II.ADOPTION — "Son."

III.GLADNESS — "Be of good cheer."

IV.FAITH — "When He saw their faith."

(D. Brotchie.)

1. The natural. By the natural, we mean those results which come inevitably in the train of wrong-doing, by what we call the laws of nature visiting themselves on the outward condition of a sinner, by which sin and suffering are linked together. Here, apparently, palsy had been the natural result of sin; for otherwise the address of Christ was meaningless. These natural consequences are often invisible as well as inevitable. Probably not one of the four friends, or even the physician, suspected such a connection. But the conscience of the palsied man and the all-seeing eye of Christ traced the connection. Such an experience is true much oftener than we imagine. The irritable temperament, the lost memory, are connected with sins done long ago. For nothing here stands alone and causeless. The Saviour saw in this palsied man the miserable wreck of an ill-spent life.

2. Now quite distinct from these are the moral consequences of guilt: by which I mean those which tell upon the character and inward being of the man who sins. In one sense, no doubt, it is a natural result, inasmuch as it is by a law, regular and unalterable, a man becomes by sin deteriorated in character, or miserable. Now these are twofold, negative and positive — the loss of some blessing: or the accruing of some evil to the heart. Loss — as when by sinning we lose the capacity for all higher enjoyments; for none can sin without blunting his sensibilities. He has lost the zest of a pure life, the freshness and the flood of happiness which come to every soul when it is delicate, and pure, and natural. This is no light loss. If anyone here congratulates himself that sin has brought to him no positive misery, my brother, I pray you to remember that God's worst curse was pronounced upon the serpent tempter. Apparently it was far less than that pronounced on the woman, but really it was far more terrible. Not pain, not shame — no, these are remedial, and may bring penitence at last — but to sink the angel in the animal — the spirit in the flesh; to be a reptile, and to eat the dust of degradation as if it were natural food. Eternity has no damnation deeper than that. Then, again, a positive result — the dark and dreadful loneliness that comes from doing wrong — a conscious unrest which plunges into business, or pleasure, or society, not for the love of these things, but to hide itself from itself as Adam did in the trees of the garden, because it dare not hear the voice of God, nor believe in His presence.

II. CHRIST'S TREATMENT OF THAT MALADY. By the declaration of God's forgiveness. The forgiveness of God acts upon the moral consequences of sin directly. Remorse passes into penitence and love. There is no more loneliness, for God has token up His abode there. No more self-contempt, for he whom God has forgiven learns to forgive himself. There is no more unrest, for "being justified by faith, we have peace with God." Upon the natural consequences, not directly, but indirectly and mediately. The forgiveness of Christ did not remove the palsy, that was the result of a separate act of Christ. It is quite conceivable that it might not have been removed at all. Consider too, that without a miracle, they must have remained in this man's case. It is so in everyday life. If the intemperate man repents he will receive forgiveness, but will that penitence give him back the steady hand of youth? Or if the suicide between the moment of draining the poisoned cup and that of death repent of his deed, will that arrest the operation of the poison? A strong constitution or the physician may possibly save life; but penitence has nothing to do with it. Say that the natural penal consequence of crime is the scaffold: — Did the pardon given to the dying thief unnail his hands? Did Christ's forgiveness interfere with the natural consequences of his guilt? And thus, we are brought to a very solemn and awful consideration, awful because of its truth and simplicity. The consequences of past deeds remain. They have become part of the chain of the universe — effects which now are causes, and will work and interweave themselves with the history of the world forever. You cannot undo your acts. If you have depraved another's will, and injured another's soul, it may be in the grace of God that hereafter you will be personally accepted and the consequences of your guilt inwardly done away, but your penitence cannot undo the evil you have done, and God's worst punishment may be that you may have to gaze half frantic on the ruin you have caused, on the evil you have done. And yet even here the grace of God's forgiveness is not in vain; it may transform the natural consequences of sin into blessings. It would give meekness, patience, and change even the character of death itself. A changed heart will change all things around us.

III. THE TRUE AIM AND MEANING OF MIRACLES. It is the outward manifestation of the power of God, in order that we may believe in the power of God in things that are invisible. Miracles were no concession to that infidel spirit which taints our modern Christianity, and which cannot believe in God's presence, except it can see Him in the supernatural. Rather, they were to make us feel that all is marvellous, all wonderful, all pervaded with a Divine presence, and that the simplest occurrences of life are miracles. In conclusion. Let me address those who, like this sufferer, are in any degree conscious either of the natural or moral results of sin, working in them. My Christian brethren, if the crowd of difficulties which stand between your soul and God succeed in keeping you away, all is lost. Right into His presence you must force your way, with no concealment.

(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

II. WE MAY NOTICE FURTHER THAT THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS TOOK THE INITIATIVE OF ALL THE BLESSINGS. It was the first act of grace which led on to all the rest. Remember, we do not work up to our pardon, but from it. We receive it in the free, undeserved, sovereign grace of God.

III. And further, we gather from the story, that any temporal blessings that we receive may, to a devout mind, GIVE EVIDENCE OF GOD'S LOVE TO THE SOUL AND OF HIS TOWER TO BESTOW FURTHER SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

IV. IT IS STRENGTHENING AND ASSURING ALSO TO SEE BY WHAT TENURES WE HOLD OUR PARDON — "The Son of man," etc.

(J. Vaughan, M. A.)

I. The consideration of the text will help us to A RIGHT VIEW OF FAITH AS CONTRASTED WITH REASON. It was clearly faith which brought the men to the city where our Lord was; whereas reason might have kept them at home. Let it be assumed that faith and reason are independent processes of the mind, as being exercised on different things; faith "cometh by hearing," and simply accepting testimony; reason, on the other hand, looks rather to the lessons of experience. The four friends of the palsied man having heard of the cures wrought by Jesus, determined at all hazards to carry their friend to Him. Now we call the moral temper which so influenced them — it may be in the twinkling of an eye — faith. They accepted the statements of those who had been at Capernaum. They did not argue concerning the supernatural power of our Lord, or inquire whether it was consonant with the usual course of nature; such would have been the exercise of reason. Reason would have contended that no force of words could restore palsied limbs to health. Faith, so far contrasted with reason, was ready to make the journey. To put the contrast in another view. There are many who would contend, that our last remark goes to depreciate faith, and to say that it is a moral quality, lower than reason; dependent, after all, upon it, and content to make its decisions and pursue its conduct upon a less precise and more vague amount of evidence. Nay, more, that it may be confused with reason, and is but a certain form or process of reason. This is practically the view of all those modern thinkers, who, wanting to get rid of the motive powers of the gospel, seek first to depreciate the very principles of which they are constituted. But it may be replied, that reason is not the origin and source of faith, because it sometimes comes in to test and verify its discoveries, any more than the judge at your tribunals is the origin of the innocence of those whom he righteously acquits; or the critic who decides about the structure and the plot of an epic, is to be confounded with the poet, from the depths of whose abounding genius its rich thoughts have welled forth. From what we have said it may be presumed that we claim for faith something not unlike a separate identity in the breast. We think that we hardly disparage conscience — itself not far apart from reason, as exercised in a high and holy manner, and yet, though near, distinct — if we seat faith by her side, in the banquet of the soul's uppermost chamber: if we claim for faith the prerogatives of a separate instinct and power — a moral temper and standing, apart in the breast; and coming in its brighter forms not merely of ourselves, not as a natural evolution of any ordinary inward powers, but as the special gift of God. Nor is this to confound it with that superstition of fanaticism by which the pretended votaries of faith are sometimes led away, and which renders it so obnoxious to men of the world. But not to continue longer this desultory contrast of faith and reason than the necessity of the times requires, and leaving its development rather to your private meditations, we shall only dwell on one more point, as displayed in the case of the earnest friends of the paralytic. This conduct forms a strong illustration of the truth that faith is a principle of action, as reason of minute investigations. We may, if we will, think that such investigations are of high value; though, in truth, they have a tendency to blunt the practical energy of the mind while they improve its scientific exactness. This remark brings us to the gist of our whole argument. We are surrounded by men who would persuade us that the world is to be regenerated, and all its paralytic prostrations healed, by the careful balancing of certain philosophical truths, by courses of speculative inquiry, by the exercise of the reason alone. Of the height of faith in its higher forms they know nothing. We venture to tell them that whether for the rescue of a pauper or a world their plans and principles are powerless. While reason is speculating and balancing things, and doubts which way to proceed, faith moves rapidly and majestically forward, and sheds blessings at every footstep. While reason inquires whether the waters can possess any healing power, faith steps in, and is made whole. If, then, reason and faith are to stand opposed, let us stand, with the just, by faith. Reason, set up in denial of faith — in morals, gave men the fictions of Rousseau — in religion, of Thomas Paine — in politics, of the French Revolution. Irreverence, captiousness, the spirit of division, the denial of the divinity of our blessed Lord and all sacramental mysteries, the sneers at prayer — these are the genuine products of reason, attired as a harlot, carried as an idol, and set in antagonism to faith. Of extremes, that of the rationalist is the worst. I had rather be superstitions than sceptical. Wherever I am, oh Jesus Christ, give me the spirit of simplicity, learning, and loving; lest Thou shouldest be near, and I knew it not — lest others should be pressing to hear Thy words and seek Thy face, taking, with holy "violence, the kingdom of heaven by force," and I should linger apart from Thee; lest my soul should be left with its leprous taint of sin uncured, while others came from Thy presence, with souls like that of a little child; lest my spiritual powers should be palsied still, while others, "borne" by the faith of "four," had their sins forgiven, their maladies healed, and took up their bed, and departed to their house.

