New and Uniform Edition. THE CONGREGATIONAL LECTURE, NINTH SERIES. THE EXISTENCE AND AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. BY THE REV. WALTER SCOTT. THE EXISTENCE OF EVIL SPIRITS PROVED; AND THEIR AGENCY, PARTICULARLY IN RELATION TO THE EXPLAINED AND ILLUSTRATED. BY WALTER SCOTT, PRESIDENT AND THEOLOGICAL TUTOR OF AIREDALE COLLEGE, BRADFORD, YORKSHIRE. Ινα μὴ πλεονεκτηθῶμεν ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ· οὐ γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὰ νοήματα LONDON: JACKSON AND WALFORD, 18, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD: MDCCCLIII. 1853 PREFACE. THE difficulties connected with the subject of the following Lectures are so numerous and great, that some may be disposed to accuse the author of presumption for attempting to grapple with them, and for acting as if he thought that he could advance anything worthy of public attention on topics which are confessedly abstruse in themselves, and which have already been discussed by men of the greatest ability and learning. His answer to this charge, if it should be urged by any, is, that the subject was mentioned to him as suitable for a Congregational Lecture, it arrested his attention, it was one on which he had frequently thought, and also read, as far as he had enjoyed the opportunity: it appeared to him very important, and intimately connected with the essential doctrines of the Gospel. Though not the key-stone in the beautiful, magnificent arch of Christianity, it occupies, in his estimation, a position of so much importance, that if it were removed, others might be loosened or displaced, and thus the symmetry and strength of the whole would be diminished, even if its safety were not endangered. For the |