The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 183

felt instinctively that there was help and comfort. One man disenuaued himself from the crowd. He came in haste to Christ. He knelt down before hi;1 in the attitude of humble and earnest supplication. "Lord, have mercy on my son," he so.id. He told all the sad atory. His son was lunatic, sore vexed, afflicted with the worst form of erilepsy•. The fits came upon him in wild, fierce onslaughts, dreadful to look upon~ fo~ !he seizures were due, not. to natural causes, but to the direct agency of an evil spmt, who hl\d taken possession of the lad, and tormented him with all the hellish malice of intense wickedness. It was a pitiable case, miserable for the poor boy agonizing to the unhappy father. From his son's childhood he had watched these wild paroxysms in helpless anguish. Now Christ had come into the neighbourhood. He heard of his power and mercy. He brought his afflicted child. But the Lord was absent, on the Mount of the Transfiguration. The nine apostles remained, The poor father brought his son to them, and begged for help. The case was beyond their power; they could not cast out the evil spirit, The disappointment aggravated the father's distress. Now the Lord himself bad come ; and the father knelt before him. Sorrow brings men to Christ; sorrow brings them to their knees. We must come ourselves sh'aigbt to Christ in the hour of extremest need. Sometimes bis ministers can help us, sometimes they cannot. Christ can always calm the wildest tumults of the soul. Come straight to him, kneeling before him, in your own troubles, in the troubles of those very dear to you. 2. The Lord's words. "0 faithless and perverse generation I" he said. The scene before him was an illustration of the general character .of the men among whom the Saviour lived. It is in some sense an illustration of the state of the Church now. Human nature is the same in all ages. The multitude regarded Christ with some external reverence ; they were ready to apply to him in perplexity and sorrow; but they had no depth of conviction, no stability. There were some open unbelievers among them, who questioned Christ's authority and denied his power, There were some followers of the Lord, not without earnestness, not without love ; but weak in faith, unable through that weakness to exercise the power which had been given them by the Lord. The evil spirit, too, was there; there were wild excet1Ses caused by his agency; there was intense distress. There was no strength of faith, no energy of trustfulness in Christ. Yet there were three chosen saints, the nearest to the Lord, who had gone up with him into the holy mount, and were now returning with him to the labours and the sorrows of this sinful world. That generation was faithless ; it was perverse, crooked, warped by invincible prejudices and inveterate obstinacy. The Lord bad been long with them ; but how little the result seemed to be ! how few had chosen the good part! He would not remain much longer among them; his tender forbearance must have an end at last. We must be patient, when the Lord most holy had so much to bear; we must not repine when our work seems disheartening, unsatisfactory. The servant is not above his Lord. But mark the Saviour's calm consciousness of power. "Bring him hither to me," he said. The disciples might fail; be could not fail when it pleased him to exercise his healing energy, for he was God Almighty. 3. Tht evil spirit cast out. St. Mark gives us, as his wont is, the deep! y interesting details: •the conversation with the father; the great word, " All things are possible to him that believeth ; " the answer of the intensely anxious parent, so often echoed since by trembling souls coming to Christ in earnest entreaty and utter self-abasement, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." Then came the word of power, "Thou deaf and dumb spirit" (for the demon had destroyed the poor lad's power of hearing, and his only utterances were wild, inarticulate cries), "I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him." We notice the tone of authority• the emphatic '' I," especially in the original. The demon despised the nine apostles; he must obey the Lord. He must never again dare to enter the heart from which the Lord himself had driven him. He let loose his fury on the lad; he cried, and rent him sore • but he came. out of him at once. The Lord gently raised the poor boy. He was exh;usted, and to all appearance lifeless; but Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up and delivered him again to his father. We mark the gentleness of the Lord Jesus. ' Very gentle he was to the unhappy boy, to the afflicted, almost despairing fat\,~r. We mark his power. He can drive out the devil, even from those over whom be has the firmest hold. " He is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him." Let us come. The father came, though he was almost hopeless; the evil spirii cm, xvn. 1-27.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 187