thing), and that too as it should seem, about the time of our Saviour being on earth only, because in the time before we find no mention of them in Scripture. The wonder is still greater, because it seems, notwithstanding all this, by the story of the Gospel, not to have been accounted then by the people of the Jews, any strange or extraordinary thing, but as a matter usual; nor besides, is taken notice of in any foreign story.

To meet with all these difficulties, he is persuaded that these demoniacs are no other than madmen, and that the cause of any mistake, should it arise, must be attributed to the misinterpretation of the word employed, for all persons whose minds were deranged, were considered by the Jews as possessed by evil spirits, and named the δαιμονιζομενοι.

The grounds Mede has for his opinion

are fully stated; he derives them, in the first place, from the internal evidence afforded by the Scriptures themselves, considering in the text "He hath a devil (demon), and is mad," (') that the latter part of the sentence is an explanation of the former; and in the second, by a reference to contemporary history, whereby his argument is strengthened.

Besides the general symptoms of those who were "possessed" agreeing with the general character of madness and epilepsy, we are expressly told, that "madness is one of the curses imposed by the wrath of the Almighty on his people (vide Deut. xxviii.) for their sins; and deliverance from it is not the least of the miracles performed by Christ. Saul was mad, and was cured of melancholia by the music of David's

(1) Δαιμόνιον ἔχει, και μαίνεται, John x. 20.

harp, and it is evident that insanity was then of common occurrence, since David himself, when beset by his enemies, changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad." (1)

(1) Burrows on Insanity.

HAVING now spoken of the diseases more generally alluded to in the Sacred Writings, it remains for me, in pursuance of my object, to say some few words on the examples held out to us of individual affliction.

THE DISEASE OF JOB.

From our earliest recollections a degree of interest is excited by the history of Job; so graphically detailed is the extent of his sufferings, and so beautifully described is his patience under them.

But this charm has not been a little lessened by a discussion, in which some have (vainly to my idea, both as to purpose and result) engaged, as to whether we are

to suppose such a person ever existed; whether we are to view this beautiful episode of the Holy Scriptures as a mere fable, or wandering fancy of an inspired historian.

The conclusions to which Hugo Grotius arrives, appear to me to be fully sustained: that Job was a real person, that his sufferings and patience are a portion of his history, but that, according to the custom of the times, it is poetically described.

As to his having existed, the reference to this book in other parts of the Sacred Writings, affords, in my estimation, no opportunity for doubt upon the question.

Job, then, the subject of the present inquiry, is described as upright, perfect, and one that feared God, of great wealth, the proud father of seven sons and three daughters, and an inhabitant of the land of Uz.