The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 239

time with a figure of what the sinner more or less is. He may, indeed, have the use of all his faculties, both of mind and body ; nevertheless, he is a foul. " The fool hath said in his heart, There ie no God." He is beside himself; for we read of the prodigal on his repentance and return to his father's house, that" he came to himself." Wa; ever folly greater than that of the man who prefers the trifles of time to the realities of eternity; wb<, ,:ay by day barters the salvation of the soul for some gratification of sense; who, amid all the uncertainty of life, braves the danger of delay; who, not- withstanding the shortness of time, neglects from one season of opportunity to another, from one period of existence to another, the things that belong to his peace ? What madness can equal his who treats all these things as though they were cunningly devised fables; who turns his back on God and his Word, on the sabbath and the sanctuary, on prayer and praise; who trifles with the great things of God until death stares him in the face, entertaining the vain fancy that a few tears, or prayers, or sighs on the bed of death will reverse all the past, make amends for a life of sin, and serve as a passport to heaven? That man is a demoniac in very fact, whom Satan so possesses, so leads captive at hiA will, and whose eyes he so blinds, that, though Providence is speaking with many a solemn voice; though his own frailty is pleading with him in the silence of his chamber, and during the night-watches; though mortality in sundry ways forces itself on his attention; though conscience is upbraiding, until it becomes so seared that it upbraids no longer; though the Spirit of grace is striving, as he has been striving long; though the Saviour with outstretched arms is saying," Come, come and welcome,'' "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" though the eternal Father is waiting to embrace the returning penitent, and swearing, "_As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; "-yet that sinner, in spite of all, keeps running along the downward way to hell, plunging deeper and deeper into wretchedness, rushing upon ruin, and rushing at the same time against the thick bosses of Jehovah's buckler. If you exhort him, he is sullen; if you remonstrate with him, he is offended; if you reprove him, he is outrageous; if you speak plainly, yet affectionately, it may be he returns a surly answer, proving himself to be what Scrip- ture describes, as "such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him." What though he is neither naked, nor houseless, nor dwelling among the tombs, nor bound with fetters! Are not the fetters of sin the worst that ever bound any man? "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death." Has not a course of iniquity clothed thousands in rags, yea, left them with- out anything like decent clothes at all? Has not drunkenness, or lewdness, or idle- ness left hundreds without either house or home? Does not wilful waste make woeful want? Who can ever forget the story of the prodigal, when " he would fain ha,e filled his belly with the husks which the swine did eat,'' when" no man gave unto him,'' and when he said," I perish with hunger"? Has not the devil's service brought many a man to his tomb, humanly speaking, before his time? for the wicked do not live half their days. We need not speak of the misery which the sinner feels when the iron enters into his soul, the bitter regret, the unavailing remorse, the terrors of conscience, the second death, and the smoke of their torment ascending up for ever and ever. lll. THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE CUBED DEMONIAC. 1. The great change. "The unclean spirits went out;" or, as St. Luke expresses it, "Then went the devils out of the man." Here was a practical exemplification of the Saviour entering into the strong man's house and spoiling his goods. 'l'he strong man was expelled by One stronger than himself. His terrible hold was loosened, his power paralyzed, captivity led captive, and the prey taken from the mighty. It is thus with every one who has been rescued from the grasp of Satan, who has been" snatched as a brand out of the burning,'' who has been convinced of sin and its attendant miseries and everlasting wretchedness, wh, has been enlightened with the knowledge of the grace and mercy of the Saviour, whose will has been renewed by the Spirit of God, and who has thus been made willing in the day of Divine power. Oh that the time may soon come, when in every bed, and through all parts of the habitable globe, God in his great mercy shall open the blind eyes, and smite the fetters off the gyved limbs, and emancipate the oppressed of Satan, setting the captives for ever free I 2. Evidence, of the change. People were curious to see the mighty miracle that had been wrought, and came to Jesus to see the strange 11ight about which, no doubt, they had heard much. And. arriving at the place, they 236 THE GOSPEL ACOORDING TO ST. MARK. [on. 'V. 1-43.