234
The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 2
left him, and the boy lay as one dead. The action of the evil spirit upon
him had been so violent that it had overcome all his natural strength;
and when it left him he was powerless and unconscious. The people,
who had witnessed with awe the sudden change that came over the lad,
now whispered among themselves, “He is dead.” But Jesus stooped
and with tender pity “took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he
arose.”
Great was the father’s joy over his son, and great was the joy of the
son in his freedom from the cruel demon that had so long tormented
him. Both father and son praised and magnified the name of their
Deliverer, while the people looked on with unbounded astonishment,
and the scribes, crest-fallen and defeated, turned sullenly away.
Jesus had conferred upon his disciples the power to work miracles
of healing; but their failure in this case, before so many witnesses,
had deeply mortified them. When they were alone with Jesus they
asked him why it was that they were unable to cast out the devil. Jesus
answered that it was because of their unbelief, and the carelessness
with which they regarded the sacred work that had been committed to
[336]
them. They had not fitted themselves for their holy office by fasting
and prayer. It was impossible for them to vanquish Satan except as
they received power from God; they should go to him in humiliation
and self-sacrifice and plead for strength to conquer the enemy of souls.
Nothing but entire dependence upon God, and perfect consecration
to the work, would insure their success. Jesus encouraged his dis-
appointed followers in these words: “If ye have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yon-
der place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto
you.”
In a brief space of time the favored disciples had beheld the ex-
tremes of glory and of grief. Jesus, descending the mount where he
had been transfigured by the glory of God, where he had talked with
the messengers of Heaven, and been proclaimed the Son of God by
the Father’s voice issuing from the radiant glory, meets a revolting
spectacle, a lunatic child, with countenance distorted, gnashing its
teeth in spasms of agony which no mortal could relieve. And this
mighty Redeemer, who but a few short hours before stood glorified
before his wondering disciples, stoops to lift this victim of Satan from