The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-13

What we intend TO show is that
]. New Testament possessions by demons
were realities.
2. The demons were departed spirits.
B. Mediums being possessed by human
4. Demons and heather gods are the same,
and therefore,
5. Spiritualism and heathenism are iden-
teal.
We apprehend no difficulty in convincing
such of our readers as are believers in the
Bible that the possessions mentioned in the
New Testament q )Uereredi possessions bydemoHS.
We have not been accustomed so 10 fritter
away the miracles of Christ as TO say he
walked Lazarus from trance, or waded across
a shallow place in the Sea of Galilee, instead
of walking on the water, or that he pretended
TO cast out demons when there were none to
cast out We take the record as it stands,
and shall present one instance as a sample of
all: for the words "demOn" and demons
are used in the New Testament sixty-fve
times, and the words possessed with a
demon" thirteen times, and in not one instance
is there the slightest intimation that demoniac
possession was delusion.
In the Sth chapter of Matthew is an account
of two men possessed with demons. Here st.
Matthew says the men were demoniacs, that
they talked with Jesus, that the demons de-
cared their expectation of being tormented at
some future time, that the demons asked and
received permission to go into the swine that
the demons, alter being cast out of the men,
actually went into the swine and caused them
to run into the sea. No criticism can get rid
of this it was not a disease; it was not
insanity; it was not fancy. "For," says an
author before quoted, ''whatever wild and
superstitious fanoies men are liable to-though
the human imagination may raise up ideal
demons that have no real existence-brutes at
least, we cannot doubt, are exempt from all
such delusiOns."
Demons were not Diseases for the clearest
distinction is drawn between them in such
passages as this:-"They brought unto Him
all sick people that were taken with divers
diseases and torments, and those that were pos
seSSed 0ih demons and those who were lunaticS,
and those who had the palsy, and He healed
them"
Now (2) demons are departed spirits. Says Mr..
A. Campbell:- THE demons of Paganism,
Judaism, and Christianity were spirits Of dead
men - for
First. All Pagan authors of any note, whose
works have survived the wreck of ages, affirm
this opinion.
Second. The Jewish historians Josephus
and Philo also avow this conviction. jose
plus says:-"Demonsa are spirits of dead wicked
men who enter into living men," Philo
says:-"The souls of dead men are called
demons"
Third. The Christian Fathers declare the
same thing Justin Martyr says:-"Those who
are seized and tormented by the souls of the
dead, whom all call demons"
Lardner writes:-"The notion of demons,
or the souls of the dead, having power over
living men was universally prevalent among
the heathen of those times, and believed by
many Christians
If this, then was the common opinion of
the Jews and Genties in Christ's time, then
Jesus and His apostles used the word demon
in the same sense-unless they wished to
deceive.
And the Spiritualsts claim (and we see no
reason to doubt the justness of their claim)
that then have intercourse with departed
spirits, and that mediums are possessed by
the spirits of dead men.
Our third position is, therefore, true on
their own showing, that (3) mediums are de-
! nOnidcS.
Spiritualists may indeed affirm that they are
| possessed by good spirits, and not by eUl ones,
and that, therefore, Spiritualism and Demon
ism are not precisely the same. But they will
find it impossible to show that spirits which
oppose Christianity and the commonest mo.
rality are good spirits that spirits which
Iecklessly destroy property, as in DR.. Phelps
house, are good spirits: that such as the Spirit
ualist Amhert describes are good spirits Am
helSJ says i nave seen DltululuS IOllluR Ol
the floor, uttering grunts like swine, giving
vent to the most hideous yells, and at times
beating their bodies and tearing their hair lik,
lunatcs." And we have not the least dOub
but that a majority of our readers have eithe
seen or known of similar violent manifesto
tiOns. 1t cannot be shown that spirits whicl
cause insanity, and recommend murder anC
adultery, are good spirits, and it is plain tina
nO good spirits would engage in this busines
when God has so expressly forbidden men t.
attempt intercourse with the spirits of tn
dead.
O. Demons and heathen gods are the same
Archbishop Whately says:-"The heathel
authors allude to possession by demon 60
by a god for they use the two words witt
little or no distinction) as a thing of no un
common occurrence"
DR.. Ramsey, missionary from the Presby
teIian Church of this city, while in India, saw
the priestesses of idol temples affected simi
larly with Spiritualist mediums, and claimin
to be at such times possessed by dew
(demOn).
Grote, the great historian of Greece, afirm
that demons and gods were the same i
Greece, and that the people defended their oil
iectionable ceremonies on the ground thu
such evil beings could be appeased only in tn
way.
DR.. Dexter, an advocate of Spiritualism
writes:-"We find that a connection wit
spiritual sources of power and intelligence wi
claimed by the Gymnosophists of India, th
NIagi of Persia, the wise men of Egypt, til
Prophets and Diviners of Greece and Rome, I'll
Druidical Priests and Bards of ancient Gal
and Britain. The Delphic Pythia which,
the dictates of the god Apollo, were for ag,
implicitly followed by kings, armies, an
nauons."
In conclusion, we shall show that the "teacl
. | IL q.