The connection of this passage with the end of the last chapter ought never to be overlooked. Our Lord had been speaking of His own coming death and passion--of the necessity of self-denial, if men would be His disciples--of the need of losing our lives, if we would have them saved.

The contrast between these verses and those which precede them in the chapter is very striking. We pass from the mount of transfiguration to a melancholy history of the work of the devil. We come down from the vision of glory, to a conflict with Satanic possession.

Let us mark, in these verses, our Lord's renewed announcement of His own coming, death, and resurrection. "He taught His disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after He is killed, he shall rise the third day." The dullness of…

We see in these verses, the mind of Christ on the great subject of TOLERATION in religion. The apostle John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw a man using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn't one of our group." The man was doing a good work without doubt.