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504 TESTIMONY OF CONTEMPORARIES. [Doc. 259.
10. "In his character of Seer (which some in derision
perhaps will call visionary, though both the office and name
have been honourable in the church of God in old times), he
draws aside the curtain which divides between mortality and
immortality, and opens a prospect into the world of spirits,
presenting to us the different states of souls after death, their
communications with angels and one another, their preparation
in the middle state (not according to the figment of a Romish
purgatory) for final bliss or misery ; and numberless other
wonderful discoveries relating to their condition, the different
classes in the different communities of angels in their respective
heavens, and likewise to the infernal kingdom. Of these he
treats professedly in his book entitled, ’Heaven and Hell, from
things heard and seen ,’ which is but a small part of his works:
it would require a volume to give even a general character
of them all, and therefore I shall forbear to particularize
here, observing only that the amazing treasure both of curious
and useful knowledge exhibited in his writings, concerning
things natural and revealed, moral, philosophical, and Divine,
does not only excel whatever has come down to us of Hermes,
Pythagoras, and Plato, but even surpasses, in importance of
matter and extent of discovery, all that the Fathers have
written or divines have taught.
11. "On the first view of things so strange, many will be
apt as it were to start back, and to pause with a kind of
surprise ; and upon finding them so different from their present
ideas, or having no ideas at all about them, they will be
inclined to reject them as fable or delusion. This may be
the case not only of such as are chained down to their present
belief or unbelief, but even of some less contracted and fixed
in preconceived opinions ; but men of enlarged minds, improved
by a liberal education, are not so hasty to condemn what
they cannot immediately close with, but will give a fair trial
to what is offered, and admit of so much as the nature of
its evidence demands ; and to such I address myself with
respectful deference, recommending to their perusal the Author’s
works as worthy of their attention and remarks.
11. "In this great variety of materials, many things will
be found better suited to some than to others ; and there are
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