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deductus, qui subito sublatus a præsentibus rediit, sibique dominum vocari fecit: cui ait, Ego in cœlo fui. -ut vero scias quod me in cœlum fuisse verum fateor, ecce accepi illic, ut linguis omnium loquar. Numquid tibi incognitum fuit, Græcam me linguam omnino non nosse, et tamen Græce loquor, ut cognoscas an verum sit quod me omnes linguas accepisse confiteor; cui tunc Græce dominus suus locutus est; atque ita ille in eadem lingua respondit, ut cuncti qui aderant mirarentur. In eadem quoque domo prædicti Narsi Spatarius Vulgar manebat, qui festine ad ægrum deductus, ei Vulgarica lingua locutus est. Sed ita puer ille in Italia natus et nutritus, in eadem locutione respondit. Que si vera sunt, ut vera esse possunt, crediderim non miserum puerum tot linguis imbutum fuisse, at Deemonem, ut olim serpentis, sic et loquentis lingua, finxisse voces pronuncianti peregrinas. Quippe die tertio infelix ille puer, manus ac brachia, lacertosque suos, dentibus laniavit, atque ita de corpore exivit. S. Basnage, Annal. i. p. 424.

These things may be. true, as Basnage observes; but surely we want better vouchers than Jerom, and Ammonius the monk. We might as well believe, upon the authority of Æsop and Phædrus, that the for and the cat held a dialogue together in Greek or in Latin.

"The reason for which so many magicians were "found amongst the Jews, though they were con"demned by the law of God, was that the Jews as"cribed most diseases, those especially which disturb "the understanding and dislocate the limbs, to the "malice of dæmons, and imagined that such diseases "could only be cured by sorcery and incantations. "We find in the Gospel, that, when our Saviour "cured the diseased and the possessed, the Jews "said that he wrought these, miracles by the

VOL. I.

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" and assistance of dæmons." Vigneul-Marville tom. i. p. 278.

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"There are men of abilities, who respect the authority of the sacred books, and yet know not how to "believe that the dæmoniacs mentioned in the Gospels were tormented by dæmons. They are inclin"ed to think that their diseases were natural, but "that the causes of them were not known. This o

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pinion gives me no offence; the miracles of our "Saviour, upon this supposition, were only so much "the greater, since it is much more wonderful to "command a disease than to command a devil to de"part instantly, and to be instantly obeyed; besides, "our Lord was not sent to rectify the wrong notions "which the Jews might entertain concerning these "maladies." Thus Beausobre, in his Posthumous Remarks on Mat. v. p. 14. whose sincere attachment to Christianity no man can fairly call in question.

In his notes on Mark v. he is of opinion that the dæmoniac who brake his chains and fetters, must have been assisted by an evil spirit, and that, of the dæmoniacs mentioned in the sacred books, some were really possessed, and others were only afflicted with epilepsies, &c.

"Theosebius, a pagan philosopher, had a wife "who was possessed with a dæmon. To deliver her, "he he at first had recourse to prayers and humble intreaties; but the dæmon, who was an opiniatre,

made

• His true name was Dom Bonaventure D'Argonne, and he was Prieur de la Chatreuse de Gaillon. See Lettres de Bayle, p. 666. 708.869. Vous avez raison, says Bayle, de trouver bon le Melange de Vigneul Marville, &c.

+ Some learned men now living have declared themselves of this opinion, with a very good design, as I firmly believe; but their sy9tem is liable to insuperable objections.

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"made a jest of all this. At last Theosebius conjured him in the name of the God of the Hebrews, "and called to witness the beams of the sun. Then the "dæmon quitted his lodging, protesting that he had "a profound respect for all the gods in general, but "most particularly for the God of the Hebrews. It "is not a Christian who relates this story: it is the philosopher Damascius. Apud Phot. Cod. 242. col. 1037. Beausobre Hist. de Man. ii. 67.

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It would not be right to overlook Tertullian's Damoniac. A woman, says he, went to the theatre, and came home possessed by a devil. The exorcist, who endeavoured to cast him out, asked him how he had the assurance to enter into a Christian. Why Why not? said the dæmon I found her at my own house. tac. 26.

