have been very great to have drawn from the bosom of Jesus words which are so full of mingled reproach and regret.

Jesus took the four apostles with him to Capernaum, where he zealously pursued the engagements of his godlike errand. While one day (April 2nd, A. D. 29) teaching in the synagogue there, and attracting great and admiring attention, he was led to notice a sick man who was one of those that were termed demoniacs, that is, persons possessed by a demon. This appellation was

derived from the conviction, prevalent at the time, that persons affected in their minds, such as were liable to epileptic attacks, and others, the cause of whose disorders was unknown, were diseased owing to the presence within them of demons or evil spirits, especially the evil spirits of dead men. It was also a general opinion that such spirits were obliged to quit the afflicted and disappear before the Messiah, one of whose offices it was to destroy the devil and his works (1 John iii. 8). Hence Jesus could the more readily restore soundness of mind because even his approach was regarded as having power to expel the demons and put them to flight. And here we may find the reason why Jesus, as a kind physician of the soul, did not contradict the view taken by the demoniacs of

the cause of their malady, but, speaking after their own manner, employed his divine power to heal their disorders and soothe their spirits. And surely it was a far higher work to restore the sanity of the mind than to make perhaps a fruitless attempt to correct a popular error. The statements, however, which have now been made, explain the language employed by the demoniac in the synagogue of Capernaum (Luke iv. 33-37, comp. 41). That cure filled those who were present with amazement, and they said, 'What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out ' (36).

On quitting the synagogue, our Lord and Master entered into the house of Simon Peter. There he found the apostle's wife's mother sick of a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her.

These wonders spread his name on all sides. The sick were in consequence brought to him from many quarters, and he gave them health.

Multitudes, however, were around him; and the consequent bustle and confusion were adverse to meditation on his part, and to reflection on theirs (Luke iv. 38, seq.). These wonderful works were done, not for themselves, but to draw attention to those high spiritual truths for the promulgation of which he had come. There was a danger lest the outward excitement might hinder or supersede the necessary inward change. He determined, therefore, to withdraw. He went into a desert place, and there occupied himself in prayer. Still, such was the general excitement, crowds pressed in from all sides. Peter went to him and said, All seek for thee.' He received for answer, 'Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for therefore am I come. And he preached in their synagogues throughout Galilee, and cast out demons' (Mark i. 35, seq.).

While on this journey, Jesus healed a leper, and bade the man abstain from increasing the already troublesome and dangerous notoriety, by proclaiming the cure, directing him only, in compliance with the law of Moses, to show himself to a priest, whose office it was to inspect such as had been leprous, and report whether or not they were cleansed. The leprosy was a frightful disorder, similar, but far worse in its effects, to our scrofula. It caused the hair, the nails, and even sometimes limbs, to rot and drop off. The disease was and is very prevalent in the East. Under the idea that it was contagious, lepers were compelled to keep at a distance from others, and to wear a mark, so that others might know and shun them. Poor, wretched outcasts as they were, how must such as Jesus healed have exulted in the consciousness of restored health, vigour, and social equality! (Matt. viii. 1-4; Mark i. 40-45; Luke v. 12-16).

After a few days, the Great Physician re-entered Capernaum.

His presence soon became known. A man sick of the palsy having, in consequence, lost the use of his limbs, was brought to him on a couch. Jesus restored the sick man to strength. In doing so he employed the words, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee.' Sin, in his day, was commonly held to be a cause of disease. If, therefore, a man was sick, he was considered as thus suffering Divine punishment for his sins. Observing, probably, something in the bystanders which required correction, Jesus employed the phraseology of the day when he pronounced his forgiveness in effecting his cure. Some scribes were there, watching the benevolent Jesus with the sharp eye of religious jealousy. No sooner did he speak of forgiveness than they seized the word. 'Here is blasphemy, beyond a doubt-blasphemy heard by our own ears. Forgive sins! who but God can forgive sins?" All this was thought, not said-thought and laid up for the occasion in their wicked hearts. Those hearts were seen by Jesus-seen through and through. Wherefore,' said he, think ye evil in your hearts? If I can heal this helpless man, I, the Messiah, have power on earth even to forgive sins.' The man arose at his word; the scribes were abashed; but 'the multitudes marvelled

6

and glorified God, who had given such power unto men' (Matt. ix. 2-8; Luke v. 18, seq.).

