sought above all things to be accepted of Christ; so long as he could secure His approval, Satan might rage and the world might frown. An approving conscience, an assurance of all needed grace, a bright prospect of rest and reward in heaven-where he would be with Christ-kept him firm and faithful amid every trial and trouble he experienced.

Let us exult in the service of our risen Lord, and serve Him with all our ransomed powers. Our feet swift in obedience; hands stretched forth to every good deed; tongue vocal with prayer and praise and holy witnessing. Our intellectual and emotional powers of head and heart all engaged in joyful, energetic, constant, ardent service. Such service pleases God, prepares for higher employment in the skies. His servants increase in experimental knowledge of Him here, shall be with Him, like Him, and see His face hereafter. May the love of Christ to us, and in us, lead to the Christly consecration embodied in these words, "Whose I am, and whom I serve." CLIFTON. FREDERICK W. BROWN.

Demoniac of Gadara.

"AND WHEN HE WAS COME OUT OF THE SHIP, IMMEDIATELY THERE MET HIM OUT OF THE TOMBS A MAN WITH AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT," &c. -Mark v. 2-13.

IN this narrative we have an 'illustration of the terrible effects of sin, and the deadly purpose of the devil in regard to the creatures of God.

I. THE DEMONIAC. "A man with an unclean spirit." A bad case of demoniacal possession, so common in those days.

(1) His dwelling. "Among the tombs." Showing the dehumanizing effects of sin, in its power to associate man with (a) the unnatural and revolting. "Among the tombs." In the dark, damp caverns and recesses where the skeletons of the dead were mouldering. (b) In the permanency of its deadly spell. "Had

his dwelling among the tombs." No periodical or temporary thing. "His dwelling." Can we not recall many whose awful experience is here illustrated? Men, and, alas, women, who are taking pleasure in, and making their dwelling among the morally putrescent and loathsome; walking "among the tombs" of their former nobility and virtues.

(2) His desperation. "No man could bind him." The character of many is here photographed. How many do we know who "have been often bound" with pledges, and fetters of human kindness and sympathy, only to be "plucked asunder" in temptation's fearful frenzy.

(3) His strength. "The fetters broken." No human appliances can so bind sin that it cannot break its fetters.

(4) His misery. "Crying and cutting himself." Sin is selflove under a dreadful delusion. (a) It is misery,—" crying." (b) It is damaging,-" cutting." (c) It is unseemly,-" with stones." (d) It is self-inflicted torture,-" cutting himself." The sinner chooses his own weapons and does his own "cutting."

(5) His ferocity. "No man could tame him." Showing the utter powerlessness of earthly appliances to conquer sin. Showing also that bitter experience will not improve the sinner. How many, with the burning memory of a most awful experience, are still "crying and cutting" themselves with the stones of sinful gratification and pleasure.

(6) His sight. "Saw Jesus." The most important crisis in the life of any man is when he first sees Jesus. He must be either better or worse ever afterwards. Jesus must either leave a blessing or a curse.

(7) His devotion. "Worshipped Him." Had some knowledge of him; felt he needed help, and believed Jesus was able to help him. (8) His recoil. "What have I to do with Thee." In cases of demoniacal possession it would seem that at times the intellect and also the will were untrammelled by Satanic agency, and at other times the whole man was under his control. When the demoniac saw Jesus, it happened that his intellect and will were free, and "he ran and worshipped Him." But ere he began, Satan projected himself over the entire man, and instead of

worship he uttered abuse. 'What have I to do with Thee." This question may mean, (1) “What have I," a fallen angel, “to do with Thee," who art only the Saviour of fallen men? Or, it may mean, (2) "What, is it your business?" If the former, see Satan's knowledge as (a) a theologian; if the latter, see his (b) audacity. He was making this poor wretch unfit to live or die, a curse to himself and a terror to the community, and when Jesus came to see about it, Satan impudently replies, "What, is it your business?"

(9) His request. "Torment me not." They were having a passably good time of it, for devils, when they were making this poor man so miserable. (1) To break his power over the lives of men adds to Satan's misery. "Torment me not." that Jesus has the power and purpose to do it. (3) He is sound in his theology. "Son of the "Come out of the man." (2) Sympathetic.

II-THE CURE.

(1) Authoritative.

the demons cast out.

(1) Their number. "Legion."

