far he fails to be a
Christian. And, whether Theism and Christianity be true or false, it is
certain that the teleological argument alone _ought_ to result, not in
conviction, but in agnosticism.

The antecedent improbability against a miracle being wrought by a man
without a moral object is apt to be confused with that of its being done
by God with an adequate moral object. The former is immeasurably great;
the latter is only equal to that of the theory of Theism--i.e. _nil_.

_Christian Demonology_[77].

It will be said, 'However you may seek to explain away _a priori_
objections to miracles on _a priori_ grounds, there remains the fact
that Christ accepted the current superstition in regard to diabolic
possession. Now the devils damn the doctrine. For you must choose the
horn of your dilemma, either the current theory was true or it was not.
If you say true, you must allow that the same theory is true for all
similar stages of culture, [but not for the later stages,] and therefore
that the most successful exorcist is Science, albeit Science works not
by faith in the theory, but by rejection of it. Observe, the diseases
are so well described by the record, that there is no possibility of
mistaking them. Hence you must suppose that they were due to devils in
A.D. 30, and to nervous disorders in A.D. 1894. On the other hand, if
you choose the other horn, you must accept either the hypothesis of the
ignorance or that of the mendacity of Christ.'

The answer is, that either hypothesis may be accepted by Christianity.
For the sake of argument we may exclude the question whether the
acceptance of the devil theory by Christ was really historical, or
merely attributed to Him by His biographers after His death. If Christ
knew that the facts were not due to devils, He may also have known it
was best to fall in with current theory, rather than to puzzle the
people with a lecture on pathology. If He did not know, why should He,
if He had previously 'emptied Himself' of omniscience? In either case,
if He had denied the current theory, He would have been giving evidence
of scientific knowledge or of scientific intuition beyond the culture of
His time, and this, as in countless other cases, was not in accordance
with His method, which, whether we suppose it divine or human, has
nowhere proved His divine mission by foreknowledge of natural science.

The particular question of Christ and demonology is but part of a much
large