SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16679, 28 February 1920, Page 8

SUNDAY READING.

A sermon preached ■in the Wliiteley Memorial Church by the Rev. J. Napier Milne. THIS PLEA. pE EVIL. Mark o, 7-17; “I adjure thee by God, . torment me not.” “And they began to beseech Him to depart from their borders.” The healing of the Gerasene demoniac evidently made a protound impression on the minds of the disciples. The proof of .that is the circumstance that, so much space is devoted to the incident in the Gospels. , Matthew gives seven verses to the miracle, Mark twenty,. lJuke. .fourteen, in all forty-one verses. .When you remember that .whole days in the life and work of our I.ord are riot unseldom packed into single passages, the detailed description of this meeting between the Divine and the diabolic is evidence that the, evangelists regarded it as a testing case in the Master's ministry. It was certainly the worst ease that up to that moment'Jesus had encountered. There were no asylums iri those times, arid the miserable man was allowed to roam at large. He was more like a wild beast than, a human being;' Ihe burial-ground on the hillside, lonely and desolate, was his haunt and home.. Night arid day he rent the air with unearthly cries arid' dashed his naked - body against the sharp rocks. Tortured and torn by a mysterious tyranny, he was the terror' of the neighbourhood. Attempts had been made to bind him, but with frenzied strength he had always sent his fetters rattling to the ground and burst his bonds asunder. I wonder, will the Carpenter of Nazareth succeed where the blacksmith has failed? There can bo no doubt as to the tcrriblencss of the possession. Christ has never been confronted after this sort before.

Tlio demoniac no sooner espied Jesus than his fury gave place to fear. It only added to bis torture to be in the presence of the All Holy One. Light is never welcome to creatures that crawl and swarm in the darkness. Yet associated with shuddering recoil, there was a clear perception of Infinite goodness. Repelled, yet attracted, the manvan and prostrated himself at our Lord’s feet. Hades received Heaven. Profligacy bowed down before purity. When the unclean spirit was sternlycommanded to come forth, there arose' a plea for immunity, toleration, delay. “What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, thou Sou of the -Most High God; I adjure Thee by God that Thou torment me not.” It was the prayer of evil to bo undisturbed. BuJ. the'Lord would have none of it. The unhappy man, who had often watched the Unman legions thunder past his lair, ' believed hint self to be ‘ possessed' by u legion'- of demons. They must all' be exorcised. One Who was more than their Master had come and to His authority they must yield.

In presenting this plea, the demoniac was the mouthpiece of the spirits of wickedness with which he was tormented. The subject of diabolical possession is admittedly a difficult one, hut it ihay-'not'bo dismissed as .an empty; superstition. Some of our modern scholars incline to the belief that this man was simply suffering from the hallucination' of a disordeicd brain. He was a raging madman, a lunatic. And like a wise Physician Christ went -through the form of casting out demons, not because Ho believed Jhe awful thing to be a reality, but in order ,to humour the delusions of the sufferer.

The theory does not adequately explain the facts, and some of them it leaves absolutely untouched. It is vain to say that when the writers oi the Gospels spoke of men as being possessed with demons* they intended nothing further to be understood-than that they were the subjects of ordinary diseases.

There is always a distinction -drawn. Christ Himself addressed the demons in the men He cured, and even spoke of them in conversation with His disciples arid His enemies where no reason can be suggested for His encouraging a great delusion, involving far more than merely scientific error. It would bo rash to assume that the day of demoniacal' possession has passed away! A medical man once told rDr7 Plummer that he was confident he had known of a case in his practice;. the terrible manifestations seemed, to admit of no other explanation. What if some of the supposed insanity cases of modern tiriies is possession P Those_ -who "have had most to do with people of deranged mind would bo the last to dismiss the possibility. “Multiple personality,” wo call the sad affliction. In the mission field, where the conflict between light and darkness is in its ; first stages, there frequently occur foul, and violent outbursts of, spiritual forces. “How such influences are' exerted ought to to less difficult to understand,” says an eminent scholar, “in days when the extraordinary effects of mesmprism and hypnotism are; being recognised as an established fact. If a man -con influence the will of his fellow without any. ordinary means of communication, it is hardly strange that spirits should have a- wider power. The whole question turns bn; the existence, of evil spirits? and here revelation speaks with no uncertain rmnd.” ■

