An inquiry into the existence of a personal devil / [By John Epps.

Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the existence of a personal devil / [By John Epps. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    49/104 (page 43)
    Tlie use of this phrase Ml[jlcov, (mistranslated devil in the common version) among the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, having been thus ex- plained, reference has now to be made to its employment by the Saviour and his apostles. Did they use the phrase in the same sense ? Some have asserted, no. How is this question to be answered? Yery simply: if they did not use the word in the sense, in which those, who used it at their time, did use it, they would, without doubt, have defined the sense, in which they did use it. If no such definition is given, then every sound thinking mind will decide, without hesitation, that the Divine Mind used the word, in the sense, in which it was usually understood. The word daifjuov, daimon, is used in five passages only; three in the history of the demons that went into the swine, and two in the Revelations. In the three, the dmfxoves are represented as active, that is, performing acts through the medium of the party or parties possessed: in two cases speaking, “so the datfioves, daimones, besought him;’5 and in the other case, “driving the party posssessed into the wilderness.” As therefore in these cases an active condition was referred to, the supposed actor is brought out, namely the ddi/xoov : a proof, that the general belief then was, that the departed human spirit possessed the individual, and spoke through and acted upon him. To these passages a more particular reference will be made when considering the dispossession of demons by the Saviour. In all the passages, these five excepted, where possessions are referred to, the words dai/xovLov, daimon ion, 8aifxop[£ofiaL, daimonizomai, are used. It is further a curious fact, appearing from the examination of the list of passages, in which the three words occur, that all, except ten, are in the GOSPELS. The word daipoih^opcu, daimonizomai, occurs in the gospels only. Of the ten passages elsewhere than in the gospels, in which the word Saifxopiov occurs, one is in the Acts, four in relation to one subject in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, one in Timothy, one in James, and three in the Revelations. These can now be noticed with advantage. «i34 yrow whiie Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in name was Eleazar, releasing people who were demoniacal, in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of cure was this :—-He put a ring, which had a root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon, to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils. And when the man fell down immediately, he abjured him to return into him no more, still making mention of Solomon, and reciting the incam tations which he composed. And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he set a little way off, a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon as he went out of the man to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left the man. And when this was done, the skill and wisdom of Solomon were shown very manifestly, for which reason it is, that all men may know the vastness of Solomon’s abilities, and how he was be- loved of God, and that the extraordinary virtues of every kind with which this king was endowed, may not be unknown to any people under the sun; for this reason, 1 say, it is, that we have proceeded to speak so largely of these matters.—Antiq. lib. 8, c. iii. §. 5. 134 Acts xvii. 16, 17a 18. G 2