upon by that which he heard, and he cried out in the name of the demons who tormented him, or the demons cried through him in their own name (for the matter is disputed), "Let us alone: what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee, who thou art: the Holy One of God." But Jesus now and on other occasions declined to avail himself of such testimony, and rather endeavoured to suppress it; so now he said, "Hold thy peace, and come out of him." But although forbidden to speak, piercing cries attested the agony of the man, under the strong convulsions by which he was rent as the evil spirit departed from him. The people were astonished beyond measure at this transaction. With such cases of demoniacal possession they were indeed well acquainted, and the process of cure followed by the Jewish exorcists was known to them. It was "the authority with which he spake❞—it was "the new doctrine," that confounded them. The Jewish exorcists used invocations in the Divine name to dislodge the demons; but no one had ever done this thing in his own name until now. It requires larger considerations than this place admits, to show, from the peculiar notions entertained by the Jewish people, how strikingly calculated this act of Jesus was to arrest attention and excite astonishment. But those who are already acquainted with those notions, feel no surprise in learning that 'immediately his fame spread abroad through all the region round about Galilee." Mark i. 21—28.

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Christ appears to have lodged in the house of Peter during his stay at Capernaum; at least he proceeded thither on leaving the synagogue. The marvellous cure just performed caused some one to mention that Peter's mother-in-law was in the house, lying dangerously ill of a fever. On hearing this, Jesus went to her, and as he took her by the hand to lift her up, the

MIRACLES OF HEALING.

fever departed from her, and she arose from her bed and attended upon him.

The fame of these miracles of healing spread rapidly through the city, and excited new remembrances of lost strength, and new hopes of health in all the incurables of the place. How impatiently they waited till the setting of the sun ended the Sabbath, and enabled their friends to take them to the prophet, by whose hands such deeds of mercy had been wrought! In the evening, therefore, crowds of diseased persons were assembled before the door of Peter's house. Jesus came forth to them, healed them by his word, and sent them rejoicing home. Then, as the Evangelist remarks, was fulfilled that saying of the prophet Isaiah—“Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." Matt. viii. 14—17; Mark i. 31-34.

The next morning, Jesus rose "a great while before day," and withdrew privately to a solitary place, that he might indulge in prayer and meditation undisturbed by the crowds which now attended his steps. Peter and his companions soon came to him there, and apprised him of the multitudes which sought for him, and awaited his appearance at Capernaum. This decided him not to return thither. The fact of the attention which had been drawn to him, sufficed to show that he had already borne sufficient testimony to the new doctrine in that city, and that it now behoved him to declare the will of God, and bear similar testimony in other places also. He therefore said: "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth."

The renown of his preaching and miracles had by this time spread throughout Syria, and multitudes followed him, or gathered around him wherever he went. Many persons came from the remotest parts of the land to hear and see him—even

from Jerusalem and Judea, and from the country beyond the Jordan. Those who know what throngs of diseased persons, at this day, in the East, gather around any stranger who is supposed or rumoured to possess medicines, or to be gifted with unusual powers of healing, and with what urgent importunities and cries they appeal to him for relief, may form some notion of the crowds of diseased persons who would and did gather to one whose word, whose touch, whose look, had power to drive away every kind of sickness and disease. Then, and constantly during our Lord's sojourning upon earth, were accomplished the prophecies which our poet has so beautifully embodied :

"The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold:
Hear him, ye deaf; and all ye blind behold!
He from thick films shall clear the visual ray,
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day.
'Tis he the obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
And bid new music charm the unfolding ear;
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe."

Of all the miraculous cures which were effected during this journey, only one has been selected by the Evangelists for particular notice: this was the cure of a leper.

Leprosy was a disease of the skin to which the ancient nations appear to have been much subject, and which was so common even in Europe during the middle ages, that numerous hospitals, or rather "lazar-houses," were established for lepers. The disease usually imparted an unearthly paleness to the complexion, whence, when Gehazi was punished with the leprosy of which Naaman had been cured, he is said to have gone forth from his master's presence "a leper as white as snow." 2 Kings v. 27. The disease was deemed incurable by medicine; it was certainly contagious, and was even believed to be hereditary. Lepers

LEPROSY.

were hence compelled to live in a state of separation outside the towns by the laws of Moses, Lev. xiii. 46; and so rigidly was this law enforced, without respect of persons, that the sister of Moses and Aaron, when smitten with leprosy, was put out of the camp, Num. xii. 15; and King Uzziah, when visited with a similar affliction, was compelled to relinquish the government, and live secluded in a separate house, 2 Kings xv. 5.

The dread of this disease was so great, that still further precautions were judged necessary to prevent infection. Lepers were compelled to wear their dress in such a manner as to distinguish them even at a distance. The outer garment was rent open in front, the head bare, and the lip was to be covered either with the hand or with the skirt of the garment. Nor was this all, for it was the bounden duty of the leper, by cries of "Unclean! Unclean!" to give warning of his presence to those who might happen to be near him. These latter precautions were found so effectual, that although lepers resided outside the towns, they were allowed to enter them in the day-time and to appear in the streets and public places.

As this state of the leper was one into which no one would willingly enter, it may easily be supposed that persons were not brought into it without examination. The fact is, that when a person was suspected of being afflicted with leprosy, it became the interest of all his friends and neighbours to have the fact determined, as they might all be subjected to unpleasant consequences by continued intercourse with him. He was, therefore, taken before the priest, whose business it was to be qualified, under certain rules laid down by the law, to distinguish true leprosy from any disease which might appear like it; and if it were a real leprosy, the priest pronounced the man unclean, and he went into separation. And from this condition no one could

be relieved but by the same sanction. If a leper believed himself healed, he was to go before the priest, who examined him, and passed judgment upon his condition. If he seemed to be cured, he then underwent the ceremonies of purification, which are minutely described in Levit. xiii. These chiefly consisted in the slaughter of one of two birds, and the sprinkling of the person with its blood after the body had been burned. The other bird was set free, either to signify that the leprosy had departed, or, to indicate the man's restoration to the free intercourse of society

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and life. This restoration did not, however, take place all at The man remained apart both from lepers and from clean persons for a week after the purification; and he then again. presented himself before the priest, when, if no symptom of leprosy had re-appeared, he presented a sacrifice, and all restraint was withdrawn from him.

Under these circumstances we can suppose how fervently a leper would desire to be relieved from his miserable condition,