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Thus, in every instance of spiritual distress, we do right in applying to the appointed messengers and ministers of Christ for consolation and advice, and as long as his ministers depend in faith upon the grace and strength of Christ, so long, but no longer, will they be able to render to the afflicted children of God that comfort which they require. We have a practical proof of this in the passage before us. Although Christ had given his disciples power to cast out devils, as we find it stated in chap. x. 8, yet in this case they failed. Perhaps, instead of simply resting upon his power, they had shown a disposition to glory in their former success, as if they had succeeded in their own strength. If this were the case, their faith must neces

sarily have declined, for nothing tends to

weaken and diminish faith so much as a spirit of pride and vain-glory. Thus, ministers of the Gospel must not have uninterrupted success, but must occasionally meet with disappointments, in order that they may be humbled and awakened to a sense of their

own weakness, and taught that they can do nothing without the grace and strength of Christ.

We learn further from this narrative, that when the ministers of Christ fail in the exercise of those powers which have been conferred upon them, they subject themselves to reproof. Hence Christ said" O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you ?" -for this was undoubtedly intended as a reproof to his disciples, and as such it traces back their want of success to their want of faith. The reproof, however, is expressed in such general language as to include the Scribes, who were questioning with the disciples, Mark ix. 14, and who were, perhaps, in a spirit of malignant triumph endeavour ing to take advantage of their failure.

But Jesus does not merely administer reproof. He never reproves his people without giving, at the same time, some pledge of his mercy. He therefore desires his disciples to bring the afflicted young man to him. Thus, though instruments may fail, yet the Saviour's merciful intentions must not be defeated. He would not allow this man to be a sufferer in consequence of the faithlessness or perverseness of others. When the young man was brought to him, "he rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him." Here we see that authority must be com

bined with power, in order to vanquish Satan. When the devil departed out of him, the child was cured from that very hour. Satanic possession was the root and source of this young man's misery, and therefore Christ, in order to do away the effects, removed the cause. Thus his general object in undertaking the great work of redemption, is to remove and destroy sin, which is the source and cause of all human misery. As soon as Christ had exerted his power, he effected an immediate, perfect, and permanent cure. Whether he displays his power in removing spiritual or physical evils, he does so with complete efficacy and success.

19. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

20. And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

21. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Here we find that as soon as Jesus effected the cure, his disciples came to him to inquire why they could not cast out the devil. He that could thus exercise such power himself, was best able to say why that power could not have been exercised by others. The disciples acted rightly in thus applying to Jesus, and in this they should be imitated by all ministers. When they have seen but little success attending upon their labours, they should inquire into the cause by fervent private prayer to Christ. Though they are often ignorant of the cause of their own want of success, yet Jesus always knows it. In many cases the reason is the same as that which is mentioned here,- Because of their unbelief. And here we should notice, that the cause of a want of success following after the labours of God's servants, is as frequently connected with themselves as with the malice of Satan, the opposition of the world, or the obstinacy and enmity of the carnal

mind. It most frequently springs from their | by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, want of faith. Faith is the parent of so many qualifications and endowments in the Christian minister, that where this grace is deficient, the rest must be deficient in the same proportion. Faith is the mainspring and the very vital principle of all successful instrumentality. Even now, that which regulates the amount of ministerial success is the principle contained in the words of Christ

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saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain." It appears from the words of Christ in the passage before us, that there is no limit to the mightiness of faith" If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." By "faith as a grain of mustard seed," we may understand, not only the small

that, like a grain of mustard seed, contains in itself the principle of increase, Matth. xiii. 31. For faith is not a stationary grace — it grows under the care and culture of the Spirit of Christ; and therefore they who believe should not be satisfied with that to which they have already attained, but should continually offer up the prayer of the Apostles "Lord, increase our faith," Luke xvii. 5.

The 20th verse is a proverbial saying adopted by Christ as a convenient and impressive form of describing the omnipotence of Faith; and it includes in it this principle, that the physical and external world is subordinate to, and under the control of, the spiritual world.

