It was but natural that the power of evil should show itself, in more open and direct hostility than ever, in the age of our Lord and his apostles, when its time was short. It was natural also that it should take the special form of possession in an age of such unprecedented and brutal sensuality as that which pre- ceded his coming, and continued till the leaven of Christianity was folt. Nor was it less natural that it should have died away gradually before the great di-
rect, and still greater indirect infloenee flf CWb kingdom. Acoordin^y we find eariy fitffacn (aste Mart. Diot. c. Trypk^^Sll B.; TeKtaUia^ J^ ft 87, 48) alluding to its existeoce aa a oonoMa thc^ mentioning the attempts of Jewiali vxartmm k ^ name of Jehovah as oeoasionally snccesrfkil (see Sii xii, 27 ; Acts xix, 18X but espedaUy dweUiBg m ^ power of Christian exorcism to cast it oa/L from M country as a test of the truth of the Gospal, and i»« well-known benefit which it already coniened ea ii empire. By degrees the mentaon is leas and ksfb- quent, till the very idea ia lest or po-verted. 8eei»
ORCIST.
Such is a brief sketdi of the scripCoral Bfltka 4 possession. That round the Jewiah notsoA ef it an grew up, in that noted age of saperstitign, bbjI»- ish and evil practices, and much snpantitioa as fes Ik- migations, etc. (comp. Tob. viii, 1-8 ; Joseph. AM, rn, 2, 5), of the " vagabond exorcists'* (see Acta xu, 1^ is obvious, and would be inevitable. It ia dear ^ Scripture does not in the least sanction or ev«n esBfe* scend to notice such things ; bnt it is oeataia. tkM a the Old Testament (see Lev. xix, 81; 1 Sam. xxi^ 7, etc; 2 Kings xxi,6; xxiii, 24^ etc), as wdl « c the New, it recognises possession as a nal aad ^m power of evil spirits upon the heart. — Smitb, DidL i BihU^ s. V. See PoflBESSBD (yoUk a demt).
Dagan. See Cork ; Aoricultukk.
Dagger P^n, che'reb^ usually " swwd"), "7 sharp instrument, especially a military weKpoa. (Jaff iii, 16, 21, 22). See Sword.
Daggett, Herman, a Congreeatiooal miairtu. was bom at Walpole, Mass., Sept. 11, 1766i, and gnfe ated at Brown University, 1788. He entered the ais- istry Oct. 1789, and after preaching a year in So^ hold, L. L, was ordained pastor in Sovthamptm, Apri 12,1792. In 1796 he removed to West HampfeoB. h 1801 he was ordained pastor over the chnrdies of Fls Place and Ifiddle Island, which he resigned ia IW. In 1818 he became principal of the For. Mlas. Scbad at ComwalL This positbn he reaigaed id 1834, 1^ died May 19, 1882.— Sprague, Aimals, B, 291.
Daggett, Naphtali, D.D., a Congregmtioaal bb- ister, was bom at Attleborough, Mass., Sept. 8, 17^: graduated at Tale 1748, and was ordained pastor it Smithtown, L. I., 1751. He was elected Prof, of Di- vinity in Tale College, 1756, and ranained there Ksi his death, Nov. 25, 1780. He occupied tbt preadcs- tial chair of the college pro tempore ttom ]7€6 m^ 1777. When the British landed at West Haven, ITTf, his patriotic ardor led him to take up arma, and be va very radely treated by the enemy. Hia death m hastened by his sufferings. He poUiahed a few ht mons. — Sprague, Afmaltj i, 479.
Dagobert. See Daimbert.
Da'gon (Heb. Da^foti% ym ; Sept. and Joasite, Aoywv), the national god of the PhUistmes, Seat have derived the name from "{d^, grtnm (SumAam- thon, Fragm, ed. Orelli, p. 26, 82; Bochazt, JKevos, i 881 ; Beyer, ad Seld, p. %5) ; but the dernratim frost y^, a fi^ with the diminutive (1. e. endearing) txansa- nation ^ (Gesenius, Tha. p. 320), is not only mcrt a accordance with the principles of Hebrew derivatke (Ewald, Heb, Oram, § 812, 841), but ia meet decffireh established by the terms employed in 1 Sam. v, 4. h is there said that Dagon fell to the earth before the ark, that his head and the palms of his hands v«n broken off, and that " on/y Dagon wu left om kiai" If Dagon is derived from !1^,JSjA| and if the idol, as tben is every reason to believe, had the body of a fish t^ the head and hands of a man, it ia easy to vndentad why a part of the statue is there called Dapam in c«e- tradistinction to the head and hinds, bnt not lAts- wise. That such was the figure at the idol is asKrte^
DAGON
643
DAGON
TCImcJil, and is admitted bj most modem echolan. is also supported bj the analogies of other fish dei- B among the S3nro-ArabUiis (see Herod, ii, 72 ; iEli- , w^«Mm. Xf 46 ; zii, 2 ; XenopL Afiab, i, 4, 9 ; Stmbo, iL, 812 ; Died. Sic ii, 4; Cioen>, Nat. Dear, lii, 16; cnp. MOnter, JUL d, Karth, p. 102; Movers, Phdnie, 4:91 sq. ; Crenxer, Sj^ntboL i, 78 sq.). Besides the rEBOATiB (q. T.) of the ^rians (which was the fe- iJ.e oounterpart of Dagon), e Sabylonians had a tradi- m, acoording to Beroens (erosi Qua nq)emint, ed. Lcbter, p. 48, 54), that at the try beginning of their his- ry an extraordinary being, Ued Oonnes, having the en- re body of a fish, but the sad, bands, feet, and ^oice Repreeentation of a Fiah- ^ a man, emerged fhnn the fc^S^^htSbS rythrasan Sea, i4>peaied m