demons, than to attempt to reconcile the phraseology of Scripture respecting demoniacs with descriptions of merely natural disease. They are said to be possessed by demons. Christ and his disciples are said to cast out demons. The demons on all occasions know Jesus to be the Son of God. They are obedient to Him. They converse with him. In one instance quoted, they wished when ejected from the man to enter a herd of swine. Christ gives them permission. They enter the swine, and cause their destruction. Now, is there any possible way of understanding these statements, unless these demons were real existences, and actually took possession of the bodies of men? Who ever heard a disease speak? Who ever knew a disease increase the knowledge of men? How could a disease leap from the bodies of men into beasts at a distance? The mere supposition is absurd and monstrous. Let it be remembered that these statements are historical facts. They rest on the evidence of eye witnesses, and if we place any confidence in the inspired historians, we must believe that demons had entered the bodies of men, and were ejected by Christ: or else, we must disbelieve the Scriptures.

Two or three questions naturally suggest themselves here.

Why did the demons desire to inhabit material bodies? Did this desire arise from a disposition to injure man? did it spring from malice, jealousy, and hatred? Was it a manifestation of the malignity of fallen spirits towards the inhabitants of this world, which since the temptation of our first parents has never decreased in virulence? Was it a display of spite against God whom they could not strike; an attempt to exercise their revenge on the Almighty by acts of cruelty upon

feeble man, the object of God's tender solicitude and love? Or was the occupation of a body productive of increased perceptions, either pleasurable or painful; and would it, by bringing them into relation to space and matter, afford them media of speech and motion? It is noticeable that when ejected from the human. body, they on one occasion asked permission to enter the swine: and that previous to ejection, they asked Christ not to torment them.

Another question suggested is, How did they know Christ? Was it through any knowledge they acquired as spirits who at times could approach the throne of God? Was it through any power of communication which spirit has with spirit? Did they recognize in Jesus Him whom equal with the Father they had beheld in Heaven the object of worship, and whom as subdued rebels they were compelled to obey? Did they feel the restraining influence of one thus holy and mighty, and was this the torment they endured in his presence? Either of these conjectures, if correct, would account for their recognition in Jesus of the Son of God, and their implicit subjection to him.

A third question occurs: Are these spiritual beings in the same circumstances and possessed of the same powers Now, as in the time of Christ? Or, in other words, are there demoniacal possessions in the present day?

In order to the solution of this question, let us enquire if there be any reason for supposing a change to have taken place in the economy of demons. Why should they not exist under precisely the same circumstances, possessed of the same powers, and influenced by the same passions and desires? We find no intimation of any change in the Word of God. The end of the world

is their period of judgment; and why should any change take place in their condition or operations before that period? The death of Christ produced no change. Demoniacs were found after his resurrection as well as in his life time. The influence of Satan over the mind is still felt, and why may not his influence over the body, which must be considered a less evil, be also felt? The death of Christ then cannot have produced any change in the economy of the demon world except that the gradual advancement of truth causes a gradual decrease in Satan's dominions.

It has been supposed that in order to render the miracles for the establishment of Christianity more convincing, demons were allowed in the time of Christ and his Apostles to take possession of the bodies of men and torture them. Such a supposition does not consist with the mercy and benevolence of God. It can scarcely be believed that God would permit such tortures to be inflicted. on men merely to add splendour to the miracles wrought by Christ and his disciples. We blame a philosopher who puts one of the brute creation to pain in order to illustrate a point of science, and can we conceive it possible that man should be given as a prey to the wanton malice of demons, merely that Christ might be magnified in their ejection? This supposition is opposed by the belief in demoniacal possessions held both by heathens and Jews before the time of Jesus. Demoniacal possessions in New Testament times seem to have excited no surprise. They are narrated by the inspired historians in the same manner as ordinary occurrences. It would seem by a remark of Jesus on one occasion to his enemies, that not only were demoniacal possessions common, but that the Jews were accustomed to

cast out demons; "If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, (demons) by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges." Mat. xii. 27. Jesus could not thus have silenced his enemies if they had not practised, in reality or pretence, the ejection of demons. It will not meet the question then, to say that demoniacal possessions were peculiar to the times of Christ and his Apostles.

