Before going further it will be necessary to ascertain what is the precise nature and character of that demoniacal supernaturalism which is apparently asserted in the pages of the New Testament. Without doing so, it will be impossible to form a correct opinion on the subject under consideration. The New Testament apparently ascribes to Satanic agency not only a power of suggesting temptations to the minds of men, but also in certain cases of depriving them of the supremacy of their wills, of enslaving their intellectual and moral powers, of interfering with the use of their bodily organs, and, in one instance, of imparting an unusual strength. These phenomena constitute what is designated as “possession,” and bear no inconsiderable resemblance to different forms of insanity. But the New Testament also makes mention of lunacy as well as possession. How far they were distinguishable from each other we have no sufficient data to enable us to determine. At one time they are spoken of as the same disease; at others they are clearly distinguished from each other. The language of the Gospels seems to imply that some maladies were believed to be produced by the influence of possession. In one or two instances language is used which may imply that a bodily disease was brought on by Satanic agency without actual possession. Whatever may have been the belief of the Jews on this subject, it is certain that the cases referred to in the Gospels are very few; and although the mention of diseases is very common, nothing is said about their being due to demoniacal influence. Not a single case occurs in which ordinary accidents are referred to this influence, although such is affirmed to have been the common belief of the Jews. In the Acts of the Apostles only two cases of possession are mentioned, one that of the damsel at Philippi, and the other the occasion when certain Jewish exorcists undertook to exorcise demoniacs at Ephesus in the name of Jesus. The former case is of some importance. The girl is described as possessed by a spirit of Pytho, _i.e._ she pretended to practise the art of divination by the inspiration of the god Apollo, and in many respects she practised the arts of the modern fortune‐teller. Such persons were not uncommon at the time. The Pythia at Delphi professed to prophesy under the influence of a similar inspiration. Whatever may have been the real causes by which this mental condition was brought about, the paroxysms were so real that one is recorded to have died under their influence. Her state when under prophetic influence, is described as one of phrensied excitement. St. Paul is represented by the historian as addressing himself to the spirit, and commanding him to come out in the name of Jesus Christ. The powers of such persons were confined to diving into the secrets of the future; but to other kinds of supernatural power they made no claims.