DISCOURSE XV.

THE GADARENE DEMONIAC.

MARK V. 9.

And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

In pursuing the plan laid down at the commencement of these Discourses, we now arrive at the third class of miracles performed by our Lord, that is, THE CASTING OUT OF DEVILS. His extraordinary power was perhaps in no way more frequently and extensively employed, than in that display of it which we shall have to notice under this head. The miracles themselves are of so remarkable a character, that in this respect they demand our special consideration. It is proposed therefore successively to contemplate three prominent instances, selected from the many which the Evangelists have either largely detailed or briefly mentioned. In directing our attention, at present, to that of which St. Mark gives a full account in this chapter, it may be expedient,

Q

I. TO MAKE SOME OBSERVATIONS ON DEMONIACAL

POSSESSION:

II. TO CONSIDER THE PARTICULAR NARRATIVE OF WHICH THE TEXT FORMS A PART: and

III. TO DEDUCE SOME REFLECTIONS IN THE WAY OF IMPROVEMENT FROM THE WHOLE.

May it please God to direct and bless our meditations!

I. It is proposed then, in the first place, TO MAKE

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON DEMONIACAL POSSESSION.

Of the real existence of such an affliction, especially during the time of our Saviour's sojourn upon earth, and of his frequent and effectual agency for its removal, no doubt can exist in the minds of those who impartially receive the testimony of inspiration. The Evangelists have stated these facts over and over again with the greatest precision; declaring concerning the people, that they "brought unto" our Lord

many that were possessed with devils;" and concerning our Lord himself, that "he cast out the spirits with his word;" that he "cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him ;" and that " they that were vexed with unclean spirits were healed" by him.' The facts themselves indeed, thus distinctly recorded, were so notorious that they could not be denied even by our Lord's most inveterate enemies; who endeavoured therefore to account for the wonders which he per

1 Matt. viii. 16. Mark i. 32. 34. Luke vi. 18.

formed, by a supposition which was intended to attach infamy to his character, but the absurdity of which he powerfully exposed.1

As to the nature of this dreadful malady, we may without hesitation observe, that it is constantly and plainly distinguished by the Evangelists from every other disorder. In its immediate effects indeed it bore a striking resemblance to several afflictive diseases. Sometimes the patient was affected with the ordinary attendants of paralysis, sometimes with those of melancholy, sometimes with those of frantic madness, but more frequently perhaps with those of epilepsy. The organs of the senses were occasionally affected, even to the entire suspension of their powers. Though, however, these various effects of demoniacal possession are distinctly recorded by the sacred historians, they are no less carefully distinguished from the possession itself. 'It is manifest,' observes a very able writer, that the persons, who in the New Testament are said to be possessed with devils (more correctly with demons) cannot mean only persons afflicted with some strange disease for they are evidently distinguished from the diseased. Further, Christ's speaking on various occasions to these evil spirits, as distinct from the persons possessed by them,-his commanding them and asking them questions, and receiving answers from them, or not suffering them to speak,-and several circumstances relating to the terrible preternatural effects which they had upon the possessed,

1 See next Discourse.

and to the manner of Christ's evoking them,particularly their requesting and obtaining permission to enter the herd of swine, and precipitating them into the sea; all these circumstances can never be accounted for by any distemper whatever.'1 Our Lord also, in giving the twelve disciples authority to perform miracles, in connection with the doctrine which during his own personal abode upon earth he sent them forth to proclaim, clearly distinguishes between this and every other species of miraculous cure His words are, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils." The same may be said in reference to the signs which he declared should follow those who became early converts to the faith of the Gospel. Having commissioned the Apostles to "go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," and at the same time affirmed what would be the personal results of embracing or rejecting that Gospel, he immediately adds: "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." In these instances "the casting out of devils" is clearly mentioned as different from all other miracles of which the human frame was in any respect to be the subject. The very expression itself indeed implies the indwelling of these demons in those from whom they were to be expelled.

1 Horne's Introduction, see vol. iii. p. 473.