habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day' (ver. 6). Now it certainly cannot be said that either of these passages describes the rebel host as confined to any particular locality. It is true chains are mentioned, but they are chains of darkness, which is obviously a figurative expression; and though it may be difficult to say what is the precise import of the words, the chief idea involved in the word chains seems to be that of security, rather than confinement to one particular place. The term Tagragoas too, which our translators have rendered 'cast down to hell,' does not at all necessarily imply confinement in one place, as a prison. It is surely then unsafe to oppose such obscure and dubious passages as these to the numerous and plain statements relative to the agency of Satan in our world, which we have adduced. Besides, the notion of the confinement of the devil and his angels to one locality or prison, on their expulsion from the divine presence, which is thought to be involved in the passages from Peter and Jude, is altogether inconsistent with a passage in Rev. xx. 1-3: 'And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more.' However commentators may differ as to the period of the fulfilment of this prediction, whether it be past or future, it clearly implies that Satan, though cast down to hell,' is not therefore confined to that place. There would be obviously no meaning in the statement that he was to be shut up in the bottomless pit' for a time, unless he had been at large previously, and at the expiration of the time named would be set at liberty once more.

6

Another most important argument in favour of the literal interpretation of those numerous passages in the Gospels respecting demoniacs is, that the Fathers, during the first ages of the Church, unanimously agreed in the opinion that such persons were actually the subjects of demoniacal possession. Had our Lord and his apostles regarded demoniacs merely as persons afflicted with certain disorders, it is quite inconceivable that their immediate successors could have agreed in thinking their peculiar condition as the result of supernatural agency. Views so directly and obviously at variance with each other, on a question not so much of doctrine as of fact, could not possibly have prevailed, especially as it referred to a subject of such practical importance-the power and agency of him whose works it was the declared object of Christ's mission to destroy. Besides, it should be remembered that the expulsion of

VOL. IV.NO. VII.

demons

demons was one of the signs which our Lord had promised should 'follow them that believe' (Mark xvi. 17). How impossible then that the early Fathers, who must have been of the number of those to whom this promise was made, should altogether misunderstand the nature of the power with which they were endowed, and suppose that they were ejecting evil spirits from men, while all the while they were merely healing certain natural diseases!

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From these considerations it must be at once evident that the writings of the early Fathers are of the utmost importance in deciding the question before us; and it may with confidence be asserted that the evidence which they contain in favour of real possession is most triumphant. Whilst almost every one of the early Fathers declares his belief that demoniacs were truly actuated by wicked spirits from the invisible world, not one of them, so far as we are aware, expresses the slightest hint to the contrary. We will bring forward some examples. Justin Martyr, in his Dial. cum Tryp., says, 'At the name of Jesus Christ the demons tremble, and are subject unto us. I mean when they are adjured by his name' (p. 36, edit. Jebb). In a subsequent passage, this Father refers to the fact as a convincing proof of the power of Jesus (p. 256). Irenæus states that the gift of expelling demons from the possessed was in his time common to all Christians, and adds that many who had been thus delivered became believers, and continued in the church' (ii. p. 57). Theophilus of Antioch, speaking of demoniacs, says that the demons who had been exorcised by the name of Christ confessed themselves to be demons' (ii. p. 87). Tertullian challenges the pagans to bring a demoniac or heathen prophet before any of the public tribunals, and in order that the unclean spirit may be expelled. He even offers to deliver himself up to be put to death, should he fail to make the demon confess to the spectators his infernal origin (Apolog. cap. xxxviii.). In another part of the same work he asks, Who would there be to deliver people from the incursions of demons, if the Christians were gone?' And compares the condition in which they would be placed to empty houses liable to be seized by unclean spirits' (Ibid., cap. xxxvii.). Minucius Felix appeals to the pagans as acknowledging the truth of real possession, and describes in the following words the mode in which evil spirits quitted the bodies of demoniacs :- They violently depart by a sudden motion immediately, or else vanish away gradually, according to the faith of the patient or the grace of the operator' (cap. xxvii.). Cyprian refers to the fact that in his time Christians, by the Spirit of God, compelled unclean spirits who wandered about and entered into men, to quit them, and vanquished them' (Ad Donat. p. 3). In another of his writings he says that demons when ad

6

jured

jured confessed themselves to be such, petitioned for mercy, and spoke of a judgment to come.' And he invites Demetrius, a celebrated pagan, to come and hear for himself (Ad Demetr. p. 133). The testimony of Lactantius (ii. pp. 14, 15), of Eusebius (Cont. Hierocl. p. 514, and Demon. Evang. iii. p. 132), and other writers, may be referred to in proof of the reality of demoniacal possession; and when the practice of exorcism became less frequent, at the close of the third century, a distinct order of men, styled Exorcists, were regularly ordained for the express purpose of expelling demons from the miserable objects of Satanic malice.

WINER'S BIBLE-LEXICON.

By the Rev. WALTER CARRICK, M.A., St. Andrews.

Biblisches Realwoerterbuch zum Handgebrauch für Studirende, Candidaten, Gymnasiallehrer und Prediger ausgearbeitet von Dr. GEORG BENEDICT WINER, Königl. Kirchenrath und ordentlichem Professor der Theologie an der Universität zu Leipzig, u. s. w. Dritte sehr verbesserte und vermehrte Auflage. Leipzig, bei Carl Heinrich Reclam, sen. 2 bde. 8. 1847-1848. [A Scientific and Historical Bible-Lexicon, for the Hand-use of Students, Preachers, Gymnasium-masters, and Ministers. By Dr. GEORG BENEDICT WINER, Royal Ecclesiastical Counsellor, and Professor of Theology in the University of Leipzig, etc. Third Edition, much enlarged and improved. Leipzig; Carl Heinrich Reclam, sen. 2 vols. 8vo. 1847-1848. pp. 688 and 779.]

