SERMON XXV.

MARK V. 69.

But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him; and cried with a loud voice, and said; What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God! I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For be had said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spi

rit.

Ir is intended to illustrate the miracle wrought by our Lord, in restoring the unhappy object whose ravings are here described, and whose case is further told with many uncommon cir cumstances.

In a former discourse I endeavoured to explain to you the terms used on such occasions; -devils, or rather demons, unclean spirits, possessions.

And I hope it appeared there, that there never was any ground from scripture to sup

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pose that there were such things as demons, or souls of the dead distinct from the body surviving it; and reason certainly teaches nothing of the kind, or that these or any other evil spirits inhabited the bodies of the living or took possession of them, but that the whole doctrine sprung from ignorance: mankind being unable to account for certain diseases to which they were subject, from natural causes, had recourse to supernatural ones, and to creatures of their own imagination, such as never existed.

Some few of the more unprejudiced and discerning in all times saw the mistake: but the greater part took the popular doctrine for true, without examining it. And christians, in their turn, implicitly believed what others, who had gone before, told them upon the subject; and hence the belief of demoniacal possessions continues with many to this day.

It must be owned that the accounts of these things in the New Testament have rather contributed to keep up the notion, and have induced learned and ingenious men to maintain it beyond what they would otherwise have thought of or attempted.

It was before remarked, that if our Saviour,

· or

or his apostles, had opposed the received opinion, and taught that there were no separate evil spirits communicating with mankind and inflicting certain diseases on them, it would have prejudiced men against them, and in all probability have hurt the reception of the gospel at that time. And that, therefore, for this reason, with others that might be assigned, and many unknown to us, it may have pleased divine Providence that mankind should not have any light upon this subject by an extraordinary revelation from Christ or his apostles.

I would now add upon this same point, that, as to the apostles, there is no reason to think that they were not in the general persuasion of their countrymen, the learned scribes and pharisees upon these subjects, and believed the accounts they have given of possessions.

With regard to our Saviour Christ there is more difficulty.

But no one would think it any disparagement to him, that he was ignorant of mathematics, of natural philosophy, of the true system of the world, of the nature of the air we breathe, and many other things which have only of late been discovered ;-Why then suppose it any diminution of his character, that

he should not have a knowledge of the human frame and its diseases, superior to the men of his own country and times?

Certainly this would rid us of much perplexity in interpreting his very particular language concerning the power of evil spirits over the human body, which is such as if he imagined that there was something real in it; and would free his unspotted name from every charge of dissembling the truth, of saying one thing and believing another, and of countenancing notions which he knew to be without foundation.

But of this matter every one will judge for himself.

Supposing you, then, to be satisfied by what was offered in my former discourse, that the accounts of persons possessed by evil spirits are only different kinds of insanity and epileptical disorders, described according to the general prejudice and belief of the times; in agreement with this idea, I shall endeavour to explain to you the very singular case before us.

I.

There are but few instances in which our

Lord wrought any miraculous cures, unless

when

when solicited by the persons themselves or their friends. But it does not appear from the histories of the evangelists, that he had any inducement to cross the water at this time and go to Gadara, but with a benevolent view of his own accord to relieve this miserable object. The case being so very remarkable and distressing, and the place so near, it cannot be doubted that he was informed of it, and it had raised his compassion, added to his persuasion that it would serve the great end of his divine mission.

Thus this Saviour of men went about doing good, healing their bodily diseases by a divine power, that he might engage them to attend to his heavenly doctrine, which would cure their vices and inward disorders, and fit them for happiness for ever.

The sacred historians all agree in mentioning the dangerous storm which rose suddenly on the lake of Galilee, during the passage of Christ over it, in company with many other vessels, which was so terrible as to make them despair of their lives. Wearied with the labours of the day, he himself had fallen fast asleep; but his disciples awaking him in their fright to tell him of their danger, he in a very solemn