1. With regard to the two demoniacs at Gadara (or one, according to Mark and Luke), it is con cluded that they were madmen, who fancied that there were within them innumerable spirits of dead men. Accordingly they dwelt among the tombs, about which the souls of the dead were believed to hover, went naked, were ungovernable, cried aloud, attacked passengers, beat themselves, and had in their phrensy broken every chain by which they had been bound. Strength almost superhuman is a common attendant of insanity. The subject is illustrated by Wetstein, in extracts from Greek medical writers. P. iEgineta, Actuarius, Caslius Aurelianus, also tell that such persons fancied themselves to be gods, demons, wolves, dogs, etc., hence the disorder was sometimes called AurrapBpco irk, or KtwavOpcoria. Their question, Art thou come to torment us ?' refers to the cruel treatment of the insane in those times, and which they had no doubt shared in the endeavours of men to tame' them. Both Mark, and Luke the physi cian, describe the demoniac as in ' his right mind,' when healed, which implies pre vious insanity (see also Matt. xii. 22 ; xv. 28 ; xvii. IS ; Luke vii. 21 ; Viii. 2 ; /X. 42). It is true that these demoniacs address Jesus as the Son of God, but they might have heard in their lucid intervals, that Jesus, whose fame was already diffused throughout Syria, was regarded by the people as the Messiah. They spew their insanity, their shaping fancies,' by imagining they were demons without number, and by requesting permission to enter the swine. Would actual demons choose such an habitation ? They speak and answer in deed in a rational manner, but, agreeably to Locke's definition of madmen, they reason right on false principles, and taking their fancies for realities, make right deductions from them ' (Essay on' Human Understanding, chap. ii. 11. 13). It is true that Jesus commands the unclean spirit (so called because believed to be the spirit of a dead man), but he does this merely to excite the atten tion of the people, and to give them full oppor tunity to observe the miracle. It is not necessary to suppose that the madmen drove the swine, but merely that, in keeping with all the circumstances, the insanity of the demoniacs was transferred to them as the leprosy of Naaman was transferred to Gehazi, for the purpose of illustrating the miracu lous power of Christ, and though this was a puni tive miracle, it might serve the good purpose of discouraging the expectation of temporal benefits from him. If the demoniac is represented as wor shipping Jesus, it should be remembered that the insane often shew great respect to particular per sons.
2. The men who were dumb, and both blind and dumb, are not said to have been disordered in their intellects any more than the blind man in John ix. The disease in their organs was popularly ascribed to the influence of demons. It is able that in the parallel passage (Matt. ix. 32), the evangelist says the man was dumb.
3. The symptoms of epilepsy in the youth de scribed Matt. xvii. 15, are too evident not to be acknowledged. If the opinion of relatives is to be pressed, it should be noticed that in this case the father says his ' son is lunatic.' It was most pro bably a case of combined epilepsy and lunacy, which has been common in all ages. Epilepsy was ascribed to the influence of the moon in those times. The literal interpretation of popular language would therefore require us to believe that he was `moonstruck,' as well as a demoniac.
A curious instance of the influence of popular modes of speech, even on those who are conscious of its incorrectness, is offered in the case of Hippo crates, who, though he wrote a book to prove that epilepsy is not a sacred malady, i.e., influenced by some divinity, is nevertheless in the habit of apply ing to it that very appellation. In the same way a learned physician still speaks of lunacy, St. An thony's fire ; and persons of education speak of the rising and setting of the sun, falling stars, as we all use phrases derived from the rites and religion of the Gentiles.
4. The damsel at Philippi is said (Acts xvi. 16) by Luke to have been possessed with a HOOtopos, a spirit of Apollo. It was her fixed idea. The gift of divination is said by Cicero to have been ascribed to Apollo (De Divined. i. 5). Insane per sons, pretending to prophesy under the influence of Apollo, would be likely to gain money from the credulous. A belief among the common people that the ravings of insanity were sacred, was not confined to Egypt. The larvati, the lymphatici, the cerriti of the Romans, signify possessed per sons. The apostle who taught that an ' idol is nothing in the world,' did not believe in the reality of her soothsaying. Many demoniacs are men tioned, the peculiar symptoms of whose diseases are not stated, as Mary Magdalene (Mark xvi. 9), out of whom Jesus cast seven demons, i. e., restored from an inveterate insanity (seven being the Jewish number of perfection), supposed to be caused by the united agency of seven spirits of the dead. Yet she is said to have been healed (Luke viii. z).
5. If Jesus forbade the demoniacs to say he was the Christ, it was because the declaration of such persons on the subject would do more harm than good. If lie rebuked them he also rebuked the wind (Matt. viii. 26), and the fever (Luke iv. 39). If it be said of them, they departed, so it is also said of the leprosy (Mark i. 42).
6. It may be questioned whether the writers of the N. T. make a distinction between the diseased and those possessed of demons, or whether they specify the demoniacs by themselves, as they specify the lunatics (Matt. iv. 24), merely as a distinct and peculiar class of the sick. It is, how ever, most important to observe that St. Peter includes ' all ' who were healed by Jesus, under the phrase Karaavvao-revoalyous inr5 TO1) StapbXov, many of whom were not described by the Evange lists as subjects of demoniacal possession, which is urged as a striking instance of the ?ails loguendi. Sometimes the specification of the demoniacs is omitted in the general recitals of miraculous cures (Matt. xi. 5), and this, too, on the important occa sion of our Lord sending to John the Baptist an account of the miraculous evidence attending his preaching (Matt. xi. 5). Does not this look as if they were considered as included under the sick ? 7. It cannot be proved that all the demoniacs knew Jesus to be the Messiah.
S. It is admitted that Jesus addresses the de mons, but then it may be said that his doing so has reference partly to the persons themselves in whom demons were supposed to be, and partly to the bystanders ; for the same reason that he re buked the winds in an audible voice, as also the fever. It is also remarkable that in the case of the demoniac (Mark v. 9), it is said—Kat a6roy, the man, ri tiro ea, not abrO, the San(6 woe. The same words occur in Luke viii. 3o.