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 out of their coasts. 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.

HE miracle here recorded is so far unlike our

THE

Lord's miracles generally, which were acts of mercy and kindness, that although it wrought good to the demoniac, it inflicted destruction on the swine, and loss of property on those to whom they belonged. It should be remembered, however, that such a display of divine power might have been as requisite, for warning, as the withering of the barren fig-tree. That betokened the severity of God on unrepentant man; this the terrible power of Satan and his agents,

which the Saviour alone can overrule. Look at the condition of the man when possessed with the devil, and the fate of the swine driven by the same possession to perdition; and you see at once an emblem and a specimen of what man's condition would be without a Saviour. Look at the same man, in his right mind, and you have an assurance that for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil,'* and that he is able

also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.'*

THE RAISING OF JAIRUS'S DAUGHTER.

Ver. 21-24. 35-43.

And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea. And behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live. And Jesus went with him.-While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entered in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.

It has been questioned, whether the damsel was really dead; or, whether our Lord's expression meant,

* Hebrews vii. 25.

not that she was dead, but that she was, literally, asleep, i.e, in a swoon or trance. If her recovery was supernatural, and all agree in this, whether she were recovered from a trance or from death, it was equally a miracle-a proof of superhuman agency. The one is as impossible and as unintelligible to man as the other. Still, looking to the impression which a miracle is calculated to make, the raising from the dead would be always likely to operate on men's minds more strongly than the miraculous cure of sickness. In miracles, there are really no degrees of power which can be measured by us; no divisions or gradations when once the impossible is passed; but the practical effect is as if there were.

And the effect which was produced by this miracle is, accordingly, one reason which would incline one to take the more common view of it, and to suppose that the damsel was raised, not from a trance, but from death. Another reason is, that Jesus selected, as witnesses of the miracle, the three apostles, who were admitted as select witnesses of two other of the most remarkable passages of his life-his Transfiguration, and his agony in the garden of Gethsemane. There seems to be a fitting correspondence with this, in their being called on to be present, at. the performance of a miracle so important as that of restoring the dead to life.

But then how are we to understand our Lord's assertion, 'The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.' In the same manner as when he said, 'Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go, that I may awake him out

of sleep.'* He appears to have indicated, by this expression in each case, that it was not a final death, but one from which the person should recover, before his present connexion with life and this world was interrupted for ever-and in this respect, therefore, resembling sleep. It was a temporary death.

As in the case of many of his other miracles, his tone of voice, perhaps, and manner might have given a further meaning to this expression. It might have aided in conveying a hint—afterwards followed up so as to be intelligible—that death was always henceforward to be considered in a new light-as more like sleep; as a temporary suspension of the energies of mind and body; and that these signal miracles were wrought to prove that it was he, Jesus Christ, who was to remove the suspension.

The New Testament writings show that the disciples learnt from the Lord so to think and so to speak habitually of death. Sleep and sleeping are ordinary terms they use for it. Thus St. Matthew,† in his account of the crucifixion, writes, that the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.' In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul is described as saying, that 'David, after he had served his own generation, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.' The same apostle makes the same use of the phrase frequently in his Epistles, as in this sentence from the first Epistle to

* John xi. II. + Chap. xxvii. 52.

Chap. xiii. 36.

the Corinthians,*For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.'

JESUS HEALS A WOMAN AFFLICTED WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD.

Ver. 25-34.

And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

As in the case of many other of our Lord's miracles of healing, this may have been intended to typify his ministry of spiritual mercy. Such a purpose may be perceived in his words, thy faith hath saved thee,' and in the course he took for the manifestation of that faith. He was not dealing out his spiritual privileges indiscriminately, he was not selecting, at random, subjects for his kingdom-but those who had. faith to be saved. Hence the striking fact, which

* Chap. xi. 30.