magic arts" amongst this people, as well as amongst the Gentiles, are a full proof that a belief of frequent poffeffions was com Saul, (Antiq. lib. vi.cap. 8. §2.) he says, demons came upon him, περιήρχετο πάθη τινὰ καὶ δαιμόνια, and that when the demons came upon him, and disturbed him, (ὁπότ ̓ ἂν αὐτῶ προσίοι, τα δαιμόνια καὶ ταράτίοι,) David was his only phyfician against the disturbance be fuffered from them, and brought him to his right mind again, πρὸς τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν δαιμόνων ταραχήν,μόνος ἰατρὸς ἦν—καὶ ποιῶν ἑαυτῶ γίνεσθαι τὸν Σαύλον. Incap. 11. § 2, he makes Jonathan fay to his father, that when an evil spirit and demons feized him, David caft them out, (Eibaλev.) In his Jewish War, lib. vii. cap. 6. § 3. he fays, the plant baaras drives away (¿¿eλaúv) demons, Elsewhere (Ant. lib. viii. cap. 2. § 5.) he fpeaks of a demon's going out (¿¿ól) of the possessed perfon, and being adjured to return no more. This phrafeology is very conformable to that of the Gospel. Mat, xii. 27. Acts xix. 13. Jofeph. Antiq. lib. viii. cap. 2. § 5. Juftin Mart. Dial, cum Tryph. p. 311. Iren. lib. ii. cap. 6. § 2. Origen, cont. Celf. lib. i, p. 17. lib, iv. p. 183, 184. See Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 175. Beza, Whitby, Grotius on Acts xix. 13, 19, and Bifcoe's Hiftory of the Ads, p. 290. mon vn from the manner in which fuch n as were strangers to the doctrines iftianity, addreffed our Saviour: zercy on me, faid the woman of Camy daughter is grievously vexed with 2. In the fame ftyle, a Jew imhis compaffion on behalf of his fon: my fon; he hath a fpirit, and is ked. It was not thofe who receivthose who rejected the doctrines ift, that reproached him and his aner with having a demon*. So that ripture itself furnishes abundant ce, that the doctrine of poffeffions ior to the Chriftian æra. Hence es to pass, that poffeffions are never ned in the Gospel history with any of furprize, as a thing new or ex tt. xv. 21, 22. Mark vii. 24. See also -16, 18. xix. 13. Et. xvii, 15. Mark ix. 17. Luke ix. 39. tt, xi, 18. John vii, 48, 52. traor Nor did the enemies of Chrift ever reproach him with introducing demons into Judea, merely for the fake of difplaying his power over them; nor on this account accufe him of acting in concert with them, which, nevertheless, it would have been natural for them to do, had poffeffions never been heard of till the time of Chrift, and then only in Judea. That the fame notions concerning them, which prevailed in Judea, in the age of the Gofpel, were current in the fucceeding as well as in the preceding ages, and in other countries, is evident, not only from the authorities already cited, but alfo from the writings of the Christian fathers, (to fay nothing of thofe of the latter Platonifts). It would be endless to produce alf the paffages from the fathers, in which poffeffions are either afferted or referred to. There is no fub ject g they boat of fo much as the of the meanest Chriftian to eject s from the bodies of men. In tory of the church, there is more at mention made of poffeffions, any other annals'. So little truth e in the affertion, that we never them but in the time of Christ. y, no men forget themselves more ofe do, who fometimes would pers, that the devil's tyranny expired 11 as revived) at the coming of and, at other times, maintain dit of thofe writers, who, in every ing age, reprefent the devil as Whitby's General Preface, p. 26-32. and et's Orig. Sacr. p. 166. Ode de Angelis, 656, and p. 867, 868.. e, p. 30, obferves, that the energumeni are ntioned in the church liturgies, in the anons, and in other ecclefiaftical writings, es after our Saviour's being on earth; and s any rare and unaccustomed thing, but as nd ufual. This is a fact fo well known, , I prefume, will controvert it. SECT. VIII. PROP. VIII. The demoniacs of the New Teftament are not different from thofe mentioned in other ancient authors; and a like judgment is to be formed of both. THAT are the fame fort of perfons with thofe mentioned by other ancient writers, appears from the symptoms of their dif orders, which are in both the fame'. Some of the New Teftament demoniacs are melancholy, and frequent folitary places; others are outrageous, and not to be kept within bounds. Their underStandings are difturbed, and yet, in fome The circumftances ufually alledged to prove. that there was fomething preternatural in the cafe of the New Teftament demoniacs, will be explained in the fecond chapter. cafes |