he cast out demons by the power
of Satan were, he said, guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
It is probable that the gospel tradition is trustworthy which
associates his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist with his first
consciousness of this inspiration.

Jesus, then, had claimed for himself, openly and publicly, the
authority of the Holy Spirit. There is no evidence that any of his
disciples had claimed this for themselves during his lifetime, but
after his death it seemed to them that the Spirit which had filled
their Master had descended on them, inspiring their words and guiding
their actions.[1]

What ought to be our verdict on this claim of the first Christians? To
see the question in its true light it is necessary to distinguish
between the experience of the Christians and the opinion which they
held about it. Their opinion was that they had been taken possession
of by the Spirit of God, which was acting through them, so that their
words and deeds had the authority no longer of fallible man but of the
omnipotent and infallible God. This theory was a heritage from a
distant past in Israel {42} when the Spirit of the Lord had been
regarded as the source of all extraordinary events, good or evil.
Later, evil events had no longer been attributed to the Spirit of the
Lord, but to demons or unclean spirits who peopled the earth and took
possession of men as they found opportunity. To them were attributed
disease, misfortune, and especially the raving of madness, while
healing and prophecy were attributed to the Divine Spirit.

In modern times we no longer attribute disease, misfortune, or madness
to devils, not because these phenomena have ceased, but because we have
a different theory of their origin, which, on the whole, produces more
satisfactory therapeutic results than the theory of possession.
Similarly the phenomena of prophecy, which the Jews ascribed to the
Spirit of God, remain. There has never been a generation lacking in
men who believe that their action and speech are being governed by a
compelling force, separate from the ordinary process of volition.
Those who have this experience seem to themselves to be, as it were,
the spectators of their own deeds, or to be listening to their own
utterances. Under its influence individuals, groups of men, or even
nations, are carried away by inexplicable waves of passion or
enthusiasm which, once aroused, cannot be resisted till their force i