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34 The spiritual world also could not but own him to be God.

loud voice, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt 36 Yet the men who believed, would not obey.

him not. 36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about. And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. 40 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak for they knew that he was Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.

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40 Where is the spiritual sickness which he is not ready to heal! If the soul apply to its sins the Gospel remedies, pride yields to humility, despair to hope, envy to love, hatred to good will, murmurs to submission.

CHAPTER V.

FEB. 22, JUNE 21, Oct. 19.

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1 AND it came to pass, that, 1 How joyful a sight, when men as the people pressed upon press to hear the word of God." him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left * Simon was surnamed Peter.

speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and

5 What if the fishers of men-the ministers of the word-seem often to toil in vain; no sooner shall he vouchsafe success, than the net shall fill. Let then the patient servant toil in hope.

let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: and so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 11 And 11 When duty calls us to follow when they had brought their him, we are animated by knowing, ships to land, they forsook that loss even of life for his sake, is all, and followed him. And gain to ourselves for ever. it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. 14 And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded fora testimony unto them. But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. 17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judæa, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought

:

their infirmities.

14 All our blessed Lord's miracles were instances of divine benevolence.

At the same time, to cut off occasion

of offence towards his countrymen, he commands that they present to the priest their accustomed offering.

17 They had come to Capernaum.

21 This question was needless. Jesus had proved by his miracles that he was the very God: and, by the confession of his enemies, God had power to forgive sins.

means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go unto thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day. 27 And after

27 Levi was another name for Matthew.

these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom and he said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? 34 And he said unto them, Can make the children ye of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they

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34 His disciples had no cause for he was with them; and he was unhumiliation and mourning, so long as willing to damp their present joy. He foreknew that deep sorrow awaited them, after his removal from

them. It would then be time to weep and lament.

35 He wished to shew them, that it

fast in those days. 36 And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

would be wrong to attempt laying upon his disciples the old requisition of the law-in its full severity of fasting and mourning. They could not bear up under such an infliction. 36 So to burden his disciples, would be as though one should expect the old bottles to bear the new wine, or new cloth not to rend an old garment.

CHAPTER VI.

FEB. 23, JUNE 22, Oct. 20.

1AND it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days? And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him; how he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. And it came 6 On every returning Sabbath, Jesus was one of the worshippers. Can we then be safe in neglecting the solemn public services of that day?

1 On the Sabbath day in the week of the Passover.

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pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught:

and there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered

8 To know what passes in the mind is an attribute of God alone. This proof that He knew the thoughts of

* A clear proof of the divinity of our Saviour. As he created the world, and the sabbath day was first appointed in honour of that creation, he must be Lord of the sabbath, which was a commemoration of his own work, and ordained by himself.

those around him shewed him to be God, and tended to prepare the people for the miracle he vouchsafed.

12 When any circumstance of weight or special moment is before us, O let us flee to God for counsel, that his grace may both prevent and follow

us.

Thus did our Saviour. About to choose his Apostles-those on whom, as a foundation, he was to build his Church-so earnest was his supplication, that he continued all night in prayer to God.

hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so and his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus. "And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God *. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphæus, and Simon called Zelotes †, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judæa and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; and they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. 20 And he lifted eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for your's is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled.

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his

20 St. Matthew explains this — "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The poor in station are likewise blessed of God, if they be “ poor in spirit" also.

* Our Lord chose as his Apostles chiefly unlearned men and men of low station, for two special reasons: first, that the world might acknowledge the success of the Gospel to be brought about by a higher than man's wisdom; secondly, that the Romans should not possibly look with a jealous eye of offence upon men so humble, or suppose their Master to have any design of raising a temporal kingdom.

+ Judas was chosen, partly to fulfil the word of prophecy; for "the familiar friend, in whom he trusted," was to betray the Messiah: partly, to show us that the Gospel loses not aught of its virtue or value, even though some of its professors may betray its cause. (Ps. xl. 3.)