Here a voice cried out in the assembly:
"Tell us plainly, art thou the Christ, the Son of the Highest?"
At this direct inquiry there was intense interest shown to hear the reply.
Jesus seemed about to answer, when a man, who stood near the reading desk, in whom was an unclean spirit, cried out, with a shrieking voice of mingled terror and awe:
"Let me alone! Leave me as I am, thou Jesus of Nazareth! Art thou come hither to destroy me? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God!"
Jesus rebuked the devil which possessed the man and said, in the voice of a master commanding a bond slave:
"Hold thy peace, Satan! The Son of man needeth not, though thou givest it, thy testimony. Hold thy peace, and come out of the man!"
At this word the man uttered a fearful cry of despair and rage, and foaming at the mouth cast himself, or rather was thrown down by the devil within him, to the ground; where, after a moment's terrific struggle, with contortions of bodily anguish, he lay senseless as if dead. Jesus took him by the hand, and he stood up and, looking in the face of the Prophet with earnestness and wonder, burst into tears of gratitude, exclaiming:
"I am escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and I am escaped. God hath delivered me out of the hand of my enemy!" He then sat at the feet of Jesus, calm, grateful, happy, and in his right mind! All gazed on him with wonder, while from the great mass of the people rose a great shout, for they were all amazed, saying: