Let us now consider the mode in which the proof of this is attempted to be established. The authorities quoted are chiefly the Talmudical writers; that is to say, persons who wrote as late as from A.D. 200 to A.D. 500, are cited as the proof that such opinions were universally entertained by the Jews in the time of Jesus Christ. Equally valid would it be to quote the writers of modern spiritualism to prove that such opinions were held by our ancestors in the time of the Stuarts or the Plantagenets. On the strength of this and kindred evidence, such opinions are ascribed to the original propagators of Christianity, and to the authors of the Gospels. But this is not all. The only correct method of ascertaining the superstition and credulity of any particular writer is carefully to examine the contents of his book, and to note the various instances which we find in it of what we consider to be superstitions; and then proceed to estimate their value, and, if needful, to compare them with other contemporary authorities. This course, however, is not that pursued by this writer. On the contrary, he quotes the absurdities which we have seen from the Talmudical writers, and refers in the midst of them to nearly every passage in the Gospels which can be made to bear even a remote reference to the views in question. I submit that such a mode of reasoning is not conducive to the interests of truth. A few examples of this mode of conducting the argument require notice. After referring to a number of monstrous superstitions, he tells us that the Jews believed that “demons took especial delight in foul and offensive places, and that an evil spirit inhabits every private closet in the world. Demons haunted deserted places, ruins, graves, and certain kinds of trees. We find indications of these superstitions throughout the Gospels. The possessed are represented as dwelling among the tombs, and as being driven by unclean spirits into the wilderness, and demons can find no rest in clean places.”