|
'The Church triumphant, and the Church below, In songs of praise their present union show; Their joys are full; our expectation long, In life we differ, but we join in song; Angels and we assisted by this art, May sing together, though we dwell apart.' BOSWELL. |
[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,—
|
How did the good, the virtuous mourn.' |