But on the other side,the same Grecians did often ascribe madness to the operation of the Eumenides,or Furies;and sometimes of Ceres,Phoebus,and other gods:so much did men attribute to phantasms as to think them aerial living bodies,and generally to call them spirits.And as the Romans in this held the same opinion with the Greeks,so also did the Jews;for they called madmen prophets,or,according as they thought the spirits good or bad,demoniacs;and some of them called both prophets and demoniacs madmen;and some called the same man both demoniac and madman.But for the Gentiles,it is no wonder;because diseases and health,vices and virtues,and many natural accidents were with them termed and worshipped as demons.So that a man was to understand by demon as well sometimes an ague as a devil.But for the Jews to have such opinion is somewhat strange.For neither Moses nor Abraham pretended to prophesy by possession of a spirit,but from the voice of God,or by a vision or dream:nor is there anything in his law,moral or ceremonial,by which they were taught there was any such enthusiasm,or any possession.When God is said to take from the spirit that was in Moses,and give to the seventy elders,the spirit of God,taking it for the substance of God,is not divided.The Scriptures by the Spirit of God in man mean a man's spirit,inclined to godliness.And where it is said,"Whom Ihave filled with the spirit of wisdom to make garments for Aaron,"is not meant a spirit put into them,that can make garments,but the wisdom of their own spirits in that kind of work.In the like sense,the spirit of man,when it produceth unclean actions,is ordinarily called an unclean spirit;and so other spirits,though not always,yet as often as the virtue or vice,so styled,is extraordinary and eminent.Neither did the other prophets of the Old Testament pretend enthusiasm,or that God spoke in them,but to them,by voice,vision,or dream;and the "burden of the Lord"was not possession,but command.How then could the Jews fall into this opinion of possession?
I can imagine no reason but that which is common to all men;namely,the want of curiosity to search natural causes;and their placing felicity in the acquisition of the gross pleasures of the senses,and the things that most immediately conduce thereto.For they that see any strange and unusual ability or defect in a man's mind,unless they see withal from what cause it may probably proceed,can hardly think it natural;and if not natural,they must needs think it supernatural;and then what can it be,but that either God or the Devil is in him?And hence it came to pass,when our Saviour was compassed about with the multitude,those of the house doubted he was mad,and went out to hold him:but the Scribes said he had Beelzebub,and that was it,by which he cast out devils;as if the greater madman had awed the lesser.And that some said,"He hath a devil,and is mad";whereas others,holding him for a prophet,said,"These are not the words of one that hath a devil."So in the Old Testament he that came to anoint Jehu was a Prophet;but some of the company asked Jehu,"What came that madman for?"So that,in sum,it is manifest that whosoever behaved himself in extraordinary manner was thought by the Jews to be possessed either with a good or evil spirit;except by the Sadducees,who erred so far on the other hand as not to believe there were at all any spirits,which is very near to direct atheism;and thereby perhaps the more provoked others to term such men demoniacs rather than madmen.