The question can only be answered by an appeal to facts. Are there any demoniacs now? There are not any so denominated by us: but are there any under another name? Or, to put the question in another form; are lunatics, or madmen, identical with demoniacs?

Let us not shrink from this investigation from superstitious horror, or from an unwillingness to allow that persons are under the cruel influence of demons. It would argue nothing unfavourable to persons thus grievously afflicted if their afflictions were the result of the agency of demons. There is no reason to suppose that the demoniacs of the New Testament were more wicked or more hateful to God than their neighbours. Mary Magdalene, out of whom seven demons were cast, became one of the most faithful and loving disciples of Jesus, and there is not a single intimation that before their ejection she was an abandoned woman, or especially obnoxious to God's displeasure. No man could be more grievously tormented by Satan than Job was, and yet no man has ever been more highly commended by God. "There is none like him," says God, "in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil." To be possessed by a demon, then, would not be any more an evidence of sin, or of God's displeasure, than to be afflicted by any of the or

dinary diseases, which also, may possibly be the result of demoniac

agency.

To return then to the evidence of facts are there any diseases now analogous to demoniacal possessions? That there are diseases very similar to demoniacal possessions, may be argued from the circumstance that many have endeavoured to prove, that the possessions of the New Testament diseases.

were merely natural

For many centuries after Christ, the Fathers believed in the continuance of demoniacal possessions.

The nervous melancholy, and raving madness of the present day, bear great resemblance to "possession."

One from whom a demon was cast out by Christ, is called in Matthew a lunatic. "A certain man came to Jesus, saying, 'Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sore vexed.' 'And Jesus rebuked the devil (demon), and he departed out of him." The Jews were accustomed to impute madness to demoniacal possession. They said concerning Christ, "He hath a devil, and is mad."

The general emnity to God and religion manifested by madmen, and their well-known proneness to oaths and blasphemy, can with difficulty be accounted for, except on the supposition of demoniacal possession, especially in the case of

indi

viduals of exalted piety in their intervals of sanity. The change of feeling sometimes produced by madness may perhaps somewhat account for this phenomenon; but it seems hardly sufficient reason for the disposition to curse and swear, which is the almost universal accompaniment of raving madness.

The immense accession of strength in madness, presents another very striking point of resemblance to de

moniacal possessions. To what extent nervous energy will account for such immense accessions of strength as are frequently seen, it is difficult to determine.

It does not materially affect the argument, that under medical treatment the virulence of the disorder is mitigated, or that it may be traced to natural causes. There is nothing harsh or unnatural in the supposition that the demon may take advantage of some mental or physical weakness to obtain possession of the human frame; and as our own spirits are powerfully influenced by the condition of the material body, may not the felon demon, who has taken violent possession, be in a similar manner influenced by the body or the spirit, the lawful occupier? Moreover, all God's dealings with men appear to be intimately associated with natural causes; and may not the agency of evil spirits be similarly associated with, and dependent upon, natural causes? For instance, when Saul's mind was wounded by the popularity of David, the evil spirit came upon Saul, and the soothing influence of music enabled him to overcome the demon. Paul's thorn in the flesh was said to be a messenger of Satan to buffet him, and at the same time to be given him, that he might not be exalted above measure; given him not by Satan, who would not wish to keep Paul humble, but by God. This thorn in the flesh was probably an imperfection of speech, for his enemies said that his speech was contemptible, although his letters were weighty and powerful. Such impediment would be a great hindrance to the effectiveness of Paul's preaching, and therefore would be a great grief to him, and gratification to Satan. Such impediment would also be the natural result of the revelation which had been granted him by

God. He had been caught up to the third heaven, into Paradise, and had heard unspeakable words, which it was not lawful or possible for a man to utter. Such was his ecstasy that he could not tell whether he was in the body or out of the body. His whole nervous system would most probably be affected, and the thorn in the flesh naturally follow. Whatever the thorn in the flesh may have been, it is generally supposed to have resulted from the vision. It would then seem to have proceeded from three distinct sources-viz., Natural causes,-Satan's malignity, -and God's care. Satan appears to have taken advantage of Paul's state of body, induced by the ecstasy, to fix the thorn in the flesh with intent to injure him, whilst the same is permitted, or appointed by God, not for Paul's injury, but for his good, that the evil inflicted by Satan might keep him from being unduly elevated and puffed up by the revelation that had been granted him. And may it not be the case frequently that our afflictions, which may be traced to natural causes, are the result of de

moniac agency, and at the same time are given us by God to preserve us from much greater evils, and work out our everlasting good?