II. Without apologising for the length of the discussion just closed — because it seems necessary to meet the rationalist and utilitarian direction of this iron age — we turn with minds relieved and rejoicing to a few practical reflections immediately suggested by the text. It furnishes, first, an example of earnest industry on the part of the friends and attendants of the poor paralytic, such as we shall do well to imitate as well as admire. Brethren, beloved in the Lord, is your substantiation of things hoped for simple and uncompromising like this? Believing, as we trust you do, in the Lord Jesus Christ, do ye use contrivance as earnest, and labour as hard, in fulfilling that best office of friendship, which places the diseased in the presence of their Saviour? Do you send up their case to the house of God, that it may be borne, as it were, not of "four," but of many, to the throne of heavenly grace? If there be in your families any paralyzed by sin and wickedness, men whose moral principles are deadened, and sensibilities benumbed, by the poison of licentiousness, or infidelity, or worldliness, do you try by importunate application, and kind but constant entreaty, to bring them to the living fountain, open for sin and uncleanness? Christ is in His Church; do you try and persuade them to join you in its holy services? Do you ply them with every kind and tender office, bearing them, as it were, in your arms, that your importunity may be successful? Do you take as much pains for their soul's health, as they who carried the palsied cripple, and let him down through the roof of the house? And you cannot but remark the reward which our blessed Lord vouchsafes to their exertions. His omniscient eye followed them as they toiled up the staircase to the roof; He perceived their confidence. It is not, we trust, irreverent to suppose that His spirit rejoiced within Him, and felt serene satisfaction at the flow of faith in the hearts of these people. Mysteriously restrained or free, rapid or slow, plenteous, or frugal, in the disbursal of His miraculous blessings, according to the faith of those around Him, grieved as He often was at the hardness of men's hearts, doing hero and there "not many mighty works, because of their unbelief;" we may suppose the joyous contrast of emotion, as He perceived the paralytic let down in His presence. Similar, beloved brethren, shall be your reward; if you, with the same quiet constancy and steadfastness, seek to bring souls to Him, who is the good Physician. It may be, that your toil will long appear mere unprofitable waste. You will long wonder at the little result which ensues on your earnest effort. The deeper laws of God's eternal kingdom, the manner in which He subdues minds to Himself, will be entirely hidden from your most searching investigation. Still, with faith, toil on; toil on. Carry your wicked and morally paralysed friends, on the arms of prayer, to Christ; persuade them, if possible, to seek the sacred scenes where the shadows of Christ's mysterious presence fall; "in due time ye shall reap, if ye faint not."

(T. Jackson.)

(S. Cox, D. D.)

(H. C. Trumbull.)

II. TRUE FAITH ALWAYS LOOKS TO CHRIST AS THE CENTRE OF ITS OPERATIONS. Not forms or ceremonies, or ministers, or churches, or even the Bible itself, but Christ is the only Saviour of the lost.

III. TRUE FAITH IS FERTILE IN EXPEDIENTS FOR OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES. Have we exhausted all ingenuity in seeking souls?

IV. TRUE FAITH MEETS WITH ITS APPROPRIATE REWARD. What a reward for their faith! Here is infinitely more than they ever expected (Ephesians 3:20). LEARN — that faith is essentially practical; that religion is promoted by the exertions of believers; that to bring others to Jesus is the noblest achievement of man.

(W. W. Smith.)

(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

(H. M. Luckock, D. D.)

(H. C. Trumbull.)

I. It deepened their sympathy for this sufferer. If they pitied before, they would have a keener sympathy now they believed that a cure was possible.

II. It devised a scheme for bringing him to Christ.

III. It carried out that scheme in the most extraordinary way.

IV. It attracted the admiration of Christ. He saw their faith.

V. It obtained a cure for the sufferer. Their faith.

(Anon.)

(The Sunday School Times.)

I. We see the reasonableness of INTERCESSION. If God is pleased to employ some men as visible instruments of general good, we may rationally suppose that He often, in a more secret and invisible manner, connects the happiness of many with the fervent prayers of a few, or even one godly soul. Of the Jews, in a corrupt period, the apostle says, "they were beloved for their fathers' sake." Some will ask, perhaps, how is it reasonable that our future happiness should be made to depend on another's prayers? We have not the command of their hearts, we cannot oblige them to pray for us; why should we be exposed to suffer for their neglect? What if, in His good providence, He brings you in the way of some useful warnings and instructions, and grants you some awakened and convincing influences of His kind spirit, when you have not sought them? And what if He does this in answer to the fervent prayers of others? Will you say that all this is wrong?

II. We see from this subject that the doctrine of Scripture concerning our being involved IN THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE PRIMITIVE APOSTASY IS AGREEABLE TO THE ANALOGY OF PROVIDENCE.

III. THAT OUR SALVATION THROUGH THE ATONEMENT AND RIGHTEOUSNESS OF A REDEEMER APPEARS TO CORRESPOND WITH THE GENERAL CONSTITUTION OF GOD'S MORAL GOVERNMENT. It is an essential part of the Divine plan that the virtue of some should not only benefit themselves, but extend its kind and salutary influence to others. We see this to be the case among men; and probably it is the case among all moral beings except those who are in a state of punishment. The angels, we are told, are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation.

IV. OUR SUBJECT REMOVES THE PRINCIPAL OBJECTION URGED AGAINST THE DEDICATION OF INFANTS TO GOD IN THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. For it shows that some may be benefited by the faith of others. It is often asked, "What advantage is baptism to infants? They have no knowledge of the use and design of it. They have not that faith which is required to baptism. If they are baptized, it cannot be on their own faith, it must be on the faith of their parents; and what benefit can they derive from the faith of another?" But this is no more an objection against the baptism of infants than against intercession for infants

V. OUR SUBJECT TEACHES US THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STATION IN WHICH WE ARE PLACED. We are acting not merely for ourselves, but for others, for many others, how many we cannot tell; for we know not how many are connected with us; nor how extensive may be the influence of our good or bad conduct. A holy and religious life is certainly of vast importance to ourselves; for on this depends the happiness of our existence through all the succeeding ages of eternal duration. But when we consider ourselves as standing in a near connection with our fellow probationers; when we realize how much good a sinner may destroy, or a saint promote; how many souls may be corrupted by the example of the one, and how many may be converted by the influence of the other; the importance of our personal religion rises beyond all conception.

