Walter Scott

Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft Walter Scott

The general, or, it may be termed, the universal belief of the inhabitants of the earth, in theexistence of spirits separated from the encumbrance and incapacities of the body, is grounded onthe consciousness of the divinity that speaks in our bosoms, and demonstrates to all men, except thefew who are hardened to the celestial voice, that there is within us a portion of the divine substance, which is not subject to the law of death and dissolution, but which, when the body is no longer fitfor its abode, shall seek its own place, as a sentinel dismissed from his post. Unaided by revelation, itcannot be hoped that mere earthly reason should be able to form any rational or precise conjectureconcerning the destination of the soul when parted from the body; but the conviction that such anindestructible essence exists, the belief expressed by the poet in a different sense, Non omnis moriarmust infer the existence of many millions of spirits who have not been annihilated, though they havebecome invisible to mortals who still see, hear, and perceive, only by means of the imperfect organsof humanity. Probability may lead some of the most reflecting to anticipate a state of future rewardsand punishments; as those experienced in the education of the deaf and dumb find that their pupils, even while cut off from all instruction by ordinary means, have been able to form, out of their ownunassisted conjectures, some ideas of the existence of a Deity, and of the distinction between thesoul and body-a circumstance which proves how naturally these truths arise in the human mind. The principle that they do so arise, being taught or communicated, leads to further conclusion