190 Christ preaches at Capernaum on the sabbath-day, SECT. O Lord. for I am a sinful man, and if thou stand at a distance from xxxiv. me, I perish! Come, and recover my heart from the tyranny of Ver, sin; come, and possess snd fix it for thyself!" 9, 10 SECT. XXXV. Mark That secret power which these good men felt on their souls while the words of Christ were sounding in their ears would be to them a token for good as to the success of their ministry upon others. Surely we cannot wish any thing of greater importance for the edification of the church, than that the persons who are employed in its public offices may themselves experimentally know the power of Divine grace, and be brought to a determination to follow Christ whithersoever he goeth, before they undertake to invite and persuade others to do it. SECT. XXXV. Christ entering into Capernaum, teaches in the synagogue, and casts out a devil; and coming into Peter's house, cures his mother-inlaw of a fever. Mark I. 21-31. Mat. VIII. 14, 15. Luke IV. 33-39. MARK I. 21. HEN our Lord had thus called Peter and MARK I. 21. taught: AND they went into straightway on the sabCapernaum, and left the side of the lake, and entered with him bath-day he entered in1.21 into the city of Capernaum; and immediately on to the synagogue and the sabbath-day, going, according to his custom, into the synagogue, he taught [them] the important truths which he was in so extraordinary a manner commissioned to vindicate, or to reveal. 22 And they were again struck with amazement at the sublimity and excellency of his doctrine, for he was continually teaching them in such a them as one that had manner as one who had an immediate authority authority, and not as from God to dictate to them; and not as the the scribes. scribes, their established teachers, who dealt in precarious traditions and fanciful allegories; the amusement of light minds, but utterly un a And immediately on the sabbath-day.] It is in the original tas saffaow, in the plural number; and it is frequently expressed in the same manner where it is plainly to be understood of a particular day, as Mat. xii. 1. xxviii. 1. Acts xiii. 14. and elsewhere. There is no doubt, but it is spoken here of the next sabbath, and probably of the very next day after his coming back with his disciples to Capernaum; see notek on Mark i. 18. p. 184. b They were again struck with amazement.] It has already been observed that fit 22 And they were astonished at his doc trine; for he taught they were thus amazed at his first coming to preach among them (Luke iv. 32. sect. xxxiii.) and there seems also to have been something in the discourses, as well as in the miracles of this last sabbath that he spent among them at this time, which raised their wonder, and affected them in a peculiar manner; as appears from the multitude of sick people which were brought to him that evening; see Mark i. 32, 33. Luke iv. 40. and Mat. viii. 16. in the next section. The And publicly casts out a devil in the synagogue. LUKE IV. 33. And there was a man which [MARK 1. 23.] to do with thee, thou 191 fit to alarm the conscience and to captivate the SECT. heart. XXXV. Luke And there was in their synagogue a man that in [their] synagogue had the spirit of an unclean demon, or fallen an- IV. 33. had a spirit of an un- gel, possessing him, by which he was miserably clean devil; and cried distorted and agitated; and he, either compelled out with a loud voice, to bear an unwilling testimony to Christ, or desirous by malicious praises to bring him into suspicion as a confederate with those infernal 34 Saying, Let us spirits, cried out with a loud voice. Saying, 34 alone; what have we in the name of the rest, Let us alone; what Jesus of Nazareth? Art hast thou to do with us, O Jesus of Nazareth? thou come to destroy art thou come to destroy us, by driving us out of our abodes on earth to the regions of darkness? I well know thee, and, under all the disadvantages of thy present appearance, can sufficiently discern who thou art; and therefore dread thee as the Holy One of God, whom he hath sanctified and sent into the world for the destruction of my kingdom in it; but take notice that I do not begin the quarrel by offering thee any injury or affront. us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. [MARK I. 24.] Crown him in the 35 And Jesus re- But Jesus, scorning praises from so impure a 35 buked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and mouth, rebuked him, saying, Be silent, and come come out of him. And out of him: and, upon this, the demon having when the devil had thrown him violently from his seat into the midst midst, [and torn him] of the assembly, [and] having terribly convulsed he cried with a loud him, cried with a loud voice [and] came out of voice, and] came out of him; but was so restrained by the Divine power [MARK 1. 