[34]: The question has been often agitated, whether the possessions of the New Testament are to be ascribed to demoniacal influence, or whether they are so represented in conformity to the popular prejudices of the age, being in reality nothing more than diseases. Surely a distinct existence must be attributed to these, as evil spirits, when we consider their number, the actions particularly ascribed to them, the conversation which they held respecting themselves, the Son of God, and their own destiny, the desires and passions they are represented as manifesting, and various other circumstances of their history. Is it credible, that a mere _disease_ should be said to have addressed Christ in such language as the following: "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Comp. Matt. viii. 29, and the succeeding verses. [35]: Bishop Hall. [36]: Bishop Hall [37]: Doddridge on the Care of the Soul. [38]: The whole narrative is contained in the eleventh chapter of John, and this reference in the fifth verse. [39]: Three hundred Roman pence, or denarii, amount to about _nine pounds seven shillings and sixpence_ sterling. [40]: Bishop Hall. [41]: The farthing was a _quadrant_, or fourth part of a Roman _assis_, a coin of similar value with the τεταρτχμοριον of the Greeks, or the fourth part of an obolus (the least Athenian coin,) that is, two brass pieces. These were the same with the _prutas_ of the Jews, two of which make a _quardrant_. [42]: Barrow's Works, vol. i. p. 457, fol. [43]: Paley's Moral Philosophy, vol. i. p. 254--257. [44]: Sermon on the Duty and Reward of Bounty to the Poor. [45]: Acts xvi. "Philippi was a city of Macedonia near the confines of Thrace. It lies near the sea, as it were at the head of the Archipelago. It was so named from Philip, king' of Macedon, who repaired and enlarged it; but its more ancient name was Dathos. It was also called Crenides from its numerous springs, whence flowed the river mentioned Acts xvi. 13; κρηνη, _kreenee_, in Greek meaning a spring. Julius Cæsar is said to have planted there a Roman colony; and the neighbourhood of Philippi was the scene of conflict between him and Pompey, and afterward between his assassinators, Brutus and Cassius, and his partizans, Antony and Octavius. It is said still to retain some monuments of its former splendour, although it is much depopulated and sunk to decay." Bevan's Life of the Apostle Paul, p. 367. [46]: For information on the subject of proselytes, consult Dr. Gill's "Dissertation concerning the Baptism of Jewish Proselytes," chap. i. in vol. iii, of his Body of Divinity. [47]: GREGORY'S Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties of the Christian Religion, vol. ii. pp. 127, 128. [48]: Bp. Taylor's Holy Living, Chap. i. sect. 3.