They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
All Commentaries on Mark 16:18 Go To Mark 16
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
They shall take up serpents. From the places which they infested, and as Euthymius says, "They, shall destroy them, or even take them up in their hands without harm," as S. Paul did the viper. Therefore the Arabic translates, They shall take up serpents in their hands.
And if they shall drink any deadly thing. They shall drink poison unharmed, as the Apostles and many Saints have done.
They shall lay their hands upon the sick, &c. Observe that these signs were necessary in the Primitive Church for proving and strengthening the faith of Christ. Wherefore at that time almost all believers wrought miracles, at least of certain kinds; as, for example, the expulsion of devils from energumens. This is plain from Justin"s Dialogue against Trypho, Tertullian (Apolog.), Lactantius, and others. Many also at that time received in baptism the gift of tongues. See Acts 10:47, &c.
Mystically: S. Bernard (Serm. de Ascens.) says, "The first work of faith which worketh by love is compunction of heart, by which, without doubt, devils are cast out when sins are rooted out of the heart. After that they who believe in Christ speak with new tongues when old things depart but of their mouth, and for the time to come they speak not with the old tongue of our first parents, who declined unto words of wickedness in making excuses for their sins. But when by compunction of the heart, and confession of the mouth, the former sins have been blotted out, in order that men may not backslide, and their latter end be worse than the beginning, it is needful that they take away serpents, that Isaiah , extinguish poisonous suggestions, &c. If they shall drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them. This Isaiah , when they feel the stings of concupiscence, they shall not consent. They shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. This Isaiah , they shall cover their evil affections by good works, and by this medicine they shall be healed."
