granted by him
to the demons to go from the Gadarene into the herd of swine, and the
consequent drowning of the herd (Mark v. 11-13). On any theory this
incident is full of difficulty. Bernhard Weiss (LXt II. 226 ff.) holds
that Jesus accommodated himself to current views, and that the man, having
received for the possessing demons permission to go into the swine, was at
once seized by a final paroxysm, and rushed among the swine, stampeding
them so that they ran down the hillside into the sea.

251. In recent years the view has been somewhat widely advocated that his
power over demoniacs was to Jesus himself one of the chief proofs of his
Messiahship. His words are quoted: "If I, by the Spirit of God, cast out
demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you" (Matt. xii. 28); and "I
beheld Satan falling as lightning from heaven" (Luke x. 18). The first of
these is in the midst of an _ad hominem_ reply of Jesus to the charge that
he owed his power to a league with the devil (Matt. xii. 28); and the
second was his remark when the seventy reported with joy that the demons
were subject unto them (Luke x. 18). The gospels, however, trace his
certainty of his Messiahship to quite other causes, primarily to his
knowledge of himself as God's child, then to the Voice which, coming at
the baptism, summoned him as God's beloved Son to do the work of the
Messiah. Throughout his ministry Jesus exhibits a certainty of his mission
quite independent of external evidences,--"Even if I bear witness of
myself, my witness is true; for I know whence I came and whither I go"
(John viii. 14).

IV

Jesus' Conception of Himself

252. When Jesus called forth the confession of Peter at Caesarea Philippi
he brought into prominence the question which during the earlier stages of
the Galilean ministry he had studiously kept in the background. This is no
indication, however, that he was late in reaching a conclusion for himself
concerning his relation to the kingdom which he was preaching. From the
time of his baptism and temptation every manifestation of the inner facts
of his life shows unhesitating confidence in the reality of his call and
in his understanding of his mission. This is the case whether the fourth
gospel or the first three be appealed to for evidence. It is generally
felt that the Gospel of John presents its sharpest contrast to the
synoptic gospels in respect of the development of Jesus' self-disclosures.
A careful co