57. What remarkable persons met him?

A. Two men

possessed with devils coming out of the tombs exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

58. What did they say? A. They cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time ?- -v. 29. 59. What is meant by his coming before the time? That is, before the day of judgment, when the devils will be given over to eternal punishment.

A.

60. Why did the devils cry out that Jesus was the Son of God? A. Either through fear at coming into his presence, who they well knew was able to punish them, or else through malice and deceit, in order that the world might doubt of his being that Divine Person, supposing it was one of their usual falsehoods.

61. What request did the devils make of him? A. There was a good way off from them a herd of many swine feeding, and they besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.-v. 30, 31.

62. What did Jesus answer? Go; he permitted them to do so, and they went into the herd of swine.—v. 32. 63. What became of the swine? A. They ran violently down a steep place, and perished in the waters.

64. Why did the men possessed with devils come out of the tombs ? A. Those unhappy persons had separated themselves from their fellow-mortals, and dwelt in the tombs, which were solitary places, and afforded them shelter1.

65. Why did the devils seek to go into the herd of swine? A. Because those wicked beings ever wish to do all the mischief in their power; and they also hoped, by doing so, to bring the hatred of the people upon our Lord, and thus prevent their paying any attention to his preaching.

66. Why did our Lord permit them? A. First, because it was a breach of the Jewish law to keep swine, and our Lord wished to punish the owners for thus tempting their brethren to transgress. Secondly, our Lord wished to prove that the people were actually possessed, and to show

Many of the tombs in those countries are large spacious buildings, very capable of affording shelter.

the great power of devils, and also that there was no collusion between him and the demoniacs; and thirdly, to make his power and mighty works manifest to the world, and to show that he was able to punish the guilty, if he pleased. 67. What became of those who kept the swine? A. They fled, and told in their city what had happened.-v. 33. 68. What effect had this on the inhabitants? A. The whole city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.— v. 34.

69. Why did they wish him to depart? A. Lest they should suffer any other loss by his means.

70. What is a miracle? A. An act performed contrary to the usual course of nature, by the power of the Supreme Being.

GENERAL QUESTIONS.

A.

71. Why was our Lord called the Son of man? First, Because he was the Divine Seed of the Woman promised. (Genesis iii. 5). Secondly, In reference to the prophecy of Daniel, (vii. 13.) where the Messiah is described as one like the Son of man. Thirdly, on account of his human nature, for he was perfect Man as well as perfect God'.

CHAPTER IX.

1. In what manner did our Lord leave this country? A. He entered into a ship and passed over.

2. Where did he go? A. He crossed the lake, and came into his own city.

3. What was the name of this city? A. Capernaum. 4. Had he always dwelt there? A. No; he had before

dwelt at Nazareth.

5. Why did he remove? Because he did not think himself safe at Nazareth, after John was cast into prison;

1 It is worthy of remark, that the title of "the Son of man is always applied by our Lord to himself, but never by any other person to him, with the exception of Stephen. Acts vii. 56. It occurs seventeen times in the Gospel of St. Matthew.

and also because of the evil treatment which he had received from the inhabitants. Vide Luke iv. 29.

6. What miracle did he work there? A. He healed a man sick of the palsy.

7. Why did he heal him? A. Because he saw the faith of the people in his power, and their dependence on his goodness.

8. In what words did he address him? A. Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.—v. 2.

9. What objection was made to this by the Scribes? A. They said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

10. What is blaspheming? A. Saying anything contrary to the honour and dignity of Almighty God.

11. Why did they say he blasphemed? A. Because they thought him to be merely a man, and therefore would not believe he had power to forgive sins.

12. Did they say this openly? A. No; they only said it within themselves; they intended, when they assembled together in private, to speak of it.

13. What proof of divine wisdom did our Lord now give? A. He told them what was passing in their minds; he knew their thoughts.

14. What did he say to them? A. Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? for whether is it easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk ?—v. 4.

15. What did he say to the sick man? A. Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

16. Why did he say this? A. To show that he, the Son of man, had power on earth to forgive sins.―v. 6.

17. Why does he say, that healing the distemper, and forgiving the sins of the man, were in effect the same? A. Because the distemper was the punishment inflicted by God for his sins; and, consequently, the same Being who had power to remit the temporal punishment for sins, had also power to remit or forgive the sin itself.

18. Why was Jesus Christ able to forgive sins? A. Because all sins are offences against God; God can forgive those offences, and as Jesus Christ is God, therefore he has power to forgive sins.

19. What did the sick man do? A. He arose and took up his bed, on which he had been brought to Jesus, and departed to his house.-Luke v. 25.

20. What did the multitude do? A. They marvelled, and glorified God.-v. 8.

21. What is meant by glorified God? A. That is, gave him thanks, honoured him.

22. Why did they marvel, and glorify God? A. Because he had given such power unto men.

23. Why were the people of this place more astonished than those of other places? A. Because our Lord had lived among them before in a private situation, without having performed any miracle.

24. How many of his twelve disciples have we as yet read an account of being called? A. Four; Simon, surnamed Peter; Andrew, his brother; and James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

25. Who was the next called? A. Matthew, the writer of this Gospel.—v. 9.

26. Of what profession was he? A. A publican; that is, one of the persons employed by the Romans to collect the taxes in Judea.

27. What was he doing when our Lord called him? A. He was sitting at the receipt of custom; that is, he was in the act of collecting the tolls or taxes at the usual place. 28. What did Jesus say to him? A. Follow me; that

is, be my disciple.

29. What did Matthew do? A. He arose and followed him. 30. What other name had Matthew? A. He was called Levi. Luke v. 27.

31. What fault did the Pharisees find with our Lord's conduct after this? A. His eating with publicans and sinners. 32. Where did he eat with them? A. At the house of Levi. Luke v. 29.

33. Why did they blame him for associating with those people? A. For two reasons; 1st, Because publicans were generally considered men of bad character, and extortioners; 2dly, They disliked them because they were officers appointed by the Romans, and they thought no foreign nation had a right to tax their country.

34. Whom did the Pharisees mean by sinners? A. Those persons who were notorious for their wicked lives. 35. What did the Pharisees say? A. They asked his disciples, saying, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

36. When Jesus heard it, what did he answer? A. They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. v. 12.

37. What is meant by they that are whole ? A. They who fancy themselves whole, and suppose that they are not in need of any atonement to reconcile them to God.

38. Who are meant by they that are sick? A. Those who are conscious of their infirmities, and of their spiritual wants. These are the persons most disposed to profit by the doctrines and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

39. What did Jesus tell them to do? He says, Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice. Hosea vi. 6.—v. 13.

40. What is the meaning of this? A. That God ever prefers a compassionate merciful disposition of heart, to the performance of any external ceremonies, such as sacrifice, &c. &c. Vide ch. xii. Quest. 9.

41. For what purpose does our Lord here say, that he came upon earth? A. Not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

42. What is meant by this? A. That he came to call those who were weary and heavy laden with a sense of their guilt and unworthiness to repentance, not those selfrighteous persons who had too good an opinion of themselves to suppose that they needed any repentance.

43. What persons came to him at this time? A. The disciples of John the Baptist.-v. 14.

44. What question did they ask him? A. Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

45. What did Jesus answer? A. Can the children of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.-v. 15.

46. Who is the Bridegroom? A. Jesus Christ. 47. Who are the children of the bridechamber? His disciples.

A.

48. When were they to fast? A. After our Lord's death.

49. Why were they not to fast during the time our Lord was upon earth? A. Because as a marriage is a joyful event, so our Lord's living upon earth was a time of joy and triumph to the sinner; therefore it would have been