Christmas Evans Part 6

He thought the Gadarenes had no business to interfere, and meddle with his property; for he had possession of the man. And he knew that 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' It is probable that he wanted to send him home; for there was no knowing what might happen now-a-days. But there was too much matter about him to send him as he was; therefore, he thought the best plan would be to persuade him to commit suicide by cutting his throat. But here Satan was at a nonplus-his rope was too short. He could not turn executioner himself, as that would not have answered the design he has in view, when he wants people to commit suicide; for the act would have been his own sin, and not the man's. The poor demoniac, therefore, must go about to hunt for a sharp stone, or anything that he could get. He might have been in search of such an article, when he returned from the wilderness into the city, whence he came, when he met the Son of G.o.d.

"Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. And when he saw Jesus he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, 'What have I to do with thee, Jesus, Thou Son of G.o.d most high? I beseech Thee, torment me not.'

"Here is the devil's confession of faith. The devils believe and tremble, while men make a mock of sin, and sport on the brink of eternal ruin. To many of the human race, Christ appears as a root out of dry ground. They see in Him neither form nor comeliness, and there is no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. Some said He was the carpenter's son, and would not believe in Him; others said He had a devil, and that it was through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils, that He cast out devils: some cried out, 'Let Him be crucified;' and others said, 'Let His blood be on us and on our children.' As the Jews would not have Him to reign over them, so many, who call themselves Christians, say that He is a mere man; as such, He has no right to rule over their consciences, and demand their obedience, adoration, and praise. But the devils know better-they say, Jesus is the Son of G.o.d most high.

"Many of the children of the devil, whose work they do, differ very widely from their father in their sentiments respecting the person of Christ.

"Jesus commanded the legion of unclean spirits to come out of the man. They knew that out they must go. But they were like Irishmen-very unwilling to return to their own country. They would rather go into hogs' skins than to their own country. And He suffered them to go into the herd of swine. Methinks that one of the men who fed the hogs, kept a better look out than the rest of them and said, 'What ails the hogs? Look sharp there, boys-keep them in-make good use of your whips! Why don't you run? Why, I declare, one of them has gone over the cliff! There, there, Morgan, goes another! Drive them back, Tom.' Never was there such a running, and whipping, and hallooing; but down go the hogs, before they are aware of it.

"One of them said, 'They are all gone!'

"'No, sure not all gone into the sea!'

"'Yes, every one of them, the _black hog_ and all. They are all drowned! the devil is in them! What shall we do now? What can we say to the owners?'

"'What can we say?' said another; 'we must tell the truth-that is all about it. We did our best-all that was in our power. What could any man do more?'

"So they went their way to the city, to tell the masters what had happened.

"'John, where are you going?' exclaimed one of the masters.

"'Sir, did you know the demoniac that was among the tombs there?'

"'Demoniac among the tombs! Where did you leave the hogs?'

"'That madman, sir-'

"'Madman! Why do you come home without the hogs?'

"'That wild and furious man, sir, that mistress was afraid of so much-'

"'Why, John, I ask you a plain and simple question-why don't you answer me? Where are the hogs?'

"'That man who was possessed with the devils, sir-'

"'Why, sure enough, you are crazy! You look wild! Tell me your story, if you can, let it be what it may.'

"'Jesus Christ, sir, has cast the unclean spirits out of the demoniac; they are gone into the swine; and they are all drowned in the sea; for I saw the tail of the last one!'

"The Gadarenes went out to see what was done, and finding that it was even so, they were afraid, and besought Jesus to depart from them.

"How awful must be the condition of those men who love the things of this world more than Jesus Christ.

"The man out of whom the unclean spirits were cast, besought Jesus that he might be with Him. But He told him to return to his own house, and show how great things G.o.d had done unto him. And he went his way, and published, throughout the whole city of Decapolis, how great things Jesus had done unto him. The act of Jesus casting so many devils out of him, was sufficient to persuade him that Jesus was G.o.d as well as man.

"I imagine I see him going through the city, crying-'Oh yes! Oh yes!

Oh yes! please to take notice of me, the demoniac among the tombs. I am the man who was a terror to the people of this place-that wild man, who would wear no clothes, and that no man could bind. Here am I now, in my right mind. Jesus Christ, the Friend of sinners, had compa.s.sion on me. He remembered me when I was in my low estate-when there was no eye to pity, and no hand to save. He cast out the devils and redeemed my soul from destruction.'

