Luke 8:27-40 And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes… If we yield to temptations whenever they come in our way, we shall find ourselves less and less able to resist them, for we shall learn to hate the evil spirits less and less. We shall give place to the devil, as the Scripture tells us we shall; for instance, by indulging in habitual passionate tempers, or rooted spite and malice. And so a man may become more and more the slave of his own nature, of his own lusts and passions, and therefore of the devils who are continually pampering and maddening those lusts and passions, till a man may end in complete possession. Few men in England, of course, would be fools enough to indulge the gross and fierce part of their nature till they became mere savages, like the demoniac whom Christ cured; so it is to respectable vices that the devil mostly tempts us — to covetousness, to party spirit, to a hard heart, and a narrow mind; to cruelty, that shall clothe itself under the name of law; to filthiness, which excuses itself by saying, " It is a man's nature, he cannot help it"; to idleness, which excuses itself on the score of wealth; to meanness and unfairness in trade, and in political and religious disputes — these are the devils which haunt us Englishmen — sleek, prim, respectable fiends enough, and truly, their name is Legion. (Charles Kingsley.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. |
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