DEMO N. 



Demon. « he hath a devil and is mad/' as if the expressions were 

 "•""Y""""' perfectly equivalent. And the person who is represent- 

 ed, in the 17th chapter of Matthew as a lunatic, is spo- 

 ken of by St Mark as vexed with a dumb spirit. " Be- 

 sides," says Dr Campbell, (though he held an opinion 

 upon this subject very different from that of Farmer, ) 

 " it was a common idiom among the Jews to put spi- 

 rit before any quality ascribed to a person, whether it 

 be good or bad, mental or corporeal. Thus, the spirit of 

 fear, the spirit of meekness, the spirit of slumber, the 

 spirit of jealousy, are used to express habitual fear, &c." 

 Translat. of the Gospels, vol. i. p. 251. ed. 1803. 



It is farther urged on this side of the question, that 

 the instances of possessions recorded in the books of the 

 New Testament, have all the features and appearance 

 of ordinary diseases. The madness shows itself in these 

 cases, just as it shows itself in the cases which occur 

 among ourselves in the present day: it is now me- 

 lancholy, and the patient is silent and sullen, and now 

 it vents itself in bursts of anger and ferocious resent- 

 ment. And the epilepsy of die sacred books is the epi- 

 lepsy of all our systems of nosology ; the phenomena of 

 the diseases are precisely the same. Nor does this de- 

 tract (in the opinion of Dr Farmer) from the very high 

 character which Christ undoubtedly sustains in the in- 

 spired writings, or diminish the value of his miracles as 

 the evidences of our religion ; since it must be allowed, 

 that to cure a disease with a word or a touch, is an ef- 

 fort of power, far beyond the reach of any human be- 

 ing. And let it be remembered, that those who deny 

 the expulsion of demons, are ready to admit that dis- 

 eases were miraculously cured. There is a miracle in ei- 

 ther case ,• and in either case, it is a sufficient proof of 

 our Saviour's mission, and an adequate support of the 

 Christian faith. 



To these statements and reasonings, the advocates of 

 possessions have not been slow to reply. Indeed, on 

 every inch of the ground to which the preceding ob- 

 servations refer, they declare themselves willing to join 

 battle with their antagonists. They call in question the 

 truth of Dr Farmer's leading asseveration, namely, 

 •' that extraordinary works have never been performed 

 without a divine interposition," and contend, that as 

 human beings have a certain sphere and agency allot- 

 ted them, so it is reasonable to believe that malignant 

 spirits have a wider sphere and an agency less controul- 

 led; and that within this sphere, and in the exercise of 

 this agency, they perform actions, the tendency of 

 which is to thwart the purposes of the divine benefi- 

 cence, and to introduce confusion and misery into the 

 world. They argue too, that the devil himself, the 

 chief of the apostate spirits, is often represented in 

 holy writ, as exerting his malignity in opposition to the 

 designs of infinite goodness ; and in the case of our first 

 parents, as a remarkable example, he tempted them to 

 disobedience, and led them to their fall. It was in con- 

 sequence of his machinations, that they brought down 

 upon themselves the wrath of heaven, and were driven 

 from the garden in which " the Lord had placed them." 

 The advocates of possessions contend still farther, that 

 the revelation which is made to us in sacred scripture 

 is addressed to our understandings; that it is not only in 

 our power, but that it is our indispensible duty to ex- 

 amine it, and to judge of it ; that the tendency of any 

 miracle, or system of doctrine, is a sufficient evidence of 

 tiie character belonging to him who performs the mira- 

 cle, or publishes the doctrine ; that good actions are de- 

 monstrative of the quality of goodness ; and, in short, 



VOL. Til. PART II. 



609 



that a religion calculated to make us happy, must have 

 proceeded from a being who has consulted and provided 

 for our happiness. Nor is this a matter so abstruse and 

 remote from human apprehension, that we can form no 

 opinion about it. For, say they, if any thing connect- 

 ed with Christianity be plain, it seems to be, that the 

 tendency of the religion is beneficent, and that it is no 

 less pure in its character than blessed in its effects. 

 The very miracles recorded in scripture are proofs of 

 goodness. They must have been wrought by a good 

 being. And (they continue) we think ourselves enti- 

 tled to hold our religion as true, and to regard it as in 

 the highest degree beneficial, though we might allow, 

 at the same time, that the magicians of Egypt perform- 

 ed many wonderful works by the agency of wicked 

 spirits, that the sorceress of Endor was in league with 

 the powers of darkness, and that Christ was literally 

 tempted " of the devil," in the wilderness of Judea. 



With regard to the more specific question of demonv- 

 acal possessions, they are equally bold. They assert, 

 that though God has often been pleased to accommo- 

 date himself to our apprehension, by adopting the cur- 

 rent language of the countries where the revelation was 

 first published ; yet the account of the creation given 

 by Moses is not altogether an instance in point. For 

 (say they) while it is granted that the true system 01* 

 the universe is not laid before us in the first chapter of 

 Genesis, it ought to be remembered that the statements 

 in that chapter are exceedingly general; and that, 

 while the whole truth is not told, it being no part of 

 the revelation to tell it, there is, at the same time, no 

 error directly inculcated. In the demoniacal cases, 

 however, the conduct of the inspired writers, and in- 

 deed of Christ himself, is widely different. They po- 

 sitively and directly inform us, that a demon " enters 

 into" a man, and " comes out" of him ; they represent 

 the demons as speaking and reasoning, and hoping and 

 fearing ; as having inclinations and aversions peculiar 

 to themselves, and distinct from those of the person 

 who is the subject of the possession ; they tell us of 

 one unhappy sufferer who • was vexed with many de- 

 vils ; and, in the case of the demoniac of Gadara, they, 

 assure us, that the devils were * cast out" of the man, 

 and were permitted, at their own request, to " enter . 

 into" a herd of swine which were feeding in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and that immediately the herd ran violently 

 down a steep place, and were drowned hi the sea. 

 Who ever heard of swine afflicted with madness as a na- 

 tural disease ? Or when and where has the epilepsy, or 

 falling sickness, been predicable of the sow? For (say 

 the patrons of possessions) it must be carefully observed 

 that the disease of the man, the affection of the human 

 sufferer, whatever that affection might have been, was 

 clearly transferred from him to the animals in ques- 

 tion. Besides, as various instances are recorded in 

 scripture, and as several of these instances are given at 

 considerable length, might we not expect, if possessions 

 were really nothing more than ordinary diseases, that 

 the truth would be somewhere told or hinted at ? that, 

 within the compass of the sacred canon, something 

 would be said, or something insinuated, which would 

 lead us to understand, that tile language, though inac- 

 curate and improper, was used in accommodation to the 

 popular belief? Might we not expect that Christ him- 

 self would have declared, in one unequivocal affirma- 

 tion, or in some intelligible way, the exact truth of the 

 case? Or, at all events,. when the Holy Ghost had de- 

 scended upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, and 

 "4 H 



Demoi;. 



