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were brought and were healed; that Jesus also says, that he casts out devils; the answer is, the ground of these expressions was the ⚫ common mode of speaking, prevailing at that period; and Jesus, the apostles, and evangelists made use of such expressions, when they spoke of hypochondria, insanity, epilepsy, and madness, in order to be understood by their hearers and readers. Nearly in the same way physicians of the present time denominate a certain class of sick persons lunatics, i. e. persons under the influence of the moon, and tell us of St. Anthony's fire, and the night mare, although the true causes of these diseases are well known. Something in the same way also, it is customary every where to speak of the sun's setting and rising, and to designate certain of the heavenly bodies as planets or wandering stars, although it is not philosophically true, either that the sun sets or rises, or that the planets describe that wandering, irregular path in the heavens, which they appear to, to an uninstructed eye.

If, finally, it be said, that the diseases of demoniacs are sometimes distinguished from those of other persons, the reason of it is, that these diseases, viz. melancholy, insanity, epilepsy, and madness, are in some respects peculiar, and are healed with difficulty; and hence the curing of them by a single word of the Saviour was a matter of the greater moment.

ARGUMENT III. It is admitted, that Jesus apparently speaks to the demons, threatens them, commands them to be silent, orders them to depart and not to return, Mark 1: 24. 5:8. 9: 25. Matt. 8: 28. Luke 4: 35. 8: 30-32. But it may be remarked in explanation of this, that he has reference partly to the persons themselves, whom he commands to be silent and whom he threatens, and partly to the disease, which he orders to depart and not to return. Paul, in the same manner, (Acts 16: 16.) addresses the spirit of Apollo, and commands him in the name of Jesus to depart from the soothsaying damsel; and yet, as we may learn from 1 Cor. 8: 4. he had not the least faith in Apollo, nor in any other god beside Jehovah. Nor are we at liberty so suppose, that Luke, the historian of the Acts, who subjoins to the account, of which we have now spoken, that the spirit left her, believed at all, that the spirit of Apollo was really present. The reason, why Paul and the Saviour made use of such expressions on such an occasion, was, that they might excite the attention of the bystanders, and give them to un

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derstand, that the disease had terminated at their command. It was for a reason of the same nature, viz. to make an impression on the minds of those present, that the Saviour, when the tempest was overruled and laid by his miraculous interference, commanded in an audible manner the winds and the seas to be at rest. Let those, who inquire, how Jesús could call the demon by name, if he did not believe one to be present, read the Greek text of Mark 5: 9. and of Luke 8: 30. and they will see, that it is not the demon, which is addressed by name, but the demoniac himself, (norα αυτόν, i. e. άνθρωπον, not αυτό, i.e. πνεῦμα.)

Jesus, in Luke 10: 17. does not assert the operations of demons in men, for he couples Satan with serpents and scorpions, which places us under the necessity of interpreting all of these words tropically, and of understanding by them cunning and powerful adversaries, who opposed the progress of the Gospel, but with all their power were unable to interrupt its advancement. The expressions, which he employs, are as follows. "I see," Hebrew "Satan," i. e. all the adversaries of the gospel, who are afterwards called serpents, scorpions, and the enemy's host, "fall like lightning from heaven," i. e. from the political heaven, from power and authority. Consult Is. 14: 12, 13. Matt. XXIV. Luke 10: 15. Rev. 12: 7-9. see also Cicero, where he says to Mark Antony, you have hurled your colleagues down from heaven. (The adversaries of the gospel also occur in Luke 22: 31. under the name of Satan.) "Behold," he proceeds, "I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy," i. e. of overcoming and subduing by your miraculous gifts all adversaries, "and nothing shall by any means hurt you," i. e. oppress and overcome you, (comp. adixon with the Hebrew p.) "Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven," i. e. rejoice rather in the favour of God, than in the power of casting out devils, or of healing the most difficult diseases.

Jesus, in Matt. 12: 24-30. Mark 3: 22-30. Luke 11: 16-24. employs against the Pharisees the ARGUMENTUM AD HOMINEM, which has no bearing in this case any further than the refutation of the adversary is concerned. The ground of his employing this species of argument in the present instance was this. The Pharisees, if we may believe Josephus, taught that the demons, by

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which men were possessed, were the spirits of bad men, who were dead, and were commissioned on their present business of tormenting the children of men by Beelzebub. Jesus, therefore, replied, provided this were the true state of the case, that Beelzebub, by lending his assistance in casting out his own devils, was overturning his own kingdom. He then adds, that this powerful spirit, for such the Pharisees supposed him to be, could not be compelled to perform such an unwelcome task, unless a stronger one, than Beelzebub himself, should first come, should bind him, and take away his arms.

The parable in Matt. 12: 43–45. and Luke 11: 24–28. is to be interpreted with a reference to the explanation, at the end, viz. "so shall it be with this wicked generation." The demons in these passages are the vices of the Jews, which had been in some little degree, corrected by the preaching of John the Baptist and the Saviour, but which soon after developed themselves with greater virulence, and to a greater extent than ever, as Josephus testifies was the case in the time of the War with the Romans; comp. the large German edition of this work, P. I. Vol. II. § 232. p. 490, 491.

