The log cabin Democrat., 1908-02-20
Jesus at the Pool
 of Bethesda Sunday School Lesson for Feb. 23.l9GS Specially Prepared for This Paper
Specially Prepared for This Paper

lnfirmities, and bare our sicknesses. -
 Matt. S:17.
 | PLACE.-The Pool of Bethesda at Jeru- | salem.
 | TIME.-In the spring of A D. 2s. Two | pr three months after the last lesson. l John the Baptist was put in prison about | this time.
 Comment and Suggestive Thought. V. 2. Lay great multitude of | impotent folk" Literally, people with out strength, especially, as here, de | bility caused by sickness. The class 1 of diseases brought to these waters is | described as blind, halt" Cor lame, as from rheumatism) "withered," mem bers of whose body were deprived of | their natural juices, wasted shrunk. | Waiting for the moving of the water" l That there was a moving of the water | is evident from the statement of the 1 sick man in V. '. But this part of V. | and the whole of V. 4, explaining the | cause of the movement, is omitted from both the R. V. and the Am. V.,
 because they are not found in the best 1 manuscripts But the explanation may be true.
 V. 4 The angel' is not necessari- | ly person. Angel means 'messen- ger" an agent sent by God to do
 certain work. Thus it is said (Psa. | 104:4, R. V) that God maketh winds
 his messengers" his angels. Jesus Going About Doing Good l The meeting of Jesus with the invalid at Bethesda is one instance of his method of reaching men. He went about doing good One Sabbath at even, when the sun did set, they
 brought unto him all that were dis eased, and them that were possessed | with devils.
 And he healed many that were sick 1 of divers diseases, and cast out many devils: That it might be fulfilled which
 was spoken by Isaiah the prophet,
 saying, himself took our infirmities,
 and bare our sicknesses. (MattheW and Mark)
 Imitation of Jesus in Doing Good "All the experience of modern mission aries in the east goes to show the wisdom of the method employed by
  l attention to diseased bodies as
 means of access to diseased souls. - Isabella Bird Bishop.
 Christ tells us that those who be- lieve in him shall do greater works than he, and it is true that Christ in
 his Christianity is doing on a far lar
 ger scale the works of Christ than it was possible for him to do in Pales- tine. The kindly feeling, the desire to help, the increased skill which spring up under Christianity as flowers and | fruits grow in the sunshine, have made | Christ's works through his people greater than those he wrought on earth. They are not miracles, but are better than the power of miracles, as l the prolonged sunshine is better than flash of lightning. Blind asylums have opened many eyes, and caused people to read and work even without sight. Hospitals have cured and cared for multitudes of sick and insane. It is the privilege of each individual Christian to know something of Christ's healing power. The cheer, the hope, the inspiration, the uplift of faith in him, is a healing power over disease Prayer is said by experts to be a real power in curing the in- | sane. Jesus himself can still heal our diseases in his own way. And yet
 more, he can cause them to bring spiritual health and peace. It is the privilege of every Christian to go about doing good in the name of Jesus.
 Jesus cures the morally sick as he did this man at Bethesda, not so much by what he does for them as what he does in them With the command
 came the inspiration. the power to obey Therein lies the difference be-
 tween the advice which men give and the commands and invitations which God gives Advice to be good is no
 doubt often of value. But what men
 need and what God gives is life, new hearts, strength to follow the advice. All other religions give advice; Christ is the way, not merely an ideal, but the way to reach the ideal; not pie ture of what we ought to be, but the
 way, the power, the life by which men
 can realize the picture,
 V. g. Took up his bed" Showing
 his faith and obedience. And walked"
 Showing the completeness of the cure.
 The Cure of the Soul Went with the
 Cure of the Body.-A little later in
 the day Jesus finds the man in the temple. His religious nature was
 awakened by his cure. He had doubt less been for long time wanting to worship God, but was unable to go. I remember well in my boyhoOds days
 that my first deep and earnest seeking for the religious life was during the
 later stages of recovery from sickness.
 The disease and danger were gone, but the heart turned toward God. In the temple Jesus made himself known, and bade him sin no more,