Now, whether you associate evil with sinister personal powers or not, you cannot but admit that tho prayer of such powers is always and always, "I beseech theo, torment me not.” Our public and our private iniquities are over begging to be undisturbed. “The heathen in his blindness, bows down’ to ivood and stone.” Touch his idols, suggest that they be thrown' to the molqs and the bats, and you stir up at once a nest of hornets. The devotees of idolatry, are immediately up in amsp and- you* offend beyond all forgiveness those whose trade is endangered thereby. Legion is the name of the war-fiend’s friends. Let one of our eminent writers or statesmen venture : upon a scathing denunciation of the war spirit, and ope would think to judge from the feeling aroused, that bloodshed was the bravest and noblest art which nations and men could learn. What an outcry : is raised when it is .proposed to impose new limitations upon the’"drink traffic, to introduce Prohibition or to reduce the number of the licenses. “Lot us alone, torment me not.” That is the perpetual plea. Not less clamant for toleration and delay are our personal evils. The youth resents the friendly hand upon his shoulder and the friendly word of advice in his ear. You are curtly request-

ed to let well alone whon you venture in all kindness to lay your finger upon a friend’s moral sore. In our own departures from''right thinking and right acting, have we never- tried; to silence the voice of an accusing Have we never said, “I adjure thee by God that thou torment mo not?” The plea is very specious. “Art thou come to destroy U&?” Why, we are identical with the best human interests. Man is a worshipping animal and must worship something. War means progress, development, prodigous profits for multitudes. Wine cheereth the heart of man. Tho creature was made for happiness, and happiness is found by following .inclination. The plea is as impudent as it is specious. Evil has no right to bo .left alone. It is cruel even to tolerate it. This world does not belong to the devil but to God, and it is His gracious purpose to cast out of human nature all that shames and degrades it. ' Wo should not bo content to remain under the despotism and domination of evil. Evil null not yield to argument or blandishment or law or discipline. You cannot persuade or coax or trighten or starve tho evil spirit out. But you can appeal from earth to Heaven. “The spirit of-life in Christ Jesus shall make you free from tho law of sin and death.”

\v lien the nows spread that the demoniac had been delivered, a great crowd quickly gathered, hut there was no rejoicing. The people were seized with a superstitious dread and took alarm lest the deep sea should swallow up other of their possessions. It was all very well to heal a madman, but to do it at the cost of some 2000 head of swine—.that was a serious matter. Evidently Jesus was a dangerous person to have in their midst, and they were fain to be relieved of His presence.

riio difficulty about tho influence of evil spirits upon tho brute is not a serious one. An able expositor lias well said that we know too little of what is possible with regard to tho influence of mind upon matter to be safe in asserting that spirits could not influence creatures that have no spiritual nature. Tlie real difficulty concerns our Lord’s part m the transaction which culminated in the destruction of the herd of swine.. This has boon designated “an unjustifiable violation of the laws of property and a blameworthy instance of cruelty to- animals.” The answer to which may be briefly this that Christ’s one word to the demons, though authoritative, is no more than permissive. He casts them out of the man and does not prevent their entrance into the swine. There is no need, howpvor, to invent justifications lor Christ’s destroying the • herd, for He-drd not destroy it. In any case the end justified the means. (there are times when we cannot stop to he reasonable. Ono man is of more value than many pigs. Property must never he brought into competition with human life and happiness. Rather than that one little child should grow up to be a drunkard I bankrupt every hotelkeeper in New Zealand. (There seems little doubt that what bulked largest in the desire of these people for the Deliverer’s departure was the loss of the swine. There are always men who put trade above social regeneration and spiritual redemption. To them tho uplifting of humanity is nothing as compared with fat dividends and a big balance at the bank. Beware lest you place yourself under the- condemnation of the Gerasenes. The Gospel of salvation never' comes cither to a community or to an individual without bringing along with it some conditions of cost. There are interests in this town to-day that Would go crash to-morrow were the authority of Christ recognised. When vou allow the Saviour-God to have His right of way. .through your life, do not be surprised if He interferes with some of your plans, breaks up some of your arrangements, frustrates some of your schemes and purposes. Christianity is the most revolutionary force in the world.

They besought Him. to depart, and He went. And so nations have asked Christ to leave them, and Ho has gone ; and churches resisting reformation hav,p driven Him away, and He has gone; and--men and women without, number have adjured His to depart, and He has departed. He does not force H;s company upon any man. You can banish Him, you can shake Him off, you can show Him the door. Terrible power I How are you using it? It may be that you are not conscious of ever having asked Christ to.depart, but if you have been sluggish and reluctant to make the supreme choice which divides tlie light from tho darkness and the eternal life from the eternal death, you have done what is morally equivalent to a protest against Christ’s presence. ■ ... :