According to your faith, be it unto you." Nay, we may go farther, and say that faith is an effectual remedy for many personal de-est amount of genuine faith, but also a faith fects connected with the physical or mental constitution of the minister of Christ,- for timidity—for weakness-for the want of intellectual cultivation. Against the effects of these faith is an unfailing antidote, for it conveys into the mind a sure conviction of the omnipotence of Christ,-it rests upon the promise of God, that can never fail"The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this ;" and it acts as a link to connect the exertions of the minister with the faithfulness of God. If the Corinthian Church regarded the bodily presence of Paul as weak, and his speech as contemptible, the Apostle was not cast down, because he found a resource in that faith which led him to glory, not in himself, but in the Lord; or rather to glory in his own infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon him, 2 Cor. x. 10, 17; xii. 9. The work of the ministry is not only a labour of love, but is eminently a work of faith. Where faith is wanting, it is a work of irksome bondage, and of insurmountable difficulty. In short, the moral difficulties of the ministerial office, when faith is wanting in the minister, can only be illustrated by the physical difficulty of removing mountains by human strength. We have said, that where success is wanting, it is most frequently on account of the absence of faith in the instrument; for as water cannot rise higher than its source, so the result of a minister's exertions must be in proportion to his faith. But where there is faith, even in the smallest degree, success will be surprising: for all the difficulties and obstacles that may stand in the way of a minister's labours can never, by their united force, amount to a practical contradiction of the promise of God, with which faith connects him. He that thus believes the promise can, though weak and powerless in himself, even triumphantly exclaim. "Not

In the 21st verse we read the following declaration—“Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." The original word, gera, which signifies "goeth out," is used both with reference to persons and things. It may therefore, if we confine our attention to St. Matthew's account of this miracle, be referred either to the kind of evil spirit by which the man was possessed, or to the kind of faith of which Christ had been speaking. If to the former, this declaration shows that there are several kinds of evil spirits, differing in power and strength from each other, some of which are more difficult to be expelled than others, and require the exercise of a faith that has been increased by prayer and fasting: if to the latter, the passage is to be explained as teaching that the kind of faith necessary for the performance of so great a miracle as that which has been just described, goes not forth into exercise except as the result of much prayer and fasting. In the parallel passage, however, in Mark ix. 28-29, there is nothing said about faith: the only antecedent there, to which the words "this kind”

can refer, is the evil spirit. We should there- | as we think, be rendered "The Son of fore explain the phrase "this kind," as re- man is about to be delivered into the hands lating to the kind of evil spirit which Christ of men." We do not think that the rehad just expelled. For we should never ference here is to Judas. If it were so, it forget that the four Gospels ought to be would have been more correct to have said, regarded, not only as independent histories "The Son of man is about to be delivered of the transactions of our Saviour's life, but into the hands of the elders and chief priests also as mutual expositions of each other. and scribes." But in the use of the generic But still, in either case we are taught that word "men," there appears to be a concealed faith is to be increased by prayer and fast- or implied antithesis, which leads us to coning by prayer as the spiritual discipline; clude that our Saviour is here referring to and by fasting as the physical discipline: his being delivered into the hands of men, for there is such an intimate connection be- by the agency of some one who was not a tween the mind and the body, that means man. The reference, then, is to his Heamust be taken by every Christian to prevent venly Father, who "spared not his own the latter from tyrannizing over the former. Son, but delivered him up for us all," that Where carnal lusts and animal passions pre- he might suffer whatsoever his hand and his vail, they create a thick mist about the soul, counsel determined before to be done, Rom. which prevents faith from discerning the viii. 32; Acts iv. 28. So that there is, in glory and the grace of Christ; but when this passage, more than a mere repetition of these are subdued and dispersed by prayer the former announcement recorded in chap. and fasting, all becomes clear and bright, xvi. 21. and the eye of faith is enabled to see, as it were, a light from Heaven shining round about the soul, and revealing distinctly the majesty and the omnipotence of Christ, saying to the believer" My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness."