VI. WE SEE THAT BENEVOLENCE MUST BE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF TRUE RELIGION. If God has placed us in such a connection with those around us that their virtue and happiness will be affected by our conduct, we are evidently bound to act with a regard to their interest.

(J. Lathrop, D. D.)

I. THE WORST OPPOSITION WHICH CHRISTIANS HAVE TO MEET IN OFFERING THE GOSPEL TO MEN IS FOUND IN THE MENTAL RESERVATIONS OF ITS REJECTORS, and the sullen silence of their hearts.

1. To begin with, there are unspoken objections which influence, if they do not control, one's intellectual views. Men insist that there are discrepancies in the records of the Old and New Testaments which vitiate their truth, and, if generally known, would mock their claim to exact inspiration. Other men make great parade in private over difficulties in doctrine, and challenge attention to the fact that theologians differ in relation to almost all the cardinal points of what is called the evangelical system. Still others cavil at the inconsistencies of Church members, and rail out against them for hypocrisy, if only they can manage to secure a safe and credulous audience that dares not contradict them. Hints and innuendoes are the usual signs of this disturbed and unwholesome state of mind. Where do the young men of the present day obtain so much sceptical information? It is thrust in upon them by the public press. Doubts drop down like loose feathers wherever croaking ravens are wont to fly. But why is it that these reasons are so often held in reserve? Why does the man preserve his sullen demeanour without a word?(1) Because he is not exactly certain he can state them: it is not everybody who can say clearly what he does not believe;(2) because he feels a misgiving that they may not stand when someone a little more scholarly gets hold of them;(3) and because he suspects that if he goes so far in his small infidelity, he really would have to go farther or give it up.

2. There are unconscious prejudices which arouse one's temper. Some persons conceive a violent spite at what they assert is a continuous rebuke whenever Christian life is praised or commended. This is not a new thing in history. Classic annals tell us that an unlettered countryman gave his vote against Aristides at the ostracism because, as he frankly said, he was tired of hearing him called "The Just." Other persons cherish implacable memories of indiscreet zeal practised upon them by those who supposed they were dutifully obeying the command, "Go, speak to that young man." They recite the grievance of revival extravagances, which they deemed offensive and never to be forgotten. They rehearse the biographies of preachers who bullied the patient congregations, and then ran into immorality and deplorable scandal. They plead rashness as an excuse for reserve.

3. There are unacknowledged sins which sway one's career. Come back to the story here in Mark's narrative. Hear the comments of these scribes accusing Jesus of blasphemy! Violent clamours for moral and theological perfectness are raised by many whose sole aim is to divert attention from some secret indulgences of their own. These people reason in their hearts. Sometimes in modern life a very showy conflict with Satan is kept up before the public in order to conceal the fact of one's friendship with him. It reminds us of plays in which the actors personate the devil fencing with some good antagonist behind the footlights, a knight, perhaps, the pink of virtue, battling fiercely with the demon clad in robe of fire. No one engaged for his soul could appear more bravely in earnest. But we are struck with a certain kind of wariness, which they both show in their hitting. Sparks fly from the weapons, but blood does not seem to be drawn. And if afterwards we were to go behind the scenes, there we should find those high-tempered combatants in a most surprising state of reconciliation; honourable knight and fiery devil seated in a friendly way at the table.

4. There results an unsubdued will sullenly closing one's lips. Many men live a double life; they mean to be courteous, but on religious matters they cultivate a cool, proud reserve. It often surprises us to find our Christian endeavours so ineffective with apparently kind, open, intelligent people. What is the real reason? Because the heart is what governs, and logic is not addressed to the heart. Arguments are made and meant for the intellect, and lose weight in the tenuous atmosphere of the feelings. It shows no difference whether we drop down feathers or dollars through the vacuum of an air pump.

II. Thus we reach our second proposition: ALL THESE REASONS IN RESERVE AVAIL NOTHING TO MEN THE MOMENT THE CONTEST IS SEEN TO BE, AS IT ALWAYS IS, A CONTEST WITH GOD AND NOT MAN.

1. Look at the facts here; first, see verse 8. Jesus understood those scribes(1) divinely — He "perceived in His spirit." He understood them(2) thoroughly — He saw what was "within themselves." He understood them(3) at once; note that old word "immediately." God knows all our surmises and suspicions.Jesus peremptorily challenged those scribes in their logic.(1) He announced His discovery. They were "amazed;" literally, thunderstruck.(2) He accepted their condition. They looked on while He healed the man by miracle.(3) He defeated them utterly. We read that "they all glorified God."

2. Now let us draw a few final inferences from the whole story. This scene is repeated every day in the full sight of a patient God. Human nature is always the same along the ages.(1) There cannot possibly be any reasoning in one's heart which our omniscient Judge is not able instantly to perceive and to answer. Once a French soldier fell asleep on his post, and was brought up for trial by court martial. The first witness called was the Emperor Napoleon. "I was visiting the sentinels' outposts," he said; "I saw this soldier myself."(2) True prudence consists in outspoken candour. "Come, let us reason together." Sometimes objections vanish with the statement; for they seem so insignificant when expressed. Mere articulation of difficulties often clears them of confusion.(3) Sullen reserve surely runs to swift ruin. The difference between an ignorant prejudice and a wilful conceit is shown in this: ignorance stands with its back to the sun, and so if it advances moves on in the line of its own shadow only a step deeper; but churlish conceit walks straight away into a forest of doubts, till its own shadow is darkened with other shadows gloomier still. Hence, a confessed ignorance is altogether more hopeful for good because all it has to do is to turn to the light. Sullen obstinacy has to retrace its path, and so journey clear back to where it started. It was considerations of this sort which forced the bright remark that "an ingenuous intellect is often better than an ingenious one."(4) Reasons in reserve have really nothing to do with actual life or eternal prospects.

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

I. An important aspect of human power. Secrecy and mental reservations.

II. A startling instance of Divine insight. Our silence is as loud as thunder to God! Our heart talk is overheard!

III. A splendid manifestation of Christ's fearlessness Be need not have answered more than was spoken.

IV. A solemn example of the confusion which will fall upon all Christ's objectors. Enquiry: What is your unspoken objection? Doctrinal? Disciplinary? Philosophical? Ethical? Grammatical?

(J. Parker, D. D.)

1. Some men question the ability of Christ to forgive sin.

2. Some men seek to understand the process by which sin is forgiven. They wish to understand the mental philosophy of forgiveness, and because they cannot they deride it as a delusion. Is it to be expected that men shall be able to trace the Divine action in its method of forgiveness upon the human soul? Can men infallibly submit the subtle influences of heaven to their rude and vulgar tests, as they would the thoughts and mental actions of men? No! Who, by searching, can find out God? And certainly in His forgiving influence upon the human soul He is an unsearchable mystery.

3. Some men repudiate the evidences of the Divine forgiveness. They ask, how do we know that a man is forgiven; and what is the difference between him and any unforgiven individual? The evidence of it is in the hatred of sin, and in the purity of life which it inspires. And this witness is true. The world should receive it as such.

II. THAT CHRIST REFUTES THE MENTAL REASONINGS OF MEN IN REFERENCE TO THE FIAT OF DIVINE FORGIVENESS. The reasonings of these men were refuted:

1. By the test of consciousness. The palsied man knew that his sins were forgiven in response to the Divine voice.

2. By the miracle of healing. Forgiveness heals the life.Lessons:

1. Not to cavil at the method of the Divine forgiveness.

2. To receive it with adoring gratitude.

3. To attest it by a holy life.

(J. Miller.)

1. This Christ plainly assumes.

2. This power, without a Mosaic sacrifice, implies that Jesus was already a lamb slain — in the purpose of God.

II. Power to HEAL DISEASE.

1. This is a legitimate work of Jesus as Saviour, inasmuch as He undertook to bear our infirmities as well as our sins.

2. The resurrection will be the consummation of this power.

III. Power to SILENCE CAVILLERS.

1. These cavillers were conquered.

2. When Jesus sits on His throne of judgment all cavillers will be put to shame.

(D. C. Hughes, M. A.)

