God always teaches his natural truths) not so much by saying as by showing what he was. The Baptist had previously borne testimony to Christ, but his was not the chief evidence; for the works which the Father had given the Son to finish, they bore witness of him that the Father had sent him.

This consideration, moreover, will aid us in perceiving why universal persuasion did not follow the miracles. Do any of God's works leave no room for the unchastened to doubt? Is it not altogether adverse to the analogy of nature that proffered evidence should carry with it overpowering conviction? Such teaching as this can be looked for only by those who have not understood our moral qualities, and the need of our undergoing moral discipline and probation. Sceptics say that an acknowledged miracle must have left no hesitation on the mind of any. We, on the other hand, feel assured that it would never have been wrought at all if it had possessed such power; and if we be disposed to think that nowadays, with our scientific acquaintance with the natural laws, no one of sane mind could resist the evidence furnished by a palpable miracle; and if we are right in believing that in former times a miracle would have no such weight, we partly understand why God does not now so interfere with the ordained course of things; for by so doing he might destroy all our moral responsibility.

There is one class of miracles mentioned as peculiar-the casting out of evil demons from those said to be possessed by them. We find it impossible to explain these demoniacal possessions, by referring them to the same causes as ordinary physical or moral diseases. The evangelists speak of them as of afflictions, quite distinct from simple lunacy, or from sin. The demons discourse quite independently of their victim. The man's will is not overruled, though his powers are subjugated; for he is violently torn, when urged by his tormentor, whither he himself would not. When the man seeks to be dispossessed, the demon departs, only after a struggle. Such a possession was a restraint in the same sense as chains and fetters might he. There was, in consequence, no sin implied; for the will was left unbound, and the dispossessed never wore the appearance of a penitent.

As the objection to a literal demoniacal possession is of the same kind as the objection to a personal devil tempting Christ; so our answer to the one will be, in great measure, an answer to the other; and will meet with approbation only from those whose views of sin agree with our own. Considering sin, as we do, in the light of something originated by another will than God's, and knowing how often we are tempted by causes external to ourselves -that is to say, by the influence of some secret sinful will then

the existence of other and more powerful evil creatures than ourselves is not only probable, but, indeed, we cannot otherwise interpret actual facts.

;

Let us notice also that, since one great purpose of Christ's mission was to render our state more likely to be sinless-to remove all outward hindrances to our seeking and finding the Father then it is a fitting scene in his ministry, that he should be depicted as taking away those untoward circumstances (such as demoniacal possessions) which prevent our having a holy mind, much as lameness prevents bodily movement. In both cases the will is unaffected, while the power is destroyed.

This kind of miracle was therefore in wonderful accordance with those by which bodily sicknesses were healed. For, as the curing of such diseases conveyed an assurance that the Lord was ready to save; so the expulsion of demons, who were goading the helpless man into difficulties, where he would be unfortunately tempted to sin, expressed most intelligibly God's loving message, that he had placed men in positions where they need not die, unless of their own choice. Regarded in this light, demoniacal possessions urged men to sin, in the same kind of way (though perhaps more forcibly) as a nervous disease does; which may not, it is true, oblige the will to sin, but which succeeds, in most cases (where God's grace is not secured), in alluring to sin. Are we not, moreover, justified in considering the atonement itself, partly, at least, as a subjugation of the infernal powers? Does not the author of the epistle to the Hebrews teach us this, when he says (ii. 14, 15) that Christ took our nature upon him, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage?' If we are right in believing that Christ's death has made the salvation of any human being possible, by destroying the powers which prevented such salvation, then the expulsion of demons was a foreshadowing, in a particular instance, of what he would at length effect for our entire race; for he removed from the man the impediments which obstructed the road to Him.

6

Whether demoniacal possessions exist now, is a far more difficult question to answer. Certainly an authoritative declaration that there are no such afflictions, would demand a much more accurate acquaintance with spiritual and moral diseases than any one among us has attained. Possibly we may admit that, if we had the means of expelling demons, we might see many possessed whom we now count only as mad, or as spiritually unfortunate. But at the same time, in the absence of these means, no one of prudent habit will venture to treat as a diabolical phenomenon,

what may be only a juggle or an illusion. And, since Christ has not yet annulled, but only lessened our external evils, we ought to be sure that such possessions (even if existing) must be less frequent and less terrible than before. If we really believe that evil beings take delight in enticing us into mischief, then we can comprehend why, at the time when Christ was putting forth the power of good to remove those powers of evil, the energy of demoniacal possessions should have been greater than at any other season. Such energy was, in fact, but a continuation, though in a smaller degree, of the great temptation of Jesus by Satan.

Events

We have said that, in his office of chasing away the malignant potentates of darkness, the Redeemer showed himself as one who brought men nearer to the Eternal, by annulling all that came between them. The proclamation was issued that men could, if only they would, find access to the throne of grace. proved, however, that this, which we may call the external work of Christ, was not sufficient. Man wants the will, even when he has gained the power, to seek God. Strong moral inducements must affect the will, in order to bend it back to holiness.