"Most wonderful must have been the surprise of the people, to hear such proclamation. The ladies running to the windows, the shoemakers throwing their lasts one way, and their awls another, running out to meet him and to converse with him, that they might be positive that there was no imposition, and found it to be a fact that could not be contradicted. 'Oh, the wonder of all wonders! Never was there such a thing,' must, I think, have been the general conversation.

"And while they were talking, and everybody having something to say, homeward goes the man. As soon as he comes in sight of the house, I imagine I see one of the children running in, and crying, 'Oh, mother! father is coming-he will kill us all!'

"'Children, come all into the house,' says the mother. 'Let us fasten the doors. I think there is no sorrow like my sorrow!' says the broken-hearted woman. 'Are all the windows fastened, children?'

"'Yes, mother.'

"'Mary, my dear, come from the window-don't be standing there.'

"'Why, mother, I can hardly believe it is father! That man is well dressed.'

"'Oh yes, my dear children, it is your own father. I knew him by his walk, the moment I saw him.'

"Another child stepping to the window, says, 'Why, mother, I never saw father coming home as he comes to-day. He walks on the footpath, and turns round the corner of the fence. He used to come towards the house as straight as a line, over fences, ditches, and hedges; and I never saw him walk as slowly as he does now.'

"In a few moments, however, he arrives at the door of the house, to the great terror and consternation of all the inmates. He gently tries the door, and finds no admittance. He pauses a moment, steps towards the window, and says in a low, firm, and melodious voice, 'My dear wife, if you will let me in, there is no danger. I will not hurt you. I bring you glad tidings of great joy.' The door is reluctantly opened, as it were between joy and fear. Having deliberately seated himself, he says: 'I am come to show you what great things G.o.d has done for me. He loved me with an everlasting love. He redeemed me from the curse of the law, and the threatenings of vindictive justice. He saved me from the power and dominion of sin. He cast the devils out of my heart, and made that heart, which was a den of thieves, the temple of the Holy Spirit. I cannot tell you how much I love my Saviour. Jesus Christ is the foundation of my hope, the object of my faith, and the centre of my affections. I can venture my immortal soul upon Him. He is my best friend. He is altogether lovely-the chief among ten thousand. He is my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. There is enough in Him to make a poor sinner rich, and a miserable sinner happy. His flesh and blood is my food,-His righteousness my wedding garment, and His blood is efficacious to cleanse me from all my sins. Through Him I can obtain eternal life; for He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His Person: in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the G.o.dhead bodily. He deserves my highest esteem, and my warmest grat.i.tude. Unto Him who loved me with an eternal love, and washed me in His own blood, unto Him be the glory, dominion, and power, for ever and ever! For He has rescued my soul from h.e.l.l. He plucked me as a brand from the burning. He took me out of the miry clay, and out of a horrible pit. He set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings, and put in my mouth a new song of praise, and glory to Him! Glory to Him for ever! Glory to G.o.d in the highest!

Glory to G.o.d for ever and ever! Let the whole earth praise Him!

Yea, let all the people praise Him!' How sweet was all this, the transporting joy of his wife!

"It is beyond the power of the strongest imagination to conceive the joy and gladness of this family. The joy of seafaring men delivered from s.h.i.+pwreck; the joy of a man delivered from a burning house; the joy of not being found guilty at a criminal bar; the joy of receiving pardon to a condemned malefactor; the joy of freedom to a prisoner of war, is nothing in comparison to the joy of him who is delivered from going down to the pit of eternal destruction. For it is a joy unspeakable and full of glory."

The effect of this sermon is described as overwhelmingly wonderful. The first portion, in which he pictured the mysterious and terrible being, the wild demoniac, something of a wild beast, and something of a fiend, made the people shudder. Then, s.h.i.+fting his scene, the catastrophe of the swine, the flight of the affrighted herdsmen, the report to the master, and the effect of the miracle on the populace, was rendered with such dramatic effect, the preacher even laughing himself, as he painted the rus.h.i.+ng swine, hurrying down the steep place into the lake, especially the "black hog," and all,-for they all understood the point of that allusion,-that beneath the grim grotesqueness of the scene, laughter ran over the whole mult.i.tude. But the pathos of the family scene! Mary embracing her restored husband; and the restored maniac's experience, and hymn of praise. The place became a perfect Bochim; they wept like mourners at a funeral. Shouts of prayer and praise mingled together.

