habits.' It will be but reasonable, then, for us to take this story
of the man possessed by devils, as written for our example, as an
instance of what MIGHT, and perhaps WOULD, happen to any one of us,
were it not for God's mercy.

St. Peter tells us to be sober and watchful, because "the devil goes
about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour;" and when we
look at the world around, we may surely see that that stands as true
now as it did in St. Peter's time. Why, again, did St. James tells
us to resist the devil if the devil be not near us to resist? Why
did St. Paul take for granted, as he did, that Christian men were,
of course, not ignorant of Satan's devices, if it be quite a proof
of enlightenment and superior knowledge to be ignorant of his
devices,--if any dread, any thought even, about evil spirits, be
beneath the attention of reasonable men? My friends, I say fairly,
once for all, that that common notion, that there are no men now
possessed by evil spirits, and that all those stories of the devil's
power over men are only old, worn-out superstitions has come from
this, that men do not like to retain God in their knowledge, and
therefore, as a necessary consequence, do not like to retain the
devil in their knowledge; because they would be very glad to believe
in nothing but what they can see, and taste, and handle; and,
therefore, the thought of unseen evil spirits, or good spirits
either, is a painful thing to them. First, they do not really
believe in angels--ministering spirits sent out to minister to the
heirs of salvation; then they begin not to believe in evil spirits.
The Bible plainly describes their vast numbers; but these people are
wiser than the Bible, and only talk of ONE--of THE devil, as if
there were not, as the text tells us, legions and armies of devils.
Then they get rid of that one devil in their real desire to believe