Augustin Calmet - The Phantom World; or, The philosophy of spirits, apparitions, &c, &c.

But, in regard to the apparitions related in the Holy Scriptures, they borrow their infallible authority from the sacred and inspired authors who wrote them; they are verified by the events which followed them, by the execution or fulfilment of predictions made many ages preceding; and which could neither be done, nor foreseen, nor performed, either by the human mind, or by the strength of man, not even by the angel of darkness.

I am but little concerned at the opinion passed on myself and my intentions in the publication of this treatise. Some have thought that I did it to destroy the popular and common idea of apparitions, and to make it appear ridiculous; and I acknowledge that those who read this work attentively and without prejudice, will remark in it more arguments for doubting what the people believe on this point, than they will find to favor the contrary opinion. If I have treated this subject seriously, it is only in what regards those facts in which religion and the truth of Scripture is interested; those which are indifferent I have left to the censure of sensible people, and the criticism of the learned and of philosophical minds.

I declare that I consider as true all the apparitions related in the sacred books of the Old and New Testament; without pretending, however, that it is not allowable to explain them, and reduce them to a natural and likely sense, by retrenching what is too marvelous about them, which might rebut enlightened persons. I think on that point I may apply the principle of St. Paul; 1 1 2 Cor. iii. 16. "the letter killeth, and the Spirit giveth life."

As to the other apparitions and visions related in Christian, Jewish, or heathen authors, I do my best to discern amongst them, and I exhort my readers to do the same; but I blame and disapprove the outrageous criticism of those who deny everything, and make difficulties of everything, in order to distinguish themselves by their pretended strength of mind, and to authorize themselves to deny everything, and to dispute the most certain facts, and in general all that savors of the marvelous, and which appears above the ordinary laws of nature. St. Paul permits us to examine and prove everything: Omnia probate ; but he desires us to hold fast that which is good and true: quod bonum est tenete . 2 2 1 Thess. v. 21.

Every body talks of apparitions of angels and demons, and of souls separated from the body. The reality of these apparitions is considered as certain by many persons, while others deride them and treat them as altogether visionary.

I have determined to examine this matter, just to see what certitude there can be on this point; and I shall divide this Dissertation into four parts. In the first, I shall speak of good angels; in the second, of the appearance of bad angels; in the third, of the apparitions of souls of the dead; and in the fourth, of the appearance of living men to others living, absent, distant, and this unknown to those who appear. I shall occasionally add something on magic, wizards, and witches; on the Sabbath, oracles, and obsession and possession by demons.

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 3 3 Gen. iii. 24. was a cherub, armed with a flaming sword; those who appeared to Abraham, and who promised that he should have a son; 4 4 Gen. xviii. 1-3. those who appeared to Lot, and predicted to him the ruin of Sodom, and other guilty cities; 5 5 Gen. xix. he who spoke to Hagar in the desert, 6 6 Gen. xxi. 17. 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; 7 7 Gen. xxviii. 12. he who taught him how to cause his sheep to bring forth young differently marked; 8 8 Gen. xxxi. 10, 11. he who wrestled with Jacob on his return from Mesopotamia, 9 9 Gen. xxxii. – were angels of light, and benevolent ones; the same as he who spoke with Moses from the burning bush on Horeb, 10 10 Exod. iii. 6, 7. 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; 11 11 Exod. iii. iv. 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; 12 12 Numb. xxii. xxiii. he, lastly, who contended with Satan for the body of Moses; 13 13 Jude 9. – 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, 14 14 Josh. v. 13. 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, 15 15 Judges xiii. 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. 16 16 Judges vi. vii. The angel Gabriel, who appeared to Daniel, at Babylon; 17 17 Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21. and Raphael who conducted the young Tobias to Rages, in Media. 18 18 Tobit v.

The prophecy of the Prophet Zechariah is full of visions of angels. 19 19 Zech. v. 9, 10, 11, &c. 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 20 20 Psalm xvii. 10; lxxix. 2, &c. 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 21 Tobit xii. Zech. iv. 10. Rev. i. 4. where there were seven principal officers who saw his face, approached his person, and were called the eyes and ears of the king.

The books of the New Testament are in the same manner full of facts which prove the apparition of good angels. The angel Gabriel appeared to Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, and predicted to him the future birth of the Forerunner. 22 22 Luke i. 10-12, &c. The Jews, who saw Zachariah come out of the temple, after having remained within it a longer time than usual, having remarked that he was struck dumb, had no doubt but that he had seen some apparition of an angel. The same Gabriel announced to Mary the future birth of the Messiah. 23 23 Luke i. 26, 27, &c. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the night, 24 24 Luke ii. 9, 10. and declared to them that the Saviour of the world was born at Bethlehem. There is every reason to believe that the star which appeared to the Magi in the East, and which led them straight to Jerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem, was directed by a good angel. 25 25 Matt. ii. 13, 14, 20. St. Joseph was warned by a celestial spirit to retire into Egypt, with the mother and the infant Christ, for fear that Jesus should fall into the hands of Herod, and be involved in the massacre of the Innocents. The same angel informed Joseph of the death of King Herod, and told him to return to the land of Israel.