The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 208

nose of hie own etnte of morn) disort1"r" •My name is Logi•m, for we are many.' ( Go,let). Thou Bon of God most high. The irresistible might, the full array nf the Thero seems eome prohability that this Roman legion, with its six thouaa.nd w,ldier~, flxpreeaion wne rroqnonlly uoo<l in cnsce or seemed to the demon ia.c th~ one arleq nnt~ cxnrciem of evil spirits; for again in Acta symbol of the wild, uncnntrnllahle impnlaes xvi. 17 tho poor 8lnvo-girl, who we rca.cl hud of pMsion a.ncl. of dreu<l that were sweepina 0 a Pythoncas-apirit, which brought in no thro11gh his soul.'' small gain to her masters, speaks of Pau I Ver. 31.-And they besought him that he and hie frfoncls, just before the apostle in would not oommand t~m to go out into the his llfoster'e Name ea.at the spirit out, ns deep. Thie limo the voice and tho request servants of the most high God. I beseech nppnrcntly proceed from tho Lerrible presen,•e thee, torme::it me not, In this form of posses- which ha.d macle the soul of tlie unhappy sion one remarkable o.n<l very terrible foo.turo m:111 their temporary habitation. The dire- seems to have been the divider] conscious- ful confusion in the state of the ponr ness; the sufferer identifies himsdf with demoniac is shown by this re')ue,t. By the demons, nnd now one epeo.lrs, now whom was it marle? Tho bystanders oonld the other. St. llfotthew adds o. dread detail discern no differenre between the poeseased to this petition to the Lor,l, "before the time:" and the spirits dwelling in the a.fflicted the evil spirits thus recognizing a. period huma.n being. So St. ?,fork, in his relation, when cert11in torment woul<l be their hapless puts these words into the demonia.o's mouth, destiny. The expression "torment" meets "And he besought him much that he would us in the parable of Lazarus; the dweliing- not send them away ont of the country;" pla.ce of the 1·ich man a.fter death is a place appa.rently here partly conscious of his own of torment. In Mo.tt. Xl'iii. 3J the ministers p!'fsonal being, and partly identifying him- of judgment are the tormentors. Oue very self with the demoniac forces which were solemn rea.son why this special case of aillicting him. The request is a. etrnnge exorcism on the part of Dill' Lord is related 011e, and suggests much anxious thonght.. with so much det11il and repeated by the What is the abyss these rebel-spirits dreaded three evangelists, SS. llfalthcw, llfark, a.nu with so great a. dread? It would seem as Luke, seems to be the glimpse which the though, to use Godet's thought, that for dialogue between the evil spirits and the beings alienated from God, the power of !foster opens to us of the drea.d realities e.cting on the world is a. tcmpornry solace hidden in the future for thnse who sin to their anrest, and that to be deprived of deliberately against the will of Go,l. The this power is for them just what a return exi.tence of the place or state of torment is to prison is for the ca.pti ve. St. Mark's affirmed very pointedly by our Lord and expression here is a curious one. He repre- hie disciples; but having done this they sents the spirits requesting Jesus "not to dwell but little on it. There is a striking send them a.way out of the coantry." The and !olemn quotation in Dr. Morrisou's two accounts put together tell us that these ' C-ommento.ry on St. Mark' on this clear spirits were a.wa.re, if they were driven out but guarded reference to the final sufferings of the conntry-wliatever that expression of those who will not be submissive to the signified, this earth possibly-tliey must go morn! will of Goel., "Further curiosity as to out into the deep, the abyss, what is ca.Ue,l the when; the where, and the how, does not "the bottomless pit" in Bev. i:s:. 1, 2, 11. become bein'!s whose main business and Any doom seemed to these lost ones prefer- greatest wiEd,m is to fly from, not to pry a.ble to that. The whole train of thought too close into, theati terrible secr,·ts of the suggested by the incident end the words of dark kingdom." the Lord is very terrible. We see o.t least Ver. 30.-And Jesus asked him, saying, one reuson why the first preacliers of the What is thy name 1 And he so.iJ, Legion: Word have selected this exorcism. It indeed because many devils were entered into him lifts a. bit of the curtain which ha.ngs between The Master vouchso.fed no reply to the us and the nh;-ht of endless woe I demons' prnyer, but puts a quiet suggestive Ver. 82.-And there was there an herd of ques\ion to their uuhappy victim. The many swine feeding on the moanta.i.n: and Lord a words, as Deo.n Plumptro suggests, they besought him thst he would suffer would servo "to recoil to the ml\u's mind them to enter into them. And he suffered tha.t he had once ll humnn name, with a.11 them. For wha.t end was this request? its memories of huma.n fellowship. It wBS Wa.s it simply the way they chose to enter a stage, even in ~pite of the pnroxysm th11t the abyss by? We know that the lives of followed, in the proeess of recovery, in so the creatures, after the permi.aaion was given, far BS it helped to cl.isentnnglo him from the lasted but a. few minutes at most. W:1s it ooufueion belwePn himsdf l\nd the <lerunns I\ <lesire to do more mischief during th,·ir which caused his misery. Uut, at first, the b1·ief sojourn on ea.rth? Theophyll\ct (eighth qucstiou ~corns only to inc1·ct1se the evil. century) enggcsts that the pmpo:;e of tho  208 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST, LUKE. [on. vm. 1-60.