hidden here and permitted to exercise such awful control over us.
The time has come to challenge that spirit in the name of its
Maker, and to cleanse your house once and for all of something
which, potent for evil though it is allowed to be, must yield to
the forces of the Most High, even in the feeble hand of His
minister."

The doctor spoke.

"Is it possible, sir, that you attribute your son's death to
anything but natural physical forces?" he asked.

"Is it possible to do otherwise? How can you, of all men, ask?
Science has spoken--or, rather, science has been struck dumb. No
natural, physical force is responsible for his end. He died
without any cause that you could discover. This is no new thing,
however. History records that men have passed similarly under
visitations beyond human power to explain. If the Lord could
slay multitudes in a night at a breath, as we know from the pages
of the Old Testament, then it is certain He can still end the
life of any man at any moment, and send His messengers to do so.
I believe in good and evil spirits as I believe in my Bible, and
I know that, strong and terrible though they may be and gifted with
capital powers against our flesh, yet the will of God is stronger
than the strongest of them. These things, I say, have happened
before. They are sent to try our faith. I do not mourn my son,
save with the blind, natural pang of paternity, because I know that
he has been withdrawn from this world for higher purposes in
another; but the means of his going I demand to investigate,
because they may signify much more than his death itself. One