may be understood for “zeal” to do the work for which He was sent by God the Father; but to interpret it of a ghost, is to say that God himself, for so our Saviour was, was filled with God; which is very improper and insignificant. How we came to translate “spirits” by the word “ghosts,” which signifieth nothing, neither in heaven nor earth, but the imaginary inhabitants of man’s brain, I examine not: but this I say, the word “spirit” in the text signifieth no such thing, but either properly a real “substance,” or metaphorically, some extraordinary “ability” or “affection” of the mind, or of the body.
The disciples of Christ, seeing Him walking upon the sea ( Matt. 14:26, and Mark 6:49), supposed Him to be a “spirit,” meaning thereby an aerial “body,” and not a phantasm; for it is said they all saw Him; which cannot be understood of the delusions of the brain, (which are not common to many at once, as visible bodies are; but singular, because of the differences of fancies), but of bodies only. In like manner, where He was taken for a “spirit,” by the same apostles (Luke 24:37): so also (Acts 12:15), when St. Peter was delivered out of prison, it would not be believed; but when the maid said he was at the door, they said it was his “angel”; by which must be meant a corporeal substance, or we must say, the disciples themselves did follow the common opinion of both Jews and Gentiles, that some such apparitions were not imaginary, but real, and such as needed not the fancy of man for their existence. These the Jews called “spirits,” and “angels,” good or bad; as the Greeks call the same by the name of “demons.” And some such apparitions may be real and substantial; that is to say, subtle bodies, which God can form by the same power by which He formed all things, and make use of, as of ministers and messengers, that is to say, angels, to declare His will, and execute the same when He pleaseth, in extraordinary and supernatural manner. But when He hath so formed them, they are substances endued with dimensions, and take up room, and can be moved from place to place, which is peculiar to bodies; and therefore are not ghosts “incorporeal,” that is to say, ghosts that are in “no place”; that is to say,