ury of their memory, where they were to remain buried until the Holy Ghost came to arrange the confusion, and dissipate the obscurity of this secret depository. Thus this spirit of light was to cooperate in the manifestation of the evangelical mysteries; and the Saviour likewise teaches us, by this conduct, that exterior teaching only profiteth inasmuch as it is accompanied by interior light-a truth which renders it obligatory on us to pray for the latter with out ceasing. It was not, therefore, without reason nor without fruit that Jesus Christ announced to his disciples certain truths, of whose connection and expediency he left them in ignorance. His function was to engrave in their souls the mysterious characters of which the Holy Ghost was to furnish the key. They learned every thing from Jesus Christ, and they comprehended every thing by the Holy Ghost, who is only said to have taught them all things, because he made them understand those which they had already learned, and of which they knew not the meaning.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE LUNATIC CURED.THERE IS A DEMON WHO CAN ONLY BE CAST OUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING. ANOTHER PREDICTION OF THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST AND OF HIS RESURRECTION.-TRIBUTE PAID.

JESUS, and the apostles who accompanied him, passed the night upon the mountain. (a) "The day following, when they came down from the mountain, there met him a great multitude. Jesus coming to his [other] disciples, saw a great multitude about them. Presently all the people seeing Jesus, were astonished and struck with fear. Running to him, they saluted him, and he asked them: What do you question about among yourselves? [Instantly, and before they had time to reply], behold a man of the multitude cried out, falling down on his knees before him, answering: Master, I have

(a) St. Luke, ix. 37-40; St. Mark, ix. 13-17; St. Matthew, xvii. 14, 15.

brought my son to thee, having a dumb spirit (1). I beseech thee, look upon my son, because he is my only one. Lord [said likewise this afflicted father], have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic (2), and suffereth much, for he falleth often into the fire, and often into the water. Lo, a spirit seizeth him, he suddenly crieth out: the spirit throweth him down, and dasheth him, so that he foameth and gnasheth with the teeth, and bruising him, the spirit hardly departeth from him, and my son pineth away. I brought him to thy disciples, and I desired them to cast him out, and they could not."

There can be no doubt but it was this that caused the subject of the dispute. The Scribes, being witnesses of the impotence of the disciples, thereupon prevailed against them, and apparently against their Master, from whom they said they held the power which had thus fallen short. The disciples, in their turn, had not had sufficient faith to expel the deyil; and this failure, on so public an occasion, might well have discouraged them, and cast them into a state of despondency. The father, on his side, had as yet a very uncertain faith, as we shall presently see by his words. Thus we have good reason for thinking that to every one assembled there was addressed this expression of indignation, spoken by the mildest of men, after he had heard the recital of what had occurred: (a) “O faithless and perverse generation," said he to them, "how long shall I be

(a) St. Luke, ix. 41-43; St. Mark, ix. 18-26; St. Matthew, xvii. 16, 17.

(1) Jesus Christ calls him further on, Deaf and dumb spirit. He is designated by the effect which he produced, which consisted in taking away from this child the faculties of hearing and speaking.

(2) Because the demon tormented him at intervals. Perhaps his fits were regulated by the stated courses of the moon. If it be true, as several ancients assert, that he wished to conceal the possession by the symptoms of sickness, he dissembled his knavery very awkwardly; for we here see that no one had any doubt as to the possession of the child. To add to this, that what he had in view was to induce men to blaspheme against the Creator of the moon, whom they would have regarded as the cause of all the evil, is supposing in him an intention highly worthy of his wickedness; but such a trick was not deep enough for his subtle craft, since, after all, every one laid the matter to his charge, and no one blamed the moon. God had permitted the demon to take possession of this young man, and to torment him at intervals. The demon tormented him whenever he could, and to the utmost of his power, and always less than he wished. We must not seek for further mystery here.

with you? how long shall I suffer you? Bring hither thy son," he added to the father. "They brought him. As he was coming, and when he had seen Jesus, immediately the spirit troubled him; the devil threw him down, and he rolled about foaming." Jesus permitted this, in order that the greatness of his power might be better known when the bystanders were made acquainted with the greatness of the evil, and because the knowledge of its continuance was also subservient to this end: "He asked his father: How long time is it since this hath happened unto him? From his infancy, said the father; and oftentimes hath the devil cast him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But, if thou canst do any thing, help us, having compassion on us." He doubted whether the power was vested in Jesus, and Jesus informs him that by faith he himself might become all-powerful: "If thou canst believe, he saith to him, all things are possible to him that believeth. Immediately the father of the boy crying out, with tears, said: I do believe; Lord, help my unbelief (3). When Jesus saw the multitude running together, he threatened the unclean spirit, saying to him: Deaf and dumb spirit, I command thee go out of him, and enter not any more into him. [The demon obeyed, yet, still demon-like], crying out, and greatly tearing him (4), he went out of him; and the child became as dead, so that many said: He is dead. But Jesus, taking him by the hand, lifted him up, and he arose; and the child was cured from that hour. Jesus restored him to his father. All were astonished at the mighty power of God."

