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Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of many 30 swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying: If thou cast us 31 out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto 32 them: Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd

strange that they should know Jesus, if they had not seen him before, as he was the centre to which all eyes were turned, particularly since he had stilled the tempest. And with that boldness which characterizes insanity, they caught up the popular impression, that Jesus was the Messiah, or a distinguished prophet, and saluted him with a corresponding title of dignity. What they did in this particular was exactly in character for persons deranged. It bears the stamp of insanity on its face.-To torment us before the time. Wetstein supposes they referred to being confined in chains, or bled, or to undergoing other medical prescriptions, as they had done previously. See Luke viii. 29. Mark v. 4. They dreaded the harsh remedies that had been applied to them, and feared lest they should be repeated. Others give a different view. The Jews held an opinion that at the day of judgment evil spirits would be sent to their place of lasting punishment, 2 Peter ii. 4, Jude 6, but that they might be confined or made to suffer before that time by superior beings. Tobit viii. 3. The insane, sharing in the popular superstition, believing that spirits are in them, speak in their name, and deprecate being tormented before the time allotted for their final punishment. Mark and Luke represent Jesus as already having commanded the unclean spirit to come out.

30. An herd of many swine. Mark says, "there were about two thousand." A mixed population of Jews and Gentiles inhabited this country,

It was contrary to the law of Moses for the Jews to eat swine's flesh, and to that of Hyrcanus to keep them. Yet both laws were broken. Some eat the forbidden flesh. And others raised the animals to sell to their Pagan neighbors.

31. The devils besought him. That is, the men who thought they were possessed by demons besought him that the demons might be sent out into the swine. The other Evangelists state that Jesus had inquired of the man his name, and that he replied that it was Legion, for he believed a multitude of spirits had taken up their abode in him. This was a clear trait of a deranged mind. They add further that the spirits, or the man speaking in the name of the spirits, besought Jesus that he would not send them into the deep, or the abyss, or command them to go out of the country, but permit them to enter the swine. As has been said, this would be a very strange request for a spirit to make, but not at all unsuitable to a madman, who fancied himself to be, or spoke in the name of, unclean spirits, and who, after defiling himself in the eye of the law by dwelling in a tomb, could find no habitation more conformable to his own ideas of himself than the body of the unclean animal here mentioned.

32. Jesus adopts the true method of rendering their cure permanent, by assenting to their wild propositions, and giving them as it were ocular demonstration that the spirits, or, correctly speaking, the insanity, had left them.—And when they were come out, they went into the

of swine, And, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a 33 steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, 34 and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. And, behold,

herd, &c. Jesus miraculously transferred the insanity from the men to the swine; which being seized with madness rushed down the steep promontory, and were drowned in the waters of the lake. A cure has been sometimes effected by natural means, by humoring the fantastic whims of the deranged, and acting as if what they think to be real was real. So here. It was indeed a miracle to transfer the madness from the men to the animals; and by complying with their request, and by their seeing as it were the legion of spirits leaving them, and entering into the thousands of swine, which were all destroyed in the sea, Jesus thus secured them against a return of their morbid fancies. For they had, so to say, seen their cure with their own eyes. Otherwise, nothing but a prolonged miracle could probably have prevented their relapsing into their former wretched state.-Perished in the waters. It is objected by some to the beneficence of Jesus, that a great amount of property and life was destroyed in this case. True. But circumstances rendered it right and beneficial. All things belong to God, and he and his delegated messengers have a right to dispose of all as they shall deem proper. The destruction of the swine, as we have seen above, subserved the purpose of rendering the cure of the insane permanent. What is any amount of property, or brute life, weighed in the scales with the reason of an immortal man, or the safety and comfort of the neighborhood, and of travellers who were endangered by these

madmen? Mat. viii. 28. The miracle was more impressive and useful on account of being attended with the loss of property. The sequel shows that the inhabitants were stirred very deeply by it, when otherwise they would perhaps have remained comparatively indifferent. It was unlawful for the owners to keep swine, as the presumption is that they were Jews. The miracle would serve to remove the popular superstition about possessions by evil spirits. For they saw that an animal might be possessed as well as a man, and it would-be incredible that the spirit of a departed Jew would voluntarily enter into one of the unclean and most detested of animals. Again, it may be said, that the men originated the proposition, and that Jesus merely assented to it.

