"I brought him to your disciples — but they could not cure him" Matthew 17:16
There are a great many teachers in our Sunday schools who have had similar experiences. Children have been brought to them, possessed by evil spirits — and they have failed to cast out the demons. They have tried every device, gentle and severe; they have prayed and labored, they have talked and wept; but the evil spirits in their scholars have defied all efforts to dislodge them. Teachers of such incorrigible scholars may learn some lessons here.
It may be a little encouragement, first of all, to know that even Christ's apostles met at least one case that they could not do anything with; no wonder if common people like us fail now and then. It is failures like this in the apostles — which bring them down to our level. When we see them victorious and successful at every point — we are discouraged. But when we find them baffled and defeated — we see that they were human, just like us, and could do nothing by themselves. We get far more real help from Paul's experience with his "thorn" — than we get from his "third Heaven" exaltation. In this latter experience, he is so far beyond us that we cannot follow him; in the former experience, we are on familiar ground.
It may be instructive also to study the reasons of the apostles' failure. For one, the Master was absent; the disciple cannot do anything without His Lord. This is a lesson we should deeply impress on our own minds. Unless we have Christ with us — all our Christian work will utterly fail. Of ourselves — we can never change a heart. Another reason was lack of faith in the disciples; unbelief makes any one weak. Though absent, Christ's power would have been theirs, had not their faith failed. Still another reason was the hardness of the case: all cases are not alike difficult, some requiring more faith and spiritual power than others.
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J.R. Miller (1840 - 1912)
Prolific author and pastor of Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois, Rev. James Russell Miller served the USCC as a field agent in the Army of the Potomac and Army of the Cumberland.J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia. J.R. Miller D.D.'s lasting fame is through his over 50 books. Many are still in publication.
James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 - July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
In 1857, James entered Beaver Academy and in 1862 he progressed to Westminster College, Pennsylvania, which he graduated in June, 1862. Then in the autumn of that year he entered the theological seminary of the United Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller resumed his interrupted studies at the Allegheny Theological Seminary in the fall of 1865 and completed them in the spring of 1867. That summer he accepted a call from the First United Presbyterian Church of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867.
J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia.
Five years later, in 1880, Dr. Miller became assistant to the Editorial Secretary at the The Presbyterian Board of Publication, also in Philadelphia.