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stands pledged to gain the victory for every one of his followers. Walking uprightly before God, with a conscience cleansed perpetually by the blood of the Lamb, and casting all our care upon the revealed love of our Father in Jesus Christ, will save us from all danger, as well as from all unholy and disquieting fears.

We shall conclude this article with the following remarkable narrative, which has just been printed by an eye-witness; and which we conceive to be as decided an instance of Satanic possession as ever occurred in the history of the world.

"Case of a Child named Ann Buckmaster,

Who was thirty days without taking any nourishment whatever. "The following statement is offered to the public with a view of eliciting inquiry upon the subject it contains, that the extraordinary circumstances of the case may be fully investigated; and if no benefit can accrue to the medical science thereby, still it is right the facts should be fully known to the world.

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Mary Buckmaster, a poor widow residing at the village of Ockham in Surrey, is the mother of a family of seven children. Her daughter Ann, the fifth child, is about eleven years of age. In the month of October, 1831, this child was taken ill: the first symptoms were a dulness and heaviness, particularly of the eyes. A very respectable medical gentleman attended her, who directed leeches to be applied to her head and eyes, which was accordingly done. In the early stage of her illness, she was occasionally blind. Her inside was very much heated, and she wasted rapidly, so that she was at last very thin indeed. The heat of her body was so great, that during the coldest weather she would lie in bed with the slightest covering on her. During all this time she evinced a great reluctance to eating, and could only be prevailed on to take barley-sugar and such like things as children are usually fond of. She continued in this state until about Christmas, when the medical gentleman who attended her gave her up, saying, he could do her no good. Soon afterwards she recovered her appetite, she took to eating heartily, and in about three or four weeks she got amazingly lusty: her mind appeared composed, and her time was principally occupied in repeating prayers and hymns. She did not continue long in this state, but got considerably worse, and wasted away again. Her right hand was clenched so tight that no human power could move it; the thumb inside, and the fingers fast over it; the nails quite unseen. Her limbs were drawn, and her feet were contracted so much, that her toes very nearly touched her heels. At this time her conduct was most outrageous: she would sit on the bed, and continue striking her head with her hands, with all her might, for several hours together, talking wildly all the time.

About six o'clock in the evening she would appear composed, deliberately say her prayers, and go to sleep, and the following morning about six her fit would begin again.

"This went on for about three weeks, when she took to biting not only her own flesh, but that of her attendants, if they were not very cautious. The biting did not last above a week. She next took to snarling and making a disagreeable noise, something like the lowing of cattle. She was so restless, that it was with considerable difficulty her friends could keep her in the bed. Afterwards she made a noise similar to the barking of a dog, so naturally, that the neighbours passing the house imagined the noise was actually made by a dog. At this time she was very obstreperous indeed, tearing her clothes and the sheets, &c. into shreds; using for that purpose her left hand and her mouth. Her strength was such that she broke several articles of furniture, and did her mother considerable damage. Afterwards she took to leaning on her hands, and spinning her body round like a top or whirligig; this she would do for the space of ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, until she fell down exhausted. She had previously refused to lie on the bed, and for the last six weeks of her illness she lay on the floor: she took such a position that she could see what was passing in the room below, which was where the family lived.

"For some time she had subsisted upon oranges, Spanish liquorice, and the like, and had been getting considerably weaker; and the last nourishment she took was a piece of Spanish liquorice; but on the 21st of April she positively refused all sustenance whatever, and continued to do so for the space of thirty days, and actually went without food or drink of any kind during all that time. She would not even allow her lips to be wetted with a feather. She would lie and look at her brothers and sisters eating their meals, during which she would sob and cry, and make a low whining noise; but when pressed to take something herself she would throw herself into the most violent passion, asserting positively that she could not eat or drink any thing, but that when she could she would ask for it.

"She once attempted to jump down the staircase (a sort of step-ladder), and alighted on a step, about four from the ground floor, without doing herself any mischief. At times she appeared to be conversing with and nodding at some persons in the room, and assured her friends she could see the parties with whom she was talking, particularly her father (who had been dead about twelve months), and other persons with him. At other times she would repeat prayers, more especially at nights and mornings.

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During the whole of the thirty days above mentioned, the child was never out of the sight either of her mother or her mo

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ther's sister (Martha Othen), one or other of whom constantly. attended her. Nothing came from her for thirty-three days, except a very slight urinary discharge about once in three or four days. On Saturday the 19th, and Sunday the 20th of May, her conduct was extremely violent; she was continually knocking herself about, particularly her head and hands against the boards. On Monday the 21st, about nine o'clock in the morning, she suddenly appeared cool and collected, and repeated the Lord's Prayer in a firm and distinct voice. She endeavoured to get upright, said she was well, asked her mother for something to eat, which was given her, and she partook of it. Her right hand, which had been clenched tight for upwards of three months, all at once came open, and her feet became straight, but the leaders of her legs still remained drawn. She continued to mend for above a week, yet occasionally she talked a little wildly, and sometimes nodded as if conversing with somebody. In about a month she was able to walk about, and is now perfectly recovered.

