Newark post., 1910-03-02
THE LESSON.

VS. 2. Spend no time on the hor-
rors of leprosy. If your children do
not know what the disease was. tell
what you know quickly. Center your
thought on the word he spoke. "1.o,,
il thou wilt"
1t was direct challenge. Il am
ieper. You can heal me. am doom
ed tl, die. You can remove the doom.
] am incurable. You can cure me. No
one else on earth has the power to do
this You have"
There was faith in his power, trust
in his willingness, belief in his con-
descension to such as he.
This is the first recorded instance i'll
Matthew OF personal confession OF
faith in the power of Christ to do what
the world called impossible.
There was something about Jesus
that made men believe in HIM What
was IL,
VS. 4, Jesus acted first, spoke next.
He touched the leper. That was an
offensc to many. a man who touched
leper became unclean, as the saying
went. He cut himself off from asso-
ciation with others until he had gone
through ceremony that was supposed
to purify one Jesus scorned all this.
The only thing that could make man
~unclcan'' was sin The touch carried
confidence to the leper. Next Jesus
spoke. Il will. Be clean The COM
mand OF the Divine One was enough
The leprosy obeyed. 1t vanished. Sc
he can cleanse us still Sin will not hold
soul to which Jesus speaks the wort
ef forgiveness.
----- II vas not long. slow cure. 1t wa:
instantaneous. A person can become
a Christian in exactly that way. In
stantaneous convers:on' Yes. Try it
VS. 4. Keep the law is shor
paraphasc OF this verse. do not &c
about telling OF your cure. Let the
priest tell it, You tell the priest Make
tho offering Fulfill the social require
mcnt Then when you have the priest
certificate the world will believe you
Three things here. Human faith
Very great. Divine grace. Mucl
greater Human discretion No bet
ter motto can be written for youn,
Christians than this. BE discreet.
Let religion commend itself
Vss. SO The centurion OF Caper
nauni was doubtless we'll acquante,
with what Jesus had already done. H
was 4 Roman soldier Perhaps he i
the one who had built synagogue i
the city If so. then Jesus wrough
probably more centurions than one
however, in Capernaum, as there wer
sixty in each legion, and Capernaur
was large enough to require more tina
one hundred soldiers for garrison pr.
poses.
be centurion came for a body ST.
eanl. not one OF his soldiers. Motto
he made no request He stated cas-
He did not in words at first say he b,
licved in the power Of Jesus to heal
he would The leper staked his who
ease on the willingness OF Jesus. II
eeis1urion rested his on a statement
fact 1t is as though he had said "A
! need to do is to state the case. +
will heal my servant of course"
That was a great conception of ii
Iargeness of the heart OF Jesus.
vs. T. Il will come" That was Ill
is asked to do if the request be f
spiritual healing, 1t was doubtless II
usual for an Israelite to go into Il
home of Gentle. But Jesus was
the time doing unusual things. He d
not care a, straw for Jewish conve
tionality A man was in trouble
servant was sick. To 60 with the m
would cheer him at once The healil
would 6ll tire home with JOY. M
have never yet tested the willingne
OF Jesus for all it will do.
Nss. 80. These are very gre
vcrses- Let me give the argument
Confession Il am not worthy"
Ii. is unnecessary, 60 Illustration.
superior commands interiors and tn
obey Men obey me. Disease, dea
all things, obey Thee, for Thou
Master OF all things. Disease is
servant ! speak, my servant ODE
Speak then, disease will obey" II
was no doubt the train OF thought
The mans mind. 1t seems wonderf