(2) He knows "I adjure thee." most high God.” These words are Notice

(3) Mandatory.

(2) Their request. "Not send them away."

The devil, though

If cast out of one

cast out, does not like to be sent "away." member of the family, nothing suits him so well as to enter another, out of the wife into the husband, out of the brother into the sister, out of the child into the father.

(3) Their degradation. "Send us into the swine." The tendency of the devil is to make man swinish. He only has the result here without the process. The tendency of sin is to pollute and degrade the sinner, until swinelike he is at home when wallowing in the polluting mire of his own appetites and passions.

(4) Their permission. "Jesus gave them leave." Learn here that the devil cannot enter into even a pig without getting leave of Jesus Christ. How safe then God's children should feel. From the first, Jesus neither followed the suggestions of the devil nor granted his requests. Why then did he allow him to enter these swine? It may be the herd belonged to some old Jew, who, though contrary to their law, was running a brisk

pork business among the Gentiles of Gadara. Be that as it may, we know that Jesus often permits the devil to enter the herds and accumulations of men who, openly or secretly, violate his law, sending them down the steep places of financial disaster and insolvency.

(5) Their influence. "The herd ran violently down." (1) The movements of sin are rapid. "Ran.” (2) Exhaustive. "Violently." (3) Descending. "Down a steep." (4) Uniform in effect. "The herd ran," Not some of them. In their haste they did not scatter, but all went straight to destruction. The devil never entered any creature of God but with the purpose to destroy. Some he may send more leisurely "down" than others, but they are all a unit in this, that they are moving downwards towards the great sea. Hogs, like sinners, are noted for their headstrong proclivities, and the determination to go east if you urge them to go west. How even the devil could induce this immense herd to run towards a given point is truly surprising to me. The surprise, however, is more than equalled in the moral world, where we see the rich and poor, the cultured and illiterate, the proud millionaire and the ragged tramp, a unit in their forgetfulness of God, and in the direction in which they move. PHILADELPHIA.

THOMAS KELLY.

66

Work Appointed and Rewarded by Christ.

"TO EVERY MAN HIS WORK."—Mark xiii. 34.

BEHOLD, I COME QUICKLY; AND MY REWARD IS WITH ME, TO GIVE EVERY MAN ACCORDING AS HIS WORK SHALL BE.”—Revelation xxii. 12.

"THE modern majesty," says Carlyle, " consists in work. What a man can do is his greatest ornament, and he always consults his dignity by doing it." But this is true of all times-man doing his right work, to the best of his ability, with the highest ends in view.

These two passages have to do with work-each man's work, and the manner of its discharge, in the light of judgment and

eternity. The close connexion between these two parts of Scripture. The first, taken from the parable, describes the work as given out to each servant. The second speaks of the examination of the work done, and the reward given to each servant according to its quality and amount. The words, unspeakably solemn, but as encouraging as solemn to every true-hearted, faithful man.

I. CHRIST APPOINTS EVERY CHRISTIAN'S WORK.

(a) Each has his own work to do for Christ.

(b) Each must receive the appointment from Christ Himself. (c) Each one, therefore, is responsible to Christ alone.

II. CHRIST, RETURNING, BRINGS WITH HIM EVERY MAN'S REWARD.

Behold! A call to attention, energy, and eager expectation. Christ thus frequently prefaced His statements, admonitions, and warnings.

The startling character of this announcement,—" Behold, I come quickly." "Quickly," though many centuries have elapsed since the announcement was made; but we know little of relative nearness and distance in point of time, and when we think in the spirit, vast periods of time appear to be brief. Besides, "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years," &c.

WHEN Christ comes He will bring every man's reward or recompense. His clear knowledge of the life and work of each of the vast multitude. The reward will be in proportion to the work done.

True, salvation is by grace, and the reward is of grace, and it is striking that in the Greek the same term is used for "grace and "gift." For instance, in 2 Cor. viii. 7 the very power to give money is termed, interchangeably, a grace and a gift, and the grace of giving is thus classed with faith, and utterance, and knowledge, as a thing to be desired.

Application. In view of the all-revealing and rewarding day, let us live while we live. Let us also get stimulus by the assurance that a gracious and ample reward shall follow honest, earnest, and persevering work.

SOUTHAMPTON.

SAMUEL B. STRIBLING.