The first preaching of the gospel did not seem so much to imply sinfulness in those that heard it; did not therefore very distinctly reveal the atonement, because the offer must first be made, that, the road being opened, men might approach God if only they would. They were convicted of sin chiefly because they would not. And hence, before Christ was absolutely set at nought-before it was manifested that the separation between God and man was due rather to internal disinclination, than to external hindrances, he spoke but little of the means which might make us willing as well as able. It was not revealed before men were proved to be wilful sinners. This wilfulness appeared in their refusing the possible salvation-in their rejection of the Lord.

These truths are symbolically expressed at the beginning of St. Luke's eleventh chapter, where the assurance that prayer for the Holy Ghost is heard and answered, is joined to the strong affirmation of Christ's power to expel demons, and followed by the parable of a man who, having lost one evil spirit, and remaining empty, becomes the abode of seven others more wicked than the first.

The connection is this: it is a grand piece of information that

The Scriptures speak of dæmons swaying the powers and faculties of men; and the peculiar circumstance attending possession, was the will and the power being in opposition to each other. What similarity, then, is there between this and the silly stories about possessed tables?

the Father will give the Holy Spirit to all who ask him, or that He is accessible to all who are willing to approach him; and this boon is secured to us by the work of Christ, in removing external hindrances, of which demoniacal possessions were a significant type. Men were enabled to know the Great Spirit, and to become holy and blessed, if only they had the inclination.

But when room is made for access to God, by the rejection of the demon, it is then that human disinclination is so often unmistakeably shown. The room is left empty, swept, and garnished, only for evil to take much firmer possession than before.

The last state of that man is worse than the first. If, when God opens the road, and man, thus invited, refuses to advancerefuses to be persuaded of God's love and his own needs, the road at length becomes again obstructed—perhaps irremediably so. There is no other power to clear the impediments when this has failed. 'If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.' W. H. J.

SCEPTICAL GERMAN THEOLOGY."

THE times which immediately succeeded the Commonwealth were marked by the manifestation of that scepticism, infidelity, and atheism which had been too much concerned in the great civil war. Having found their efforts vain to overturn that church which is 'built upon the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone;' its enemies resolved to attack the foundation itself. It was much to the credit of all parties, at a time when the tempest of religious strife was scarcely assuaged, that so many were found who loved the truth of God more than their own differences, and that a large number of candid, able, and well-furnished men came forward in defence of revealed religion. The Deists had appealed to reason, and logical induction, at least the most respectable of them; this appeal was accepted, and the evidences of Divine truth were demonstrated to the full satisfaction of all candid minds, and to the silencing of gainsayers. Entrenchments were thus reared in the shape of imperishable works, which

Die Biblische Theologie. Einleitung ins Alte und Neue Testament, und Darstellung des Lehrgehaltes der Biblischen Bücher, nach ihrer Entstehung und ihrem geschichtlichen Verhältniss. Ein Handbuch zum Selbstunterricht, von Ludwig Noack. Halle. E. M. Pfeffer. 1853. Pp. 392.

(Biblical Theology. An Introduction to the Old and New Testament, and a Statement of the Doctrinal Contents of the Biblical Books, according to their origin and their historical relation. A Manual for Self-instruction, by Louis Noack.)

have hitherto been found unassailable. The effect in this country was, that the rebellion against our holy religion was put down; the opinions and writings of its authors became almost unknown, or known only as they were cited in the pages of those who had refuted them. But, strange to say, the ungodly mischief which had thus been banished from England was received and welcomed on the continent, especially in Germany; and while the learned writings of our greatest men were scarcely read, and became almost unknown among them, the deistic writings were naturalized, and became a cherished portion of their standard literature. There have doubtless always been some strenuous defenders of Divine truth in Germany, and it ought not to be forgotten that there is now a band, alas! too small, of faithful and well-furnished men, who have lately been the only men in Christendom to put forth any serious efforts towards conserving the evidences of Divine truth. But in general, the course of things in Germany has for many years been a downward one, and many causes have conspired in that country to urge the downfall of their religion. In our own country, next to an open Bible, which has been ́ marked, learned, and inwardly digested,' and to a church, the evidences for which are of the same kind as those for the Bible, on which it is founded, our national and hitherto inalienable principles of reasoning-our rigidly inductive method of arriving at truth of all kinds, is of inestimable value; and hitherto, except in the case of a few modern and somewhat noisy talkers, this principle has never been departed from. Whereas in Germany, from the time of Leibnitz downwards, it has been more and more abandoned. There are doubtless certain elementary truths of the nature of axioms, which we can neither prove nor disbelieve, such as the conviction of our own being, our continued identity in all the changes of life, the existence of a world without us, and our moral judgments—these, and some others, have always, in every sound system of philosophy, been admitted as being, if not innate, at least inherent in the thinking mind. While Locke, however, was going to one extreme in this country, Leibnitz went far to the other, by widening the boundary of this intuition and in his own treatment of moral subjects, assuming principles from his own consciousness which ought, if true, to have been arrived at by induction. And since his time this mode of speculating, we will not say of reasoning, on all subjects, has become the rule among his countrymen, so that external and historical facts have been treated with a degree of levity unworthy of sober and truth-loving men. The philosophy of Kant systematized this method of speculation, and that of Hegel carried it to an extent beyond which it could not well go. But the mischief of it has been, that with all the