It therefore by no means follows because the writers of the New Testament had an illumination sufficient for their functions that they had any other than their ordinary enlightenment beyond that limit. They might have been good teachers of religious truth, and yet utterly ignorant of physical science. The assertion may be correct that St. Luke possessed a supernatural guidance sufficient to enable him to compose the third Gospel, and yet it may be no less true, that as a physician he had no medical knowledge beyond that of his time, and that he shared in all its errors as to the causes and cure of physical disease. A man may be a good physician of the soul, and at the same time a very ignorant physician of the body. It is quite conceivable, therefore, even if the Evangelists or those followers of Christ from whom they derived their accounts possessed various degrees of supernatural enlightenment on matters directly affecting Christianity, that they possessed none whatever as to the causes of disease, and that they may have viewed madness as a result of demoniacal action, and described it accordingly. The facts would remain the same; the symptoms might have been exhibited, and the cure actually effected. But the New Testament likewise affirms that our Lord imparted to His followers the power of expelling demons, as well as that of healing diseases. Now, on the supposition that these demoniacs were simple maniacs, how does this affect the credibility of the narrative? I reply that during the mission of the Apostles and the Seventy (for these are the cases alluded to) there is no promise made them of supernatural enlightenment. They were simply sent out to announce a specific fact, the near approach and setting up of the kingdom of heaven, and to work miracles in confirmation of it. It is true that in His address to them, our Lord told them that a time was coming when they would have to testify to Him before princes and kings, and that He promises them, that they should receive supernatural assistance, suitable to the emergency. But this never arose during the mission in question. They were commanded to cure the reputed demoniac in confirmation of their mission. This would be an equally miraculous sign whether he was one possessed or a simple maniac. In this case, therefore, there was no reason why they should be supernaturally enlightened as to the causes of this disease, more than of any other. No doubt the theories then prevalent as to the causes of disease generally were very faulty. It could not be otherwise in the state of medical science at that period. So they must always have been while such a truth as the circulation of the blood was unknown. But the object of Christianity was not to communicate scientific knowledge, or to teach the true causes of disease, but to discover truths mightily operative in the moral and spiritual worlds. It follows, therefore, that the ignorance