themselves recognised Jesus as the Son of David, and acknowledged his power; as they did also that of his disciples, before his ascension and afterward. At the time of Christ many were prone to the doctrine of the Saducees, who denied the resurrection, and, as a consequence of that denial, maintained that there are neither angels nor spirits. The testimony of the unclean demons to the presence and power of the Son of David, was a palpable contradiction of this heresy. Whether, as some argue, possessions were more frequent in the time of the Saviour, to exhibit his victory over the works of Satan, or whether his presence induced their unwilling testimony to his advent in the flesh, we find miracles of this nature among the most frequent of those which Jesus performed. And lest, on the other hand, the believers in demonology and magic should assert that he was a sorcerer-as indeed the Pharisees did, by charging him with being moved by Beelzebub-he ejected evil spirits to show that there was no fellowship between the Son of God, and the evil works of darkness. There was no form of exorcism, no parade of cabala, but the simple word of his power released at once the sufferer. In the early ages of the church, the defenders of the Christian faith had oftener to combat the charge that Jesus was a magician, than any other. His miracles were undisputed as facts, but the Jews and the idolators sought to destroy their influence by the same reasoning that the Pharisees employed. And the wisdom of God was vindicated in that visible victory over the evil spirits, which distinguished the divine power

of the Son of God over all pretended power through the influence of demons.

The most remarkable instance of demoniacal possession is that recorded by three Evangelists-the case of him whose answer was: My name is Legion, for we are many. This man inhabited the tombs which were hewn out of the rocks, on the borders of the Sea of Galilee. He was exceeding fierce, defeating all attempts to bind him with chains: he wore no clothes, and in the diabolical possession which detained him had ceased all human sympathies, being driven of the devil into the wilderness. When he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God. I beseech thee torment me not. Thus in the hearing of the bystanders was this new witness given to the character. and mission of the Son of God; for the devils recognised in him their judge: "Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" And they besought permission to enter into the swine, and Jesus gave them leave. And the whole herd of swine, about two thousand, ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and were drowned. And they that kept the swine fled, and told it in the city and in the country.

Very much has been said and written about this narrative, and many opinions have been expressed, as to the purpose of the destruction of the swine. But some of the effects are sufficiently obvious. An undeniable evidence was thus afforded of the reality of the miracle; and a

rebuke was administered to the keepers of those unclean animals, which they could not forget. Publicity was given to the miracle by its circumstances. The restored man sat clothed and in his right mind, and when the inhabitants of Gadara came out and saw him, they were sore afraid. They besought Jesus to depart from them, and he acceded to their request. The man who had been relieved by his merciful interposition would have accompanied him; but Jesus commanded him to remain, and declare what great things God had done for him. And the man became a herald and a witness, and all men did marvel. The truth of his story was vouched for by the destruction of the swine. There are two persons, demoniacs, mentioned by Matthew, while the other Evangelists speak of only one. Probably the one had been a man of note and consequence, and his misfortunes presented. features which commanded more particularly the notice of the Evangelists, and of the people of Gadara. In one case, the country where this occurred is spoken of as the country of the Gergesenes, in the others as the country of the Gadarenes. Gergesa and Gadara were both in the vicinity, and the country could as properly be called from one city as the other.

We have spoken in a previous section, of the exclamation of Peter, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord." In Simon this was the cry of penitent humility, which Jesus graciously disregarded, in its literal sense, while he accorded to Peter what was the true wish of his heart. The Gadarenes asked in another spirit. They

were rebuked in an illegal pursuit; and, feeling no inclination to amend, or to surrender their covetousness; and fearing perhaps still further loss in some other illicit mode. of gain, they besought him to depart. He took them at their word. And this conduct of the Gadarenes is neither singular nor uncommon, for thus do many resist, when Mammon calls on one hand, and God commands us on the other. The record of their folly has come down for our warning, and thus the plunging of the swine into the sea proves to us a testimony as well as to the Gadarenes.

There is still another sense in which the thoughtful and meditative have discerned a purpose in this miracle. Very God and Very Man were manifest in the act. As God, whose are all things, Jesus could suffer the swine to depart into the sea. As man, the Second Man, or Second Adam, re-asserting the dignity which man had without sin, He claimed dominion over every living thing that moveth on the earth for thus God blessed Adam. The image of God in which man was created, dimmed and degraded by sin, was restored in him who was the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person. The swine of Gadara felt His dominion: the wild beasts of the desert howled harmless around the Second Man, the Lord from Heaven.

XVII.

Peace Be Still."

The Pharisees sought of Jesus a sign from Heaven. He answered, "This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold a greater than Jonas is here." As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so, said the Saviour, "shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The prediction is accomplished: the warning is to this generation as well as to that: and against this may the men of Nineveh and the Queen of the South arise.

With many other warnings, and with many parables, did our Saviour speak to the multitude who followed him. He denounced woes against hypocrisy, and preached heavenly wisdom; he taught who are blessed-they that hear the word of God and keep it. And he declared who are his kindred-my mother and my brethren are those