Page:The Power of the Spirit.djvu/74

 Rh The strange phenomena observed in non-Christian countries may be attributed to some form of dual personality or telepathy: it is at least remarkable that the New Testament contains so much evidence of possession, also among non-Christians, and that the power of Christ is always represented as destroying it; and it would be unhistorical to shut our eyes to incidents like these, which were certainly not invented. As for credibility, they are less strange than some modern cases of complex personality such as the authenticated one of Sally Beauchamp —a case so extraordinary that some of its most careful observers have been compelled to the hypothesis of possession.

Christian belief, both Protestant and Catholic, accepts the existence of certain good spirits who are called angels. This belief, together with that in evil spirits, was shared by the whole ancient world, including the Christians of the first century. The influence of the spirits of the departed had, however, occupied men's minds very little, if at all; because the belief in human immortality had been of a hazy nature. But with the growth of that belief through Christianity, the spirit world came to be associated more and more with the departed, and the cultus of the saints very naturally grew up. The Christian Church had an entirely different