s concerning them. Hence it comes to pass, that,
in countries too much given up to superstition, very many atheists are
to be met with even among the learned, whom their learning and
knowledge ought to secure from these errors. Therefore to be free from
this folly, is the principal part of wisdom; next to which, is not to
corrupt truth with fictitious opinions.

And indeed it is frequently to me a matter of wonder, why our
spiritual guides so strenuously insist on exhibiting devils on the
stage, in order to make the divinity of Christ triumph over these
infernal enemies. Is Christ's divine power less manifested by the cure
of the most grievous diseases, performed in an instant at his command;
than by the expulsion of evil spirits out of the bodies of men?
Certainly all the wonderful things done by him for the good of
mankind, such as restoring sight to the blind, firmness and
flexibility to relaxed or contracted nerves, calling the dead to life,
changing the properties of the elements, and others of the same kind,
are testimonies of the omnipotence of the creator of the world, and
demonstrate the presence of God; who alone commands all nature, and
at his pleasure changes and inverts the order of things established by
himself. Wherefore it cannot be doubted, that He, who has perform'd
these things, had the devils subject to him, that they might not
obstruct his gracious resolution of revealing the will of his father
to men, and correcting their depraved morals.

But to resume the subject of daemoniacs, the opinion, which I propose
in this treatise, is not purely my own, but also of several other
persons, before me, eminent for piety and learning. And indeed among
our own countrymen, it was in the last century defended in an
excellent dissertation, by that treasure of sacred knowledge, the
reverend _Joseph Mead_. Wherefore as I have the honour to be of the
same family with him, and am the son of _Matthew Mead_, a very able
divine, I always thought I might lay some claim to these studies, by a
kind of hereditary right.

I am not insensible of the difficulty of removing vulgar errors,
especially those which relate to religion. For every body knows the
power of education, in imprinting on the mind notions, which are hard
to be effaced even in adult age. Children in the dark, fear ghosts and
hobgoblins; and hence often quake with the same fear through the whole
course of their lives. Why then do we admire, if we can hardly