The doctrine of real possessions destroys the authority of miracles in general, and the use which the Scripture makes of them, as in themselves authentic evidences of a divine mission. If demons can unite themselves to a human body, in the same manner that the soul is united to it by God, so as to govern all the organs of it; if they can deprive men of their sight, and speech, and reason, and then restore them to the use of these faculties, they can rival the glory of the prophets of God, Can there be a more stupendous miracle than that performed upon the herd of swine, in number two thousand, who were all in the same instant seized with madness, and rushed violently into the sea? Now, if demons are able to perform such great miracles as this, and the other here specified, and can also impart the gifts of tongues and prophecy (a power many ascribe to them *), to what other miracles are they not equal? Unless men can show with certainty how far the power of the devil extends, and enable us to distinguish between diabolical and divine miracles, in a very different manner from what they have hitherto done (which hath chiefly been by calling them by different names †), they utterly destroy the authority * See above, p. 231. + See an Examination of Mr. Le Moine's Treatise on Miracles, sect. i. ii. Le Moine, after Fleetwood, and several ingenious foreigners, undertook to show that none but God can perform true miracles; these works, in his opinion, requiring an infinite and incommunicable power. At the same time this learned writer, and those whom he copies, allow the devil a power of imitating what they call true miracles, M 2 authority and true use of miracles, and thereby subvert the foundation on which Christianity is built. 8. On the other hand, the true explication of the Gospel demoniacs establishes the certainty, and displays the full glory, of the miracles performed upon them. These miracles are always spoken of in the New Testament with singular emphasis and distinction. Scarce are any other miracles more frequently and circumstantially described. It required an extraordinary degree of faith to undertake them, especially when the distemper was violent and inveterate: for in reference to a case of this nature, in which the faith of the apostles had failed them, our Saviour says, "This kind goeth not out but cles, or, at least, of producing effects contrary to the fixed order of events, which perfectly answer to a just definition of miracles. But it is in words only that these writers differ from those who ascribe true miracles to the devil. And it is the most egregious trifling, to appropriate these works to God, unless they point out the difference between diabolical and divine operations, and enable us clearly to distinguish the one from the other; which they have not attempted to do, but contented themselves with resolving to give the name of miracles to the one, and to call the other only great and astonishing things. * Witness the following cases: 1. The demoniac in the synagogue of Capernaum, Mark i. 23. Luke iv. 33. 2. The Gadarene demoniac, or demoniacs, Matt. viii. 28. Mark v.1. Luke viii. 26. 3. The dumb demoniac, Matt. ix. 32. Luke xi. 14. 4. A demoniac blind and dumb, Matt. xii. 22. 5. The Canaanite's daughter, Matt. xv. 21. 6. The demoniac who was lunatic, dumb, and deaf, Matt. xvii. 14. ix. 17. Luke ix. 38.-Out of Mary Magdalene Christ ejected seven demons, Luke viii. 2. But of this, and many other cases, we have only a general account. Mark by by prayer and fasting: "Such difficult miracles are not effected without such a full dependence upon the divine power as is not to be acquired but by continued devotion, such as is usually accompanied with abstinence." The Seventy were filled with exultation and triumph when they found themselves enabled to cure demoniacs; "Lord, even the demons (the disorders ascribed to the possession of demons) are subject to us through thy name t." Whenever Christ performed these miracles, the spectators were filled with religious astonishment and awe: "They were amazed, insomuch that they questioned amongst themselves, saying, What thing is this? What NEW doctrine is this? With authority commandeth he the unclean spirits, and they obey him t." In order to understand this language, we must recollect, that in our Saviour's time there were, amongst the Jews as well as amongst the Pagans, many impostors who pretended to the power of expelling demons §. Some undertook to draw evil spirits out at the