1. Two words in the New Testament denote this marvellous work. The meaning of the one is literally "to bestow grace — to grant undeserved favour." "Dealing out grace one towards another, as God, for Christ's sake, deals out grace towards you." The other means literally "to send away, to make to depart, to set out of sight by putting away." It fixes attention on the last element of the transaction, the release from penalties, the dread sentence of broken law. The other fixes attention on the first element of the transaction, that sovereign goodness in which it has its source. But what do we mean by the consequences of sin? Not outward inflictions. But

(a)Divine deprivations. Loss of spiritual privileges and their resulting benefits.

(b)Moral results of wrong-doing in its subject.As, for instance, increased disposition to sin; facility in transgression; the imprisonment and torment of evil habit; upbraiding of the guilty conscience; alienation from God; degradation from life; dread. Forgiveness lays an arresting, healing hand on each of these. It is gracious in its beginnings; free in its bestowment; complete in its influence. This fact reminds us —

1. That forgiveness comes to us out of the plenitude of the Divine nature. He is faithful and just to forgive. "I do it for My name's sake."

2. That this forgiveness reaches human hearts through the Son of Man. The phrase designates the Redeemer as having taken humanity into association with Divinity. The God-Man is the forgiving God. Coming to Him, and resting on Him, the chains are loosed. The Incarnate life bruises the serpent's head.

3. Spiritual activity is the manifestation and proof of redemptive forgiveness. Impotence was here visibly changed into strength; helplessness into self-helpful activity. Is the sinner forgiven? Behold he prayeth. Behold he walks. Behold he triumphs.

4. This great boon is freely bestowed.

(Preacher's Monthly.)

I. THE SURPRISE OF THE SCRIBES WAS NATURAL.

1. Strange that Christ should speak to this man about his sins. He seemed to need bodily healing more than anything else, and it was for that he had been brought to Jesus. None but Christ could see that his need was deeper than this — that his moral powers were palsied, his soul in a state of guilt.

2. Christ's assumption of power to forgive sins appeared blasphemous. To pronounce another's sins forgiven, one must have access to his most secret thoughts. Such knowledge only God possesses, and he to whom God may reveal it.

II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MIRACLES. They signify the special presence of God, and are warranted only as a seal to a most important Divine message. In this case the miracle established before those present the authority of Jesus to forgive sins. The Divine control over nature which He actually exerted testified to the truth of His claim rightfully to exercise another Divine prerogative, the effect of which cannot be discerned by the bodily senses.

III. THE EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF MIRACLES. Important to remember that Christ was always jealously watched by unfriendly critics, who would certainly have exposed Him had His pretensions to miraculous power failed.

IV. EFFECT OF THE MIRACLE. The out. casts were encouraged to come to one so powerful, and yet so merciful and kind.

V. THE OBJECT OF THE SAVIOUR'S MISSIONS. It is because our wants are so deep, that He has descended so low.

(G. F. Wright.)

II. CHRIST EVIDENCES HIS POWER TO FORGIVE SINS BY VISIBLE MIRACLES. The transforming influence of grace is seen in individual character; also in the history of Christian missions.

III. If Christ has "power on earth to forgive sins," THEN CHRIST IS DIVINE. No man and no wisdom of men can ever effect the pardon and deliverance of the transgressor. Science has no remedies strong enough to expel the poison from the spiritual nature. By doing this Christ makes good His claim to be Divine.

IV. And if Jesus Christ has "power on earth to forgive sins," THEN IT IS OUR DUTY TO URGE MEN TO GO TO CHRIST THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE THE BLESSING OF PARDON.

(Monday Club Sermons.)

(Monday Club Sermons.)

(Monday Club Sermons.)

(Monday Club Sermons.)

II. THE EVIDENCE THAT HE GAVE in demonstration of His claim is clear as the noon-day sun, and as irresistible as the very power of God. Let us, then, see how He could substantiate so stupendous a claim as to forgive sins — all sins; forgive them in His own right, in His own name, of His own authority. The position was laid down, and the argument for its establishment was obvious. It was not intricate and dark, requiring a mighty intellect to grasp it, or a penetrating understanding to enter into its process. It was an appeal to every mall, that had an eye to see and a mind to understand.

III. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST AND THIS WONDROUS PREROGATIVE THAT HE EXERCISED — "The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins." One might have imagined that He would rather have said in this connection, "The Son of God hath power on earth to forgive sins;" for surely it was only as He was "very God of very God," that He could have wielded the sceptre of the eternal Jehovah. But there is a beautiful propriety, there is a touching and exquisite fitness, in thus designating Himself "the Son of Man." Therefore it was not simply or so much as the Son of God alone, that the Saviour had this wondrous prerogative, but as the Son of Man, who became the Surety for sinners, who took the manhood into Godhead that He might be the Daysman between His fallen brethren and His unchangeable Father — that He might put His hand on both and so make peace — that He might bring God and man to one, and yet maintain His law inviolate, His majesty unsullied, His truth unimpeached, His justice uncompromised, and all His attributes invested with a new and nobler lustre than the universe had ever before beheld, or could have entered into created mind to conceive. Therefore, brethren, it was not by a simple act of sovereignty that the Saviour forgave sins. As the Centurion said to Paul, "With a great price bought I this freedom," so with a great price the incarnate God bought the glorious and benign prerogative of forgiving sins. He bought it with His agony and blood. He bought it by His meritorious and spotless obedience — by His glorious resurrection and ascension. By all these He bought this glorious prerogative of forgiving sins. So that "we are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Perceive you, brethren, the momentousness and meaning of this distinction? Let me by a simple illustration make it more clear to the plainest mind. It is conceivable that when a sovereign had arrived at an age to assume the sceptre of a nation, and wished to grace his accession to the throne by some act of regal munificence and clemency, he might proclaim an universal exemption from all debts contracted by any inhabitants of that land in days gone by. It is conceivable that he might do this; but if he did so, to the wrong and robbery of all the creditors of that land, would his clemency, do you think, add to his glory? would it give any pledge of his justice, integrity, or even common honesty towards his subjects? So far from it, his clemency would be lost sight of in the injury and the wrong he had done. But if that prince, being desirous to grace his accession to the throne by an act of clemency, in which justice should likewise shine, were from his own private resources to liquidate all the debts of all those imprisoned for debt throughout the length and breadth of the land, and then throw open the prison doors, all would applaud the deed; all would admire the exercise of sovereign clemency in perfect harmony with unimpeachable justice. So, if we may venture by low and earthly things to illustrate things sublime and heavenly, the blessed Son of God, the Prince and Saviour of mankind, "exalted to give repentance unto Israel, and the remission of sins," did not set the sinful debtors free, that owed to their Father an infinite debt which they had no power to pay — which they would throughout eternity have been paying and yet had throughout eternity to pay — He did not set them free by a simple exercise of His own authority, violating the obligations of law, the demands of justice, and the claims of the unfallen portion of the subjects of an everlasting Father. But He paid the debt; He became Surety, and He met the claim; He paid it to the uttermost farthing, till He could say with His expiring breath, "It is finished" — till He had "finished transgression, made an end of sin and brought in everlasting righteousness." The Father, well pleased in the full expiation accomplished by the Son, delights to forgive through that Saviour's name — "for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Christian brethren, if the Son of Man had "power on earth to forgive sins," how much more, if it be possible, hath He power in heaven to forgive sins?

(H. Stowell, M. A.)

1. Nothing stands in the way of real knowledge so much as prejudice.

2. Many things which we know to be true would not have been believed by our fathers if they had been revealed to them.

3. There are many things which are undoubted facts which certain classes of men find it hard to believe.

4. The fact that a gospel statement seems new and astonishing ought not to create unbelief in the mind.

II. THERE ARE VERY SINGULAR AND SURPRISING THINGS IN THE GOSPEL.

1. That the gospel should come to people whom it regards as incapable.

2. That the gospel calls upon men to do what they cannot do.

3. That whilst the gospel bids men do what they cannot of themselves do, they actually do it.

4. This paralyzed man was healed —

(a)at once,

(b)without any ceremony,

(c)perfectly,

(d)evidently.So is it when the gospel saves the soul.

