Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-12-18
Christ and His Visit to Ga dara.
BY REV. s. X. CHUBB.

for it bore the imprinting Of Deity
Chrisl's voice woke the echoes OF
it's slumbering solitude-. The Lord
walked its shore, streets, mountain
passes. But only once only once
The eternal sun shone upon 1t for
one brief day, and then set III black
est midnight darkness, and storm
terrific. Gadara was cursed by It's
own prayers. Leave us TO ourselves,
they prayed to Christ, and he did.
He never returned. Like Jerusalem
afterward yelled for Barabbas rather
than Christ, so these idiots howled
for devils instead of the Saviour.
They kept the internal visltors-if
not so many by 6,0O0-and their
best Friend departed forever. An!
thou foolish, benighted, bereaved,
desolale, lonely place. Gadara, for
shame! The loss of swine was
greater to them than scarcity Of the
living Bread. Hogs and imps were
preferable to life and JOY and Jesus.
The getting rid of devils was of
no importance, but the slaughter of
hogs was loss irreparable. They
were used to the devil, and hoggish
themselves. But Christ left his
mark behind. He always does. In
spite of men, hogs and devils his
visit was a success. His footprints
were too deeply set on the shore for
any rising tide to obliterate. No
sand could ill them up. Chrsrs
works always follow him. One
trophy of victory remained-the
worst man became the best man;
the most dreaded, and afterward the
most loving; the lion Of the noun
tain caverns, changed to the lamb
Of the city. Christ raided on one
of Satan's establishments and broke
it up completely. The devil machine
became a home missionary of gigan-
tic power How that poor man
would love Christ and nightly
would he preach him. His sermons
were experimentation me he did
the work. Poor meme. Halle
luiah! No one like Jesus in that
home. What conquest for the
Saviour. Six thousand devils against
him. | suppose when Satan-or
whatever imp it was-told Christ
how many there were Of them, he
thought the number would brighten
him. Not much; not little bit.
Christ made short work OF that
crowd. just come out of hlm-and
they did in hurry, and by way of
hog and water went to where they
belonged. | hope they shared the
same fate as their companions did.
1t was mercy to the swine. 1 don't
wonder al their making Tor the
water, for no doubt they felt warm
as their passengers belonged to a
hot climate. 1t is amusing to see
how troubled demons were when
Christ was around. ! suppose they
remembered the time when he put
them out of heaven, much against
thtIT VIII. But they Hau 10 90.
However Satan may rule at home,
he had 10 stand back when Chrsl
confronted him. Ills time of leav.
ing was III correspondence with
Christ's time of arrival. lie growled,
stamped, swore, yelled, foamed, but
gol-and he didn't care where, only
that he could get somewhere. 1t Is
so now. Where Christ relgns
supremacy Satan is missing; he may
just call, but do not stop. 1t Il
when Chnst is out that the devil
gets IN. job was not the onl y man
who was fenced III, nor the only
one where Satan was fenced out
Satan may be the strong man, but
Christ is the stronger.
SO in our churches. The more OF
Christ We have the less of Satan We
are pestered with. In the upper
room III the Peulecost his Satanic
implshness hLd not much Of a show
Nobody invited him in. 1t is mo-
often he misses service, but ht
did that one. lie was not present
but he WAS outside making disturb
ances, which Is his work always
He does like church trouble, 1t IL
sWeeter to him than honey or the
honeycomb. Church fuses are his
reyivals, ana they are not untre
quent. But keep him outside as yor
would robber. Bar, bolt and loch
him out if you want peace and pros
perily. Let all our churches do with
him as the Gadareans foolshly did
with the Master, pray for his perma
nent residence somewhere else. by
the power of Christ let every churct
Dust him, and keep him out. BE
gone thou unclean spirit, but Jesus
OF Nazareth come ln-please dc
come in-now and stay forever
Amen.
FOR SALE Ar A BARGAIN.