they (the evil spirits) professed their hatred of monkery and their love of Luther and the Huguenots, there seems little need to hesitate long in characterizing the kind of possession in which they were the agents.

The conversion of Prince Radzivil to the reformed faith is said to have been caused by the discovery of a similar fraud. Brought up as a zealous Romanist, he was deeply grieved at the spread of the Reformation in Lithuania, and desiring to mark his detestation of the new sect, and at the same time to clear himself from the probable charge of having covertly aided it, he repaired to Rome to visit the pope and to report on the state of the country. Pleased with his devotion, the pope gave him a small box of relics, and on his return, some monks who had been vainly endeavoring, as they said, to cast out a devil from one possessed, entreated permission to try the effects of the relics. The permission was granted, and amidst much ceremony the relics were applied. The demoniac instantly recovered, but it was soon made known that a young nobleman to whose charge the box had been entrusted, had lost it, and not daring to confess the fact, had procured a small box like that which he had lost, and filled it with small bones of no particular sanctity. Subsequently, and in consequence of this, Radzivil became a zealous Lutheran.

It would be no argument to say, that because no recorded cases of demoniac possession in modern times were really so, that therefore none had occurred, but it gives strong reason to believe that if any specific instance be brought under our notice, it will be found to follow the general rule.

And now, before we bring this subject to a close, let us see whether we cannot deduce from it some spiritual instruction.

We have already seen, that in various instances Satan took away the reason of his victim, in order that he might bring him completely under his sway; but that those who have been the most faithful servants of hell have not been thus afflicted; they gave themselves up to the wicked one, and Satan had no need to bind them. It is possible that cases of demoniacal possession may exist now, although we have not the power of distinguishing (and that power may never be restored to the church) between cases of what

may be called physical insanity, and those in which Satan takes possession of mankind and treats them as he did in the days of our Lord himself. This uncertainty must ever render the Christian extremely cautious as to the views which he takes concerning the mind of man, and its condition in health and disease. But while there will be this uncertainty, we must be well aware that those who are faithfully serving the Lord will be by him protected against all adversaries-that if, with one determination and in full purpose of heart, we seek to obey his commandments, Satan can have no power against us; and though it be an awful consideration indeed, to reflect that there still may be a power which can thus overcome the human will, and make it subservient to evil, yet we know that this cannot be the case with those who are truly the servants of the Lord, and are relying on him for strength and protection. If we could believe the possibility of such a case as this, we should then believe the possibility of God's forsaking his servants-that those who were soldiers in his army, watchful after the interests of his kingdom, and laboring hard for the salvation of the souls of others as well as their own, were nevertheless given up by him to an adversary whom they could not perceive to a visitation of the most fearful character-to an adversary against whom they had no defence, and a visitation which concerned their usefulness here, and for aught we know, their happiness hereafter. Here, then, is an additional inducement for us to take up with his service.

We may be afflicted in the body, and perhaps in the mind; we may be afflicted in our families and in the various circumstances of our lives; but we shall not be given up to the power of the enemy; we shall be safe from his attacks here, and shall be partakers of the conquest of our Lord over him and his hosts forever.

CHAPTER VI.

IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL--INNATE EVIDENCE OF IT--EVIDENCE FROM MYTHOLOGY -DOCTRINE OF FUTURE REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS DEPENDENT ON-PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENT FROM IMMATERIALITY-SEPARATE STATE OF THE SOUL AFTER DEATH-DOCTRINE OF ST. PAUL CONCERNING-DOCTRINE OF ST. JOHNANALOGIES OF NATURE-DIFFERENCE IN DEGREE IN FUTURE GLORY-SLEEP OF THE SOUL AN ERROR-PROVED TO BE SO BY THE CASE OF THE PENITENT MALEFACTOR-THE TRANSFIGURATION-ELIAS APPEARING IN THE GLORIFIED BODYIMPERFECTION OF OUR PRESENT CONDITION-APPEARANCE OF SAMUEL TO SAUL -BODIES OF THE SAINTS RAISED AT THE CRUCIFIXION OF OUR LORD-STATE OF THOSE WHO DIE IN UNBELIEF-SPIRITS OF THE DEAD NOT OBJECTS OF TERROR -IMPOSSIBILITY OF INJURY BEING DONE BY THEM TO BELIEVERS-CONCLUSION.

