The Detroit times., 1910-07-16
m smiEsekay af1NaE :
=BIBIENA VSf1D4ES
MOUNT TABoR's PARABoIIC VISION.
Matthew I5ns, I4-2o,-yuly "a.

/ am well pleased; hear we him"
the Lord might expel the demon. The
Apostles had already been out, as the
Lords representatives, in various
parts OF the country oil Palestine, cur
ing the sick and expejling demons IN
His name; so they assayed to cast out
this demon, bat could not. The re-
vised version speaks o. the SUFFERER
as an epileptic. Indeed, all higher
criticism disputes that there is such
a thing as obsession by evil spirits.
II Is common saying today among
the higher critics thar what our Lord
and the Apostles mistooi. for demon
possession was merely insanity,
epilepsy, etc. OF course the word dis
ease is broad enough TO cover any
kind of ailment, whether IL be a di-
rect affection from the adversary, 0r
an indirect one through heredity. an
either case there is loss of ease, dis
ease, discomfort. We, however, have
more confidence in the wisdom of the
Lord and His chosen APOSTLES AMI
mouthpieces than We have in all the
doctors OF theology and doctors OF
medicine in the whole earth. We
therefore accept this narrative just as
II reads, that Jesus rebuked the
devil" and cast him cut OF the boz,
who was cured from that very hour.
The disciples who lad been unsuc-
cessful In casting out mis- demon. call
ed the Master away from the hearing
OF the multitude and asked why they
had failed when they attempted ~
cast out the demon. He replied, BE.
cause OF your little faith Another
account says that He stated, This
kind comelh not out except by fasting
and prayer. In other words, the
lesson TO the Apostles was that their
greatest power wouli result from
their living yery near 20 God, living
lives OF self-denial and prayer. or
course. fasting to be seen OF men rs
not here inculcated, nor do we sus-
gest that the works Of penance on
the part OF disciples would make them
more efficient in the understanding q.
the Lords mystery; rather the
thought Is, the nearer che lives to God
the more of the Divine power may
be exercised by and through him.
IL Is perhaps difficult for us to uu.
derstand our Lords reference to their
having little faith, for they surely ex-
ercised considerable faith in making
an attempt &c cast cut the demon
Faith, TO be successful, must be back
ed by spiritual power: and our Lord
assures US that even with a small
amount OF faith we would be able 10
remove a mountain and nothing would
be impossible. We are not to suppose
that our Lord meant that his follow
ers should try TO remove mountains
as a diversion, FOR as proof OF their
faith, for by so doing they would be
seriously interfering With the inter
ests of others who would be more con-
venienced by having the mountain re-
main. This they would have no right
to do. We assume therefore that the
thought must be that II In the fulfill
ment OF the Divine command Il should
be necessary TO have mour lain 10.
moved, and IL the commission had
Teen given 10 one OF the Lords fol-
lowers TO remove the mountain, and
II he could exercise the faith 10 obey
the command, the result would cor
respond to the faith exercised. All
that the majority IF us could do
would be TO exercise as much faith as
possible and ask the Lord for more.
and also seek to cultivate a greater
degree OF faith