well-attested stories of apparitions do real service to true religion and