Yet the disciples felt a secret heaviness of heart at this discomfiture before so numerous an assemblage. They could no longer, after this prodigy, suspect their Master of being powerless. Wishing,

(3) We may expect to be heard, when, having commenced by performing what depends upon ourselves, we request of God to do the remainder. God doth not command impossibilities; but when he commands, he gives us notice to perform what is in our power, to ask for what exceeds our power or ability, and gives strength to enable us to perform it.

(4) Image of the violent agitation which the devil excites in a soul which he is forced to quit. It is a species of agony through which we pass from death to life. Jesus is present, who tenders his hand, and aids us to raise ourselves. One is surprised to find himself, or rather another self, as different from what he was as peace is from trouble, and health from fever.

therefore, to know the cause of their own inability to perform the cure, (a)" When Jesus was come into the house, they came secretly to him, and asked him: Why could not we cast him out? Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief." Then, enlightened as to their own deficiency, "the apostles said to the Lord: Increase our faith." We must presume that the Saviour heard from that hour, to a certain extent, a prayer which could have been inspired by him alone. But to the end that they might better prize so great a gift, and that they might learn to desire it with more ardor, and ask it with more earnestness, "the Lord said to them: If you had faith like to a grain of mustard-seed (5), you might say to this mulberry

(a) St. Mark, ix. 27; St. Matthew, xvii. 18-20; St. Luke, xvii. 5, 6.

(5) The majority of the ancients have thought that the Saviour meant to say a faith lively and ardent as the grain of mustard-seed. It is more likely that the comparison here is with reference to the smallness of the seed. Jesus Christ would have said nothing very wonderful by saying: If you have faith full of vivacity and ardor, you could remove mountains. The wonder is much greater, and the eulogium of faith much more magnificent, if it be asserted that its virtue is such that he who should be endowed with faith, even as small in quantity as is the grain of mustard-seed, would find nothing whatever impossible; and it seems that all the bystanders understood the comparison in this sense. But does it not follow from thence, that he who should not have that faith which may remove mountains, could have no faith at all, since, in point of faith, he would be inferior to a grain of mustard-seed, which is here given in comparison to represent the very smallest thing in the world? In reply to this difficulty, it may be said, that the question here is of faith perfect in its own species, viz. the faith which excludes all hesitation and all doubt. As the virtues of creatures can never reach infinite perfection, so this faith, although perfect in its species, may still have or not have certain degrees of perfection. Nevertheless, if it happens to be of that species which utterly excludes distrust and hesitation, the possessor thereof, even in the lowest degree (which degree is compared in smallness to the grain of mustard-seed), would be sufficiently qualified to work the greatest prodigies. We thought we had hit upon the groundwork of this explanation in those words which Jesus Christ uttered on another occasion: For, amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, you shall say to this mountain : Remove from hence hither; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you, -St. Matthew, xvii. 19.

An individual may have faith in mysteries without possessing the faith which worketh miracles. Still, it was a species of infidelity in the apostles not to have this faith; because, after Jesus Christ had conferred upon them the power of working miracles, and specifically that of expelling demons, it was no longer permissible for them to doubt as to this power being efficacious, every time the occasion arose for them to execute it. They committed nearly the same fault as Moses when he struck the rock twice; for,

tree [there was one before their eyes]: Be thou rooted up, and be thou transplanted into the sea; and it would obey you. For [said he further to them, to make them more sensible of the efficacy of faith, Amen, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, you shall say to this mountain [this apparently was the mountain whereon he was transfigured, and which was visible from the spot where Jesus spoke]: Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you." To this observation Jesus added another, which bore a more particular reference to the subject in hand: "But this kind of demon is not cast out but by prayer and fasting (6)."

Immediately after the scene on Thabor, Jesus turned his thoughts towards Calvary. He must go on to find it in Judea and at Jerusalem; but he wished to visit Capharnaum again before he left it, never to return. This was yet another grace which he accorded to that faithless city; and he who saw, with poignant sorrow, the loss of souls, whose salvation was about to cost him so much blood, required no other motive to undertake the journey. (a) "Departing from thence [from the vicinity of the mountain, where they do not appear to have tarried more than one day], Jesus and his disciples passed through Galilee; [but, in order that he might not be retarded on his journey], Jesus would not that any man should know it. When they abode together in Galilee, while all wondered at all the things he did, he taught his disciples, and said to them: Lay

means.

(a) St. Mark, ix, 29, 30; St. Matthew, xvii. 21; St. Luke, ix. 44.

said Saint Chrysostom, faith, even in the just themselves, is not always equally lively and immovable; it has its moments of weakness, wherein it doth not fall, but vacillate. (6) It often occurs that the demons who possess souls cannot be expelled by any other We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.— Acts, vi. 4. They knew, therefore, the necessity of these means. Apostolical men, who have learned it from them and from their Master, always combine prayer with preaching; with the frequent addition of great austerities. Hell, attacked by such arms, does not long resist; but makes a mockery of those who employ mere words against it. They do not bear away from hell one of its victims; and, perhaps, the fiend does not despair of beholding the men of words become his prey. Prayer, unaccompanied by exhortation, will always be a more efficient means of conversion than exhortation without prayer: all the eloquence of orators could never have effected what was done by the tears of Monica.