28 And when he was come to the other side mto the country of the Gergesenes, there met liim two pos- sessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce,"so that no man might pass by that way,
29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time ?
30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding,
31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer
us to go away into the herd of swine,
32 And he said unto them. Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swiue : and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently dov.ni a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.
33 And they that kept them, fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.
34 And, behold the whole city came out to meet Jesus : and when they saw him they besought him that he Vr'ould depart out of their coasts.
The subject of these seven verses is deep and mysterious The casting out of a devil is here described with special fulness. It is one of those passages which throw strong light on a dark and difficult point.
Let us settle it firmly in our minds, that there is such a being as the devil. It is an aAvful truth, and one too much overlooked. There is an unseen spirit ever near us, of mighty power, and full of endless malice against our souls. From the beginning of creation he has labored to injure man. Until the Lord comes the second time and binds him, he will never cease to tempt, and prac- tice mischief. In the days when our Lord was upon
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earth, it is clear that he had a peculiar power over the bodies of certain men and women, as well as over their sonls. Even in our own times there may be more of this bodily possession than some suppose, though confessedly in far less degree than when Christ came in the flesh. But that the devil is "ever near us in spirit, and ever ready to ply our hearts with temptations, ought never to be forgotten.
Let us, in the next place, settle it firmly in our minds, tliat the poiver of the devil is limited. Mighty as he is, there is one mightier still. Keenly set as his will is on doing harm in the world, he can only work by permission. These very verses show us that the evil spirits know they can only go to and fro, and ravage the earth, until the time allowed them by the Lord of lords. " Art thou come to torment us," they say, "before the time ?" Their very petition shows us that they could not even hurt one of the Gergesene swine, unless Jesus the Son of God suf- fered them. " Suffer us,'' they say," to go into the herd of swdne."
Let us, in the next place, settle it in our minds, that our Lord Jesus Christ is man's great deliverer from the poiuer of the devil. He can redeem us not only " from all iniquity," and " this present evil world," but from the devil. It was prophecied of old that he should bruise the serpent's head. He began to bruise that head, when he was born of the Virgin Mary. He triumphed over that head when He died upon the cross. He showed His com- plete dominion over Satan, by " healing all that were op- pressed of the de\dl," when He was upon earth. (Acts x. 38.) Our great remedy in all the assaults of the devil,
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