III. IF IT BE SO WITH YOU, THEN GO AND GLORIFY GOD.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(H. C. Trumbull.)

II. IT WAS NOT A WALK OF SENTIMENTAL ADMIRATION.

III. IT WAS A WALK HALLOWED BY SACRED TEACHING. We should endeavour to make our walks subservient to the moral good of men, and in this incidental manner we might do much to enhance the welfare of the Redeemer's cause.

(J. S. Exell, M. A.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. HIS CALL SEEMED ACCIDENTAL AND UNLIKELY.

1. Jesus had often been at Capernaum, which He had selected to be "His own city;" and yet Matthew remained unsaved. Was it likely he would now be called? Had not his day of grace closed?

2. Jesus was about other business; for we read, "As He passed by." Would He now be likely to call Matthew?

3. Jesus left many other persons uncalled; was it not highly probable that the tax gatherer would be passed by? Yet Jesus called to Himself, "Levi, the son of Alphaeus," while many another man had no such special call.

II. HIS CALL WAS ALTOGETHER UNTHOUGHT OF AND UNSOUGHT.

1. He was in a degrading business. None but the lowest of the Jews would care to gather taxes for the Roman conqueror. His discipleship would bring no honour to Christ.

2. He was in an ensnaring business. Money is bird lime to the soul.

3. He would not have dared to follow Jesus even if he had wished to do so. He felt himself to be too unworthy.

4. He would have been repulsed by the other disciples, had he proposed to come without the Lord's open invitation.

5. He made no sign in the direction of Jesus. No prayer was offered by him, nor wish expressed towards better things.

III. HIS CALL WAS GIVEN BY THE LORD, WITH FULL KNOWLEDGE OF HIM. "He saw Levi," and called him.

1. He saw all the evil that had been in him and was yet there.

2. He saw his adaptation for holy service, as a recorder and penman.

3. He saw all that He meant to make of him.

4. He saw in him His chosen, His redeemed, His convert, His disciple, His apostle, His biographer. The Lord calls as He pleases, but He sees what He is doing. Sovereignty is not blind; but acts with boundless wisdom.

IV. HIS CALL WAS GRACIOUSLY CONDESCENDING.

1. The Lord called "Levi, the son of Alphaeus," or, as he himself says, "a man named Matthew," — that was his best.

2. He was a publican — that may not have been his worst.

3. He allowed such a sinner to be His personal attendant; yea, called him to that honour, saying, "Follow Me.

4. He allowed him to do this immediately, without putting him into quarantine.

V. HIS CALL WAS SUBLIMELY SIMPLE.

1. Few were the words — Follow Me." It is very tersely recorded — "He saw...said...and he arose and followed Him."

2. Clear was the direction.

3. Personal was the address.

4. Royal was the command.

VI. HIS CALL WAS IMMEDIATELY EFFECTUAL.

1. Matthew followed at once.

2. He followed spiritually as well as literally.

3. He followed wholly.

4. He followed growingly.

5. He followed ever after, never deserted his Leader.

VII. HIS CALL WAS A DOOR OF HOPE FOR OTHERS.

1. His salvation encouraged other publicans to come to Jesus.

2. His open house gave opportunity to his friends to hear Jesus.

3. His personal ministry brought others to the Saviour.

4. His written Gospel has convinced many, and will always do so.Application: Are you up to your neck in business? Are you "sitting at the receipt of custom"? Yet may a call come to you at once. It does come. Hear it attentively; rise earnestly; respond immediately.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(Quesnel.)

(R. Glover.)

(Wm. Austin.)

1. That the call of Christ is antecedent to any human endeavour after Him.

2. That it is often effectively addressed to the most unlikely men.

3. That it is addressed to men when they are occupied with the secular duties of life.

4. That it takes men from the lower duties and sends them to the higher.

II. THAT CHRIST'S CALL TO MEN MUST BE IMMEDIATELY OBEYED — "And he arose and followed Him."

1. That obedience must be immediate.

(1)Not to be hindered by intellectual perplexities.

(2)Not to be hindered by commercial or domestic anxieties.

2. That obedience must be self-sacrificing.

3. That it must be willing.

4. That it must be continuous.Learn:

1. To heed the calls of Christ to the soul.

2. To subordinate the secular to the moral.

3. That true religion consists in following Christ.

4. That it is well to speak to men for their moral good.

(J. S. Exell, M. A.)

I. FAMILY PRIDE IS NOT A SUFFICIENT PRESERVATIVE AGAINST DEEDS OF SHAME.

II. HAS DISHONOUR BEEN BROUGHT UPON YOUR FAMILY NAME BY A PRODIGAL? Do not despair of him. You have a great burden of shame and grief to bear; but do not cease to love the prodigal, to pray for him, to hope for him. He, like St. Matthew, may yet hear and obey the voice of Christ.

1. If you did your best to train him in the way in which he should go, be very sure that the healthful influences by which you surrounded him are still with him, fighting mightily against the degrading influence by which he is now encompassed, and they may yet prevail. Not in vain did you do your duty in regard to him.

2. Ah, but it may be that you cannot recall the days of his boyhood without personal shame. You permitted many things to prevent you from training him duly in godliness and true manliness; the example you set before him was not really ennobling. Well, humble yourself before God, and hope in God for your son as well as for yourself. He may yet yield to the persistent drawings of the Divine love.

III. NO MAN SHOULD PERMIT HIS BUSINESS OR HIS SOCIAL SURROUNDINGS TO HINDER HIM FROM FOLLOWING CHRIST.

IV. ONE OF THE VERY BEST EVIDENCES OF A MAN'S CONVERSION IS A REAL MANIFESTATION OF CARE FOR THE SPIRITUAL WELFARE OF THESE OF HIS OWN CLASS.

(Anon.)

II. The MANNER in which he is called.

1. Externally — by the Word.

2. Internally — by Christ's power and Spirit.

3. These two must ever be combined.

III. THE MANNER IN WHICH LEVI TREATED THE CALL.

1. He did not disregard it, as many.

2. He did not promise a compliance like others.

3. He instantly obeyed, and is thus an example to all who are called.

IV. THE CALL ITSELF. Christ goes before —

1. To prepare Himself for sympathy.

2. To remove doubts as to the way.

3. To free from oppressive responsibility.

4. To show how we are to walk in the way.

5. To remove obstructions.

6. To be a companion. Are you following Christ?

(Expository Discourses.)

1. It was indicative of joy.

2. It was indicative of gratitude.

3. It was indicative of worship. The newly converted soul is characterized by devotion.

II. IT WAS HELD TO INTRODUCE TO CHRIST THOSE WHO WERE IN NEED OF HIS LOVING MERCY.

1. It was a time for the introduction of sinful companions to Christ.

2. It was a time of leave taking between Levi and his former friends. Not to leave the old life in a hostile spirit.

III. IT WAS A FESTIVAL TOO LOFTY IN MORAL SIGNIFICANCE TO BE RIGHTLY INTERPRETED BY THE CONVENTIONAL BIGOTS OF THE AGE.

IV. IT WAS A FESTIVAL BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATIVE OF CHRIST'S MISSION TO THE WORLD.

1. We see from this festival that Christ came to save the morally sinful.

2. We see from this festival that Christ came to heal the morally diseased.Lessons:

1. That the life of the renewed soul should be a constant festival of icy.

2. That Christians should endeavour to bring their comrades to the Saviour.

3. That humanity has a Divine Physician.

(J. S. Exell, M. A.)

I. BIGOTRY BESPATTERS WITH MIRE THE FAIREST DEED. According to its creed, better that a tree of fruitful goodness should not grow than that it should depart by a hairbreadth from the prescribed shape.

II. BIGOTRY BLINDFOLDS ITS OWN EYES. It can only see sin when sin wears a particular hue. It can see avarice or theft, but not insincerity or pride.

III. BIGOTRY SEEKS ITS BAD ENDS BY CROOKED WAYS. These scribes lacked courage, so instead of attacking Christ openly. they tried to undermine His authority with His disciples.