"It is to be regretted that the faculty cannot be put in full possession of all the circumstances of the above extraordinary case, as the regular practitioners, it is asserted, abandoned the child long before the commencement of her fit of abstinence. A neighbour of the mother, Mr. William Atkins of Send, residing at a short distance from the house, about the beginning of February last went and fetched a man named John Etherington from Dorking, to attend the child. This man states that he accordingly attended her for about three months; that he found her beating her head with her hands, and barking like a dog, her hands and feet contracted, as before described; that he is convinced she went without food for the time above specified; that the child used to cry out when he approached her, would tell him to be gone, and strike at him. He thinks, by the blessing of God, the means he used were effectual in restoring her to health.

"The impression of the parties is, that the child was not ill or disordered in mind, but that she was possessed by some superior power, over which she had no controul. She now evinces the greatest reluctance to hear the subject mentioned.

"The above is a plain statement of the case, as taken from the mother of the child, and her sister, both of whom express their willingness to verify the same on oath. They appear to be two single-minded women, and had no desire whatever that this statement should be published; but consented to furnish the above particulars at the request of Mr. Atkins, who has had them taken down and printed, in order that the public may be, put in full possession of these extraordinary facts, without note or comment."

351

ON THE RETURN OF THE JEWS.

It is frequently urged, even by pious persons, as a strong objection against the attempt to form any calculation as to the period when events predicted in prophecy shall be fulfilled, that when the Apostles put to our Lord the question, " Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" he replied, “ It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power:" and they argue (at first sight plausibly enough), that if the favoured Apostles were not permitted to know the times, it would be presumptuous in us to attempt to form any conjecture. But in thus arguing they overlook both the promise which immediately follows," But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you," and also two very important passages in Scripture, which no less decidedly speak of the possibility of being able to learn when certain events are about to take place, from the observation of certain signs: "Behold the fig-tree and all the trees: when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand: so, likewise, when ye see these things begin to come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand." From which words of our Saviour we may infer that signs would be given, from attending to which the believer might be able to form a tolerably correct idea as to the nearness of the Lord's kingdom, though he could not fix the day nor the hour.

It was by the study of the book of the prophet Jeremiah, not by any direct or additional revelation, that Daniel understood when the seventy years of desolation on Jerusalem would be accomplished (ix. 2). It was also from attending to the signs which our Saviour gave of the destruction of Jerusalem, that so many of the primitive Christians fled in time from the unparalleled tribulation of that unhappy city; and hence we may conclude, that, so far from its being presumptuous to examine and attend to the signs and periods which are written in the word of God, it is profitable, yea, our bounden duty, to take heed unto the more sure word of prophecy; especially, as in the xiith chapter of Daniel, that "the words are to be shut up and the book to be sealed "(only for a limited period), "until the time of the end," and then "the wise shall understand."

And, truly, there is no subject in which the student of prophecy should take a more lively interest, than the return of the Jews to their own land; as therewith is connected every blessing which the Lord has promised to the earth: as St. Paul argues in the xith chapter of Romans; "If the casting away of

them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?"

In Isaiah, the return of the Jews is frequently spoken of in connexion with the blessedness of the Messiah's reign: thus, in the xith chapter, "when the Lord has set his hand again, the second time, to recover the remnant of his people," then shall that happy era have commenced, which is described in this chapter with so much force and beauty, when "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, &c., and the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." And, again, in the fiftysecond chapter, we read, that when he "hath comforted his people, and redeemed Jerusalem, that all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”

According to Ezekiel, it is when the Lord takes the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and brings them into their own land, that "one King shall be king to them all; David my servant shall be King over them: my tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (see the whole of the xxxvii th chapter).

From Micah we learn, that when the Lord assembles her that halteth, and gathers her that is driven out, and her that he has afflicted; that in that day men shall beat their swords into ploughshares, &c.; and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even for ever. And the inspired Psalmist assures us, that "when the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in his glory" (Ps. cii. 16). If, then, such signal blessings are connected with the return of the Jews, the question of the Apostles must often arise in our minds, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" and the Lord has been pleased to give us various marks in the inspired volume, from a close attention to which we may gather that this glorious event cannot be now far distant; for, in addition to the several prophecies relating to the Christian church, and prophetic numbers given for her edification, from which she supposes that the Lord is about to come, there are other signs and chronological predictions respecting the times and seasons of Israel's return, which demand our serious consideration.

1. The year of Jubilee, while it certainly had reference to the preaching of the Gospel, must also be considered a striking type of the restoration of the Jews: for we learn from the xxv th chapter of Leviticus, that when the trumpet of the Jubilee was sounded, liberty was proclaimed throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; and then they returned every man to his possession and every man to his family; and if his property had been forfeited, it was then restored to its rightful owner; and if any man had been sold, he was then released from his captivity. What could more appro

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