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.

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    The possessed with devils are dai/xoviCofievovs; and ee healed55 is repre- sented by idepcmevocv, etherapeusen. And these were done “173 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.55 Here is nothing said of casting out devils by Isaiah, “ Himself took on our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.55 Isaiah gives no encourge- ment to the belief in the existence of devils. It may be inferred, from the frequent use of the word <c heal,55 that these possessions were bodily diseases, which Jesus cured. This view is strengthened by the following passsage, “ And John,174 calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, art thou he that should come ? or look we for another ? When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come ? or look we for another ? And in the same hour he cured manv of their in- tJ firmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then,Jesus answering said unto them, go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard : how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.55 It is a curious fact that Christ does not say, behold I cast out spirits; if the doing of which was a positive reality, Christ would have pointed it out; for the historian adds, “ he in the same hour cured many of their evil spirits :55 but Jesus does not add one remark respecting such effect. The conclusion, therefore, is, that those possessed were afflicted with bodily and mental disease, which Christ cured. And, as an additional conclusion, it may be declared without any doubt, that every person was supposed to be possessed when the complaint, under which the person laboured, resisted all the usual modes of treatment.175 173 Matt. viii. 17. 174 Luke vii. 19—23. 175 Of the existence of good and bad spirits, the major part of the inhabitants have no doubt whatever, and they conceive the IFadgjs and others who are dis- tinguished for their supposed piety, may invoke and expel them if they will. We read of persons, “ possessed of devils/5 and of the “ casting out of devils,55 as common among the Jews and other Oriental nations, from the earliest period, and the idea is even now so prevalent in Egypt, Persia, and Arabia, that it is acted upon on almost all occasions; and we are frequently told that a man who is rich has got a devil, par- ticularly if his complaint has withstood the superstitious mummery, and the prayers of some Mohammedan saint, who, having failed to relieve the patient’s sufferings by miraculous agency, has in his wisdom pronounced him “ incurable,”—for that the curse of Allah is upon him.—Yates’s Egypt, vol. 7, p. 77.