One who heard that wonderful sermon says, that, at last, the people seemed like the inhabitants of a city which had been shaken by an earthquake, that, in their escape, rushed into the streets, falling upon the earth screaming, and calling upon G.o.d!

This sermon has never been printed; indeed, it is obvious that it never could be prepared for the press. It defies all criticism; and the few outlines we have attempted to present are quite inadequate to reproduce it. All who heard it understood, that it was a picture of a lunatic, and demon-haunted world; and it was beneath the impression of this, that pa.s.sionate cries, universal, thankful, penitent murmurs rose; whilst amidst loud "Amens!" and sobs, and tears, some pet.i.tions ascended: "O Lord, who didst walk on the sea, that Thou mightest meet the Gadarene, cast out some demons from our midst to-night."

Although the demoniac of Gadara is not, in the strict sense of the word, an allegory, yet it is allegoric throughout; a fine piece of shadowy painting, in which unconverted, and converted men, and women might realize something of their own personal history, and the means by which they would "come to themselves."

And, no doubt, the chief charm, and most original characteristic of the preacher, was his power of sustained allegory; some incident, even some pa.s.sing expression in Scripture, some prophetic figure of speech, was turned round and round by him, beaten out, or suggested a series of cartoon paintings, until it became like a chapter from the "Pilgrim's Progress." It has seemed to us, that his translators have been singularly unfortunate in rendering these excursions of his fancy into English; our most vivid impressions of them have been derived from those who had heard them, in all their freshness, from the preacher's own wonderful lips. We will attempt to transfer one or two of these allegories to our pages. It must have been effective to have heard him describe the necessity of Divine life, spiritual power, to raise a soul from spiritual death. This may be called

"THE FOUR METHODS OF PREACHING.

"He beheld," he said, "such a one as Lazarus lying in the cave, locked in the sleep of death; now how shall he be raised? how shall he be brought back to life? Who will roll away for us the stone from this sepulchre? First came one, who went down to the cave with blankets, and salt, to rub with the fomentations of duty, to appeal to the will, to say to the sleeping man, that he could if he would; chafing and rubbing the cold and inert limbs, he thinks to call back the vital warmth; and then retiring, and standing some distance apart, he says to the other spectators, 'Do you not see him stir?

Are there no signs of life? Is he not moving?' No, he lies very still, there is no motion. How could it be otherwise? how could a sense of moral duty be felt by the man there?-_for the man was dead_!

"The first man gave up in despair. And then came the second. 'I thought you would never do it,' he said; 'but if you look at me, you will see a thing. No,' he said, 'your treatment has been too gentle.' And he went down into the cave with a scourge. Said he, 'The man only wants severe treatment to be brought back to life. I warrant me I will make him feel,' he said. And he laid on in quick succession the fervid blows, the sharp threatenings of law and judgment, and future danger and doom; and then he retired to some distance. 'Is he not waking?' he said. 'Do you not see the corpse stir?' No! A corpse he was before the man began to lay on his lashes, and a corpse he continued still;-_for the man was dead_!

"'Ah,' said another, advancing, 'but I have wonderful power. You, with your rubbing, and your smiting, what can you do? but I have it, for I have two things.' And he advanced, and he fixed an electric battery, and disposed it so that it touched the dead man, and then, from a flute which he held, he drew forth such sweet sounds that they charmed the ears which were listening; and whether it was the battery, or whether it was the music, so it was, that effect seemed to be produced. 'Behold,' said he, 'what the refinements of education and cultivation will do!' And, indeed, so it was, for the hair of the dead man seemed to rise, and his eye-b.a.l.l.s seemed to start and dilate; and see! he rises, starts up, and takes a stride down the cave. Ah, but it is all over; it was nothing but the electricity in the battery; and he sank back again flat on the floor of the cave;-_for the man was dead_!

"And then, when all were filled with despair, there came One, and stood by the entrance of the cave; but He was the Lord and Giver of life, and standing there, He said, 'Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon this slain one, that he may live. Christ hath given thee life. Awake, thou that sleepest.' And the man arose; he shook off his grave-clothes; what he needed had come to him now-_life_! Life is the only cure for death. Not the prescriptions of duty, not the threats of punishment and d.a.m.nation, not the arts and the refinements of education, but new, spiritual, Divine _life_."

The same manner appears in the way in which he traces the story of a soul seeking Christ, under the idea of the Wise Men following the leading star in

"SEEKING THE YOUNG CHILD."