From this review of the miracle which we have been now considering, we may learn-1. What is the power which Satan exercises over unconverted men: 2. The power of Christ in saving men from the tyranny of the Devil: 3. The duty of parents in bringing their children to Christ that they may receive the blessings of his mercy and, 4. The duty of ministers to exercise faith in the benevolence and omnipotence of the Saviour.

Christ again foretells his Death and
Resurrection.

22. And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men ;

23. And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.

Christ again foretells his death and resurrection. The latter part of verse 22 should,

On that occasion Christ referred to the subordinate instrumentality by which his death was effected: here, he refers to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God by which he was delivered up. The Apostle Peter seems to have referred back to both of these announcements in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, when he addressed his audience in the following words: "Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it," Acts ii. 23, 24.

Jesus frequently announced beforehand his sufferings and his death;-perhaps. amongst other reasons, in mercy to his disciples, in order that they might not be too suddenly overwhelmed with dismay, if the dark reality of his crucifixion had burst upon them all at once, without some previous warning of its approach. Our blessed Saviour knew what was in man-he was fully acquainted with the weakness of human nature, and the softness of human feeling, which is ever liable to be crushed beneath the pressure of an unexpected trial- and therefore he prepared his disciples for the scenes that were before them, in order that their sorrow in the anticipation of his death might fit them for sustaining the greater sorrow which his death itself would cause them. When he had formerly told them of his approaching

sufferings, Peter resisted the announcement

in unbelief; but now they all assent, in faith,

to what he tells them, and their affection for

ex

him fills their hearts with grief. Thus, it is no evidence of a want of submission to the will of God that we should feel sorrow at the prospect of sufferings that await us. This is, however, the Christian's privilege, that he should not sorrow as those that are without hope. No cloud can ever gather around his path, so dark and dense as to shut out those rays of blessedness and glory that lie in prospect beyond the afflictions of the present scene. If Jesus told his disciples that he must die, he also directed their thoughts to the joy that was set before him in his resurrection; but they were " ceeding sorry," because they fixed their attention exclusively on his sufferings, and did not look upon the glory that should follow. Let every Christian, who foresees the approaching loss of a dear and valued friend, or who is called to weep over the grave of one whom he fondly loved, learn from this to pray against the tendency which there is in man to contemplate what is dark, and to overlook what is bright in the dispensations of God regarding his people, and "not to sorrow even as others that have no hope; for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him," 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14.

pays

Christ the Half-shekels. 24. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute-money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your Master pay tribute?

27. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

The circumstance here recorded is one which reveals more of the personal dignity of Christ than, perhaps, any of the miracles which have been related by St. Matthew in the previous part of his gospel. Jesus was in the habit of residing at Capernaum, chap. iv. 13; ix. 1,—so that the collectors of the contribution which is here mentioned, waited until he had returned to this town before they applied for payment. It should be most carefully noticed, that this application did not refer to any tax that was imposed by Cæsar, or to any tribute for the support of the government of the country, but to a contribution for the support of the temple worship. The argument which Christ employed to prove that he was exempt from the necessity of paying this money, would not apply to any exaction made by civil authority. "Doth not your And indeed the question — Master pay tribute?" does not amount to an imperative demand, but is only a respectful inquiry, which shows that it referred to a voluntary contribution, which some persons might have declined paying. In fact, the word rendered "tribute" in the 24th verse, and the word rendered "piece of money" in the 27th verse, have each a specific meaning, which determines the nature of the contribution referred to. It is a great pity that the principle of generalization has been carried to such an extent in this passage, as it obscures the meaning of it, and weakens the force of the argument which it supplies for the divine dignity of Christ. The former expression, radiogazua, in verse 24, should be rendered either "the didrachms," or "the half-shekels ;" and the latter expression, ora

25. He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, orga, in the 27th verse, should be rendered of strangers?

26. Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him,

Then are the children free.

either " a stater," or "a shekel." An Attic drachma was one quarter of a shekel, so that two drachmas were half a shekel: a stater was equal to two half-shekels, or one shekel.