As he went forth after this act of divine power and love,' he saw a man, named Matthew (Levi-Matthew, Mark ii. 14), sitting at the receipt of custom; and he said unto him, Follow me: and he arose and followed him' (ix. 9). On occasion of this great change, Matthew, being obviously a person of substance, entertained at his house a large company. Among them were many publicans. These publicans were persons who were engaged in collecting from the Jews taxes payable to the Romans. Matthew was probably a district collector, and as such was desirous of giving a farewell feast to his former associates in office. But these taxgatherers, since they collected imposts which were paid to Romans who farmed Judea for their own benefit and the supply of the imperial treasury, and since they were visible signs and proofs that the chosen people were in subjection to a hateful pagan yoke, were held in very great dislike; and it became a sort of patriotic fashion to regard and treat them with contempt. Jesus and his disciples were present at Matthew's entertainment. Such a step offended the Scribes and Pharisees, and gave them a pretext for new objections. This man the Messiah! Impossible! Why, he eats with publicans and sinners!' Their murmurs were taken up and passed from lip to lip, among all the discreet and fashionable people of the vicinity. The small talk of these small souls, however, gave the Master an opportunity for letting fall one or two of those gems of thought with which his mind was full. Thus he spake : 'They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.' The occasion seems to have led Jesus to declare his views on fasting. They are in brief to this effect: that his is a social, cheerful religion, whose operation and tendency are to enlarge the heart, and, through its influence, to sanctify the life. On so purely spiritual a system, the old outward observance of fasting could in no way be grafted (Matt. ix. 9-17; Mark ii. 13-22; Luke v. 29—39).

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DISCIPLES PLUCK AND EAT EARS OF CORN-JESUS RESTORES THE WITHERED HAND-THE SABBATH-JOHN THE BAPTIST IS BEHEADED.

April 9th, A. D. 29.

The writers of the Gospels did not undertake to give a history of Jesus strictly subject to the sequences of time and place, their

aim being to put together, in such order as best suited their several purposes, trustworthy notices of the life of their Master, tending to prove the divinity of his mission and work. Such being the case, we cannot expect to find the exact place for every narrated event in the general outline of our Saviour's life which we are now sketching. The incident of which we are about to speak is in the Gospels left unconnected in time and place. Yet are there circumstances in it which seem to justify us in introducing it here. The incident is as follows.

One sabbath-day, Jesus and his disciples were passing through a corn-field, when the latter, being hungry, availed themselves of the legal custom of the country, and, plucking ears of corn, rubbed them in their hand and ate the grain. The Pharisees declared the act a desecration of the sabbath. Jesus, in reply, argued from their own history that, in cases of need, such an act did not involve a breach of the law. He went further, and gave utterance to two of those noble and universal truths which are so characteristic of his mind, and combine to give to his religion the attribute of undecaying permanence. And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath' (Matt. xii. 1-8; Mark ii. 23-28; Luke vi. 1—5)

The point in the narrative at which we have put this transaction is early in April (A.D. 29). This point has been determined by calculations founded on the statement in Luke, that the event came to pass on the second sabbath after the first. Its general accuracy is confirmed by the fact, that the time was that at which the corn in the fields was nearly ripe; for nearly ripe it must have been, when, being plucked, the ears were rubbed and ate as food. Regarding the place, however, we have more difficulty. The disciples were hungry, and hence may have been at a distance from Capernaum, their home. Yet, since on the sabbath only a distance of about a mile could be travelled, it is not to be supposed that it was to a long journey on that day they owed their appetite. Still it was a case of need, for so bear the arguments employed by Christ. Probably the incident took place near the end of a long journey undertaken for the proclamation of the gospel, the last stage of which was completed on the sabbath, near Capernaum.

Immediately after this practical assertion of his right, as the Messiah, to use the sabbath for his own wise and benign purposes, Jesus entered the synagogue, where he found a man with a withered hand. His enemies were on the alert. Here was another occasion for detecting him in a breach of the law, which, as misinterpreted by them, forbad even the work of healing on the sabbath. Jesus saw their evil intentions, and put to them the broad question, whether it was lawful to do good on the sabbath-day. Unable to answer, they had not the honesty to