of flesh.

Many modern writers have attempted to explain the phenomenon of
demoniacal possession; and beside these there are not a few who deny the
possibility of actual domination of the victim by spirit personages. Yet
the scriptures are explicit in showing the contrary. Our Lord
distinguished between this form of affliction and that of simple bodily
disease in His instructions to the Twelve: "Heal the sick, cleanse the
lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils."[399] In the account of the
incidents under consideration, the evangelist Mark observes the same
distinction, thus: "They brought unto him all that were diseased, and
them that were possessed with devils." In several instances, Christ, in
rebuking demons, addressed them as individuals distinct from the human
being afflicted,[400] and in one such instance commanded the demon to
"come out of him, and enter no more into him."[401]

In this matter as in others the simplest explanation is the pertinent
truth; theory raised on other than scriptural foundation is unstable.
Christ unequivocally associated demons with Satan, specifically in His
comment on the report of the Seventy whom He authorized and sent forth,
and who testified with joy on their return that even the devils had been
subject unto them through His name; and to those faithful servants He
said: "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."[402] The demons
that take possession of men, overruling their agency and compelling them
to obey Satanic bidding, are the unembodied angels of the devil, whose
triumph it is to afflict mortals, and if possible to impel them to sin.
To gain for themselves the transitory gratification of tenanting a body
of flesh, these demons are eager to enter even into the bodies of
beasts.[403]

Possibly it was during the interval between the rebuking of the evil
spirit in the synagog and the miracles of healing and casting out devils
in the evening of that Sabbath, that Jesus went to the house of Simon,
whom He had before named Peter, and there found the mother-in-law of His
disciple lying ill of fever. Acceding to the request of faith He rebuked
the disease; the woman was healed forthwith, rose from her bed, and
ministered the hospitality of her home unto Jesus and those who were
with Him.[404]

NOTES TO CHAPTER 13.

1. Animosity Between Jews and Samaritans.--In any consideration of the
Samaritans, it must be kept in mind that a certain city and the district
or province i