14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
15 Lord, have mercy on my son ; for he is lunatic, and sore vexed : for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16 And I brought him to thy dis- ciples, and they could not cure him.
17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall 1 be with you ? how long shall I suffer you ? bring him hither to me.
18 And Jesus rebuked the devil;
and he departed out of him : and the child was cured from that very hour.
19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we east him out ?
20 And Jesus said unto them, Be- cause of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you. If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Eemove hence to yonder place ; and it shall remove ; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
We read in this passage another of our Lord's great miracles. He heals a young man lunatic and possessed with a devil.
The first thing we see in these verses is a lively emblem of the aivful influence sometimes exercised hy Satan over the young. We are told of a certain man's son, who was " lunatic and sore vexed.'' We are told of the evil spirit pressing him on to the destruction of body and soul. ^^ Oft-times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water." It w^as one of those cases of Satanic pos- session, which, however common in our Lord's times, in our own day is rarely seen. But we can easily imagine that, when they did occur, they must have been peculiarly distressing to the relations of the afflicted. It is painful enough to see the bodies of those we love racked by dis- ease. How much more painful must it have been to see body and mind completely under the influence of the devil. " Out of hell," says Bishop Hall, " there could not be geater misery."
But we must not forget that there are many instances