IV. BIGOTRY CHEATS ITSELF OF LARGEST BLESSING. Christ would have illuminated and enriched these proud Pharisees if they had allowed Him to. But they were too proud to admit their hunger, and so they starved. He who thinks himself already perfect is past improvement. Like hide-bound animals he cannot grow.

(D. Davies, M. A.)

1. That Christ did not associate with publicans and sinners because He entertained too humble an opinion of Himself. He knew that He was intellectually and morally superior to them.

2. That Christ did not associate with publicans and sinners because He was not choice as to His society. "Evil communications corrupt good manners."

3. That Christ did not associate with publicans and sinners because of His sympathy with them. It was not their wickedness that drew Him to them; morally He had nothing in common with them.Positively:

1. That to have refused Levi's invitation would not have been courteous.

2. That in accepting Levi's invitation Christ displayed a spirit of condescension.

3. That by eating and drinking with publicans and sinners Christ exhibited a friendly disposition towards them.

4. That attending Levi's feast gave Christ an excellent opportunity of doing Publicans and sinners good.

(G. Cron.)

(H. W. Beecher.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. THAT THE MORALLY GOOD MUST ASSOCIATE WITH THE SOCIALLY DEPRAVED. "How is it that He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?"

1. That the morally good may take part in the social festivals of the depraved, but not for the mere purpose of social enjoyment or intellectual companionship. Christ did not go to the house of Levi merely to enjoy a sumptuous banquet, or to participate in the festivities of unholy men.

2. The morally good may associate with the depraved in the commercial enterprise of life. The good must have dealings with the unholy in the commerce of the world. The tares and the wheat must grow together until the harvest.

3. The morally good are some. times brought into incidental companionship with the depraved.

II. THAT THE MORALLY GOOD IN COMPANIONSHIP WITH THE SOCIALLY DEPRAVED MUST BE ANIMATED BY REMEDIAL MOTIVES, AND MUST GIVE FORTH INFLUENCES ENNOBLING TO THE SOUL. "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick."

1. The Christian must go into the company of the morally depraved with right views of their sad condition, and with an intense desire for their recovery.

2. The Christian can give forth healing influences to the morally depraved by kindly words, by gentle disposition, by judicious teaching, and by unpretentious example.Lessons:

1. That the morally good must go into the company of the socially depraved.

2. That the morally good are the physicians of the race; they must be careful not to take the infection of sin, and to exercise judiciously their healing art.

3. That society will best be regenerated by individual effort.

(J. S. Exell, M. A.)

II. THE MORE CLOSELY WE LOOK THE MORE CLEAR THIS FACT BECOMES. Christ came that He might be a sin bearer. The gifts of the gospel, such as pardon and justification, imply sin. The great deeds of our Lord, such as His death, resurrection, and ascension, all bear upon sinners.

III. IT IS OUR WISDOM TO ACCEPT THE SITUATION. The very best thing you can do, since the gospel looks towards sinners, is to get where the gospel looks. You will then be in your right place. This is the safest way to obtain the blessing. This is a place into which you can get directly.

IV. THIS DOCTRINE HAS A GREAT SANCTIFYING INFLUENCE. It changes the sinner's thoughts of God. It inspires, melts, enlivens, and inflames him. It deals a deadly blow at his self-conceit. It produces a sense of gratitude. It makes him ready to forgive others. It becomes the very soul of enthusiasm.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

1. Without repentance none can be saved.

2. Let all, therefore, lay held on it without delay.

II. SINNERS CANNOT REPENT OF THEMSELVES. They must be called to it by Christ.

III. ONE MAIN END OF CHRIST'S COMING INTO THE WORLD WAS TO CALL AND CONVERT SINNERS, AND BRING THEM TO REPENTANCE.

1. This should encourage sinners to come to Christ by faith, and by true repentance and humiliation for their sins, in hope of mercy and pardon. Since He came for this purpose, He will not reject any who accept His invitation and hearken to His call.

2. How excellent a work it must he — since Christ Himself came to begin it — to be the means of converting sinners, and drawing them to repentance. This is not merely the duty of ministers: all Christians may take part in it.

3. If Christ came to call sinners to repentance, then He did not come to give liberty to any to live in sin, or to commit sin. Repentance is the beginning of a new life — a life of emancipation from the power as well as the penalty of sin.

(G. Petter.)All the lessons of this word could not be even named here, but these are certainly in it.

I. Sin is sickness of the worst kind.

II. Repentance and forgiveness are the healing of the soul.

III. Christ is the soul's Physician, skilled to heal all its diseases.

IV. The more grave our case is, the more eager Jesus is to cure it. What should we have done had this not been the ease? Happily He still stoops to closest, tenderest fellowship with sinners. He pities most the guiltiest, and is ever nearest to the neediest.

(R. Glover.)

1. Because there were no righteous to call.

2. Because if there had been they would not have needed calling.

II. He came to call SINNERS.

1. All sinners.

2. Especially those conscious of their sins.

III. He came to call to REPENTANCE. His call is not an absolute call to the privileges of the sons of God, but to the fulfilment of a condition — repent, and believe.

(Anon.)

(Dr. Guthrie.)

I. MERCY GRACIOUSLY REGARDS SIN AS DISEASE. It is more than disease, but mercy leniently and graciously chooses to view it as such. It is justified in such a view, for almost everything that may be said of deadly maladies may be said of sin.

1. Sin is an hereditary disease. The taint is in our blood, etc.

2. Sin, like sickness, is very disabling. It prevents our serving God. We cannot pray or praise God aright, etc. There is not a single moral power of manhood which sin has not stripped of its strength and glory.

3. Sin also, like certain diseases, is a very loathsome thing.

4. Fearfully polluting. Everything we do and think of grows polluted through our corruption.

5. Contagious. A man cannot be a sinner alone. "One sinner destroyeth much good."

6. Very painful; and yet, on the other hand, at certain stages it brings on a deadness, a numbness of soul, preventing pain. Most men are unconscious of the misery of the fail. But when sin is really discerned, then it becomes painful indeed. Oh, what wretchedness was mine before I laid hold on Christ.

7. It is deep seated, and has its throne in the heart. The skill of physicians can often extract the roots of disease, but no skill can ever reach this. It is in its own nature wholly incurable. Man cannot cure himself. Jehovah Rophi the healing Lord, must manifest His omnipotent power.

8. It is a mortal disease. It kills not just now, but it will kill ere long.

II. IT PLEASES DIVINE MERCY TO GIVE TO CHRIST THE CHARACTER OF A PHYSICIAN. Jesus Christ never came into the world merely to explain what sin is, but to inform us how it can be removed. As a Physician Christ is —

1. Authorised.

2. Qualified. He is, experimentally as well as by education, qualified in the healing art.

3. Has a wide practice.

4. His cures are speedy, radical, sure. His medicine is Himself. O Blessed Physician for this desperate disease!

III. THAT NEED IS THAT ALONE WHICH MOVES OUR GRACIOUS PHYSICIAN TO COME TO OUR AID. His Saviourship is based upon our sinnership. Need, need alone, is that which quickens the Physician's footsteps.

IV. It follows therefore, and the text positively asserts it, that THE WHOLE — THAT THOSE WHO HAVE NO GREAT NEED, NO NEED AT ALL — WILL BE UNAIDED BY CHRIST.

V. It follows, then, that THOSE WHO ARE SICK SHALL BE HELPED BY JESUS. Are you sick, sinful, etc.? He loves to save. He can save the vilest. Trust Him.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. THAT CHRISTIANITY IS BEFORE ALL THINGS A RELIGION OF REDEMPTION. If such be its character, then to be true to itself Christianity cannot afford to be nice, dainty, disdainful, but must lay its healing hand on the most repulsive. Rabbinism may be exclusive, but not the religion of redemption. It is bound to be a religion for the masses. Christ is not merely an ethical Teacher, or Revealer of Divine mysteries; He is, in the first place, a Redeemer, only in the second the Revealer.