A half-shekel was about fourteen pence of our

money. So that when the collectors asked

the question" Doth not your Master pay the half-shekels ?" they refer to the contribution which God appointed, through Moses, that the children of Israel should pay, for providing the sacrifices and other things necessary for the service of the temple. Every Jew above twenty years of age paid half a shekel for this purpose, as an offering unto the Lord. This is fully stated in the following passages: Exodus xxx. 11-16; Xxxviii. 24-26; 2d Chron. xxiv. 9-11.

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When the collectors asked the question"Doth not your Master pay the half-shekels ?" Peter answered, "Yes." From which appears, not only that Christ was in the habit of paying all taxes that were imposed by lawful authority, but also that he had been in the habit of paying this contribution likewise. Since the last time for paying it, however, the remarkable conversation recorded in chap. xvi. 13-20, had taken place, on which occasion Peter had confessed his belief that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our Saviour, therefore, may have felt that it was now necessary to make Peter clearly understand on what principle he, "the Son of the living God," paid this contribution. This he does by an argument from analogy, and at the same time displays, in connection with the entire transaction, his possession of such attributes as were calculated to confirm the Apostle in his conviction of the divine dignity of his Master. Thus the propriety of the argument is enforced in the mind of Peter, not merely by his faith in the divinity of Christ resting upon past evidence, but also by faith resting upon present evidence. The first item in this evidence consisted in Christ showing that, though he was not present, he knew of the conversation which had passed between the apostle and the collectors,-" When he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him," or anticipated him, by speaking before Peter could tell him of the circumstance. Then Christ introduced his argument, for he wishes to lead the judgments of his people to acquiesce in what he teaches, "What thinkest thou, Simon?-of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute of their own children or of strangers?" The word strangers, aλorgiv, means persons who do not belong to their own families. Now, here the argument employed by Christ is taken from the case of civil rulers imposing taxes for the maintenance of civil

government: the words "custom," reλn, and tribute, xvov, show this. The former denotes taxes placed upon commodities or merchandize; the latter denotes a kind of polltax laid upon every person whose name was in the census of the population. When Peter answered the question, Christ makes use of the principle in which the Apostle had thus acquiesced, for establishing the truth of the inference which he intended to draw — " then are the children free," or exempt from taxes. So that we should particularly notice here, that Christ refers to kings of the earth imposing tribute, not upon their own sons, but upon their subjects, in order to argue from this, by analogy, in support of the infinitely higher principle that the King of Heaven would not impose tribute on his own Son. This latter principle he applies to himself in such a way as to mark himself out as the Son of God in the highest possible sense, or in such a peculiar sense as implied his complete unity of rank with the Father, and that he possessed a nature quite distinct from that which he possessed as a man and a Jew, for as such he would have been as much obliged to pay this contribution as any other Jew. Having thus advanced an argument to show that he was exempt from the necessity of paying this contribution, on account of his real dignity, he next states the principle on which he intended to forego the privilege of his rank, and to pay the contribution" lest we should offend them," or lest he should throw a stumbling block in the way of their acknowledging that he was the Messiah, by giving them any reason to allege that he was indifferent to the temple or to its services. Such, however, was the poverty of Christ, that he could not pay even so small a sum as a shekel, without working a miracle to procure it. He could truly say, as the apostles Peter and John did afterwards, "Silver and gold have I none." Here, however, his poverty as a man was the immediate occasion of manifesting something of the unsearchable riches of his Godhead. He said to Peter-" Go thou to the sea," that is, to the lake of Tiberias, "and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up, and when thou hast opened his mouth thou shalt find a piece of money," that is, a stater or shekel: "that take and give unto them for me and thee." How wonderful is this! Christ does not desire all the disciples to go with all their nets, and to cast them several times, into many and dif

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