[894] See Boswell's _Hebrides_, post, v. 45.
[895] In the original, _flee_.
[896] The sermon thus opens:--'That there are angels and spirits good
and bad; that at the head of these last there is ONE more considerable
and malignant than the rest, who, in the form, or under the name of a
_serpent_, was deeply concerned in the fall of man, and whose _head_, as
the prophetick language is, the son of man was one day to _bruise_; that
this evil spirit, though that prophecy be in part completed, has not yet
received his death's wound, but is still permitted, for ends
unsearchable to us, and in ways which we cannot particularly explain, to
have a certain degree of power in this world hostile to its virtue and
happiness, and sometimes exerted with too much success; all this is so
clear from Scripture, that no believer, unless he be first of all
_spoiled by philosophy and vain deceit [Colossians_, ii. 8], can
possibly entertain a doubt of it.'
Having treated of _possessions_, his Lordship says, 'As I have no
authority to affirm that there _are_ now any such, so neither may I
presume to say with confidence, that there are _not_ any.'
'But then with regard to the influence of evil spirits at this day upon
the SOULS of men, I shall take leave to be a great deal more
peremptory.--(Then, having stated the various proofs, he adds,) All
this, I say, is so manifest to every one who reads the Scriptures, that,
if we respect their authority, the question concerning the reality of
the demoniack influence upon the minds of men is clearly determined.'
Let it be remembered, that these are not the words of an antiquated or
obscure enthusiast, but of a learned and polite Prelate now alive; and
were spoken, not to a vulgar congregation, but to the Honourable Society
of Lincoln's-Inn. His Lordship in this sermon explains the words,
'deliver us from evil,' in the Lord's Prayer, as signifying a request to
be protected from 'the evil one,' that is the Devil. This is well
illustrated in a short but excellent Commentary by my late worthy
friend, the Reverend Dr. Lort, of whom it may truly be said, _Multis
ille bonis flebilis occidit_. It is remarkable that Waller, in his
_Reflections on the several Petitions, in that sacred form of devotion_,
has understood this in the same sense;--
'Guard us from all temptations of the FOE.'
BOSWELL. Dr. Lort is often mentioned in Horace Walpole's _Letters_.
Multis ille _quidem_ flebilis occidit,' comes from Horace, _Odes_, i.
xxiv. 9, translated by Francis,--