II. THAT CHRISTIANITY IS THE RELIGION OF HOPE. It takes a cheerful view of the capabilities and prospects of man even at his worst. It believes that he can be cured. In this hopefulness Christianity stood alone in ancient times. It needed the eye of a more than earthly love, and of a faith that was the evidence of things not seen, to discern possibilities of goodness even in the waste places of society. The Church must have the Physician's confidence in His healing art; she must be inventive. She must have sympathy with people for their good. She must not frown on the zeal of those who would try new experiments.

III. CHRISTIANITY IS FIT AND WORTHY TO BE THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION.

(A. B. Bruce, D. D.)

1. The likeness between the sickness of the body and that of the soul. As sickness is a disordered body, so is sin a precious soul all in disorder. Sickness of body, not healed, will kill the body. Sin, not healed, not pardoned, will kill the never-dying soul. Or, take any of the particular diseases which Christ healed on the earth, and see the likeness in them. He healed madness. Sin is madness — flying in the face of God. He healed fevers. Sin is a lever — consuming, burning the soul. He healed palsies. Sin is a palsy — laying the soul prostrate. He healed leprosy. Sin is a leprosy — very foul and loathsome. He healed deafness, blindness. The sinner is deaf, blind — deaf to the voice of God and of his own conscience — blind to all it most concerns him to see — to himself, God, Christ.

2. Well, sin is like disease; but see the difference: sickness is usually one disease. Sin is all diseases in one — the madness, the fever, the deafness, all in one! Men wish to be free of sickness of body. Alas! they do not wish to be free of sin, the disease of the soul. Sickness is disease; sin is crime — sin.

II. THE GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN.

1. Let me say of Him — there is no other. If you are sick in body you have a choice of physicians. But for the terrible sickness of sin none but Christ — "Neither is there salvation in any other," etc. There needs no other.

2. That He knows our whole case, our whole disease, and so is able to deal with it. Other physicians have often to work in the dark. They are uncertain what the disease is, and, if they know, may be unable to heal.

3. That He is unspeakably tender. What else but love could have brought Him into this leprous world?

4. That He is a mighty, all-skilful Physician.

5. That He is a faithful Physician. He will not skin over your wound and say that it is healed — "A new heart also will I give you."

6. He is a Physician very near at hand — "A very present help in trouble."

(C. J. Brown, D. D.)

I. THE OBSERVATIONS NATURALLY ARISING FROM THE SEVERAL PARTICULAR EXPRESSIONS MADE USE OF IN THE TEXT.

1. That sin is to the soul what disease or sickness is to the body.

2. That repentance is not an original and primary duty of religion, only of secondary intention, and of consequential obligation. The original duty of all rational creatures is to obey the commandments of God, and such as have always lived in obedience are not obliged to the duty of repentance. It applies to those who have sinned. It is a privilege to them to be permitted to perform it (Acts 11:18). There is a repentance to which even the best of men are continually obliged. But this is not that repentance to which our Saviour came to call sinners.

3. The just and sharp reproof contained in this answer to the hypocritical Pharisees.

II. THE GENERAL DOCTRINE OF REPENTANCE AS HERE LAID DOWN BY OUR LORD. The design of His preaching was to call sinners to repentance.

(S. Clarke, D. D.)

(S. Clarke, D. D.)

(The Sunday School Times.)

(Dr. Parker.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. FASTING HAS NO MORAL VALUE IN ITSELF. The appetite may have to be denied from prudential motives, and then fasting becomes a duty. But asceticism, per se, is not a virtue. It is the negation of a vice, but it may be the seed of twenty others, e.g., pride, self-righteousness.

II. PRESCRIBED FASTING MAY BE INJURIOUS AND ROB THE PRACTICE OF ITS REAL VALUE.

III. FASTING IS IMPOSED BY SORROWFUL EVENTS. A natural instinct indicates its fitness.

IV. BENEFICIAL FASTING COMES FROM HEAVENLY FEASTING. It is the time for special activities of the soul. The best rule is — so far as fasting helps you in the elevation and improvement of your highest nature, adopt it; so far as it is injurious to this, avoid it.

(D. Davies, M. A.)

I. The envious are more busied in censuring the conduct of others, than in rectifying their own. This is one vice belonging to a Pharisee, and which is very common.

II. It is another, to desire that everyone should regulate his piety by ours, and embrace our particular customs and devotions.

III. It is a third, to speak of others, only that we may have an opportunity to speak of and to distinguish ourselves. It is very dangerous for a man to make himself remarkable by such devout practices as are external and singular, when he is not firmly settled and rooted in internal virtues, and, above all, in humility.

(Quesnel.)

(1)occasional,

(2)voluntary, and

(3)private.

(R. Glover.)

(De Witt S. Clark.)

(De Witt S. Clark.)

II. ITS OBLIGATIONS.

III. BENEFITS OF FASTING.

1. There is a scriptural, a psychological, a moral and religious ground for fasting.(1) Each act of self-denial, the refusal to gratify the lusts of the flesh, even when natural and proper, is an assertion of the supremacy of the soul over the body, and tends to strengthen its authority.(2) It is a general law of our nature that the outward should correspond with the inward. No man can maintain any desired state of mind while his bodily condition and acts are not in accordance. He cannot be sorrowful in the midst of laughter.

2. There is also the further ground of experience and the example of God's people. All eminently pious persons have been more or less addicted to this mode of spiritual culture.(1) It must, however, be sincere. The hypocritical fasting of the Pharisees is at once hateful and destructive.(2) It must be regarded as simply a means and not an end.(3) It must be left free.

(C. Hodge.)

I. The Jews, as a nation and church, had many fasts.

II. The disciples of John fasted often.

III. The Pharisees and their disciples fasted often — twice in the week, the second and fifth day. Their real state of mind contrasted with this exercise. How reason staggers in the things of God.

IV. These parties naturally complained of the disciples of Christ for not fasting.

1. Fasting seemed so essential.

2. They attributed the conduct of the disciples of Christ to Christ Himself.

3. In this instance, Christ gave His sanction and defence to the conduct of His disciples. His vindication was: — He was with them — they were joyful, fasting not suited, etc. He would leave them — they would be sorrowful, fasting then suitable.This view enforced by two comparisons.

1. Christ sanctions fasting.

2. The time for fasting should be decided by the fact of Christ's presence or absence. Beware of attaching too much importance to forms.

(Expository Discourses.)

1. That weak, but well-meaning, men may be led astray in their estimate of the ceremonial of the Christian life by proud and crafty religionists.

2. That men of varied creed, character, and conduct may be found contending for the same ceremonial of the Christian life.

3. That even good men are often found in open hostility because of their varied opinions in reference to the mere ceremonial of the Christian life.

II. THAT MEN MAY BE SO MINDFUL OF THE CEREMONIAL OBSERVANCES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AS TO NEGLECT THE GREATER TRUTHS EMBODIED AND SIGNIFIED.

1. Men are in danger of neglecting the deeper truths of the Christian ceremonial because they are generally lacking in the habit of penetrating its unseen and hidden meanings.

2. Men are in danger of neglecting the deeper truths of the Christian ceremonial because they are lacking in the pure sympathy needful to such discovery.

3. Men are in danger of neglecting the deeper truths of the Christian ceremonial because they are lacking in that diligence needful to such discovery.

III. THAT MEN SHOULD REGULATE THE CEREMONIAL OBSERVANCES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE ACCORDING TO THE MORAL EXPERIENCES OF THE SOUL. "And Jesus said unto them, can the children of the bride chamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them?"

1. That Christ is the Bridegroom of the soul. Christ had just revealed Himself as the Great Physician of the soul. But this is a more endearing and condescending revelation of Himself. He loves the soul of man. He seeks to be wedded to and to endow it with all His moral wealth. This is a close union.

2. That the absence or presence of Christ the Bridegroom determines largely the emotions of the soul.

3. That the emotions of the soul, as occasioned by the absence or presence of the Divine Bridegroom, must determine the ceremonial of the Christian life.Lessons:

1. That the moral character cannot be infallibly judged by an attention to the outward ceremony of the Christian life.

2. That if we would cultivate true moods of joy, we must seek habitual communion with Chris.

3. That the feeling of the soul must determine the religious ceremony of the hour.

(J. S. Exell, M. A.)

