be called the land of the Gadarenes or of the Gergesenes.
Farrar (_Life of Christ_, p. 254 note) says: "After the researches of
Dr. Thompson (_The Land and the Book_, ii:25), there can be no doubt
that Gergesa ... was the name of a little town nearly opposite
Capernaum, the ruined site of which is still called Kerza or Gersa by
the Bedawin. The existence of this little town was apparently known both
to Origen, who first introduced the reading, and to Eusebius and Jerome;
and in their day a steep declivity near it, where the hills approach to
within a little distance from the lake, was pointed out as the scene of
the miracle."

4. Jesus Entreated to Leave the Country.--The people were frightened
over the power possessed by Jesus, as demonstrated in the cure of the
demoniac, and in the destruction of the swine, which latter occurrence,
however, was not in pursuance of His command. It was the fear that
sinful men feel in the presence of the Righteous. They were not prepared
for other manifestations of divine power, and they dreaded to think who
among them might be directly affected thereby should it be exerted. We
must judge the people mercifully, however, if at all. They were in part
heathen, and had but superstitious conceptions of Deity. Their prayer
that Jesus leave them brings to mind the ejaculation of Simon Peter in
his witnessing one of Christ's miracles: "Depart from me: for I am a
sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8).

5. "Dead," or "At the Point of Death."--According to Luke (8:42) the
daughter of Jairus "lay a dying" when the grief-stricken father sought
help of the Lord; Mark (5:23) reports the man as stating that the girl
lay "at the point of death." These two accounts agree; but Matthew
(9:18) represents the father as saying: "My daughter is even now dead."
Unbelieving critics have dwelt at length on what they designate an
inconsistency if not a contradiction in these versions; and yet both
accounts embodied in the three records are plainly true. The maid was
seemingly breathing her last, she was in the very throes of death, when
the father hurried away. Before he met Jesus he felt that the end had
probably come; nevertheless his faith endured. His words attest his
trust, that even had his daughter actually died since he left her side,
the Master could recall her to life. He was in a state of frenzied
grief, and still his faith held true.

6. Mourning Customs Among Orientals.--Observances that to us seem
stran