Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-14

brought to him palsied man for heal
! ing. Unable to come into the house
or it's court because of the, throng,
they removed some of the thing stones
of the roof and lowered the sick man
into the presence of the preaching
Savior. Such implicit faith, manifest
ed by effort, could not fail to be ap-
preciated by the Redeemer.
But the unexpected happened. In
stead of healing the man of his dis
ease, Jesus exclaimed, "Thy sins are
forgiven thee" Under Gods arrange
ment with the Jews, under their spe-
cial law covenant. original sin was
typically atoned for by the typical
sacrifices, and the people were held
to account for their transgressions of
the law. Hence amongst the Jews, Sc
rious sickness implied serious sins.
We are not to forget that such spe-
cial dealings were with the Jews only
that they never applied to the Gen.
tiles nor to Christians. God had no
such covenant with the church nor
with the world in general today.
Hence the righteous are often SICK
and sinners healthy.
"Who Can Forgive sins?"
When Jesus declared the sins OF
the palsied Jew forgiven, some of the
audience declared that such language
was blasphemy--that Jesus was AFRO
eating to himself power which be-
longed to God alone. They did not
stop to consider that If he were In
deed the Messiah, the Redeemer, 1t
would imply that he would possess
the authority to cancel the sins from
which he was redeeming men. Per-
ceiving their thoughts and knowing
that thus they might stumble over a
great truth to their injury, Jesus in
few words clarified the matter, say,
ing to them. Which do you consider
the easier, to tell man that his sins
are forgiven, or to heal him? He we'll
knew that they would say that the
healing was the most difficult, and
therefore if Jesus were able to heal
the man, there would be no reason
why he should say. "Thy sins are for
given thee" if he had not the power
to forgive sins. In proof of this he
said to the palsied man, Arise, take
up thy bed and go unto thy house. y
Immediately the man was healed and
departed carrying his bedding. The
people made way for him and with
MANAGEMENT glorified God, saying,
| Whoever saw the like?
Authority to Forgive Sins.
There are certain great basic prin'
ciples relating to Gods dealings with
humanity which should be recognized
Jehovah's government is based, not
upon mercy, but upon justice; as we
read, Justice is the foundation OF thy
throne" In no sense of the word di.
vine justice never forgives and never
can do so, as we will explain. We read
"All his work is perfect 1t is the di'
vine method that every creature OF
God shall be so perfect as to need
no forgiveness, no allowance. The an
gels were created perfect, hence there
was no need to provide forgiveness
for them, because there would be no
excuse for their SHINING. Likewise
man was thus created perfect, in the
Image and likeness of the creator and
was without excuse, and therefore
needed no provision for mercy SO
.long as he was in relation with his
God.
| When temptation came. man fell
from obedience into sin, and from di.
vine favor and life into disfavor and
under the death sentence. But an,
other feature of the divine character
| love, while not in control. was brought
into exercise for mans relief y But