possibly have been the case that, when several parties in concert were trying to awake Him,
all these various modes of expression had been used, one by one person, and another by
another. In the same way, too, we may deal with the exclamation on the stilling of the tempest,
which, according to Matthew, was, “What manner of man is this, that the winds and the
sea obey Him?”900 according to Mark, “What man, thinkest thou, is this,901 that both the
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wind and the sea obey Him?”902 and according to Luke, “What man, thinkest thou, is this?903
for He commandeth both the winds and the sea,904 and they obey Him.” Who can fail to
see that the sense in all these forms is quite identical? For the expression, “What man, thinkest
thou, is this?” has precisely the same import with the other, “What manner of man is this?”905
And where the words “He commandeth” are omitted, it can at least be understood as a
matter of course that the obedience is rendered to the person commanding.
56. Moreover, with respect to the circumstance that Matthew states that there were two
men who were afflicted with the legion of devils which received permission to go into the
swine, whereas Mark and Luke instance only a single individual, we may suppose that one
of these parties was a person of some kind of superior notability and repute, whose case was
particularly lamented by that district, and for whose deliverance there was special anxiety.
With the intention of indicating that fact, two of the evangelists have judged it proper to
make mention only of the one person, in connection with whom the fame of this deed had
been spread abroad the more extensively and remarkably. Neither should any scruple be
excited by the different forms in which the words uttered by the possessed906 have been
reproduced by the various evangelists. For we may either resolve them all into one and the
same thing, or suppose them all to have been actually spoken. Nor, again, should we find
any difficulty in the circumstance that with Matthew the address is couched in the plural
number, but with Mark and Luke in the singular. For these latter two tell us at the same
time, that when the man was asked what was his name, he answered that he was Legion,
because the devils were many. Nor, once more, is there any discrepancy between Mark’s
statement that the herd of swine was round about the mountain,907 and Luke’s, that they
900 Matt. viii. 27.
901 Quis putas est iste.
902 Mark iv. 41. [The Greek text in Mark and Luke has nothing corresponding to “thinkest thou.” The Au-
thorized Version, given above, has an unnecessary variation; “that,” “that,” “for.” The Greek particle is the same,
and Augustin gives quia three times.—R.]
903 Quis putas hic est.
904 Mari.
905 Qualis est hic.
906 Or, the devils—dæmonum.
907 Circa montem. [The correct Greek text is rendered “on the mountain side” in the Revised Version.—R.]
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Of the Lord’s Crossing the Lake on that Occasion on Which He Slept in the…