of our souls for once completely vanquislied, — ^the "strong man'' foiled by One stronger than he, and the lion spoiled of his prey.
Let us mark, first, in this passage, the miserable condi- tion of those over whom the devil reigns. The picture brought before us is a frightful one. We are told that when our Lord arrived in the country of the Gadarenes, there met Him "a certain man which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs." We are also told that .although he had been ''bound with chains and in fetters, he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilder- ness." In short, the case seems to have been one of the most aggravated forms of demoniacal possession. The nnhappy sufferer was under the complete dominion of Satan, both in body and soul. So long as he continued in this state, he must have been a burden and a trouble to aU around him. His mental faculties were imder the direction of a "legion" of devils. His bodily strength was only employed for his own injury and shame. A more pitiable state for mortal man to be in, it is difficult to conceive.
Cases of bodily possession by Satan, like this, are, to say the least, very rarely met with in modem times. Yet we must not, on this account, forget that the devil is continually exercising a fearful power over many hearts and souls. He still urges many, in whose hearts he reigns, into self-dishonouring and self-destroying habits of life. He still rules many with a rod of iron, — goads them on from vice to vice, and from profligacy to profli- gacy, — drives them far from decent society, and the influ-
268 EXPOSITORY 'mOUOHTS.
enoe of respectable Meads, — ^plunges them into the lowest depths of widcedness, — ^makes them Uttle bett^ flian self-murderers, — and renders them as useless to their families, the Church, and the world, as if they were dead, and not alive. Where is the faithful minister who could not put his finger on many such cases? What truer account can be given of many a young man, and many a young woman, than that they seem possessed of devils? It is vain to shut our eyes to facts. Demoniacal possession of men's bodies may be comparatively rare. But many, unhappily, are the cases in which the devil appears completely to possess men's souls.
These things are fearful to think upon. FearAil is it to see to what a wreck of body and mind Satan often brings young persons I Fearful is it to observe how he often drives them out of the reach of all good influence, and buries them in a wHdemess of bad companions and loathsome sins I Fearful, above all, is it to reflect that yet a Kttle while Satan's slaves will be lost for ever, and in hell ! There often remains only one thing that can be done for them. They can be named before Christ in prayer. He that came to the country of the Qadarenes, and healed the miserable demoniac there, still lives in heaven, and pities sinners. The worst slave of Satan in England is not beyond a remedy. Jesus may yet take compassion on him, and set him free.
Let us mark, secondly, in these verses, the absokUe power which the Lord Jesm Christ possesses over Satan. We are told that he '^ commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man," whose miserable condition we have just heard described. At once the unhappy