25, 26.] and mercy that he did him no farther harm; and the man immediately recovered, and was perfectly well. hini, and burt him not. And joined with devil, being necessarily implied d Having terribly convulsed him.] This The spirit of an unclean demon. It is well known that a late learned and ingenious writer hath revived the notion long since maintained by Mr. Joseph Mede and Dr. Bekker, that these supposed demoniacs were only lunatics or epileptics: but on the most impartial perusal of what has passed between him and his learned antagonists, I am fully convinced that there is no sufficient reason for departing from the received interpretation; and I should think this story alone a convincing proof on the side of it. It is most incredible that an evangelist should have been left to ascribe this man's disorder to the spirit of an unclean demon, if it were only lunacy or the falling sickness; or that a physician of common sense should speak of it as a memorable circumstance that such a distemper did not hurt a man by leaving him: see ver. 35. -I retain the word demon, as the epithet unclean seems to have little force when Y 2 more natural to understand it thus than to e Did him no farther harm.] This is pro- f Keps 192 SECT. Mark 29 Reflections on Christ's healing the possessed, &c. much that they ques of the country round And they were all exceedingly amazed at so MARK 1.27. And they miraculous a cure, so that they inquired of each were all amazed, insoother, and said, What an extraordinary event as tioned among them 1.27. this? [and] what a new and unexampled doctrine selves, saying, What is this? for behold, he does not only distinguish thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for himself by his incomparable manner of teach- with authority [and ing, but with majestic authority, and efficacious power] commandeth he power, he commandeth even the unclean spirits, rits, and they do obey even the unclean spiand they instantly obey him, and come out of the him [and come out.] possessed, shewing thereby that they are sub- [LUKE IV. 36.] 28 And immediately 28 ject to him. And his fame was so raised by this his fame spread abroad signal miracle, that it went forth immediately throughout all the rethrough all the region of Galilee, and made way gion round about Galifor his reception in the progress he afterwards lee, [iuto every place took into every place of the neighbouring country, about.] [LUKE IV. And presently after this miraculous cure, Je- 37.] 29 And forthwith, sus going out of the synagogue with his disciples, when they were come they came, with James and John in their com- out of the synagogue, pany, into the house of Simon and Andrew, who they entered into the 30 being brothers, did then live together: And house of Simon and Simon's wife's mother was dangerously ill, and Andrew, with James kept her bed, of a violent fever; and having seen the miracle which he had wrought but just before mother lay sick of a in the synagogue, they presently tell him of her, they tell him of her, [great] fever, and anon and entreated him that he would be pleased to [and besought him for 31 interpose for her recovery. And coming into her.] [LUKE IV. 58.] the room where she lay, and standing near her, [and stood over her,] he took her by the hand, and raised her up in her and took her by the bed; and with an air of majesty rebuked the fe- hand, and lifted her vers, and immediately the fever left her at once; fever;] and immediand she was instantly restored to such a degree of ately the fever left her, strength that she arose and waited upon them; and she [arose, and] being so far from needing the assistance of others, [LUKE IV.39.-MAT. as she had done before, that she became ca- VIII. 14, 15.1 pable of taking her part in the business of the family. Mark 1. 27. IMPROVEMENT. and John. SO But Simon's wife's 31 And he came up, [and rebuked the ministered unto them. JUSTLY may we join our astonishment with that of the inhabitants of Capernaum, and say, What manner of teaching is this ? and with what regard should it be received, when the devils themselves, and the most desperate diseases, are thus apparently subject to him who uses it? f Kept her bed.] This seems the proper meaning of the word warx70. g Rebuked the fever.] There could be no inconvenience in the evangelist's using this phrase, more than in saying, he rebuked the We wind and sea (see Mat. viii. 26.) for it is hardly to be thought the Jews would imagine the fever a real person; but it was quite otherwise as to their notion of demons. h The Reflections on Christ's healing the possessed, &c. 193 XXXV. We see the malice of Satan in possessing and tormenting the SECT. bodies of men. God then permitted it, to render Christ's triumph over him so much the more illustrious, and the appearance Luke of that great Deliverer so much the more welcome. Such dia- IV. 32. bolical operations as these are now restrained; and it is matter of great thankfulness that they are. But would to God that malignant enemy did not, in a yet more fatal manner, possess the souls of men and work in the children of disobedience! Yet there can the