Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-24
A DOUBLE MIRACLE.
Christ Healing the Paralytic and
Granting Him AbsOlutiOn.
A TEST OF MEMS EARNESTEESS.
People Who Expect Financial Reward for
Righteousness.
TWO GREAT TRUTHS TAUGHT BY CHRIST
rwE1rrzN FOR THE DrsPATcH.l

WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.l
In large upper room, such as they had
in the houses of the East, the Master was
teaching inside, and outside the house and
street were thronged with listeners. Sud-
denly there is noise of hurrying feet, and
down the road come five men, one lying on
bed and four carrying him, all with their
ewes turned toward this house. They want
to get where Christ is. But the street is
crowded. There is no way of getting near
even the door. What shall they do? Why,
here is the outside stairway, leading to the
roof. Up this hurry the four bearing their
precious burden. The listeners in the upper
room hear the sound Of the trampling feet.
Then there is noise Of pounding and pull
ing and beating; dust and chips begin to fall
upon the heads of the crowded congregation.
And, presently, there is great hole In the
ceiling, and down comes the sick man
through the hole, lying in his bed, the four
letting him down, one at each corner, until
he lies at the very feet of Christ.
The coming of these men In search of
Christ showed a good deal of faith. But
that they should have climbed upon the
roof, and broken hole in the ceiling, and
let the sick man through-this showed that
these five men were very much in earnest and
that their faith was genuine.
Because the crowd was q test. How
strong, now, is the desire of these five to
come into Christ's presence? The hindrance
will show that? Halfheartedness would
have taken the crowd for good excuse, and
would have turned back. But genuine
earnestness looks about, as these men did,
for some way to climb over hindrances, and
to turn stumbling blocks into stepping
stones.
All hindrances are tests. They try the
reality of our resolutions, and the genuine
ness of our purposes. A black sky of q
Sunday morning tests the strength OF Chris
tians. Those who are physically or morally
weak stay at home. This is but homely
illustration of one of the constant truths of
human life. God is every day testing us,
and in every way. He Himself knows US;
He has no need for His own sake to test us.
But we do not any of US know ourselves
perfectly we'll And the tests which come
with hindrances bring us
REVELATIONS OF OURSELVES.
We all imagine that we are patient, and
forgiving, and honest, and faithful, until
we are tested. After that, Imagination is
translated into knowledge. That is one of
the blessings which God sends with every
difficulty, and grief, and trial. Every day
we are tested. And the tests dispel delu-
sions. We come to see ourselves as we
| are. We discover where we are weak
And thus we find out where we need to
fortify ourselves and to get strong.I
The test of hindrance came in the way of
these men, and at once they showed how
khair 70 a. -
presence. At first it seemed impossible for
them to get where Christ was. But it was
not impossible. There was a way. And
that way they found.
1t is always possible to get near to Christ
There is no kind of hindrance which so
stands between Christ and the soul that the
soul cannot break through and touch Christ.
| Down through the broken ceiling comes
this sick man into the presence of Christ.
And then that happened which came to
pass a thousand times during the life of
Christ He looked down at the sick man by
His feet who lay there wondering, no doubt,
and anxious as to what the Master might
have to say to such an interruption in His
sermon. He looked down, and the light
came into His face, and he gave His well
come. ''Son. be OF good cheer" He said.
For while it is blessedly true that an ap-
proach to Christ is possible in spite Of him
drance to every soul that earnestly seeks
Him; it is also true that Christ mas a well
come for every soul. Whoever comes to
Him, He will in no wise cast out. Because
Christ changes not. What He was in Cali
lee, He is still, unchangeably. Whoever
brings a grief to Him to-day, Christ hears
and sees as He did in that upper room in
Peters house. and answers and blesses still,
Presently he spoke again to the paralytic,
and said, Arise, take up thy bed and go unto
thine house. And the man arose, and de-
parted to his house. His prayer was an
swered.
That is the story of the miracle.
WHAT CHRIST DID.
That is the story of the miracle with a
good deal left out, with the most important
part lett out Thus far it is like many an
other miracle, except that the man who was
healed was somewhat more persistent than
usual. But Christ did much more for the
paralytic than to cure his sickness: He for
gave his sins.
Indeed, the absolution came before the
miracle. And the miracle followed as a
quite subordinate matter, as piece OF evi-
dence. Christ worked the miracle as proof
of the reality of the absolution. "That We
may know that the Son of Man hath power
on earth to forgive sins (then saith He to the
sick of the palsy Arise"
That must have surprised the paralvtic.
He had gone to Christ as men go to a physi-
clan. He was afflicted with the palsy and
he wanted to get relief from it. He had
heard that Christ had been efecting some
remarkable cures. He believed that Christ
could cure him. So far as we know, this
man had come to Peters house with no more
thought about religion than we have when
we consult doctor. And the first words
which proceed from the Physicians lips are
these remarkable ones: "Son, be of good
cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee"
The blessings of God do not always come
as we ask or think. Sometimes people i'm
agine that prayer is not answered, because
ii is not answered in their way. Sometimes
people come to think that there are no re-
wards in the service of God, because God
does not reward them with the blessings
which they expect or desire. They meet
hindrances and overcome them; and then
they enter with their petitions into Christ's
presence, and Christ surprises them as He
surprised the paralytic. He gives them a
blessing which they have not asked for.
read here in Christ'S absolution of the
paralytic lesson about the rewards of God.
The best rewards of God are spiritual. The
greatest thing which, Christ could do tor
this paraIytic was to forgive his sins. II
He had sent him away then, still on his bed
and borne by four, and left him to be az
flicted with the palsy to the end of his days,
He would still have bestowed upon him the
richest of all blessings. and He would have
desired him only a lower and inferior re-
ward, which, beside the other, was simply
nothing. The soul is better than the body.
Holiness is better than health. Character
| cannnt be balanced BY any equivalent OF