themselves to this delusion, under which thousands of men and women, and even children, were put to the most cruel deaths. It is not necessary to go to the opposite extreme and deny all agency of evil spirits in nature or over the bodies and minds of men, in order to free ourselves from such evils. It is enough to adhere to the plain teaching of the Bible. These spirits can only act, as before stated, in accordance with the laws of nature and the free agency of man ; and their influence and operations can no more be detected and judicially proved than the influence and operations of holy angels for good. Both classes are efficient ; we are to be thankful to God for the unseen and unknowable ministry of the angels of light, and be on our guard and seek divine protection from the machinations of the spirits of evil. But of neither are we directly conscious, and to the agency of neither can we with cer- tainty refer any specific effect ; if its occurrence admits of any other explanation.
Demoniacal Possessions. The most marked exhibition of the power of evil spirits over the bodies and minds of men, is afforded by the demoniacs so often mentioned in the evangelical history. These demoniacal posses- sions were of two kinds. First, those in which the soul alone was the subject of the diabolic influence, as in the case of the " damsel possessed with a spirit of divination," mentioned in Acts xvi. 16. Perhaps in some instances false prophets and magicians were exam- ples of the same kind of possession. Secondly, those in which the bodies alone, or as was more frequently the case, both the body and mind were the subjects of this spiritual influence. By possession is meant the inhabitation of an evil spirit in such relation to the body and soul as to exert a controlling influence, producing violent agitations and great suffering, both mental and corporeal. That the demoniacs mentioned in the New Testament were not mere lunatics or the subjects of epilepsy or other analogous diseases, but cases of real possession, is plain. First, because this was the prevail- ing belief of the Jews at that time ; and secondly, because Chi'ist and his Apostles evidently adopted and sanctioned that belief They not only called those thus affected demoniacs, but addressed the spirits as persons, commanded them, disposed of them, and in every way spoke and acted as they would have done had the popu- lar belief been well founded. It is certain that all who heard Christ thus speak would and did conclude that he regarded the demoniacs as really possessed by evil spirits. This conclusion he
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nowhere contradicts ; but on the contrary, in his most private con- ferences with the disciples abundantly confirmed. He promised to give them power to cast out demons ; and referred to his possession of this power, and his ability to delegate its exercise to his disci- ples as one of the most convincing proofs of his Messiahship and divinity. He came to destroy the works of the devil ; and that He did thus triumph over him and his angels, proved that He was what He claimed to be, the promised almighty king and conqueror, who was to found that kingdom of God of which there is to be no end. To explain all this on the principle of accommodation would destroy the authority of Scripture. On the same principle the doc- trine of atonement, inspiration, divine influence, and every other distinctive doctrine of the Bible, may be, and has been explained away. We must take the Scriptures in their plain historical sense — in that sense in which they were designed to be understood by those to whom they were addressed, or we dp thereby reject them as a rule of faith.
There is no special improbability in the doctrine of demoniacal possessions. Evil spirits do exist. They have access to the minds and bodies of men. Why should we refuse to believe, on the au- thority of Christ, that they were allowed to have special power over some men ? The world, since the apostasy, belongs to the kingdom of Satan ; and to redeem it from his dominion was the special object of the mission of the Son of God. It is not surpris- ing, therefore, that the time of his advent, was Satan's hour ; the time when, to a greater degree than before or after, he manifested his power, thus making the fact of his overthrow the more conspic- uous and glorious.
The objections to the common doctrine on this subject are, — 1. That calling certain persons demoniacs no more proves that they were possessed by evil spirits, than calling others lunatics, proves that they were under the influence of the moon. This is true ; and if the argument rested only on the use of the word de- moniac, it would be altogether insufficient to establish the doctrine. But this is only a collateral and subordinate argument, without force in itself, but deriving force from other sources. If the sacred writers, besides designating the deranged as lunatics, had spoken of the moon as the source of their derangement, and had referred to its different phases as increasing or lessening the force of their mental disorder, there would be some analogy between the cases. It is readily admitted that the use of a word is often very different from its primary signification, and therefore that its meaning can