noticed in a preceding chapter; it is only necessary further to say, that in all the cases of demoniacal possession the unclean spirit is called a demon, never a devil. The chief value of this distinction consists in the word demon being found in profane history, as the name given to spiritual beings not so repulsive nor so malignant as those described in the New Testament.

2. Another observation presents itself in regard to the comparative malignity or wickedness of these spirits. Some, probably, were comparatively harmless, such as the spirit of infirmity by whom Satan had bound a poor daughter of Abraham eighteen years (Luke xiii. 11-16); or the blind and dumb demoniac (No. 3), whose only sufferings appear to have been the inability to see and speak. A difference in wickedness is expressly

asserted in the case of the demon who took seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, to the house he had previously left; and in the case of the demoniac whom the disciples could not cure, we have a fearful instance, not only of the desperate malignity of a particular kind of demon, but of his power to resist all efforts to expel him, unless accompanied by great faith as well as fasting and prayer.

3. It would appear, in the more violent cases of demoniacal possession (and it may be more or less in all) the attacks come on in fits, after intervals of comparative repose. In that remarkable case to which we have just referred, we find the father saying, "Lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again; and, bruising him, hardly departeth from him" (Luke ix. 39); and again, "Wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him; and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away" (Mark ix. 18). We

have also indirect evidence of these alternations in the case of Legion : "He had often been bound with fetters and chains" (Mark v. 4), evidently when prostrated by exhaustion after the fits; "but oftentimes the demons caught him" (Luke viii. 29), and then "the chains were plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces" (Mark v. 4).

4. We next observe the symptoms which these possessions exhibited:-First, There were hatred and enmity towards mankind, living without clothes night and day in the mountains, or dwelling among the tombs-"exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass that way." Second, There was fear and antagonism towards God and Christ: "What have I to do with thee?" "Art thou come to destroy us?" "Art thou come to torment us before the time?" "I adjure thee by God, that thou torment us not.” Third, There was passive misery, exhibited in howling, even when the spirit was dumb; wallowing on the ground, foaming, gnashing the teeth. Fourth, There was extreme violence of action. One was driven into the wilderness -no man could tame him; and the swine into which the legion entered ran violently down into the sea. Fifth, There was malignant cruelty towards the person possessed. Nearly all of the victims appear to have been "sorely vexed"-one was in the habit of cutting himself with stones; another was thrown down, and torn and bruised, besides being ofttimes cast into the fire and into the water, that he might be destroyed. And sixth, It appears that when the devils were cast out, the immediate effect in two cases was exhaustion. The daughter of the Canaanitish woman, although made whole at the very moment when our Lord said, "The demon is gone out of thy daughter," was so prostrated, that when the mother

arrived at her own house, she found that the demon had indeed gone out, but her daughter was "laid upon the bed." And again, when our Lord cast out the malignant demon from the boy, we are told, "he was as one dead, insomuch that many said, He is dead."

5. A remarkable doctrine is brought out regarding what may be called the physical constitution of these unclean spirits. They were able to occupy the same body, or nervous system, in considerable numbers. Besides the proper spirit of the man himself, not only do we find one demon sharing or disputing the habitation or government of the body, but in the case of Mary Magdalene, seven demons; in another case, eight; and in a third, not fewer than two thousand. It is interesting to observe the physiological effects produced by the concentrated spiritual influence of these demons, first on the man, and afterwards on the two thousand swine.

6. The circumstance that they were able to possess the nervous system of the swine, leads us also to conclude that if the nervous system of the lower animals be so constructed as to be capable of receiving impressions from spirit, there is probably some spiritual substance connected with the lower animals, though it be not capable of separate existence.

7. We are informed that the demons earnestly desired that Christ would not send them out into the deep, but allow them to enter into the swine. In this manner we observe that there is some kind of gratification enjoyed by a spirit in the habitation of a body. It desires not to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon. This is illustrated

in the parable of the unclean spirit, which, when it went forth from the man, is said to have walked in dry places, like a wanderer in a thirsty, barren land. On return

ing, however, to its old habitation, it took with it seven other spirits, and they entered and dwelt there. This natural appetite for a bodily tabernacle may probably proceed from one of two causes: either that the functions of the spirit cannot rightly be exercised, except upon, or by means of, a nervous system; or because the incubation of a nervous system provides some kind of nourishment or vitality elaborated by the body, without which possibly the spirit may lapse into a dormant or suffering state.

CHAPTER AXIV.

DEMONIACAL INSPIRATION.

ANOTHER kind of spiritual possession is prophetic ecstasy, or inspiration. It does not appear to differ very much in its nature from simple possession, perhaps not at all, except in the disposition of the indwelling spirit and the periods of its manifestation.

There does not seem to be any malevolence exhibited by the demon in the transports into which the prophet is thrown; and although there may be a peculiarity of constitution which makes him more susceptible of spiritual influence than others, it appears as if there must be some sort of consent, or even solicitation, on his part to permit or induce the spirit to deliver his responses or manifest his presence.

It is the fashion of the present day to ascribe to imposture or fanaticism all pretences to spiritual manifestation of whatever kind, and it is somewhat remarkable that this Sadducean philosophy is most in fashion among scientific men. This is to be accounted for, not by any natural tendency which the inductive philosophy has towards materialism, but by the lingering influence of the old a priori method of disposing of a question, not by impartially balancing the evidence, but by anticipating a conclusion, and then endeavouring to explain the phenomena in accordance with it.