demons in the name of Jesus, whom he had forbidden, because he did not, like them, join Him. Jesus, instead of commending, reproved his zeal as mistaken; Forbid him not; whoever is not against us, is for us. This admonition teaches us to respect those, who, by their preaching, bring sinners to repentance and faith in Christ, though not sent forth, as we conceive, by the proper authority, and to leave them to pursue their course unmolested, instead of attempting to silence them. God, the Author of the ordinary vocation, acts when He pleases in an extraordinary manner; but this extraordinary call must be ascertained to be authentic by its effects; for this man did not merely call upon demons to leave the possessed, but actually expelled them. Jesus then pronounced a woe upon those who cause weak believers to stumble, declaring that it is better to part with every thing most precious to us, represented under the image of an eye, a hand, and a foot, than to incur eternal punishment by

• This doctrine is so odious to the carnal mind, that even divines, well acquainted with the Scriptures, have maintained the final Happiness of all mankind after a sufficient period of suffering. It is easy for ingenious men to render plausible what their readers wish to be true; but in order to convince, they ought to be able to show, that (as poets have feigned, and philosophers have imagined) punishment has a reforming and purifying tendency. The effect I apprehend will be found to be the reverse; and that as the spirits cast down to hell and reserved to judgment, instead of being drawn by their long sufferings to admire the perfections of the Deity, and to grieve that they have disobeyed Him, only hate Him the more for His very excellence; there seems reason to believe that the wicked of our race who shall depart into the fire prepared for the Devil and his angels, deprived of restraining grace, and left to themselves and their evil companions, will sink from depth to depth of depravity. But, without engaging in the philosophical question, I observe, that no philological criticism can lower our Saviour's language. It has been attempted to explain iwes, the Greek word we translate eternal, as if it did not mean a strict eternity, but a period of long and indefinite duration; but even if this meaning could be established, it is plain that the words of Christ, unquenchable fire, declare its eternal continuance; and the refuge of annihilation will not remain, for the doctrine-that though the fire be itself eternal, it will destroy those cast into it--is overturned by the expression, the worm

causing others to draw back. Lest pride should tempt them to despise the least of those that believe in Him, however weak their faith, or however great may have been their failings, He declared not only that the most exalted angels disdain not to minister to these little ones, but that the Son of Man Himself has come to seek and to save that which is lost; and illustrated His Father's desire for the conversion of sinners by the conduct of a Shepherd, who will leave his flock, to go in search of a single sheep that has strayed.

Having spoken of those who injured their brethren, He treated of the case of those who are injured, and laid down rules for their behaviour, which, if honestly followed, would seldom fail of producing reconciliation. The advantage of agreement He enforced by assuring them, that whenever even two of them should agree in making the same request to His Father, it should be accomplished; for, said He, wherever two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them. There cannot be a stronger encouragement to social and family prayer, nor a more effectual admonition to its reverent performance, while it necessarily implies His omnipresence, which cannot be predicated of a creature; and as He spoke to Jews, they must have thus understood Him; for it is a saying among them still, that where ten are assembled to study the Law, there the Deity is present.

dieth not; from which we also learn, that, exclusive of eternal sufferings, the damned will have to endure the anguish and gnawing, as it were, of a self-reproaching conscience. The words themselves are borrowed from the conclusion of Isaiah's prophecies, and refer apparently to the two methods by which the dead are disposed of, burning and interment. If eternal punishment be threatened to the impenitent offender, the veracity of God, who cannot lie, and will not change His purpose, assures us, that the threat will be fulfilled; and it follows, that though it be more congenial to the spirit of Christianity to draw men by the cords of love, there are some who are to be convinced only by the terrors of the Lord. How awful then is the responsibility of those who not only neglect but oppose God's own method of awakening hardened sinners!

