Note (return) — Rev. ANDREW LEE, A.M. (continued 3)
Reading edition
I. The subjection of evil spirits to Christ shows the universality of his dominion: For even apostate spirits have not, in every respect, broken from under his government. He sets them their bounds which they cannot pass. "Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther." When dislodged from a man by his order they cannot not enter a swine without his permission. They are permitted indeed to indulge depravity, but no farther than infinite wisdom sees it; and oftentimes their malice is made subservient to the divine purposes. While Christ had his residence on earth, they were permitted to possess the bodies of men, and his superior power was manifested in their ejection, and thereby a few species of evidence was given to his truth of the gospel—yea they were sometimes made to confess him, when men denied him! "I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God." [50]