The testimony of history proves that during the century which preceded and that which followed the Advent, the state of moral corruption was extreme. Men were sated with the old, and craving for new and unheard of forms of sensual gratification. The old class of ideas, moral and religious, were gradually dying out, and men were eagerly seeking for something to fill the void. There consequently never was a time when a greater number of abnormal forms of thought burst on the human mind, which was shaken to its utmost depths. The outbreak of fanaticism combined with moral wickedness, which displayed itself forty years after in the Jewish war of independence, is probably without a parallel in the history of man. For this there must have been years of preparation. A somewhat similar state of things existed in the Pagan world, which led to the production of numerous religious charlatans and impostors. The times were characterised by an extravagance of thought on almost every subject, philosophy itself forming no exception. Such an abnormal mental condition was peculiarly suited to the reception of external mental influences, if we suppose them possible. But I am bound to admit that the facts recorded in the Gospels prove that possession was not always the result of moral degradation. This is proved by the case of the youth, whose possession the father directly connects with lunacy, and says that it had seized him from a child. In this case the cause which rendered the possession possible must have been physical, probably a derangement of the nervous system. If I understand rightly the position which is taken by those who affirm that possession was mania, and nothing else, it is as follows. It is alleged that at certain periods of history, the belief in possession has been widely spread. Possessions are unknown in modern times; and all the instances which have been alleged are either cases of mania or delusion. The belief in it has gradually died away as knowledge has advanced. In former times it generated a number of grotesque stories, which were pure inventions of the imagination heated by enthusiasm. Such facts as were real may be referred to madness as their cause. The others are simply disbelieved. Under the influence of increasing knowledge, there has arisen a widespread belief in modern times, that there is nothing superhuman in the causes of such phenomena, but that they are due to influences existing within the mind itself. This, as it is affirmed, being true of all the alleged instances of possession in the modern world, it is inferred that similar ones in the ancient world are equally unreal; and if we had the requisite data before us, we should be able to refer them all to ordinary human causes.