g to satisfy our curiosity about these beings,
as Apocryphal books do. They simply describe the one as sent on errands
of mercy, and the other as delighting in tempting men and inflicting
pain. The mystery of the fall of some of these angels, and their
consequent opposition to God, is no difficulty in itself. It is simply
the oldest form of that which is to those who believe in the reality of
the holiness and goodness of God the great problem of the universe--the
origin and continuance of evil. It is simply the counterpart amongst a
world of free agents above us of what takes place according to the
[so-called] natural order of things amongst ourselves.

That evil angels can tempt the souls of men, and in some cases injure
their bodies, is not a whit more difficult than that evil men can do the
same under the government of a God who exerts so universal a providence
as is described in the Bible, and allowed to some extent by the author
of "Supernatural Religion."

I confess that I cannot understand the difficulty which some Christian
writers evidently feel respecting the existence of such a thing as
Demoniacal _possession_, whilst they seem to feel, or at least they
_express_ no difficulty, respecting Demoniacal _temptation_. Demoniacal
possession is the infliction of a physical evil for which the man is not
accountable, but demoniacal temptation is an attempt to deprive a man of
that for the keeping of which he is accountable, viz. his own innocence.
Demoniacal possession is a temporal evil. The yielding to demoniacal
temptation may cast a man for ever out of the favour of God. And yet
demoniacal temptation is perfectly analogous to human temptation. A
human seducer has it in his power, if his suggestions are received, to
corrupt innocence, render life miserable, undermine faith in God and in
Christ, and destroy the hopes of eternity--and a diabolical seducer can
do no more.

Again, the Scriptures seem to teach us that these wicked spirits are the
authors of certain temporal evils, and I do not see that there is
anything unreasonable in the fact, if it be granted, that there are
spirits who exist independent of bodily frames--that these spirits are
free agents, and have different characters, and act according to their
characters, and also that, according to the laws (_i.e._ within the
limitations) of their nature, they have power to act upon those below
them in the scale of being, just as we can act upon creatures belo