and the last to retain, the light of Heaven; and offering, in their elevation and strength, a refuge to the surviving hope and virtue of the nation.

In our list we have omitted that vast number of brief discussions and explanatory notes, which constitutes almost a perpetual commentary; referring only to essays of a certain extent and originality. As a specimen of the impartial and intelligent manner of these essays, we shall take that on the long contested subject of Demoniacal Agency; merely abridging, from a consideration of our own limits, some of the more expanded arguments.

"Luke iv. 33, 34.—And in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone: what have we to do with thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth. Art thou come to destroy us. I know thee who thou art, the Holy one of God.'

"The event related in this section has given, since the time of Joseph Mede, rise to much discussion. One class of authorities have supposed that the Dæmoniacs were merely madmen. (Here follow references to those authorities.) On the other side may be placed the uniform interpretation of the passage by the ancient Church," &c. (Here follow the references.)

Mr. Townsend gives the following summary of the heads of the argument on both sides, stating first those of the opponents of demoniacal possessions.

"1. The word Dæmon properly signifies the soul of a dead person. "In answer to this it is said, that such is not the uniform meaning of the word.

2. Among the Heathen, lunacy and epilepsy were ascribed to the operation of some dæmons, who were therefore called larvati and cerriti.

"Several answers have been given to this objection. One, That it is not quite impossible that the Heathen were in the right. Another, That the opinion of the Heathen, right or wrong, is no proof that the Jews were in error, for the Dæmoniacs of Scripture are represented as differing from insane and epileptic persons. Compare Matt. ii. 24., where the δαίμονιζομενους are opposed to the σεληνιαζομενους, with Matt. x. 1. The power to cast out devils or dæmons, is expressly opposed to healing all other diseases whatever. See Luke iv. 33. 36. Compare also 41 with 40, where the same contrast is observable.

"3. The Jews had the same idea of those diseases as the Heathen; and the instance of the madness of Saul is brought in proof of the assertion, with Matt. xvii. 14. John x. 20. &c.

"Answer. Those passages prove merely that lunatics' epileptics,' and dæmoniacs, have been sometimes synonymous terms. The argument already derived from the contrast is not destroyed.

"4. Christ adopted the common language of the day, which it was not necessary to change. He was not sent to correct the mistakes in the popular philosophy.

"Answer. This argument takes for granted the point to be proved. With respect to the philosophy of the day, it would be difficult to shew that our Lord sanctioned any error, because it was popular.

"5. No reason can be given why there should be dæmoniacal possessions in the time of our Lord, and not at present.

Answer. Those possessions might have been then more frequent, that the power of Christ over the world of spirits should be more evidently shown, and that he who came declaredly to destroy the works of the devil, should visibly triumph over him. By this act of power he also confuted the error of the Sadducees, who denied the existence of angels or spirits. Lightfoot supposes, that the power of Dæmons might be permitted to display itself in this peculiar manner, while Christ was upon earth, because the iniquity of the Jews was now at its greatest height, and the whole world was consequently in a state of the greatest apostasy. He adds, that the Jews were now much given to magic; and to prevent his miracles from being attributed to this source, our Saviour evoked the evil spirits, to show that he was in no confederacy with them."

The arguments on the side of demoniacal possession are striking and direct.

"1. The Heathen had an idea of beings superior to men, but inferior to the supreme God. Cudworth (Intell. Syst. Vol. I. B. i. c. 4.) quotes Plato's expression of the ορατοὶ καὶ γεννητοι θεοι, and Maximus Tyrius, the συναρχοντες θεω, &c.

2. The doctrine of dæmoniacal possession is consistent with the whole tenor of Scripture. Evil is represented as having been introduced by an evil being, which in some wonderful manner influenced the immaterial principle of man. The continuance of evil in the world is fre

quently imputed to his continued agency.

3. The doctrine is consistent with reason and experience. We know that a merciful God governs the world, yet we see exceeding misery and exceeding vice. An ambitious conqueror will occasion famine, poverty, pestilence, and death, to hundreds of thousands of his fellow men. If one man may cause evil to another; is it not possible that evils of a different kind may be produced by other beings? We are assured, that in the great day of retribution other beings than man will be condemned. The Scriptures affirm that accountable and immortal beings superior to man have been created, some of which have not, fallen; while others, of which the chief is called Satan, or the Devil, have apostatized from God, perverted the mind of man, still persevere in evil, are conscious of their crime, and are now reserved in chains of darkness for the judgment of the great day.

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4. The facts demonstrate, that the Dæmoniacs were not merely madmen. Madmen reason either rightly on wrong grounds, or wrongly

on right, or blend the right and wrong. But the Scripture dæmoniacs reason rightly on right grounds. They utter propositions undeniably true. In their knowledge of Christ they excel even the Disciples, for these had not hitherto called him the Holy one of God.' They address our Lord in a consistent and rational, though in an appalling and mysterious manner. Our Lord answers them by commanding them as unclean spirits! They appeal to him as to their judge, Art thou come to torment us before our time? They entreat him not to command them to leave this world, and go into the invisible one; the Abyss. They believe and tremble.' There is evidently something preternatural in the distemper, for the dæmoniacs unanimously join in doing homage to Christ and the Apostles; they all know him, they all unite in confessing his Divinity. If they had been lunatics, some might have worshipped, but some would have reviled.

5. It is impossible to account for the possession of the herd of swine, but on the ancient and literal interpretation of Scripture. "6. It cannot be supposed that our Lord humoured madmen by adopting their language. Hold thy peace, and come out of him.' What is thy name?' Thou unclean Spirit.'

