The question has been the subject of dispute for many generations. The plain meaning of the narrative, however, seems to us to be that Satan had gained absolute possession and control of the afflicted persons and that Christ evicted him by his superior power. It seems to us impossible on any other assumption to satisfactorily explain the words of exorcism Christ used, the words uttered by the afflicted persons and the effects which followed. The symptoms described very closely resemble those of some forms of epilepsy and insanity of our time. Science, however, does not now ascribe the affliction to demoniacal possession. Nevertheless some of the patients do occasionally display a degree of malignity and cunning which could scarcely be exceeded if they were really possessed by the devil.