own decease, even to the end of time. He seems to have considered Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, as of equal dignity and authority, for he adds, Let us make three tabernacles. While the Apostle was thus speaking, a bright cloud, like that, we may presume, which hung over the Mercy-seat in the first temple, the symbol of the Divine Presence, overshadowed them, and from it the voice was heard, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; being the same testimony that was borne to Him at His baptism; to which was added the command, Hear ye Him, that is, in preference to Moses and Elijah. They are God's servants, He alone is His Son; they came not to share His glory, but to acknowledge His preeminence, by whose obedience the morality of the law was magnified, and in whose passion and death its ceremonies and types were about to be fulfilled. Moses and Elijah vanish; Christ alone remains, the sole and unrivalled object of their reverence. The glory of the vision was more than the faculties of men, who were still in the body, could long endure; awed and overpowered, they lay with their faces on the ground, till Jesus touched them, and encouraged them to rise. On arising, and looking round, they found that the visitants from the world of spirits had departed, and that their Master was alone with them, in His usual appearance. It is thought that a degree of brightness remained upon His face, as that of Moses shone, when he came down from his conference with God in Mount Sinai, because the multitude expressed amazement on his return, and treated him with more than ordinary deference. The effect however produced was the reverse, and characteristic of the difference between the Law and the Gospel. When Moses came down, the people were afraid of approaching him; but so attractive was the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ, that they running to Him saluted Him. (Mark ix. 15.)

On descending, He charged them to mention the vision to

none till after His resurrection, not even, it should seem, to the other Apostles. Before that event it would not have obtained credit, and it was designed, at present, more for their own support than the conviction of others. St. John seems to refer to the Transfiguration, (i. 14.) when in the introduction to his Gospel he speaks of having seen the glory of the Logos; and he was cheered in his exile in Patmos by a similar and longer view of his Redeemer in the robes of High Priest, with a countenance shining like the sun in his strength. The scene, transitory as it was, made such an abiding impression upon St. Peter, that in his second Epistle, written many years after, a little before his death, he argues from it, that he had not followed cunningly devised fables; that he had neither deceived, nor been himself mistaken, for he had been an eyewitness of the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, which he heard when he was with Him in the holy mount. (2 Peter i. 16-19.) The Law and the Prophets were until John, who came to usher in the Christian dispensation, and this appearance of Moses and Elijah seems to announce that their authority was about to vanish away. This will assist in explaining the injunction of secresy, since the abolition of the ceremonial law was one of the truths which even the Apostles were unable to bear, till they were taught it by the Holy Ghost. His mention of the resurrection of the Son of Man perplexed them, as with the rest of their countrymen they believed that the Messiah was to abide for ever; and they could not understand why Elijah had disappeared, for it was the popular notion that he should come to prepare the nation for His advent, as Malachi had foretold. The fact the Messiah allowed, but explained it in a manner that showed, that the person designated by that figure was the Baptist; and this explanation authorizes, where the context requires it, the figurative interpretation of Prophecy, though commentators till

of late have too much abandoned the literal meaning, which, when no strong objection can be shown, ought to be preferred.

76. Jesus on His descent cures a Demoniac, whom His disciples were unable to dispossess. Matt. xvii. 14-21. Mark ix. 41-29. Luke ix. 37–42.

During their absence, a father had brought for cure to the remaining nine, his son, whom a Demon tormented with Epilepsy, then called Lunacy, because supposed to be under the influence of the moon. On their late mission they had found the evil spirits subject to them; but they were now baffled, not, I apprehend, because this demon was more difficult to cast out than others, but because their faith had failed. Our Lord on His return found the Scribes disputing with them; arguing, we may suppose from the failure of the servants, to the inability of the Master. And His address, faithless and perverse generation, which includes both, supports this explanation. He revived the father's hope, by ordering the demoniac to be brought to Himself; and after suffering the demon to display all his tremendous power, by throwing down and convulsing the boy, he dismissed him by a word of authority. The faith of the father was inferior in degree to that of many whose cases are recorded, but it was genuine, for it brought him as a suppliant, notwithstanding the failure of the Apostles; and his petition, Increase my faith, seems to show a conception, however indistinct, of the superiority of Jesus to a prophet, and of His power not only of casting out evil spirits, but also of enlightening the understanding, and influencing the heart. Still it was feeble, for his speech is, If Thou canst do any thing; to which our Lord returns this answer, If thou canst believe; showing the necessity of faith. Jesus commanded the evil spirit with more than usual authority, I charge thee, and, Enter into him no more;