the devil yet reign in our hearts? Do we sit at the feet of Jesus daily? Are we in our right minds? May the Lord help us to answer these questions aright!

NOTES. LUKE VIII. 26-36.

27.-[A certain man, which had devils long time.] There is much in this case, like all the cases of demoniacal possession in Scripture, which is deeply mysterious. It must needs be so from the fact that such possession appears to have been far more common, and much more distinctly marked in its symptoms, when our Lord was upon earth, than it ever has been since.

Let it suffice us to believe implicitly, that diabolical possession of the entire man, both body, mind, and soul, was an undeniable fact during the time of our Lord's earthly ministry, and that all attempts to explain away the cases described in the Gospels, by calling them epilepsy, lunacy, and the like, are utterly unsatisfactory. For the rest, what we cannot thoroughly understand, we must be content to believe.

That there is such a thing as Satanic possession now, though comparatively a rare thing, is an opinion held by many able physicians, who have given special attention to this subject. Disease of the mind, or madness, is at all times a deeply mysterious subject. It is highly probable that Satan has far more to do with it than we think.

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[In the tombs.] Trench quotes a remarkable circumstance, mentioned by the traveller Warburton, in "The Crescent and the Cross," which throws some light on this .expression. On descending from the height of Lebanon, I found myself in a cemetery, where sculptured turbans showed us, that the neighbouring village was Moslem, The silence of the night was now broken by fierce yells and howlings, which I discovered proceeded from a naked maniac, who was fighting with some wild dogs for a bone. The moment he perceived us, he left his canine companions, and bounding along with rapid strides, seized my horse's bridle and almost forced him backwards over the cliff."

The determined propensity to wear no clothes and go naked, which is a striking symptom of some kinds of mania, is another curious illustration of the case described in this verse.

28.-[What have I to do with thee.] The Greek expression so rendered, let it be noted, is the same which our Lord uses when He addresses His mother at the marriage of Cana in Galilee. (John ii. 4.)

The words here used are the words of the devil by whom the man was possessed, rather than the man himself. This fact

shows us how entirely all the faculties and powers of the unhappy demoniac were occupied and employed by the evil spirit which possessed him.

[Jesus, thou Son of God, torment me not.] These words are a striking incidental proof that there will be a judgment, and a hell. The devils believe this, if men do not.

29.-[Brake the bands.] Prodigious muscular strength has often been remarked as accompanying some cases of mania.

30.-[Legion.] This is a well-known name by which a division of the Roman army was designated. A Roman Legion is supposed to have contained 5 or 6000 men. The word here is evidently used indefinitely to express a great number.

31.[Into the deep.] The "deep" here means the abyss or pit of hell. It is the same Greek word which is five times translated "bottomless pit," in the book of Revelation. For instance, Rev. xx. 1, 3.

32.-[An herd of many swine feeding.] Let it be noted that to keep swine was a breach of the Mosaic law, swine being unclean animals. (Lev. ii. 7.) If therefore the Gadarenes were Jews, and there seems strong reason for supposing they were, they were committing an habitual sin.

[He suffered them.] It has often been asked, why our Lord suffered the devils to go into the swine, and permitted the consequent destruction of animal life which ensued. It might suffice to say in reply to this question, that Scripture shows us that animal life was continually taken away by God's own command, when some great spiritual truth was to be taught to man, as in the case of the sacrifices of the law. But in addition to this, it is fair to suppose that our Lord permitted the destruction of the swine, as a mark of God's displeasure against the Gadarenes for keeping them.

After all, the question is ultimately bound up with the deepest of all things:-viz. the origin and permission of evil in creation. To explain this is impossible. Enough for us to see that it exists, and to use the great remedy which God has provided against it. So doing "what we know not now, we shall know hereafter."

33.-The herd ran violently down, &c.] The extraordinary malice, hatred of God's creation, and love of mischief, which are attributes of Satan, appear strikingly in this fact. Satan must be doing harm. If he cannot harm man, he will harm swine. Well would it be for the world, if Christians were as unwearied and zealous in doing good, as devils are in doing evil.

