as!” Especially should we travail, as in birth, till Christ is formed in their heart, and till by grace they are enabled to renounce the devil and all his works. 2. Great impor- tance attaches to the element of time. The demon got possession early of this sorely distressed boy, and the demoniac power seems to have grown with the child’s growth, and to have strengthened with his strength, so that dispossession had become next to an impossibility. The apostles were not competent to the task, and when our Lord, in the exercise of his almighty power, expelled him, it was only after he had made horrid havoc of the lad’s system, frightfully convulsing him and leaving him half-dead. So, if Satan unhappily gain the ascendant in a young heart, he will do his best to blight the whole life; he will hold his dominion with tenacity, and, if possible, to the end; he will seat himself firmly on the throne of the affections, and exercise a despot’s sway ; his dethronement will be attended with the greatest difficulty ; and if, by Divine mercy, his wer is at last overthrown, it will cost pain of body, distress of mind, and grief of eart. Oh, how careful young persons should be to guard against the solicitations of the evil one, and to resist his power! How determined not to yield to his temptations, and to vanquish youthful lusts that war against the soul! How resolved, by the aid of Divine strength,.to keep him out, remembering how difficult it is to get him out once he has gained an entrance, and especially if he has gained it early! 3. Every gift that God bestows should be diligently cultivated, and husbanded with care. The power bestowed on the apostles was, as we have seen, lost through their own remissness. Faith required to be kept in healthy exercise and active vigour ; devotion and self-denial were required for its maintenance. The neglect or undue performance of thes .eft them weak before the power of the evil one, and caused them to be humiliate¢ in the presence of their enemies. Thus it was with the apostles and miraculous gifts. How much more is such likely to be the case with ordinary persons in the exercise of ordinary gifts! We greatly need to use all the means that tend to strengthen faith ; above all, we must pray earnestly, in the beautiful words suggested by this passage “ Lord, increase our faith ;” avoiding at the same time any and every indulgence tha‘ might weaken faith or slacken prayer.
“Restraining prayer we cease to fight; Prayer keeps the Christian’s armour bright ; And Satan irembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees.”
s. This passage cannot legitimately apply to any attempt at working miracles in the present day. The age of miracles is past. The power thus possessed by the apostles was not to continue, and needed not to continue, after the great purpose for which miracles had been bestowed had been attained. Faith and prayer and fasting cannot, of themselves confer the power; they were needed to sustain it only where it had been bestowed ; they were required for its successful exercise where it did exist. 5. The greatness of the believer’s privilege is immense, yet not without certain well-defined limits, ‘ All things are possible to him that believeth :” this appears to comprise at once omnipotence in action and universality in possession. ‘To the former we have the parallel statement of St. Paul, “ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me ;” or rather, “in (é) Christ that giveth me inward strength (évduvauodvr.);” and thus the strength as to its source is obtainable by virtue of living and lively union with Christ, while as to its nature it is spiritual. But the reference is rather to what it is possible for us te get than to do; and so all things are ours, for “ we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” There are here two limitations which, though not expressed, must be implied: (1) The first limitation restricts the “all things” to things truly beneficial —beneficial spiritually as well as temporally, beneficial for eternity rather than for the brief relations of time; they are such things as are thus of real benefit, when regard is had to the believer’s condition and present position. (2) The second limitation has respect to the circumstances of others, that is to say, of those with whom we come into close contact, or with whom we have to do and deal in the affairs of life. All things are thus possible to be attained by the believer, as far as they are consistent with his real benefit, and compatibie at the same time with his relations in the widest sense— relations to his Father in heaven and to his tellow-man on earth. Such is the poten. tiality of faith—it extends to all things; such, too, is its practicability, excepting only such things as, at the present or in the long run, do not comport with his own persona)
on. 1x. 1—50.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 58
good, as also with his relation to God, whose glory is paramount, and to his fellow-man, whose good, as well as our own, we are in duty bound to seek.—J. J. @.
Vers, 30—32. Parallel passages: Matt. xvii. 22,23; Luke ix. 43—45.— Prediction of his passion. I. Szonrcy. ‘To everything there is a season, and a time to purpose under heaven.” Every man has a work to do, and a time allowed him to do it in. Every man, moreover, is immortal till that work is done, and God’s will with him accomplished. In like manner there was a time allotted for our Lord’s mission on earth. There was a time fixed for his ministry of mercy toman. When the fulness of the time was come, he made his descent into our world; when the work he came to do was done, and when the proper period again arrived, he took his departure from our world. The appointed interval of his sojourn on earth no enemy could shorten by one day, no power could abridge it by s single hour; nothing could interfere with it, so long as “his hour was not yet come.” Yet, notwithstanding this, our Lord never neglected the use of such means as were proper for the prolongation of his stay on earth till his a work should be performed, and the destined period completed. Accordingly, we