The conjurer returns to Saul, presses him
to take some food which she had prepared. He at last complies; and
having finished his repast, departs with his servants before the
morning. The whole of this scene, it is evident, passed in darkness. It
does not appear that Saul ever saw the prophet; and it surely required
no supernatural intelligence to communicate all the information he
obtained. This would readily be suggested by the despondency of the
king, the strength of his enemies, and the disposition of the whole
people of the Jews alienated from him, and inclined towards his
successor. The witch of Endor, therefore, might be a common
fortune-teller, and her case exhibits no direct proof of supernatural
possession.
We do not pretend to account so easily for many of the possessions
recorded in the New Testament, though few of these only are applicable
to the case of sorcery. We are well aware, that several writers of
eminence, who cannot be supposed to entertain the least unfavourable
sentiments of revelation, have undertaken to explain these possessions,
without having recourse to any thing supernatural, by representing them
as figurative descriptions of particular and local diseases.
Pages:
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42