33. This miracle produced a most powerful impression upon all who saw, and all who heard of it. And if it served to convince any that Jesus was the Messiah, and to lead them to be his disciples, it compensated them ten fold for the loss of property, and the destruction of the brute animals. The description in this verse graphically, though artlessly, depicts the consternation and stir produced by the miracle. And it is observable that the relation was respecting what had befallen those possessed of demons, not what had happened to the swine.

34. The whole city. A large number of the people.-They besought him that he would depart. Perhaps they feared further judgments, and felt convicted of their sinfulness. Or perhaps some were indignant at

the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

the loss they had sustained. Or, their request that he would depart from them might have been inspired by similar motives to that of Peter, after the draught of fishes, Luke v. 8; or to that of the centurion, that Jesus would not enter his house, Mat. viii. 8. The other Evangelists add some further particulars which are interesting. That the man was restored to his right mind, and clothed. That he wished to accompany his benefactor, but was directed to return home and publish the miracle, since no ill effects could follow from its being known, as Jesus was going to leave that part of the country. That he did as commanded, testifying to the compassion of the Lord, and how great things had been done for him. It may be proper here to mention the circumstances which indicate that those possessed with demons were simply deranged.

1. If these, and other cases, were not cases of insanity, it would appear that whilst Jesus is described as curing almost every other disease, he is never mentioned as curing a case of insanity, a disorder which more than any other would call for a divine power to remove it, and the cure of which would be peculiarly striking and convincing. And surely insanity was not then unknown.

2. The conduct of the demoniacs is precisely that of the insane. The dwelling in by-places, in the tombs, and in the mountains, Mark v. 5, is an indication of insanity. The propensity to wander, the wearing of no clothes, Luke viii. 27, the being out by night as well as by day, Mark v. 5, and the crying aloud and cutting the

body with stones, distinctly mark the insane man. The inability to be bound or tamed, the unnatural strength which broke the fetters that confined his feet, and plucked asunder the chains that were on his hands, remind us of the Report of an Insane Hospital; in none of which Reports was there ever given a more terse, striking, and graphic sketch of the conduct of the insane than is contained in this account. The periodical attack (Luke viii. 29, "For oftentimes it had caught him") is a proof of insanity. The language of the man, his ready knowledge of Jesus, and his somewhat impudent address, joined with a salutation of great respect, his original and strange request, his wild notion of being the abode of thousands of evil spirits, which he generalized under the name of the formidable Roman military division, "Legion," and, on the other hand, the language and mode of the miracle of Jesus, all uphold the position of its being a case of insanity. The state of the man after his cure," Clothed, and in his right mind," Luke viii. 35,-shows clearly of what he had been cured. All these circumstances form a complete picture of the wanderings and subsequent restoration of

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CHAPTER IX.

Miracles of Jesus,-continued.

ND he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his 2 own city. And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick 3 of the palsy: Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves: This man blas

CHAP. IX.

1. Parallel to Mark v. 21. Luke viii. 40.

Jesus yields to the request of the Gergesenes, and crosses over the lake to the other side, to the town of Capernaum, called his own city because he had made it his residence. Mat. iv. 13. Mark ii. 1.

2-17. Parallel to Mark ii. 1-22, Luke v. 17-39, who gives a more detailed account than Matthew.

2. Sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. His disease was severe and inveterate, and had reduced him to utter helplessness. The bed on which he lay was a kind of mattress, which he could easily take up and carry, himself, when restored to strength.-Seeing their faith. How they manifested their faith is particularly related by Mark and Luke. The friends of the paralytic had brought him on a mattress to the house where Christ was. But the press of the crowd was so great that they could find no direct way to bring him to Jesus, and were obliged to uncover the roof where he was, and let him down on his couch into the court or area of the house where Jesus was teaching. This court or area in the middle of the house was frequently covered only by an awning, or screen, which could be easily rolled up. Houses in the east are generally of one story, and built in the form of a hollow square, with a flat roof running round the interior court. Go

ing up to the house-top with their sick friend, they unroll the awning, and let the bed down with cords through the tiling, or, properly, by the side of the tiling of the roof, into the midst of the company where Jesus sat and taught. He saw their faith, which had inspired them to persevere through all obstacles to obtain his aid.-Son. An address of tenderness and condescension. Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. The man was laboring under depression, or perhaps remorse. The compassionate Saviour would encourage and comfort him. The Jews regarded disease as the consequence of sin, and had among them a saying that no diseased person could be healed, until all his sins werę blotted out. The expressions, Be thou healed, and, Thy sins be forgiven thee, are regarded by many as having been synonymous. To say one implied no more than to say the other. It is true without doubt, that a far greater amount of the sickness and trouble in the world is caused by sin, than is sus pected. Christ is the great physi, cian in the literal, as well as the figurative sense.— -Be is used instead of are.

3. Certain of the scribes. Luke mentions that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, who had come from all parts of the country. This man blasphemeth. According to Mark and Luke, they

phemeth. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said: Wherefore 4 think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier? to say: Thy 5 sins be forgiven thee? or to say: Arise, and walk? But that ye may 6

know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy): Arise, take up thy bed, and go

added, "Who can forgive sins, but God only?" To blaspheme is to speak evil against God. The truer rendering here of the words would be-"This man speaks impiously." He claims a power to which he is not entitled, and which invades the prerogatives of God. It was true that none could forgive sins but God. Jesus does not profess to forgive sins himself; he simply declares the fact that they are forgiven. He could read the heart, and decide whether the conditions of forgiveness were fulfilled. He could comprehend the will of the Father, and declare his purposes of pardon to the penitent. The prophet Nathan in like manner could say to David: "The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." 2 Sam. xii. 13. Jesus gave his Apostles a similar power of forgiving sins, or rather of declaring them forgiven. Mat. xvi. 19. xviii. 18. John xx. 23. If prophets and Apostles could declare men's sins forgiven, certainly it was no impiety in Jesus, and no assumption by him of Divine attributes, to pronounce a person's sins pardoned. As the Son of Man is to be the judge of the world, it was in harmony with his divine endowments by his Father, that he should possess such a knowledge of the state of the heart as to be able to declare forgiveness from God to the contrite.

4. Knowing their thoughts. This of course does not imply that Jesus was omniscient, as some have falsely inferred. He perhaps read the thoughts of their hearts in the

language of their looks. Or, with more probability, we may suppose that a gift of knowing what was in man was vouchsafed among his peculiar powers. The capacity of knowing the thoughts of a few persons present is a quite different thing from the sublime attribute of Omniscience. To argue from one to the other is to leap at a conclusion, wide indeed from the premises.

5. Whether is easier? Which of the two is easier? In reality one was as easy as the other. Neither was hard to a divine messenger. To see the heart and know that the individual was worthy of pardon, or to work a miracle and raise up the palsied frame, was alike the result of a divine commission and power. As if he had said, If I can heal the sick, I may without impiety absolve the sinner.

6. But that ye may know, &c. He gives an ocular demonstration. He proves his right or authority to exercise one prerogative of divinity, to declare the forgiveness of sins, by actually and visibly exercising another, the restoration of one incurably diseased. But the exercise of either prerogative no more implies his deity, as has been strenuously argued, than the miracles of the Apostles, and their power to bind and loose on earth, evince their deity. The argument therefore proves nothing, because it proves too much.-Power. Authority, not original power, but delegated.-Take up thy bed. The bed of the east was usually a mere mattress, spread, on the floor, light and portable.

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