Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1902-06-06
A DOUBLE BLESSING.
forgiveness of Sins and Bestowai of
Temporal Blessings.
Sermon by the "Highway and Byway'
Preacher on the Cleansing and
Healing of the Man Sick.
with the Palsy.
copyright, 1902, by A. n. Kellogg Newspa-
nfr Col

and walk?' But that We may know that
the Son of Man hath power upon earth TO
forgive sins Gle said unto the SICK OF the
palsy, 1 say unto thee: Arise, ard take up
thy couch, and go into thine house, AnC
Immediately he rose up before them, and
took Up that whereon he lay, and depart
ed to his own house, clarifying God.
5:2325.
Take your Bible and read the beau
tiful and stirring story of the healing
of the man sick with the palsy, as re-
corded by Luke, in the fifth chapter
of his gospel, from the seventeenth to
the twenty-siXth verse. Jesus has re-
turned to Capernaum, the center OF
some of His mightiest works. 1mmedi-
ately the news of His coming is noised
abroad. The sixteenth verse tells us
that just previous to this He had with
drawn himself to the wilderness, there
to commune in secret with the Father
and obtain from Him the strength and
refreshing that was necessary to the
carrying out of His great mission. He
has been missed. On previous Sab
bath day He had cast out the devil
from a man in the synagogue, had
healed Peters wife's mother, and had
spent the closing hours of the busy
day in laying His hand on all who were
brought to Him sick with divers dis
eases and healing them.
And now, on His return, those i'll
need flock to this great Healer and
Teacher and later go away and say:
eve have seen strange things to-
day. Blessedly strange because He
gave so differently from the way in
which the world gave, and spake as
never man spake before. And it is
ever thus. Where Jesus is in mani
fest power there are strange things
wrought, and souls are blest. But
the critics of our Lord were there,
Pharisees and doctors of the law.
You will always find them where the
Lord is at work. There, to hinder
and not to help. There, not to glori-
fy God for His mighty works, but to
criticise the manner in which the
work is done. The Lords methods
did not quite fit into the cold formal
ism, and ritualism, and traditional
ism of the leaders of the Jews. Nor
can church, or denomina ton, or
creed, or ritua1ism, or fanaticism, Or
conservatism dictate to-day the times
and seasons of Gods visitation, or
monopolize the ways and channels
through which the Holy Spirit shall
operate.
The power of the Lord was present
to heal them, and they came. From
all over that thriving, busting city
of Capernaum the people gathered
until the court of the house where the
Lord was became crowded, and the
street without was filed with the
eager throng. Behind the rest, be-
cause hindered by the burden they
were carrying, came the men bear
ing the bedridden paralytic. Could
we have been there, we might have
overheard him YEARLY protesting to
those who were bearing him that
the crowd was blocking the way, and
he would never be able to see Jesus,
and so they had better carry him
back home. But no, they knew that
hope lay ahead, and that faith would
find a way. All, loyal, persistent
friends, what an example they have
been throughout the centuries to
those who are laboring to bring
some friend to Christ. There is al
ways some way of getting them into
the presence of Jesus, even if all for
mality has to be cast to the winds
and the frown of the modern Phari-
sees and doctors of the law has to
be faced To the roof they go with
their helpless burden, and their
thrown to one side and way made
to the presence of Jesus.
1t is always possible to get into
the presence of Jesus, but it is not
always easy. Sometimes the people
are between you and Jesus. You
know you ought to come. The con-
victing power of God has wrought in
your heart and convinced you that
you need to see Jesus, but you hest
tate. The people are between you
and Jesus. You have not the cour-
age of your convictions to pass
them. You cannot endure their gaze,
and their sheer, perhaps, or their
chatting. The crowd got between
Jesus and Zacheus, but he needs
must see Jesus, and he climbed up
into the sycamine tree and that day
became the butt for all the rude
jokes of the passing, motley throng,
but he saw Jesus, and the lord went
and took dinner with him, and de-
clared before He left that salvation
had come to ZacheuS' house. That
was blessed reward for all the hu-
initiation of the sycamine tree. Yours
may be a like experience if you will
put aside pride and endure the trial
of the effort to see Jesus. You may
have to climb to the roof and become
a gazing stock for the world, you
may have to tear away the tiles OF
prejudice and preconceived notions
but you can see Jesus if you only
will.
AS the swinging couch was lowered