nostrils ||; others engaged only in general to drive them away from the persons whom they possessed. To effect their ex * Matt. xvii. 21. Mark ix. 29. Compare Luke ii 37 Acts x. 32. where prayer and fasting are joined together See Dr. Lardner's Case, p. 144. Dr. Sykes's explication of this passage is well refuted in the excellent Dr. Doddridge's Expos. vol. ii. p. 13, 2d edit. + Luke x 17 Mark i. 27. See also ch. v. 20. Luke iv. 36. ch. xi. 14. Compare Mark iv. 41. Luke viii. 25. § Matt. xii. 27. Dissertation on Miracles, p. 393, 8vo. p. 251,12mo. Joseph. Antiq. lib. viii. cap. 2 § 5. pulsion, pulsion, they not only made use of adjuration and charms, but also of strong smells †, and other natural remedies. This was a branch of the magic art (which was founded upon the idolatry and superstition of the Heathens); and what credit it had was supported in part by the efficacy of drugs administered to the patient, but principally by fraud. The proof of the expulsion of demons was, not the perfect and supernatural cure of the demoniac §, but the compelling the demon, as he went out, See Whitby and Grotius on Matt, xii. 27. Their adjurations in the name of the God of Abraham were used as a charm. Origen. contr. Cels. lib. i. p. 17. and lib. iv. p. 184. Joseph. Antiq. lib. viii. c. 2. § 5. and Middleton's Free Inquiry, p. 84. + Hence it hath been said, that demons were rather suffocated or stunk out, than cast out, of the bodies of men, See Weston's Rejection of Christian Miracles, p. 231. See what occurs in Josephus (Antiq. lib. viii. cap. 2. § 5.) concerning the antidemoniac art, taught by Solomon, and the application of a ring with a root in it to the nostrils of the patient, and also what the same author says concerning the plant Baaras, and its virtue in driving away demons, Bell. Jud. lib. vii. cap. 6. § 3. Compare Tobit, cap. vi. Justin observes (cont. Typho, p. 311.) nồn μev voi oi ež iμwv εξωραισται, τη τεχνη, ώσπερ και τα εθνη, χρώμενος εξορκίζουσι, και θυμιαμασι και καταδισμοις χέωνται. Concerning the effects of music in driving away demons, see Joseph Antiq. lib. vi. cap. 8. § 2. cap. 11. § 2. § In the cases referred to by Josephus (Antiq. lib. viii. cap 2. § 5), which (according to Dr. Sykes, in his Inquiry, p. 33.) were the same with the Cerritus of Serenus Samonicus, the demoniac might be relieved by strong smells, or other natural remedies. But it is a thing utterly incredible in itself, as well as destitute of all manner of proof, that the power of superior spirits should give way to that of men; or that God should succeed the attempts of superstition and imposture. A remarkable instance of the failure of such attempts is related Acts xix 19. See some other proofs of the inefficacy of the Jewish exorcisms, out, to overturn a statue or vessel of water at some distance. Now, though Christ took no pains to establish the reality of those miracles which he performed upon demoniacs, yet the people, at the sight of them (deluded as they had hitherto been by the artifices of their countrymen), are filled with the greatest astonishment, and freely acknowledge, "It was never so seen in Israel t." What was it that occasioned this extraordinary surprise, and was esteemed quite without example till this time? It could not be the bare expulsion of demons; both because this, abstractedly considered, is no outward and sensible effect; and because it was no more than what they thought their own exorcists were able to accomplish. What then was it, or could it be, that they had never seen before, and could not now see without the strongest emotions of mind, but the outward and visible miracle, the cure of those terrible disorders which were antiently ascribed to the possession of demons, together with the sovereign manner in which this miracle was performed by Christ, without the use of any natural means? f you consider more particularly the true nature of If exorcisms, D ssertation on Miracles, p. 394 note 1, 8vo, p. 252, note ‡, 12mo. Nor is this inconsistent with Matt xii 26, 27, as is shown, p. 232, &c The Christian exorcists also, who swarmed in the primitive church, and were too much countenanced by the Fathers of it, had as little success as their predecessors amongst he Jews and Pagans. The cure of the demoniac, if it ever took place, was a work of time See Middleton's Free Inqu ry, p 92. Dr. Jortin's concessions, in his Remarks on Ecclesiastical Hist. vol. i. p. 242 and Mr. Jos. Mede, p. 30. *See above, p. 234. Matt. ix. 33. Compare Mark ii. 12. |