It was in the autumn of

WE saw Professor Winer only once. 1847. We were then returning through Leipzig from a short visit to Herrnhut and the disciples of Zinzendorf. For several days past the weather had been very inauspicious for travelling, and, upon our arrival at Leipzig, the rain was descending in torrents. As it happened, however, to be the time of the great 'Messe,' we resolved not to push on to Halle till the evening, but, disagreeable though the weather was, remain for a few hours and go to the fair. After taking a turn or two along the principal streets and contemplating with wondering gaze the big boots, the big blouses, and the big beards of the busy Jews, who were to be found congregated 'out of every nation under heaven,' we set off

in quest of Winer's residence. We had heard much and often about the Professor. We were acquainted with his writings and we wished to see himself. Moreover, my French fellow-traveller wished to consult him about the making of a translation of his New-Testament Grammar. Accordingly, after threading our way through the bustling crowd, we at length reached the Professor's dwelling, which, for a literary man, is finely situated out of the din and tumult of the city.

It was about mid-day when we called. The Professor's conversation-hour (Sprechstunde) had almost struck. Consequently, congratulating ourselves that we had made our visit at such a seasonable time, we were invited to enter, and told that Dr. Winer would be with us shortly. In a few minutes the door was opened and Mein Herr Kirchenrath appeared in propria persona. Professor Winer is a tall, erect, Teutonic-looking sexagenarian. His eye is remarkably bright and penetrating, his forehead large and prominent, his air and deportment those of the scholar-of the peculiarly German scholar-much more of the scholar than of the divine. His whole mien and conversation instantly reminded one of his favourite motto, Protestantism, according to its very nature, is allied to science.' a Winer is a very different kind of man from the two great theologians who were born in the same year with him-Neander and Twesten. One feels in Winer's study that he has a learned grammarian and indefatigable student before him; but he is certainly not conscious of the presence of such a truly great divine as Neander, or of a man of such immense quickness and volubility as the active, lively Twesten. Neander is by far the greatest genius of the three; Winer is the most patient and laborious; Twesten is the most prompt and versatile. Each is distinguished in his own way. But the distinction

of Twesten is that of the agile youth, the distinction of Neander is that of the vigorous man, the distinction of Winer that of the toil-worn sage.

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Professor Winer's three principal works are undoubtedly his Lexicon, his Symbolik, and his Grammar. His Grammar-under the title Gran matik des neutestamentlichen Sprachidioms als sichere Grundlage der neutestamentlichen Exegese' [A Grammar of the Idioms of the New Testament as a sure foundation for a New Testament-Exegesis]-first appeared in the year 1822. English Translation of this first edition by Professors Stuart and Robinson was published at Andover in 1825, and a Swedish translation by Rogberg at Upsala in 1827. A second edition of the

An

a Der Protestantismus ist seiner Natur nach mit der Wissenschaft verwandt.' b The year 1789.

original

original was brought out in 1825 and 1828, a third edition in 1830, a fourth edition in 1836, and a fifth edition in 1844. This work-especially in the last edition, which is much enlarged and improved is a very valuable guide to the Exegesis of the New Testament. Previously to the labours of Winer there were no treatises of more importance in this department of biblical science than the now almost entirely forgotten productions of Wyss and Pasor and Haab; whereas at present, principally through the exertions of the Leipzig Professor, the Grammar of the New Testament is regarded as a distinct and most important branch of biblical theology, to which, especially in Germany, valuable contributions are every day being made.

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The Comparative Darstellung des Lehrbegriffs der verschiedenen Christlichen Kirchenparteien, nebst vollständigen Belegen aus den Symbolischen Schriften derselben' [Comparative Representation of the Doctrines of the different Christian Church-parties, with copious Extracts from their Symbolical Books] appeared in 1824, and, in a second edition, in 1837. This is perhaps the most unexceptionable of all Winer's writings. There are almost no peculiar dogmatic opinions of his own contained in it. It is simply an objective representation of the doctrines to be found in the creeds of the different churches, without any special critique concerning their truth or untenableness. It is characterized throughout by excellency of plan, profundity of research, truthfulness and accuracy of delineation.

In addition to his Grammar, Lexicon, and Symbolik, Professor Winer is the author of an extensive number of other treatises. The largest of these is his ' Handbuch der theologischen Literatur' [Handbook of Theological Literature], third ed. 2 vols. 8vo., Leipz. 1838 and 1840-to which in 1842 there was added a Supplement, containing a list of the works in theology down to the close of the year 1841. This, though in many respects a useful publication, is by no means a work of such merit as the treatises already spoken of. It has many inaccuracies, such, for example, as the giving of the well-known Spanish Jesuit Maldonatus maledicentissimus' a place three several times among Protestant writers, though the author lays it down as his plan to arrange Protestant and Romanist authors separately. Moreover, there is no criticism whatever concerning the merits of the various works enumerated, or the value of the different editions of the Fathers, and, in respect to the theological literature of the not-German world, it contains almost no information.

c

Dr. Winer's minor works have appeared under the following

• Vol. i. pp. 194, 242, 621.

titles: