"And behold the evil spirits cried out, saying, What have we to do
with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou come hither to torment
us before the time?"

This account of the man possessed with devils, and of his language
to our Lord, of our Lord's casting the devils out of the poor
sufferer, and His allowing them to enter into a herd of swine, is
one that is well worth serious thought; and I think a few words on
it will follow fitly after my last Sunday's sermon on Ahab and his
temptations by evil spirits. In that sermon I shewed you what
temper of mind it was which laid a man open to the cunning of evil
spirits; I wish now to shew you something of what those evil spirits
are. It is very little that we can know about them. We were
intended to know very little, just as much as would enable us to
guard against them, and no more. The accounts of them in the
Scriptures are for our use, not to satisfy our curiosity. But we
may find out a great deal about them from this very chapter, from
this very story, which is repeated almost word for word in three
different Gospels, as if to make us more certain of so curious and
important a matter, by having three distinct and independent writers
to witness for its truth. I advise all those who have Bibles to
look for this story in the 8th chapter of St. Matthew, and follow me
as I explain it. {1}

Now, first, we may learn from this account, that evil spirits are
real persons. There is a notion got abroad that it is only a figure
of speech to talk of evil spirits, that all the Bible means by them
are certain bad habits, or bad qualities, or diseases. There are
many who will say when they read this story, 'This poor man was only