THE foundation of all religious belief must be the doctrine of the soul's immortality. If man be considered to perish like the brute creation, it can be a matter of but small moment to him whether his life be spent in the practice and observance of religion, or whether he say to his soul, "Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." Nay, that man must evidently be the more rational, who, feeling his existence to be confined to this present state, bounds thereby his hopes and desires, and accommodates himself wholly to the present condition of the world in which he lives. But inasmuch as there is in the human heart a conviction of immortality, and that conviction appears to have been implanted there by our beneficent Creator for the wisest and holiest of purposes, so there has never been a nation, never a tribe, and probably never an individual, who did not, whatever profession might be made, thoroughly and heartily believe in the endless existence of the soul. It does not follow that this must always have been a welcome thought; for, alas! we can conceive that there are many who would willingly renounce their immortality, and degrade themselves to the rank of the beasts that perish. According to the style of life

in which they indulge, and the course which they are determined to pursue, it cannot be a blessing, it must be a curse. Still, the thought must evermore recur to their minds that it is impossible for them to do this-that in breathing into the nostrils of man "the breath of life," God infused into man a portion of his own eternity, an attribute which is inalienable, and must therefore continue either for man's everlasting happiness or for his everlasting misery.

The way in which this belief has manifested itself has been various, under various circumstances, and in various ages of the world; but one thing we may observe to have been universal, one characteristic never failed: when men had thoroughly made up their minds as to whatsoever was good, whatsoever was virtuous, whatsoever was honorable in this life, that kind of conduct was, in their estimation, to be rewarded with a blessed immortality, and those who deviated from it, more or less, were to be punished by an immortality of misery. The whole of the pages of mythology tell us the same thing, with more or less of fancy and extravagance, according as poetical imagery was more or less to be found in a nation, or according as degradation and misery assumed a prominent place in their condition; but still there was this evident belief, that that which the conscience approved in this life was to be rewarded, and that which it condemned, punished in a world to come.

But we must ever expect to find skeptics; no religious belief will ever be universally accepted; and even this doctrine of the soul's immortality would find opponents among those to whose desires it was obviously opposed. These would say, "What kind of proof can we have that this doctrine on which you lay so great a stress, is true? How can we know that this universal impression-the reality of which we cannot deny, for it strikes our mental eyes on every side is founded on truth? It does not follow, because many men believe in a doctrine, that therefore that doctrine is a sound one; nor even that because any scheme of belief is adopted by such large numbers of men that it were excusable to call it universal, that it must therefore be correct. We require something more than the mere assertion that man is immortal-something more than to be told that all mankind are agreed as to the fact; we wish

to have some proof of it. We wish to see whether the proof is so clear and unmistakable, that in laying aside certain advantages and certain pleasures, which are palpable and immediate, we may do so with the conviction that we are not acting rashly, and that it is in accordance with the dictates of wisdom to regard the present life merely as a passage to one more important. So that, besides the universal admission and impression upon the subject, we come to require a proof of the certainty of the fact alleged. And how is this proof to be given? We see men grow up; we see them increase in stature and strength from their infancy to their maturity; and we then see them decay and die, their dust mingling with the dust from which they sprang. But we have no proof, arising from any intelligence in mankind, that they rise again; we know nothing, from aught that man can tell us, of the condition in which they find themselves after death; they may, for anything such creatures as we can tell, pass into annihilation, into utter and entire forgetfulness."

But that which reason cannot tell us revelation has supplied; and the conjunction between the right use of reason, and of belief in the immortality of the soul, is found in two points.

The first point is that which teaches us to regard revelation as capable of proof. We take the evidences of Christianity, and are satisfied with them. We investigate the Scriptures historically, and we find that they have all the testimony which is required to be given of any other class of historical truth; and therefore we accept them. We investigate them metaphysically, and we find precisely the same evidence in this respect as we find historically; we are satisfied that if we are to believe any doctrine whatever on the authority of evidence, we must believe the doctrines of the Gospel. We take the word of God, as that which really furnishes a divine revelation for our benefit. When once we have admitted this fact, it then becomes absolutely our duty to receive whatever that revelation contains. The time for reasoning on it has passed; we have satisfied our minds that it is a divine revelation, and are therefore bound to receive all that that revelation contains. Now, this revelation teaches us the immortality of the soul; and therefore our reason, in an indirect way, has led us to the truth that