* In Matthew viii. 30-32, we are told that there were two men who were possessed with the devils which subsequently entered the herd of swine;--in Mark v. 11-13, the spirits are represented as being concentrated in one person, and in Luke viii. 32-33, the tale appears in the same guise as in Mark--only the man is made to call himself "Legion," on account of the multitude of devils living inside him. In cases of this kind one need not be rigidly particular, for it signifies little whether the spirits were one thousand in one man or two thousand in two--the wonder is that spirits could talk--fly away from man to pig, or commit suicide in the bodies of the swine when they might have done the same thing in one or two men. It is clear from the miracle that certain devils change their habits when they take up their habitation in porcine instead of human beings. At this period of our parallel we may profitably examine the New Testament, and ascertain whether we cannot extract from it a tolerably fair account of the life and teaching of Jesus, without including therein a single act of thaumaturgy. We fearlessly assert, not only that we can, but that the miracles are not an essential part of his doctrine. For example, we learn that Jesus was the son of a woman betrothed to a carpenter, who became pregnant ere yet the ceremony of marriage was gone through. Her affianced husband did not make her frailty an excuse for annulling the contract, possibly for a good, and to him a sufficient reason. He married the already fruitful Mary, and her child passed amongst the neighbours as being the son of Joseph. This we learn from Matt. xiii. 55, where we find the people saying, "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas, and his sisters, are they not all with us?" a statement repeated in similar terms, Mark vi. 3. This short account is important, since it completely destroys the papal doctrine that Mary was "ever virgin," for she bore at least four other sons than her first born, and two daughters. At no period was Jesus regarded either by the family or by the neighbours as illegitimate, nor is there any reason to believe that Joseph looked upon him otherwise than as his own son. Indeed, in Luke ii. 42-48, the carpenter distinctly appears to act as if he recognized Jesus as his own offspring--in verse 48, Mary says, "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing," asserting as plainly as words could speak, that Joseph had begotten Jesus. It is true that the youth replied, "Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?" but the story adds the important information, that the couple did not understand the saying.