So that this spectre’s prediction was wrong; and if it was supposed to be Samuel’s body brought up from the grave, and the Prophecy was, he should be in the grave to-morrow; neither was this true, for the battle was not fought for some days after, and it was a considerable time before Saul was buried in the grave, as you will find in the close of the 31st Chap. Besides, Samuel was buried at Ramah, and Saul was buried at Jabesh. Thus the prediction of the Devil was not true; nor did all Saul’s sons die together, for some lived along time after his death. I shall now produce the testimony of some learned and pious men, whose opinions appear to be truly scriptural. Bishop _Hall_ remarks on this subject: “Why should God answer that man by dreams, who had resisted him waking? Why should he answer him by Urim, that had slain his Priests? Why should he answer him by Prophets, who hated the Father of Prophets? Unto what mad spirit are men driven by despair!—if you will not answer _Satan_ shall. Could Saul be so ignorant as to think that magic had power over God’s deceased saints, either to raise them up, or call them down from their rest?” Dr. _Smith_, who published his comment on the Bible in 1735, observes, “Many controversies have been about Samuel’s apparition, but I am entirely of opinion that it was neither in the Devil’s, or the Witch’s power to raise up the true Samuel, to make him appear there; it was nothing but mere deceit and collusion of the Devil, whom God sometimes permits to do strange actions, for the ruin and destruction of those who give credit thereto.” The truly learned Mr. _Poole_, in his works remarks on the 13th verse of the chapter—“And the king said unto her, Be not afraid, for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth—or a god, a divine person, glorious, and full of majesty, exceeding not only mortal men, but common ghosts. She useth the plural number, either after the manner of the Hebrew language, which commonly useth that word of one person, or after the language and custom of the heathens; but the whole coherence shews that it was but one, for Saul desired but one; and he enquires for, and the woman answers only of one, as if it came from the place of the dead. The woman pretended, and Saul, upon her suggestion believed indeed, that it was Samuel, and so many Popish and other writers conceived; but that it was _not_ Samuel, is sufficiently evident.” The argument of this good man I have interspersed in a foregoing page.