Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1896-02-01

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power Of the Lord was present 70 heal
them. - The title Of this lesson is The
Power OF Jesus, and il is seen in this
chapter in the draft of fishes, the healing
of the leper and Of the paralytic, but spe-
oially In the forgiveness Of sins. As He was
teaching on this particular occasion the
house was full of leading and influential
religious people, but He, the humble car
penter of Nazareth in their estimation,
thought not of their opinion and so, as al
ways, pleasing the Father, de preached
the word unto them Mark ii, p. Al
though the power of the Lord WAS present
to heal. they had come not 10 be healed,
nor TO be blessed, and they got neither.
IS. And behold, men brought in bed
a man which was taken with a palsy, and
they sought means to. bring him in and 10
lay him before Him" The Pharisees and
doctors needed no help in their own esti-
nation, but here is poor, afflicted, help
less man sadly needing help and very con-
scious OF it. There is saying that God
helps those who help themselves, but the
whole story and teaching of Scripture are 10
the effect that "God helps those who can
not help thelnselves''-th utterly helpless
and hopeless, humanity speaking, as the
leperr, re blind, the dumb, the deaf and
the paraiyztd. rnd such as could give Him
no recompelse but themselves in gratitude
for His loving kindness.
49, "They went upon the house top and
let him down through the thing, with his
couch, into the midst before Jesus" Their
sympathy was practical. they were very
persevering, they manifested their faith
by their works. 1t may be that each of
the four had himself been healed of some
tl..rr IA IL
sympathize with their friend, and having
each for himself seen and known the pow
er of Jesus they knew that could they only
get him to Jesus the thing would be done.
20. "And when He saw their faith, He
said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven
thee" We read in Math. viii, S-l3, of the
faith that said, "Speak the word only and
my servant shall be healed, +" and without
even seeing the sick one Jesus healed him.
The faith OF these men seems hardly so
great as that Of the centurion, but 1t was
real faith in Jesus, though different in de-
gree, and it pleased the Lord. without
faith it is impossible TO please Him" Heb.
XII 81. The man was brought to be healed
of his palsy, but Jesus, like a skillful ply
sician, sees the true source of his troubles
and begins the cure at the fountain head.
Not all sickness is the direct result of in
dividual sin, but sometimes it is so, as in
John v, IA.
81. "Who can forgive sins but God
aloneY" Thus reasoned the scribes and
Pharisees as they heard the words of Jesus
to the sick man. We may imagine their
CONSERVATION and possibly seowls and an
ger as they saw the roof broken up over
their heads. Contrast the perfect calm of
Jesus, unmoved by having His discourse
interrupted, or by the disturbance over
head, or by the hatred in their hearts, the
very essence of peace and quietness, He
who said to winds and waves, Peace, be
stilllp was Himself always peaceful and
still, for He lived in the presence of God,
the God of peace
90. 'But when Jesus perceived their
thoughts He, answering said unto them,
What reason We in your heartsy" 1t is writ
ten of Him, II know the things that come
into your mind every one of them" Geek.
XII 81. He understandeth even the imag-
nation of the thoughts of the heart Il
Chron. xviii, -. He understands our
thought afar off FPS. cxxxix, -. IL Is a
great comfort TO "a sincere heart that trusts
In Him that He can read the heart and
that He thoroughly understands us. 1t Is,
on the contrary, anguish to the unsayed
that their every thought is known to the
searcher of hearts See Jer. xvii, 10.
80. whether is easier to say, Thy sins
be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and
Walk" An ordinary physician may effect
a cure for the body, but only God can heal
the soul. One has said that the work of
creation wits completed in six days, but
the work of redemption kept the Son of
God ON earth for over 33 years. Concern
ing the first He spake and it was-done,
but to accomplish the second God became
man and suffered Understandable agony of
body and soul for our sins. To forgive sins
is surely the greatest work, for it cost God
the most.
"a. 1.-THE Son of Man hath power on
earth to forgive sins" Therefore the Son
of Man is none other than the Son of God,
even God Himself Instead of saying, as
their unbelief said, "Who can forgive sins
but God aloneY' faith would have said,
"He forgiyeth sins, therefore He must be
our God /" according to Isa. xiii, %. What
a JOY that He still forgives sins / have
been glad for 20 years that He has forgiven
my sins, and l first saw it in John ii, H.
l have had no dream or vision about 1t,
but believe God. / rest in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ and just
take Him at His word. believe also that
as truly as He redeems the soul He will IN
due time redeem the body.
%. "And Immediately he rose up before
them and took up that whereon. he lay and
departed to his. own house, clarifying
God" We read at least seven times in this
gospel of ''glorifying God The shepherds
glorified God when they had seen the babe
in the Manager the people glorified God
when they had seen the widows son raised
to life, the woman who was bowed down
IS years glorified God when she was made
straight, one of the ten lepers glorified
God, the blind man glorified God and the
Roman centurion glorified God Gil, 90;
V, 20, %; viii, 16; xiii, 13; xvii, 10; xviii,
AZ; xiii, 47). We glorify God when we
believe in Jesus Christ, when we make it
manifest to others that we have confidence
in Him, and do actually trust Him, when
we, by patience and meekress, by love and
JOY and long suffering and kindness, make
Ii very plain TO others that Christ Himself
is living in us and that we belong to Him.
26. And they were all amazed, and
they glorified God and were filled with
fear, saying, We have seen strange things
today They had seen an impossibility,
humanity speaking. They had seer the
supernatural. They saw sin sick soul
made clean ana whole, sick body made
well, and they saw preacher undisturbed
by an interrupted discourse, or by the an
ger Of the influential peoplein his au-
dience. All these things were superna-
k,,,al aud sylori fad God and they 0larified