Finally, Jesus liberates the woman, described in Luke 13: 12. as bowed down with infirmity, without making any mention of a demon; if, therefore, a little after, he asserts, that she was a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan for eighteen years, the expressions are to be considered as figurative, being an allusion to the loosing of oxen, which it was lawful to do on the sabbath in order to lead them to drink, and having reference at the same time to an opinion among the Jews, that all diseases had their ultimate origin, (not indeed from demons,) but from the devil, that overruling spirit of wickedness, who tempted Eve, and to whom allusions are made in Acts 10: 38. and in 2 Cor. 12: 7.

ARGUMENT IV. That the church Fathers unanimously agreed in the opinion, that individuals, in the time of Christ, were really and truly possessed with demons, those, who maintain that Demoniacs were diseased persons, plainly and expressly deny. They produce testimonies to the contrary. They assert, moreover, that, in point of policy, the church fathers would not have thought it advisable, to have made such assertions, as are represented, since they were contending incessantly with philosophers,

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who believed in, and strenuously contended for the agency of demons. They say further, that nothing is gained or lost, even if the fathers were unanimous in one opinion, since, this is not a question of faith or doctrine, in which alone the united sentiment of the Fathers can be considered, as possessing a binding authority. They deny also, that it can be concluded from the fact, that a class or order of persons, called exorcists, existed in the primitive ages of the church, that the church itself believed in the real agency of demons; since the popular superstitions on the subject might have been, as no doubt they were, the ground of such an institution, see Veronius IN REGUL. FID. § 4. no. 4.

197. REAL POSSESSIONS INCONSIstent with the Doctrine of JESUS AND THE APOSTLES.

Those, who oppose the doctrine of real possessions, state that Jesus, the Apostles, and Evangelists, are not to be understood literally, when they speak of the agency of demons, because such a supposition would make them act contrary to the doctrine, which they themselves taught.

They, accordingly, in support of the point, that the doctrines of the apostles and Jesus are contrary to that of real demoniacal possessions, advance the following considerations.

ARGUMENT I. Jesus and the apostles teach us, that all things, even the most minute, are under the direction of God. They could not, therefore, for a moment suppose, that so great miseries were inflicted by demons, (whether they were the spirits of dead men, or other evil spirits,) or that God would be accessory to such evils, by permitting them to exist in such a way. They would not countenance such an opinion the more especially, because it had its origin among nations, which were given to idolatry. It was the common belief among such nations, that the celestial divinities governed the world by proxy, entrusting it to inferiour deities, and to the spirits of the dead.

ARGUMENT II. Jesus and the apostles teach us, that the spirits of the dead immediately enter upon that state or destiny, which from their previous character they deserve; both the good and the bad going to a retribution, from which they can never return, Luke 16: 22, et seq. 23: 43. 2 Cor. 5: 1. Philip. 1: 21. 3: 12.

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$197. OPINION Of christ, the apostles, etc. Heb. 12: 23. Some of the wicked spirits, as we learn from 2 Peter 2: 4. and from Jude verse 6. are reserved in custody, till the day of judgment; a statement, which cannot be reconciled with the supposition, that they are straying about the earth, and tormenting its inhabitants.

ARGUMENT III. Let it be admitted, that Jesus does not in direct terms contradict the prevailing notions, and does not expressly and explicitly say, that the demoniacs were not afflicted by the agency of demons, but merely by natural diseases, (which was the opinion maintained by the Sadducees,) still it must be confessed, that, on the other hand he no where expressly denies, that the effects, produced upon individuals, who were represented as possessed with demons, resulted from such diseases merely. The fact is, as is contended, the Saviour neither took one part nor the other, neither denied nor asserted the reality of demoniacal possessions. Indeed it was not necessarily nor actually his province. A question of that kind, one which involved the state of the body or the mind, belonged rather to professed physicians. The Apostles pursue the same course in respect to this subject that the Saviour does, with the exception of John and Paul, who, having resided much in Asia Minor, do not, as has been already observed, make use of the customary and prevalent phrases in regard to demoniacs. It is stated, further, in defence of the conduct of the Saviour and his apostles, that there was no need of their refuting the vulgar opinion in respect to demoniacs, as it was evidently inconsistent with their doctrine concerning the state of the dead, and was attacked by the physicians of that age with great success. Besides, an attempt at such a refutation, in an age when the opinion to be attacked was yet so prevalent, and in a country where it was so fondly cherished, would have involved the disciples and the Saviour in prolix disputations, and would have withdrawn their attention too much from the preaching of the Gospel.

I have thus given the statements, illustrations and arguments on both sides of this question, and will leave each one to form his own opinion.

[NOTE. To give an opinion on a question, where so many plausible considerations have been brought forward on both sides, would be of no avail, without various arguments to support it. And to do this, after the statements, which have been already