drawn constantly through the water until it is well filled with
fish. It is then hauled up to the shore, and the fishermen sit around
it, and take out the fish. Many of these, of course, are unfit for
food, or not liked. They cast those into the sea again, but the good
fish which they can sell for food are carefully placed in vessels
brought for the purpose.
Christ said, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast
into the sea, and gathered every kind (of fish): which, when it was
full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into
vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the
world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among
the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth."
At another time Jesus taught His disciples the same truth; when He
spake of His coming and of the gathering of all nations before Him,
the good entering into eternal life, but the wicked being cast away.
"When the Son of Man shall come in His glory," said Jesus, "and all
the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His
glory. And before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from
the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats
on the left."
[Illustration: THE PARABLE OF THE NET.]
THE MAN POSSESSED BY DEVILS.
One day Jesus came with His disciples in a boat to the country of the
Gadarenes, near Galilee. They landed near the tombs, that is, caverns
cut into the rock, where the dead were buried. And there met them a
man, who, for a long time, had been possessed by many unclean spirits.
He lived in the tombs and wore no clothes. He had been so fierce and
wild that his friends had been obliged to chain him up, but he had
burst his fetters, and the devils had driven him out to the tombs.
Jesus bade the unclean spirits to come out of the man. And when the
man caught sight of Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before Him,
saying, "What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God most
high? I beseech Thee to torment me not."
And Jesus asked him his name. And he said, "Legion," because many
devils were in him. They besought Jesus that He would not make them go
into the sea, but would let them enter into a herd of swine that were
feeding on the cliffs close by. He suffered them to do so, and the
devils went out
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