Vera. 28-34 (Mark v. 1-20; Luke viii. 26-39).-The divorce of supreme pity. In introduction, distinguish between the genuine possession by an evil spirit and the phenomena of madness, or the most of those instances of merely bodily plague which in the worst times have probably nevertheless been the result and degenerate outgrowth of the extremes of sensuRlity and intemperance. Also allude to the fact that only one demoniac is mentioned by St. Mark and St. Luke. Note therewith that here, though it is said "they" both spoke and cried to Jesus, yet only one form of words is given. In passing, note also how, in the account of each evangelist, this narrative follows that of the stilling of the storm and tempest in the material world. Notice- !. A DREADFUL TYPE IN BODILY LIFE OF THE MA..N Wfl0ijE SPIRIT, GIVEN HIM. WHEREWITH TO BULE AND "HAVE DOMINION," IS OVERRULED AND 0VERMASTEl\ED -BY AN EVIL BPIBlT, AND EXERCISES BUT A VERY PRECARIOUS AND OCCASIONAL SW Ay OF ITS OWN. H. THE EXTRAORDINARY BUT MOST SIGNlFIOANT ACTION OF THIS DUALITY OF srrnrr WHICH .MANlFEBTED ITSELF AT THE CRISIS OF TllE APPROACH OF JESUS CHIUST, Tbe 34.6 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [oH, VIIL 1-34.
"he" who met Jesus, and ran to him as by irresistible instinct or attraction, and " worshipped," and " fell down" before him, and the other "he" ( or "they") of whose de,ilish inspiration were the words which the victim used. How graphic, how dramatic, how dreadful the parable the desc1iption speaks of the conflict aud the strife in the soul between itself in deep need, deep distress, deep consciousness, and the odious tyrant that holds him at bay I III. THE NOTICE TO QUIT NOW, AND THE HORE 8IGNIFIOANT SUGGESTION THA.T TH& NOTICE, YET TO OOME ONE DA Y1 WOULD BE A LONGER NOTICE ONE TO QUIT FOB EVER, ~he entreaty of the unite<l leg_ion, by the lips of the oppressed ~nd tormented demoniac, 1s that they shall not be bamshed the "country" (i.e. the world)· and should not be sent into" the deep" (i.e. the unseen domain), where there would 'be no" wicked," no "weary" from ~hatsoev~r cause, for such to possess ~nd tyrannize, .And this entreaty beto~ene~ su~c1ently pl~inly ":hat they knew of their ultimate destiny, and what they had rn view in deprecating being" tormented before the time." Note the easy prey that the vast number of swine were to the evil spirit or spirits; and how is thereby set fo:th the ~trong power to r?sist of th~ human soul, and its long-continued power to resist, and in the same relative proportion the prolonged, unutterable suffering and anguish. IV. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE COWARDLY AND SELFISH GADARENES IN BESEECH• ING CHRIST TO DEPART, AND THE IMPASSIONED PRAYER OF THE RECOVERED DEl'IIONIAO TO BE PERMITTED TO REMAIN WITH CHRIST. Conclude by remarking on the fearful compliance on the part of Jesus with the one- entreaty, aud his most gr-.icious refusal of the other.-B. Vers. 1-13.-The leper and the centurion. The miracles of our Lord are an integral and necessary part of God's revelation of himseU to men. Christ came not so much to reveal God's power as to reveal God's disposition to use that power for us; not so much to show God's holiness as to show his desire and purpose to make us also holy. Miracles, therefore, lay as naturally and inevitably in the way of Christ's work as his teaching with authority did. L THE HEALING OF THE LEPER is the first miracle recorded by Matthew, and it probably struck him more than it would at first sight strike us, by appealing to his Jewish ideas &nd sentiments. 1. For, in the first place, leprosy was not an ordinary, though a common, disease. It had a religious aspect, and was as symbolic as sacrifice or any other of the Jewish ordinances. It was, in the eye of the Jew, a frightful symbol of the condition of the outcast from God; he saw in it the true representation of the consuming and polluting nature of sin. For the sinner, too, is forced to cry, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" To cut off one member brings no relief; the diseased blood strikes out in some other part. You may make one sin impossible, but another takes possession of you. The diseaBe, you find, is yourself; you are full of it. What can yon do but what the leper did-come worshipping and beseeching to him who has power to heal? 2. It was partly because leprosy was aymbolical of inward disease that Matthew saw in this healing of the leper the fulfilment of the prophetic words, "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." But partly, no doubt, because the prompt reply of the Lord, "I ~II; be thou clean," and his touching the man, disclosed the deep sympathy he had with men. Somehow the man had been brought to know that what nothing else could do for him Christ oould. It is true of 118 all that we are dependent on Christ's will. Obviously one who pro- fesses to have all power in heaven and on earth can do ma~y thi11:gs 1yhich you need and which no one else professes to be able to do for you. Will Chr1St heten to the cry of bodily disease and be unmoved by the poor wretch that cries for deliverance from moral defilement? With what may we not fill up the leper's form of petition, "If thou wilt, thou canst"? Very appropriately does Matthew put this "I will" of Christ's in the forefront of all the miracles he records. It is this word that opens the gate and lets in upon 118 supernatural forces. Will is, indeed, the only supernatural force we know. Our own wills are in a certain sense supernatural, And when our Lord utters the words, "I will; be thou clean," he is merely exerting in a higher degree this same inscruta.ble spiritual force. We know not how hie will is exerted upon the sufferer, but the effect ii immedia.te and undeniable. From the number of miracles our Lord wrought OB. vm. 1-34,] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 347