34.-In the country.] This expression would be rendered more literally "in the fields."

Before leaving this miracle it may be well to say something about the apparent discrepancy between the account given of it by St. Matthew, and those given by St. Mark and St. Luke. St. Matthew speaks of two demoniacs. St. Mark and St. Luke speak of only one.

The explanations of the discrepancy are various. According to Augustine, Theophylact, and Grotius, the one mentioned by Mark and Luke was a more illustrious and well known person than the other. According to Chrysostom, Euthymius, and Maldonatus, he was the fiercest of the two. According to Lightfoot, one of the demoniacs was a Jew and the other a heathen, and the healing of the heathen one is the case which Mark and Luke dwell on.

I venture to suggest that the reason why Mark and Luke only mention one, is the fact that only one of the two asked to be allowed to remain with our Lord, after he was healed, and only one ultimately became a witness to the Lord in the country of the Gadarenes. The case of the other man presented no peculiar circumstances of interest, and therefore Mark and Luke pass it over.

It is hardly necessary to remark that there is no contradiction between the two accounts. Though Mark and Luke only describe the cure of one demoniac, it would be absurd to say that they denied that two were cured. They only describe the case which was most remarkable.

LUKE VIII. 37-40.

37 Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.

38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him : but Jesus sent him away, saying,

39 Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.

40 And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him.

WE see in this passage two requests made to our Lord. Jesus Christ. They were widely different one from the other, and were preferred by persons of widely different character. We see, moreover, how these requests were received by our Lord Jesus Christ. In either case the

T

request received a most remarkable answer. passage is singularly instructive.

The whole

Let us observe, in the first place, that the Gadarenes besought our Lord to depart from them, and their request was granted. We read these painfully solemn words"He went up into the ship, and returned back again."

Now why did these unhappy men desire the Son of God to leave them? Why, after the amazing miracle of mercy which had just been wrought among them, did they feel no wish to know more of Him who wrought it? Why, in a word, did they become their own enemies, forsake their own mercies, and shut the door against the Gospel?—There is but one answer to these questions. The Gadarenes loved the world, and the things of the world, and were determined not to give them up. They felt convinced, in their own consciences, that they could not receive Christ among them and keep their sins, and their sins they were resolved to keep. They saw, at a glance, that there was something about Jesus with which their habits of life would never agree, and having to choose between the new ways and their own old ones, they refused the new and chose the old.

And why did our Lord Jesus Christ grant the request of the Gadarenes, and leave them? He did it in judgment, to testify His sense of the greatness of their sin. He did it in mercy to His Church in every age, to show how great is the wickedness of those who wilfully reject the truth. It seems an eternal law of His government, that those who obstinately refuse to walk in the light shall have the light taken from them. Great is Christ's patience and longsuffering! His mercy endureth for

ever. His offers and invitations are wide, and broad, and sweeping, and universal. He gives every church its day of grace and time of visitation. (Luke xix. 44.) But if men persist in refusing His counsel, He has nowhere promised to persist in forcing it upon them. People who have the Gospel, and yet refuse to obey it, must not be surprised if the Gospel is removed from them. Hundreds of churches, and parishes, and families, are at this moment in the state of the Gadarenes. They said to Christ, "Depart from us," and he has taken them at their word. They were joined to idols, and are now "let alone." (Job xxi. 14; Hosea iv. 17.)

Let us take heed that we do not sin the sin of the Gadarenes. Let us beware lest by coldness, and inattention, and worldliness, we drive Jesus from our doors, and compel Him to forsake us entirely. Of all sins which we can sin, this is the most sinful. Of all states of soul into which we can fall, none is so fearful as to be "let alone."-Let it rather be our daily prayer that Christ may never leave us to ourselves. The old wreck, high and dry on the sand-bank, is not a more wretched sight, than the man whose heart Christ has visited with mercies and judgments, but has at last ceased to visit, because He was not received. The barred door is a door at which Jesus will not always knock. The Gadarene mind must not be surprised to see Christ leaving it and going away.

Let us observe, in the second place, that the man out of whom the devils were departed, besought our Lord that he might be with Him;-but his request was not granted. We read that Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to