voice, was suddenly broken by shrieks of rage and fear, coming from
a man who had been sitting quietly among the others. Possibly his
condition had not been suspected until Christ's presence roused his
dreadful tyrant. The man's voice is at the demon's service, and only
Jesus recognises who speaks through the wretched victim. We take for
granted the reality of demoniacal possession, as certified for all
who believe Jesus, by His words and acts in reference to it, as well
as forced on us, by the phenomena themselves, which are clearly
distinguishable from disease, madness, or sin. The modern aversion
to the supernatural is quite as much an unreasonable prejudice as
any old woman's belief in witchcraft and Professor Huxley, making
clumsy fun of the 'pigs at Gadara,' is holding opinions in the same
sublime indifference to evidence of facts as the most superstitious
object of his narrow-visioned scorn.

Napoleon called 'impossible' a 'beast of a word.' So it is in
practical life,--and no less so when glibly used to discredit
well-attested facts. We neither aspire to the omniscience which
pronounces that there can be no possession by evil spirits, nor
venture to brush aside the testimony of the Gospels and the words of
Christ, in order to make out such a contention.

Note the rage and terror of the demon. The presence of purity is a
sharp pain to impurity, and an evil spirit is stirred to its depths
when in contact with Jesus. Monstrous growths that love the dark
shrivel and die in sunshine. The same presence which is joy to some
may be a very hell to others. We may approach even here that state
of feeling which broke out in these shrieks of malignity, hatred,
and dread. It is an awful thing when the only relief is to get away
from Jesus, and when the clearest recognition of His holiness only