Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1906-05-09
CHRISTIAN ENDEAvoR.
Prayer Meeting Topic For the Week
BEGINNING May rs.

Beginning Way IS.
By REV. S. H. DOYLE.
Topic-Christ's Life v Lessons from
His miracles of healing.-Matt. tx. q, 81;
XIV. S0-41.
In the three years of His public min
istry our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ spent most of His time ''in
teaching. preaching and healing" His
miracles were performed primarily TO
convince the world of His divinity.
They were Gods stamp of approval
upon Hius. In his sermon on the day
of Pentecost Peter declared that God
approved of Christ "hy miracles, signs
and wonders" But the miracles had
secondary purposes. They were per-
formed in every case except one-the
cursiag of the barren fruit tree for the
benefit of suffering mankind They
were usually miracles of healing.
"Jesus went about all the cities and
villages teaching in their synagogues
and pre- ching the gospel of the king
dom ana healing every sickness and
every disease among the people" But
in addition to this the miracles OF
Christ hEI a didactc character. They
taught lessons. They We're in sense
parallels in action. He spoke many
parallels to tie people. and in His mir
acleS He worked many parallels before
them. The @rmer were word pictures
of the kingt ~ and the latter were OBJ
ject lessons of the kingdom, and some
times the teachings OF the miracles are
more vivid than those of the parallels,
and We may we'll, therefore study
Christ's miracles from the standpoint
of the lessons they teach.
/. The miracles of Christ teach us
a lesson on Christ's divinity. In some
quarters today the doctrine of Christs
deity is seriously questioned and even
boldly denied, but Christ claimed to be
God, and by the exercise of powers
that belong to God He substantiated
that claim. To give up the deity Of
Christ is to give up belief in His mira
Giles: - give up belief in His miracles
is to give up the gospels that record
them, and to give up the gospels is
practically to give up the Bible, to give
up God and TO be without hope in the
world" These great truths are all
IuSElntI- IHtN aAG aAAhS ia sAI1
same chain. Break one link and the
chain is broken. and this is true regard
less of the link that is broken. Our
faith must embrace all or ii dwindles
into nothing; hence the need of hold
ing fast the doctrine of miracles as an
attestation to the fact that Christ while
human was also more than human,
that He was God
2 The miracles of Christ teach us
a lesson on Christ's attitude toward
humanity He did not come to earth
to behold the miseries and Affections of
men and to hold Himself aloof from
them, but TO sympathize with suffer
ing humanity and TO bring divine relief
to their sufferings. In every miracle
that He performed we see a manifesto
ton OF His sympathy, His love and
His compassion for a lost and sinful
race and His desire 10 share their
sorrows and to lift men above them.
Moreover. His miracles were sym
bolical of His attitude toward mans
spiritual condition. The healing of the
blind was typical of HIS willingness
to heal the spiritually blind; when He
made the lame to walk He demonstrate
ed His desire and ability TO make those
TO walk In the spirit who had been
crippled by walking in sin. and in rails
ing the dead He showed that He could
and was willing to raise those who
were dead in trespasses and in sins"
His attitude is the same toward US to-
day. He loves us and sympathiZes
with US in our physical sufferings and
Is able and willing to give US rest for
our souls"
3. The miracles of Christ teach us
what we as His disciples are to be.
While we cannot miraculously cure the
sick or feed the hungry, we can feed
the hungry, give drink to the thirsty,
show hospitality to the stranger and
visit the sick. the unfortunate and i'm
prisoned. and if we will do so in His
name He Himself viii accept it as
done unto Him and will accordingly re-
ward us.
BIBLE READINGS.
Luke II, 1850; John ii. iii; vi, 1, 2;
*, 4.