From this investigation it appears that there are no reasons why demons may not now mingle among men as in the time of Christ, or for supposing their power diminished;-that demoniacal possessions are still possible;-that for several centuries after Christ demoniacs were thought to exist;—that some of the diseases of the present day bear a strong resemblance to demoniacal possessions;

that there is nothing necessarily revolting to the mind in the idea of a demon possessing or tormenting a human body; but-that God may, through the agency of demons, work out His purposes of mercy and love in the children of men; and that, too, when demons are gratifying their own malevolent desires, and through those evils which apparently spring from circumstances and things, entirely under human control.

The subject of the next paper will be Witchcraft.

happiness." There was no waste of argument to establish it; it was manifestly self-evident, an article of the creed, on which a controversy had never been raised. Now, of

course, we grave, elder folk have outgrown our faith in that axiom; yet there is we believe, an element of truthin it, too much overlooked in this busy, practical, everyday life of ours; we are somewhat afraid of " play," we will allow ourselves rest, but not much recreation. Yet in so doing

we sin against ourselves, for gladness of heart is wonderfully helpful to success in all kinds of labour, and it will never consort with a life of unremitting toil. But forgetful of this, the bow is bent, always bent, and hence there is a good deal of nerveless work done, and our endeavours often fall short of the mark, when a little more vigour would have made them unerring and true. Some of our readers have had perhaps a long winter of dry work, and their work has been done too, it may be in the midst of the excitements of town life, and the unhealthy competitions of business. If so, in all probability, their physical powers are worn and exhausted, the mind is jaded, and the heart, at times, seems almost loveless to such an one the budding, beautiful Spring, does not directly bring health, but rather a consciousness of sickness. It appears to awaken an instinct within them leading them to seek the curative power, so richly stored up for them in Nature by the bountiful hand of the all watchful Father. Hence, where any amount of culture and refinement of feeling obtain, the almost heart-sick yearning for the quiet woods, the breezy hill side and a glimpse of the wild free seawaves, and the longing too for a wrestle on cliff or shore with the bracing winds that have swept over them. Well, it is for those who have resources which enable them to obey such impulses. They are friendly monitors, warning of danger, and inviting to remedial processes as pleasant as they are salutary; well is it too if there be a corresponding wisdom which, foreseeing the peril and loss waiting upon every infringement of Nature's laws, hastens by obedience to her promptings to avoid her punishments, and to gather in her blessings. And here, by the way, one thought of pity for those

the hard-working poor of our towns especially-who have the toil without the release; one movement of leniency towards them that may temper a judgment, apt perhaps to be harsh in condemning the coarse excitements and gross sensuality too, often forming the staple of the amusements they seek. The heart of man craves pleasure as the body in cold and hunger craves warmth and food; but when the whole frame is stupified by incessant toil, it is only a strong stimulus that has power to excite a sensation, and where the healing and blessed influences of true religion are unknown, it is little marvel that this is sought, and that pleasure is purchased, at almost any price. And all honour to the noble men and women who, through all temptations incidental to a life of poverty and labour, have kept their faith with their God, with themselves, and with those whom he has given them to cherish and to love. One plea, too, for the little ones in our households. Would that parents who are town-dwellers the long year through, could only know the importance to their children of an annual migration to some of those sweet rural spots, which despite the encroachments of man, God has still preserved here and there around our cities, mementos of the unchanging love and kindness which at the first planted a garden, and a garden of Eden for the earliest of the human race, which His power had created. As an element, in the education about which so many anxieties gather, it holds no inferior position; it yields not an iota in value to any school-room training, or book lore, however complete and perfect. Without the sweet teachings of Nature. young hearts and minds must always of necessity prove barren of healthy growths, both parents and children.