"No faith;"-yet did they wake their LORD,call loudly on Him, and shew by their words that they knew that He had power to save them. Such actions, therefore, do not prove that a man has Faith: yea, rather, they are consistent with an utter want of Faith.

And they feared exceedingly, and said 41 one to another, What manner of Man is this, that even the Wind and the Sea obey Him?

Not that they doubted His Divinity: but they found it impossible, or they did not attempt,to realize the notion that this was He who "rideth upon the Heavens of Heavens *;" "who maketh the clouds His Chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the Wind";" "who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His Hand "."

Ps. lxviii. 33.

y Ps, civ. 3.

z Isaiah xl. 12.

The Prayer.

GRANT, O LORD, we beseech Thee, that

the course of this World may be so peaceably ordered by Thy governance, that Thy Church may joyfully serve Thee in all godly quietness; through JESUS CHRIST Our LORD. Amen.

A

PLAIN COMMENTARY

ON THE FIFTH CHAPTER OF

St. Mark's Gospel.

1 CHRIST delivering the possessed of the legion of devils, 13 they enter into the swine. 25 He healeth the woman of the bloody issue, 35 and raiseth from death Jairus his daughter.

V. AND they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gada

renes.

Escaped from the perils of the storm, the Blessed Company reach the Eastern Shore of the Sea of Galilee,-where stood the towns of Gergesaa and Gadara. The latter was the chief City of that part of Palestine, called Peræa; and was inhabited chiefly by heathens.

The miracle performed by our Blessed LORD on the Demoniacs of Gadara, is one of the most astonishing Histories in the Gospels. It contains more hints as to the nature of demoniacal possession, than any other narrative of the same class; but it raises our curiosity also proportionably higher; and suggests a greater number of inquiries

a See St. Matthew viii. 28.

than usual, without, in a corresponding degree, supplying answers to them.

Thus, we are led to inquire whether, and to what extent, this demoniac retained his own proper consciousness? To what extent was he a free agent? or, Was he wholly at the mercy of another? By what means, and how far, did the evil Spirits know our SAVIOUR, the moment they saw Him, to be the SON of GOD? Can it be in any way explained how a legion of devils,-two thousand perhaps and upward, should have taken up their abode in one human temple? Why did they ask the favour here mentioned? And did they foresee what would be the consequence of having the favour granted? Lastly, what effect did the final issue produce upon themselves? See below, on verses 6 and 13.

To inquiries of this class, which the narrative before us suggests, may be added others: as, Whether possession was the consequence of sinful indulgence? whether the same thing, or only something like it, exists at the present day in Christendom? or in any other part of the world? and what connexion (if any) subsists between physical maladies and the agency of evil Spirits?

On almost all these points we are profoundly ignorant; and the sooner, as well as the more plainly this is stated, the better. The Reader of a Commentary must not expect to find clear light thrown on every branch of a subject where Reason is an insufficient guide,-and Revelation has been so nearly silent. In all such matters let him be

well persuaded that his Guide is almost as much at fault as himself; and may be said to know next to nothing.

And when He was come out of the ship, 2 immediately there met Him out of the tombs a Man with an unclean Spirit,

b

St. Luke, also, speaks in the singular, of "a certain man";" but St. Matthew describes how "there met Him two possessed with devils." The explanation commonly given of this diversity is no doubt the true one,-namely, that St. Mark and St. Luke confine themselves to the history of the more remarkable demoniac of the two.

who had his dwelling among the tombs ; 3 and no man could bind him, no, not with chains :

See the note on the last half of St. Matt. viii. 28. The Evangelist proceeds to reveal an awful picture :

because that he had been often bound with 4 fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

The multitude of spirits which had taken up their abode in this miserable man, may explain the wonderful muscular strength here ascribed to him.

b St. Luke viii. 27.

St. Matt. viii. 28.