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27. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

28. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

29. And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

Probably the disciples were allowed to fail in this instance, that they might perceive the necessity of depending entirely on him from whom their power proceeded, and from whom alone it could proceed. O faithless and perverse generation—so the Lord exclaimed perceiving their failure,-How long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? And the mode in which this dependence is shown and exercised, is left as a general lesson to Christians, in the words, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. Only an habitual course of prayer and self-denial can lead to that state of heart, that true and lively faith, to which every thing gives way; to which God denies nothing.

And what we practically learn from the example is to this purpose. The disciples could not change the course of nature, but through the power of that faith, of which prayer and self-denial are inseparable attendants. Christians can only change their moral

nature by the same means.

As of evil spirits, some are represented in Scripture as more pernicious than others; so of moral habits, some are worse than others; are more deeply rooted in the constitution, or more strengthened than others by the course of life. We may justly say, where a vice has deen long indulged, has come upon a man from a child, this kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

We are also led to conclude, that though all Christians must "watch unto prayer," must "pray without ceasing;" there are some occasions when more urgent, continual, and particular prayer is needed. And though all Christians must be temperate in all things, there may be some by whom more special and careful abstinence is required. Where the faith is such as leads to the persevering use of these means, we have reason to hope that all things are possible; that there is no kind of evil which does not come forth by prayer and fasting.

St. Paul lived in this course of self-denial. He describes it, when he says, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient." "I will not be brought within the power of any." "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection."

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Those Christians have approached, those Christians will approach nearest to St. Paul in personal religion, and in spiritual usefulness, who have most closely followed his example; who have most truly been able to say, "The world is crucified to me, and I unto the world."

21 Cor. vi. 12; 1 Cor. ix. 27.

LECTURE LIV.

JESUS FORETELS HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION.

MARK ix. 30-32.

30. And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.

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He would not at this time be interrupted by the concourse of persons flocking to him. It was necessary to set a limit even to his deeds of mercy. We have before seen how the multitude pressed upon him, so that they had "no leisure even to eat." " Sometimes he was forced to enter a boat, and pass over to another district, which by the time he reached it, was crowded also. And now the moments were precious. The time of his departure was at hand. In a little while, his disciples would see him no more; and he had yet many things to say to them, which he did say, according as they were able to bear them. Therefore, now passing through Galilee, where he had already manifested himself by numberless miracles, he would not that any man should know it. He had instructions to give which must not be delayed.

31. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they

1 Ch. vi. 31.

2 John xvi. 12.

shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.

32. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

They understood not that saying, which contradicted all their expectations concerning the Messiah. Just as before, they "questioned one with another what the rising from the dead should mean." It never entered into their thoughts, that he could be delivered into the hands of men, who should kill him : -and yet be a king, whose dominion should extend "the uttermost parts of the earth,' "4 whom "all people and nations and languages shall serve." 5 A king was promised, who should be "set upon the holy hill of Sion," and have "the heathen for his inheritance," and against whom the kings of the earth and the rulers should take counsel together in vain. He should "break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." "Of the increase of his government and peace there should be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with justice and judgment for ever.”7

The Jews had always interpreted these prophecies, and others of the same tendency, as relating to a temporal prince. They had looked forward to national greatness and extended peace; when the enemies who had now brought them into subjection, and made them tributary, should become tributary

* Supra, v. 10.

5 Dan. vii. 14.

4 Ps. ii. 8.

6 Ps. ii. 2-8.

7 Isa. ix. 7; See also Zech vi. 12, 13.

in their turn. This expectation prevailed even beyond Judea, through the many countries of the East, where the Jews had settled themselves. So that the strangers who had been guided to Jerusalem by the leading of a star, immediately inquired, "Where is he that is born king of the Jews?" And Herod the king "was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." 8 Even to the last, the apostles clung to the same hope and expectation: and asked of the Lord at the moment of his ascension, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom unto Israel?" 9

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And yet the prophets had foretold his sufferings as clearly as they had foretold his dominion or his power. Some of their words, indeed, could not be understood till facts explained them. What Zechariah wrote, "They shall look on him whom they pierced:" what David wrote, "I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me, laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, Ile trusted in God that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. They pierced my hands and my feet: they parted my gar

8 Matt. ii. 1—3.

9 Acts i. 6. "The Jews attempt to avoid the conclusion arising from the double character of the prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, by the fiction of two Messiahs, one in a mean and afflicted condition, the other powerful and victorious. This invention has nothing to support it in the Scripture, or even in their own traditions. It has arisen wholly from their insuperable difficulty of reconciling by any other than the Christian scheme, such discordant situations."-Powell. Disc. ix.

1 Zech. xii. x.

2 Ps. xxii. 6-18.

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