18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had "been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
1 9 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great
things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him : and all men did marvel.
The after-conduct of those whom our Lord Jesus Christ healed and cured when upon earth, is a thing which is not often related in the Gospels. The story often de- scribes the miraculous cure, and then leaves the after history of the person cured in obscurity, and passes on to other things.
But there are some deeply interesting cases, in which the after-conduct of persons cured is described ; and the
creature with flesh and bones like ourselves. We can see plainly that there were many persons possessed with devils during our Lord's earthly ministry. We can see plainly that bodily possession was something distinct from possession of heart and soul. We can con- jecture the reason of their permitted possession — to make it plain that our Lord came to destroy the works of the devil. But we must stop here. We can go no further.
Let us, however, beware of supposing that Satanic possession was entirely confined to our Lord's time, and that there is no such thing in our own days. This would be a rash and unwarrantable conclu- sion. Awful as the thought is, there are sometimes cases in asylums for the insane, which, if they are not cases of Satanic possession, ap- proach as nearly to it as possible. — In short I believe the opinion of not a few eminent physicians is clear and decided that Satanic pos- session still continues, though cases are exceedingly rare.
Of course it would be presumption to handle so fearful a doctrine lightly, and to pronounce positively of any particular person that " he had a devil." But if such things have been — ami the New Testament puts this beyond question — no good reason can be assigned why they should not be again. Human nature is not changed since our Lord was on earth. Satan is not yet bound. Salanic possession is therefore neither impossible nor improbable, though limits may be set to the frequency of it, through the mercy of God.