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It is most probable that the dæmoniacs described in the New Testament were really possessed. See page 34. When the devils went out of the dæmoniacs, and entered into the swine, if the disorder of these men was only madness, the sense must be that the disease left the men, and was transferred to the beasts, and this must have been performed by the immediate act and power of Christ: but if it was a dæmoniacal case, the destruction of the beasts was only by his permission, and by the act and power of the evil spirits. It deserves therefore to be considered, whether a bare permission of our Lord, in this case, be not more consistent with the general character of his mighty works, which were of the merciful, and not of the severe kind, and also with the words of the three Evangelists, which represent him, not as acting, but only as not hindering.

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As to the dæmoniacs in the following ages, it may be left as a dubious point: dubious, I say; for it is possible that, after the apostolical age, evil spirits might be permitted or commanded by the Supreme Governor to afflict men, and might be obliged to depart at the command of Christians, and at the name of Jesus. It is possible that such interpositions of dæmons might be permitted in one century and in one region, and not in another. The invisible, and spiritual, and angelical world may undergo many variations, and be subject to different restraints and regulations in different ages, so as to interfere more, or less, or not at all, in human affairs. Thus much in behalf, not of belief; but of academical hesitation.

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Le Clerc, in his Historia Ecclesiastica, hath inserted the Christian Creed, as it stood in the days of Irenæus: Ecclesia, inquit Irenæus, tametsi per totum orbem, ad extremos terre fines, sparsa, ab Apostolis eorumque Discipulis fidem accepit, que est, 1. in unum Deum "Patrem Omnipotentem, qui fecit cælum et terram et mare "et omnia quæ in eis sunt, II. et in unum Jesum Chris"tum, Filium Dei, nostræ salutis caussa, incarnatum ; "III. et in Spiritum Sanctum, qui, per Prophetas, eco“nomias et adventus (Christi) prædicavit, et generationem "e Virgine, et perpessionem et resurrectionem e mortuis, “et cum carne in cælos adsumptionem dilecti Jesu Christi

Domini nostri, et e cælo adventum ejus, in gloriá Pa"tris, ad colligenda omnia, et ad excitandam omnen totius

humani generis carnem; IV. ut Christo Jesu Domino “nostro et Servatori et Regi, secundum Patris inconspicui "voluntatem, flectatur omne genu cælestium, terrestrium, “et inferorum, et omnis lingua ei confiteatur, utque ipse “justum judicium in omnibus ferat, spiritualia quidem nequitice et Angelos transgressores, quique in defectione

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"fuerunt, impiosque item homines et injustos et flagitiosos "et blasphemos in ignem æternum mittut: justis vero "sanctis, qui præcepta ejus servicerint, et in amore permanserint, seu ab initio, seu post pœnitentiam, vitam gratificatus, immortalitate eos donet, et gloria eterni "circumdet."

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Hanc confirmat in sequentibus Ireneus fidem per totum terrarum orbem a Christianis unanimi consensu et una voce doceri.-Hinc intelligere est elem esse omnibus summa Fidei Capita, nec doctos pluribus indigere ad consequendam salutem, quam minus eruditos, neque ad plura admittenda adigi posse. Revelationi, nimirum, ut detrahi nihil potest, sic nec quidquam addere fus est. Ideoque semel constituta Fidei Capita neque augeri, sine nova Revelatione, neque minui possunt. Quod ad animum revocasse, oportuisset eos, qui nova Fidei Capita sequentibus sæculis, sine novis ullis a Deo mandatis acceptis, condiderunt.-Ex hac, aliisve id genus priscis Confessionibus, conflatum postea est, quod vocatur Symbolum Apostolorum, ut viri docti ostenderunt. p. 651.

Let us add to this, the creed which is delivered to us by Tertullian :

Unicum quidem Deum credimus, sub hac tamen dispositione, quam Oeconomiam dicimus, ut unici Dei sit et Filius, Serma ipsius, qui ex ipso processerit, per quem omnia facta sunt, et sine quo fuctum est nihil; hunc missum a Patre in Virginem, et ex ea ratum hominem et Deum, filium hominis et filium Dei, et cognominatum Jesum Christum; hunc passum, hunc mortuum et sepultum, secundum Scripturas, et resuscitatum a Patre, et in cælos resumtum sedere ad dexteram Patris, venturum judicare vivos et mortuos; qui exinde miserit, secundum promissionem suam, 4 Patre Spiritum Sanctum Paracletum, sanctificatorem

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