not always be determined by its etymology. But when its signifi- cation is the same with its usage ; when those called demoniacs are said to be possessed with evil spirits ; when those spirits are addressed as persons, and commanded to depart ; and when this power over them is appealed to as proof of Christ's power over Satan, the prince of these fallen angels ; then it is unreasonable to deny that the word is to be understood in its literal and proper sense.
A second objection is that the phenomena exhibited by those called demoniacs are those of known bodily or mental diseases, and therefore that no other cause can rationally be assumed to account for them. It is not, however, true that all the phenomena in ques- tion can be thus accounted for. Some of the symptoms are those of lunacy and epilepsy, but others are of a different character. These demoniacs often exhibited supernatural power or knowl- edge. Besides this, the Scriptures teach that evil spirits have power to produce bodily disease. And therefore the presence of such disease is no proof that the agency of evil spirits was not active in its production and its consequences.
3. It is further objected that such cases do not now occur. This is by no means certain. The evil spirits do now work in the chil- dren of disobedience, and for what we know they may now work in some men as effectually as in the ancient demoniacs. But ad- mitting the fact to be as assumed, it would prove nothing to the point. There may have been special reasons for allowing such dis- plays of Satanic power when Christ was on earth, which no longer exist. That miracles are not wrought in the Church now, is no proof that they were not wrought during the apostolic age.
We are not to deny what are plainly recorded in the Scriptures as facts on this subject ; we have no right to assert that Satan and his angels do not now in any cases produce similar effects ; but we should abstain from asserting the fact of Satanic or demoniacal in- fluence or possession in any case where the phenomena can be otherwise accounted for. The difference between believing what- ever is possible, and believing only what is certain is strikingly il- lustrated in the case of Luther and Calvin. The former was dib posed to refer all evil to the spirits of darkness ; the latter referred nothing to their agency that could not be proved to be actually their work. Luther ^ says : " Die Heiden wissen nicht, woher das Ungliick so plotzlich kommt; aber wir wissen es, dass es eitel Teufels Albeit ist, der hat solche Helleparten, Bleikugeln und
' Werke, edit. Walch, vol. xiii. p. 2850. (?)
648 PART I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. Xm. — Anoels.
Buchsen, solche Spiesse iind Schwerter, darait er unter uns schiesst, wirft und sticht, wenn Gott es ihm erlaubt. Darum zweifle 11 ur Niemand dran, wo ein Feuer aufgehet, dass ein Dorf oder ein Haus abbrennet, da sitzt allewege ein Teufelein dabei, das blaset imnier in das Feuer, dass es soil grosser Averden." " Ein Christ soil das wissen, dass er mitten unter den Teufeln sitze, und dass ihm der Teufel naher sei denn sein Rock oder Hemde, ja naher denn seine eigene Haut, dass er rings um uns her sei, und wir also stets mit ihm zu Haare liegen und uns mit ihm schlagen miissen." ^ " The heathen know not whence evil so suddenly comes. But Ave know. It is tlie pure work of the devil ; who has fire-brands, bul- lets, torches, spears, and swords, with which he shoots, casts, or pierces, when God permits. Therefore let no man doubt when a fire breaks out which consumes a village or a house, that a little devil is sitting there blowing the fire to make it greater." Again, " Let a Christian know that he sits among devils : that the devil is nearer to him than his coat or his shirt, or even his skin ; that he is all about us, and that we must always grapple with and fight him." Calvin's view of the subject is,^ " Quae de diabolis Scrip- tura tradit, eo fere tendunt omnia, ut solliciti simus ad praecaven- das eorum insidias et molitiones : turn iis armis nos instruamus, qua) ad propulsandos potentissimos hostes satis firma sint ac valida." And he asks,^ " Quid nostra refert vel plura, vel in alium finem de diabolis scire ? "
1 Edit. Walch, vol. x p. 1234; edit. Erlangen, 1828, voL xvii. p. 178.
a jHstitutio, I. xii. 13. ' Ibid. 18.
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