image of the corn in its gradual growth suggests the unobserved advance of Christianity; the rapid rise and wonderful spread of the mustard plant suggests the contrast between the Gospel in its maturity, and its obscure and humble beginning.

CHRIST CALMING THE SEA.

Ver. 35-41.

And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

One of the characteristics of Christ's miracles noticed in the early part of these readings was, that they sometimes implied a claim to those attributes, which long habit or especial revelation

had made the Jews attach to Jehovah alone. Of this kind was healing the leprosy; and of this kind, perhaps, was the miracle of calming the sea. In the Psalms, the control of the sea is made a frequent and striking image of the exercise of Omnipotence, and the Psalms were the poetry, the light reading, of the nation,-that portion of Jewish literature, which his uneducated followers were likely to be best acquainted with. National ballads are familiar even to the rudest peasantry; and the psaltery contained the national melodies of the Israelites.

His apostles too, it should be further remarked, belonged some of them to a profession, which made this miracle particularly striking to them. They were familiar with the storms of the lake on which they pursued their business as fishermen; and as they were the least likely to be deceived as to the reality of such a miracle, so they were the most likely to appreciate and to remember it.

See Psalm 1xxvii. 19. xciii. 4.

CHAPTER V.

CURE OF A DEMONIAC, AND THE DEVILS CAST OUT PERMITTED TO GO INTO A HERD OF SWINE.

Ver. 1-20.

And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But 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 adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And

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all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand ;) and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind and they were afraid. And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him and all men did marvel.

out of their coasts.

CHRIST came to do away with the evil introduced by Satan at the fall. This was of two kinds; natural and moral; disease and sin; death and eternal death. Now the natural evil, besides being in itself evil, appears all along to have been regarded as a type and assurance of the moral

evil.

Hence the spiritual penalty which corresponds to death, has never even received a different name from the natural penalty.

Christ came then to do away with both kinds of evil; and to shew this, he continually connected his miracles of healing with his forgiveness of sins. His miracles of casting out devils were of the same import, but carried the lesson still further. In these cases, the immediate agency of the Devil was recognized; and the cure of them, therefore, was at once a more palpable fulfilment of his work in destroying the natural evil introduced by Satan, and also a sign of his power to destroy that spiritual evil, which was coexistent with it; which was derived from the same Being, and which was typified and attested by it.

Still in future ages, if not in that age, a doubt might have arisen as to the reality of these possessions. A special miracle, such as this, might have been performed, to prevent this doubt, so destructive as it would be of a clear view of his ministry. The same possession produced the same effects on the human subject, and the brute; and this in a case, which excluded all possibility of doubt. The devils had expostulated through

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