Page:Anecdotescatechi00spiruoft.djvu/37

 The good  man  doubted  whether  there  was  a future life; he thought  man’s  existence  ended  at  death. One night  he  had  this  dream. He thought  he  saw a youth standing  before  him  in  shining  garments, who looked  fixedly  at  him,  and  asked:  “Are  you asleep or  awake? ” The physician  answered: “ I am  asleep.”  “ Can  you  see  me? ” his nocturnal  visitor inquired. “ Yes, I see  you,”  was  the  reply. “ How do  you  see  me? ” was the  next  query; “ do you  see  me  with  your  eyes? ” “I do  not  see  you with my  eyes; I do  not  know  in  what  way  I see  you,” the physician  answered. “Do you  hear  me?”  the youth said. “ Yes, I hear  you.”  “ How  do  you  hear me; do you  hear  me  with  your  ears? ” the youth  pursued. “I do  not  hear  you  with  my  ears; I do  not know by  what  means  I hear  you,”  was  the  answer. “ Are you  speaking  now? ” the youth  again  inquired. “Yes, I am  speaking.”  “How  are  you  speaking; are you  speaking  by  your  mouth?”  “I  am  not speaking with  my  lips; I know  not  wherewith  I am speaking,”  replied  the  physician. Thereupon the angel spoke  thus  to  him: “ The  action  of  your senses is  now  suspended,  yet  you  see,  hear,  and  speak; a time will  come  when  your  senses  will  be  rendered totally incapable  of  action  by  the  hand  of  death,  and yet you  will  be  able  to  see,  to  hear,  to  speak,  and  to feel.”  Then  the  angel  vanished,  and  the  physician awoke. From that  day  forth  he  was  troubled  with no doubts,  but  firmly  believed  in  the  existence  of  the soul after  the  death  of  the  body. The soul,  in  fact, is a prisoner  in  the  body,  but  so  unfettered  that when the  prison  falls,  the  prisoner  goes  free.