The Power of Home in Regenerating Society
J. Cumming, D. D. Mark 5:18-20 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.… Loyalty, and love, and happiness in Britain's homes, will make loyalty, and happiness, and love be reflected from Britain's altars and from Britain's shores. There may be a mob, or there may be slaves; but let statesmen recollect there cannot be a people unless there be a home. I repeat, there may be in a country slaves, or there may be mobs, but there cannot be in a country a people, the people, unless it be a country of holy and happy homes. And he that helps to elevate, sustain, ennoble, and sanctify the homes of a country, contributes more to its glory, its beauty, its permanence, than all its legislators, its laws, its literature, its science, its poetry together. Our Lord began at the first home that was found at Bethabara beyond Jordan — the home of Andrew and Peter; and starting from it, he carried the glorious gospel of which he was the author into the home of Mary and Martha at Bethany, of Cornelius the centurion, of Lydia, of the gaoler of Philippi, of Crispus, and finally of Timothy; and these consecrated and converted homes became multiplying foci amid the world's darkness, till the scattered and ever multiplying lights shall be gathered one day into one broad blaze, that shall illuminate and make glad the wide world. Let us begin at home, but let us not stop there. It is groups of homes that make a congregation; it is clusters of congregations that make a country. (J. Cumming, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. WEB: As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.