Part 24 (1/2)

[Footnote 5: Matt xi 5, xv 30, 31; Luke ix 1, 2, 6]

One of the species of cure which Jesus most frequently perfore disposition to believe in demons pervaded all minds It was a universal opinion, not only in Judea, but in the whole world, that demons seized hold of the bodies of certain persons and made them act contrary to their will A Persian _div_, often named in the Avesta,[1] _Aeschma-daeva_, the ”div of concupiscence,” adopted by the Jews under the name of Asmodeus,[2]

became the cause of all the hysterical afflictions of women[3]

Epilepsy, mental and nervousto himself, and infirmities, the cause of which is not apparent, as deafness, dumbness,[5] were explained in the same manner The admirable treatise, ”On Sacred Disease,” by Hippocrates, which set forth the true principles of medicine on this subject, four centuries and a half before Jesus, had not banished froreat an error It was supposed that there were processesaway the deular profession like that of physician[6] There is no doubt that Jesus had in his lifetireatest secrets of this art[7] There were at that tireat o at large, as they still are in the same districts, inhabited the abandoned sepulchral caves, which were the ordinary retreat of vagrants Jesus had great influence over these unfortunates[8] A thousand singular incidents were related in connection with his cures, in which the credulity of the tiave itself full scope But still these difficulties erated The disorders which were explained by ”possessions” were often very slight In our tiard as mad or possessed by a demon (these two ideas were expressed by the same word, _entle word often suffices in such cases to drive away the demon Such were doubtless the means employed by Jesus

Who knows if his celebrity as exorcist was not spread ale? Persons who reside in the East are occasionally surprised to find thereat reputation, as doctors, sorcerers, or discoverers of treasures, without being able to account to thee fancies

[Footnote 1: _Vendidad_, xi 26; _Yacna_, x 18]

[Footnote 2: _Tobit_, iii 8, vi 14; Talm of Bab, _Gittin_, 68 _a_]

[Footnote 3: Comp Mark xvi 9; Luke viii 2; _Gospel of the Infancy_, 16, 33; Syrian Code, published in the _Anecdota Syriaca_ of M Land, i, p 152]

[Footnote 4: Jos, _Bell Jud_, VII vi 3; Lucian, _Philopseud_, 16; Philostratus, _Life of Apoll_, iii 38, iv 20; Aretus, _De causis morb chron_, i 4]

[Footnote 5: Matt ix 33, xii 22; Mark ix 16, 24; Luke xi 14]

[Footnote 6: _Tobit_, viii 2, 3; Matt xii 27; Mark ix 38; _Acts_ xix 13; Josephus, _Ant_, VIII ii 5; Justin, _Dial cur, xxiii (xvii Dindorf)]

[Footnote 7: Matt xvii 20; Mark ix 24, and following]

[Footnote 8: Matt viii 28, ix 34, xii 43, and following, xvii 14, and following, 20; Mark v 1, and following; Luke viii 27, and following]

[Footnote 9: The phrase, _Daemonium habes_ (Matt xi 18: Luke vii 33; John vii 20, viii 48, and following, x 20, and following) should be translated by: ”Thou art mad,” as we should say in Arabic: _Medjnoun ente_ The verb [Greek: dai of ”to be mad”]

Many circumstances, us late in life and against his inclination He often perforht to do so, and with a degree of reluctance, reproaching those who asked theularity, apparently inexplicable, is the care he takes to perform his miracles in secret, and the request he addresses to those whom he heals to tell no one[2] When the demons wish to proclaim him the Son of God, he forbids thenize him in spite of himself[3]

These traits are especially characteristic in Mark, who is pre-eelist of miracles and exorcisms It seems that the disciple, who has furnished the fundas of this Gospel, importuned Jesus with his admiration of the wonderful, and that the hed upon hi to any ular outburst,[4] a fit of impatience, in which the annoyance these perpetual demands of weak minds caused Jesus, breaks forth One would say, at tireeable to hiive as little publicity as possible to the rew under his feet When his enemies asked a n from heaven,” he obstinately refused[5] We us was imposed upon him, that he did not resist itto aid it, and that, at all events, he felt the vanity of popular opinion on this point

[Footnote 1: Matt xii 39, xvi 4, xvii 16; Mark viii 17, and following, ix 18; Luke ix 41]

[Footnote 2: Matt viii 4, ix 30, 31, xii 16, and following; Mark i 44, vii 24, and following, viii 26]

[Footnote 3: Mark i 24, 25, 34, iii 12; Luke iv 41]

[Footnote 4: Matt xvii 16; Mark ix 18; Luke ix 41]

[Footnote 5: Matt xii 38, and following, xvi 1, and following; Mark viii 11]

We should neglect to recognize the first principles of history if we attached too nances on this ht be raised against the character of Jesus, we attempted to suppress facts which, in the eyes of his contereatest importance[1]

It would be convenient to say that these are the additions of disciplesable to conceive his true grandeur, have sought to nify him by illusions unworthy of him But the four narrators of the life of Jesus are unani his miracles; one of them, Mark, interpreter of the apostle Peter,[2] insists so much on this point, that, if we trace the character of Christ only according to this Gospel, we should represent him as an exorcist in possession of charms of rare efficacy, as a very potent sorcerer, who inspired fear, and whoet rid of[3] We will admit, then, without hesitation, that acts which would now be considered as acts of illusion or folly, held a large place in the life of Jesus Must we sacrifice to these uninviting features the sublimer aspect of such a life? God forbid A ician, would not have brought about a moral revolution like that effected by Jesus If the thauious refory, and not Christianity

[Footnote 1: Josephus, _Ant_, XVIII iii 3]

[Footnote 2: Papias, in Eusebius, _Hist Eccl_, iii 39]

[Footnote 3: Mark iv 40, v 15, 17, 33, 36, vi 50, x 32; cf Matt

viii 27, 34, ix 8, xiv 27, xvii 6, 7, xxviii 5, 10; Luke iv 36, v 17, viii 25, 35, 37, ix 34 The Apocryphal Gospel, said to be by Thomas the Israelite, carries this feature to the most offensive absurdity Compare the _Miracles of the Infancy_, in Philo, _Cod