In conclusion, Mr. Townsend makes the following probable conjectures and eloquent remarks.

"It is the part of reason to examine the Evidences of Revelation. When it is satisfied of their truth, its only duty is to fall prostrate before the God of reason and Scripture, and implicitly believe the contents of the Sacred Volume in their plain and literal meaning. This stage of our existence is but the preparation for another, and it therefore seems but rational and philosophical to conclude that some things should be recorded in Revelation, which should serve as links to connect the visible with the invisible world. Among those may be considered such facts as the Resurrection, the three Ascensions, the Visits of the Angels, the sudden appearances of the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and the miraculous powers. Among those facts I should place the dæmoniaca! possessions. As at the Transfiguration, Moses and Elias appeared in glory to foreshow the future state of the blessed, so may the fearful spectacle of a human being possessed by evil spirits have been designed as a representation of future punishment. The dæmoniac knew Christ, yet avoided and hated him. An outcast from the intellectual and religious world, he grieved, yet he could not repent. In the deepest misery and distress, he heightened his agony by self-inflicted torments. The light of Heaven, which occasionally broke in upon his melancholy dwelling among the tombs, served only to render his darkness visible.' Although I have not met with the opinion elsewhere, I cannot but consider that we are here presented with a fearful and overwhelming description of the future misery of the wicked, by the visible power of the devil over the bodies and souls of men. The account of the dæmoniacal possession may be regarded as an awful warning addressed to mankind, how they also come into the same state of condemnation.

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"It also appears to me, that the dæmoniacs powerfully represent the state to which all the sons of Adam would have been reduced for ever, if the Son of God had not descended from Heaven to accomplish the wonderful plan of redemption." Vol. I. p. 160.

is

We may add to the probability of this last conception, by observing that it tends to explain the sudden degradation of the serpent in paradise. Adam the sinner is condemned to death, but his sentence is deferred through almost a thousand years. The tempter is stricken on the spot. Whatever might have been his habitual power of evil since his fall; and it may have extended to that complete controul which keeps the fallen angels in torment and open enmity against God; his power now limited by a new degradation before the eye of the being whom he has ruined, and who, but for the interposition of God, might be for ever made like those whom he had already plunged into hopeless ruin. But it is declared, that he shall be placed in a more humiliating and limited condition of power from that time forth, through all ages of mankind until the period of the second death, that final punishment when he should be removed from all power of tempting or afflicting man through eternity. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.'

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This denunciation must have looked further than to the reptile, whose nature and habits we have no reason to suppose changed; while the declaration of the future conflict between the serpent and the seed of the woman is universally allowed to be directly allusive to Satan. The mystic degradation of the serpent is the real and declared limiting of the power of the ad

versary.

All this is of course theory; for, of the measure of invisible influences on the mind we can yet have no secure knowledge. Yet it is probable, and we think that its suggestion does credit to Mr. Townsend's ingenuity. But there is an opinion on the general subject of possession, whose ancient acceptance by the world and the Church, whose probability and whose accordance with the Scripture we think worthy of Mr. Townsend's future examination:-That those unclean spirits are not what we ordinarily understand by "devils," but are the "souls of

evil men."

Throughout the New Testament there is but one spirit called the devil, (in the original, the Aaßoños) or Satan, or Beelzebub. The word is not used in the plural number.

"Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."Matt. xxv. 41.

"That old serpent called the Devil and Satan."-Rev. xii. 9. "Paul says to Elymas, Thou child of the devil.'"-Acts xiii. 10. "Resist the devil, and he will fly from you."-James iv. 7.

"Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour."--1 Pet. v. 8. "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit, to be tempted of the devil.”Matt. iv. 1.

"And he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan.”

Thus there is one evil spirit distinctly marked by an appropriate name, which is never used in the plural. Where other evil agencies are spoken of they are either (and it appears, indifferently called in the original Πνευματα πονηρα, οι Δαιμονια.

"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils," (in the Greek, demons."-Matt. x. 8.

"If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, (demons) by whom do your children cast them out."-Matt. xii. 27.

"Now I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, (demons) not to God."-1 Cor. x. 20.

"But if I cast out devils, (demons) by the finger of God, then is the kingdom of God come unto you."-Matt. xii. 28.

"Thou believest that there is one God, the devils (demons) also be lieve and tremble."-James ii. 19.

When our Saviour and his Apostles spoke, they of course used their words in the customary meaning. But the meaning of the word Demon among the Jews, in the time of the Apostles, was, we learn from Josephus, "the soul of a wicked man," which was supposed to have the power of entering into the forms of the living, and destroying them, unless relief was speedily administered, Τα γαρ καλεμενα δαίμονια, ταυτα δε πονηρών εστιν ανθρώπων πνευματα. (De Bell. Jud. l. vii.)

Justin Martyr, (a Samaritan, and the son of Greek parents,) in the second century, speaks of "those tormented by the souls of the dead, whom all call demoniacs, and madmen." If these testimonies be allowed, our Lord, when he commands, " Come forth, thou demon," used words which, to his hearers, were, 66 come forth, thou evil soul of a dead man.

In the New Testament, this conception is sustained: "the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, not to God." 1 Cor. x. 20. Now it is notorious that the Greek and Roman sacrifices were declaredly to deities and demigods, who were, for the most part, once men; and not to good or bad angels, of whom they do not appear to have had any public knowledge. They deified heroes and kings down to a late period. To the Jews this heathen worship was an abomina