I reply, that considering the large number of diseases of various kinds mentioned in the New Testament, in none of which is there any allusion to demoniacal agency as their cause, a single example is a narrow foundation on which to build the affirmation that the followers of our Lord held such a theory as to the origin of disease in general. I admit that disorganization of the bodily functions is mentioned among the phenomena of possession. But this differs widely from a bodily evil superinduced without the agency of possession. Let us inquire whether the special instance affords any justification for this wide assertion. The Evangelist states that the woman was bowed down by a spirit of infirmity, and could in no wise lift herself up. Here it is just as absurd to fasten on him the intention to describe a scientific fact, as when on another occasion it is said that “_power_” went out of our Lord “and healed them all.” The one stands on the same ground as the other. In effecting the cure, our Lord uses the words, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.” Here there is no reference to Satanic agency whatever. The only mention of it occurs in his argument with the ruler of the synagogue on the lawfulness of effecting such cures on the Sabbath day. The words are, “Thou hypocrite, ought not this woman, who is a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” These words are addressed to the ruler in answer to the objection that our Lord was no prophet, because he effected his cures on the Sabbath. If so, as the reality of the miracle was not denied, it was intended to be implied that it had been wrought by the power of Satan, of which the violation of the Sabbath was the proof. The real point of controversy therefore was the lawfulness of effecting cures on this day, not the Satanic origin of the complaint. Was there any conceivable reason why our Lord should not discuss the point with the ruler on his own principles? Why was it necessary to raise a wholly different issue, viz. the Satanic or non‐Satanic origin of the disease, instead of confining it strictly to the point, which was the all‐important one, that His curing this woman on the Sabbath day was so far from being a proof that He did not come from God, that it was a strong reason for believing that He did so? To have entered on a discussion as to what was the cause of the complaint, would not only have diverted attention from the real question, but would have introduced one wholly foreign to the purposes of His divine mission.