Again it is alleged by this Writer, that to have a Devil, and to be mad, seem to be Synonyma's in Scripture p. 35. I answer, Possession begot a certain μανία furor, and madness; and therefore when any were extravagant, the Jews said in common Speech, that they had a Devil, as we do, The Devil is in you, that is, you act unreasonably and madly. But as we do not mean by this Metaphorical Possession to exclude the belief of a real, so neither did they. Yea, the very Phrase, hath a Devil, or the Devil is in him, applyed to those that act furiously and unadvisedly, doth imply that there is such a real thing as diabolical Possession, to which madness and extreme folly are resembled.
See then how the Patrons of Witches argue, The Jews sometimes used the having a Devil Metaphorically; therefore there are no other Possessions, or therefore all those passages of Scripture, in which they are literally and plainly related, intend no other. Indeed if we argue from meer words and expressions of having Devils and casting out Devils, there would be somewhat of more colour in our Adversaries reasoning. But since we infer chiefly from plain circumstances of History and Fact, there is no force in it at all.
SECT. X.
The ignorance of the Author of The Grand Apostasie, in his interpreting the Word Δαίμόνιον.
But what doth this Writer mean, when he tells us Δαίμόνιον can scarce signifie any thing else properly, but an unusual affliction from God, such as madness; when all Men and Boys know that Substantively it is the same with Δαίμων Dæmon, taken already in Scripture in an ill sense for an impure Spirit. Adjectively it signifies sometimes Divinum quid, but so it is not understood in the places we dispute about, Luk. 4. 35. When the Devil had thrown him, the possessed Man, in the midst, he came out of him, the word is Το Δαίμόνιον. The same v. 33. is called <...>. By which and the latter circumstances of the History, it plainly appears that <...>, is to be understood Substantively for a Person, viz, an Evil Spirit. So in the Story of the Devils entring into the Herd of Swine,