power of Jesus prevail, to bind the strong man and spoil his goods. Wisely did Christ silence the suspicious praises of an unclean 34, 35 spirit; and vain is all the hope which men build merely on those orthodox professions of the most important truths, in which Satan himself could vie with them. Christ, returning from the synagogue, finds the mother-in-law Mark I. of Peter detained from the solemn assemblies, a prisoner at home 29, 30 under an afflictive providence, which that circumstance of confinement probably rendered yet more afflictive to her. But the mercy which the evening brought with it was a rich equivalent for all the sorrows of the day. Jesus, their welcome guest, appears as the great Physician both of soul and body; a touch of 31 his hand assuages the tumult in her veins, and at his voice the distemper leaves her. Surely, as the great Lord in the kingdom of Providence, he performs those cures which are now wrought by natural means, and is to be owned in them. Must not each of h The appearance of that great Deliverer so much the more welcome.] It would be very foolish to imagine that God suffered these unhappy persons to be possessed merely that Christ might have the honour of curing them: but it is to be considered that the view under which Christ is most frequently represented is as the great antagonist to the prince of darkness, and the gospel has its foundation in the victory which Satan has gained over mankind; compare Gen. iii. 15. Mat. xii. 28, 29. 1 John iii. 8. Heb. ii. 14. and Rom. xvi. 20. (as also Mat. vi. 13. John xvii. 15. Eph. vi. 16, and 1 John ii. 13, 14. iii. 12. V. 18, 19. in all which places wongos seems to signify the wicked one, that is, the devil, whose powerful influence over men is intimated or expressed in each of them :) and it appears from Wisd. ii. 24, that the Jews before Christ's time had something of this notion, and considered the wicked in general as taking part with the devil: the words are, Through envy of the devil came death into the world, and they that do hold of his side do find it. The inspired texts above shew that the expression us is just; and it was certainly on this account a When 194 SECT. Many cures are wrought in the evening. us thankfully acknowledge how often he hath rebuked fevers and XXX other distempers by the skill of physicians, and the efficacy of Luke medicines; so that they have departed from us perhaps when we esteemed them desperate, and had received the sentence of death in ourselves. IV. 39. Luke Let us learn to imitate the pious gratitude of this good woman, IV. 39. who, when recovered, immediately arose and ministered unto Christ. Thus let it be our care that those lives which are spared by his goodness, and that strength which is renewed by his power, may be faithfully and affectionately devoted to his service. SECT. SECT. XXXVI. Christ having performed several cures on the evening of the sabbathday, retires early the next morning to his devotions; and declining a longer abode at Capernaum, takes a circuit about Galilee, preaching and working miracles. Mark I. 32-39. Luke IV. 40. to the end. Mat. VIII. 16, 17. and IV. 23. to the end. MARK I. 22. THE HE remainder of the day Jesus spent in xxxvi. Peter's house; and in the evening, when the sun was set, and consequently the sabbath was 1.32 ended, they brought unto him on their beds and Mark IV. 40 MARK I. 32. the sun did set, AND at even, when they brought unto him all that were diseased, and [many] that were couches, which they scrupled before to carry, [MAT. VIII. 16.b possessed with devils. all that were ill, and many that were possessed LUKE IV. 40.] Luke with devils: Yea, all that had any persons in LUKE IV. 40. All their houses sick of various distempers, brought they that had any sick with divers diseases, them unto him for relief; and he sent none of brought them unto them away with a denial, but with a sovereign him: and he [cast authority cast out the [evil] spirits with a word; his word, and laid] his and treating those that were diseased in the most hands on every one of gracious and compassionate manner, he laid his them, and healed [all hands on every one of them, and healed all that that were sick.] [MAT. were sick, without the use of any means, how s4.-] Mat. inveterate and desperate soever their distemper VIII. 17 was: out the spirits with VIII. 16.-MARK I. filled which was spo That thus it might appear to be accom- MAT. VIII. 17. plished in some measure which was spoken of him That it might be fulin a more noble and important sense by the pro- ken by Esaias the prophet Isaiah, saying (chap. liii. 4), "Ile him self phet, c In a more noble and important sense by the prophet Isaiah.] It seems evident that Isaiah, in the place here referred to speaks of the sufferings which Christ endured for us; for on account of these only could he be esteemed (as it is added in the end of the verse) stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. So that the evangelist has only introduced |