II. THE PRESENCE OF THE BRIDEGROOM. Are we in the dreary period when Christ "is taken away"? The time of mourning for an absent Christ was only three days. "Lo, I am with you alway." We have lost the manifestation of Him to the sense, but have gained the manifestation of Him to the spirit. The presence is of no use unless we daily try to realize it.

III. THE JOY OF THE BRIDEGROOM'S PRESENCE. What was it that made these rude lives so glad when Christ was with them? The charm of personal character, the charm of contact with one whose lips were bringing to them fresh revelations of truth. There is no joy in the world like that of companionship, in the freedom of perfect love, with one who ever keeps us at our best, and brings the treasure of ever fresh truth to the mind. He is with us as the source of our joy, because He is the Lord of our lives, and the absolute Commander of our wills. To have one present with us whose loving word it is delight to obey, is peace and gladness. He is with us as the ground of perfect joy because He is the adequate object of all our desires, and the whole of the faculties and powers of a man will find a field of glad activity in leaning upon Him, and realizing His presence. Like the apostle whom the old painters loved to represent lying with his happy head on Christ's heart, and his eyes closed in tranquil rapture of restful satisfaction, so if we have Him with us and feel that He is with us, our spirits may be still, and in the great stillness of fruition of all our wishes and the fulfilment of all our needs, may know a joy that the world can neither give nor take away. He is with us as the source of endless gladness in that He is the defence and protection for our souls. And as men live in a victualled fortress, and care not though the whole surrounding country may be swept bare of all provision, so when we have Christ with us we may feel safe, whatsoever befalls, and "in the days of famine we shall be satisfied." He is with us as the source of our perfect joy because His presence is the kindling of every hope that fills the future with light and glory. Dark or dim at the best, trodden by uncertain shapes, casting many a deep shadow over the present, that future lies, except we see it illumined by Christ, and have Him by our side. But if we possess His companionship, the present is but the parent of a more blessed time to come; and we can look forward and feel that nothing can touch our gladness, because nothing can touch our union with our Lord. So, dear brethren, from all these thoughts and a thousand more which I have no time to dwell upon, comes this one great consideration, that the joy of the presence of the Bridegroom is the victorious antagonist of all sorrow — "Can the children of the bride chamber mourn," etc. The Bridegroom limits our grief. Our joy will often be made sweeter by the very presence of the mourning. Why have so many Christian men so little joy in their lives? They look for it in wrong places. It cannot be squeezed out of worldly ambitions. A religion like that of John's disciples and that of the Pharisees is poor; a religion of laws and restrictions cannot be joyful. There is no way of men being happy except by living near the Master. Joy is a duty.

(Dr. McLaren.)

(Dr. McLaren.)

(Dr. McLaren.)

I. A RULING CONCEPTION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE WHICH IS CALLED HAVING THE BRIDEGROOM PRESENT; A STATE OF RIGHT INCLINATION ESTABLISHED, IN WHICH THE SOUL HAS IMMEDIATE CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD AND IS SWAYED IN LIBERTY BY HIS INSPIRATIONS. The whole aim of Christianity is fulfilled in this alone. Discipline, self-regulation, carried on by the will, may be wanted, as I shall presently show. But no possible amount of such doings can make up a Christian virtue. Everything in Christianity goes for the free inclination. Here begins the true nobility of God's sons and daughters — when their inclination is wholly to good and to God. The bridegroom joy is now upon them because their duty is become their festivity with Christ.

II. WHAT THEN IS THE PLACE OR VALUE OF THAT WHOLE SIDE OF SELF-DISCIPLINE WHICH CHRIST HIMSELF ASSUMES THE NEED OF, WHEN THE BRIDEGROOM IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. There is, I undertake to say, one general purpose or office in all doings of will, on the human side of Christian experience, viz., the ordering of the soul in fit position for God, that He may occupy it, have it in His power, sway it by His inspirations. No matter what the kind of doing to which we are called — self. government, self-renunciation, holy resolve, or steadfast waiting — the end is the same, the getting in position for God's occupancy. As the navigator of a ship does nothing for the voyage, save what he does by setting the ship to course and her sails to the wind, so our self-compelling discipline is to set us in the way of receiving the actuating impulse of God's will and character. All that we can do is summed up in self-presentation to God, hence the call to salvation is "Come." And as it is in conversion, so it is of all Christian doings afterward. If, by reason of a still partial subjection to evil, the nuptial day of a soul's liberty be succeeded by a void, dry state, the disciple has it given him to prepare himself for God's help by clearing away his idols, rectifying his misjudgments, staying his resentments and grudges, and mortifying his appetites. There will be a certain violence in the fight of his repentances. Let none object that all such strains of endeavour must he without merit because they are, in one sense, without inclination. Holy Scripture commands us to serve, when we cannot reign. Do we "mortify our members," "pluck out our right eye," by inclination? Let us specify some humbler matters in which it must be done.

1. How great a thing for a Christian to keep life, practice, and business in the terms of order.

2. A responsible way has the same kind of value; a soul that stays fast in concern for the Church, for the salvation of men, for the good of the country, is ready for God's best inspirations.

3. Openness and boldness for God is an absolute requisite for the effective revelation of God in the soul.

4. Honesty, not merely commercial, but honesty engaging to do justice everywhere, every way, every day, and specially to God's high truth and God. I could speak of yet humbler things, such as dress and society. These are commonly put outside the pale of religious responsibility. And yet there is how much in them to fix the soul's position towards God! But what of fasting? The very thing about which my text is concerned. Does it belong to Christianity? I think so. Christ declared that His disciples should fast when He was gone, He began His great ministry by a protracted fast, and He discourses of it just as He does of prayer and alms. A certain half-illuminated declamation against asceticism is a great mistake of our time. An asceticism belonging to Christianity is described when an apostle says: "I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offence." If we cannot find how to bear an enemy, if we recoil from sacrifices laid upon us, we shall emulate the example of Cromwell's soldiers, who conquered first in the impassive state, by fasting and prayer, and then, sailing into battle as men iron-clad, conquered their enemies; or those martyrs who could sing in the crisp of their bodies because they had trained them to serve. But none should ever go into a fast when he has the Bridegroom consciously with him, and it must never amount to a maceration of the body — never be more frequent than is necessary to maintain, for the long run of time, the clearest, healthiest condition of mind and body. There ought to be a fascination in the severities of this rugged discipline. Our modern piety, we feel, wants depth and richness, and it cannot be otherwise, unless we consent to endure some hardness. To be merely wooed by grace, and tenderly dewed by sentiment, makes a Christian mushroom, not a Christian man. So much meaning has our Master, when charging it upon us, again and again, without our once conceiving possibly what depth of meaning He would have us find in His words. "Deny thyself take up thy cross and follow Me."

(Horace Bushnell, D. D.)

I. Every force has a definite mode of action. Spring does not produce the same results as autumn, nor can young converts yield the same fruits as aged saints.

II. To coerce these forces into human channels is impossible. No one dress will fit all men. If you want to alter men's habits begin by changing their principles.

III. It is only wise and safe to act with God. Learn the methods of the Spirit's working and follow them.

(D. Davies, M. A.)

(De W. S. Clark.)

(H. J. Bevis.)

II. That the THOUGHTS AND WORDS of Christianity are new. New thoughts require new utterances. The people said of Christ, "Never man spake like this Man." New things want new words. The everlasting Son has taken our nature and become our brother. The gospel calls this "the mystery of godliness." God hath given His Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might have eternal life. Even the gospel seems to want words here, and can only say, "God so loved." The gospel takes us by the hand and leads us to the cross; and as we look on the Crucified, it unfolds the record, and bids us read, "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." We want not old forms. We have truth for the understanding; we have love for the heart. We have new thoughts and new words, the utterances of which are as the divinest music to the soul that is seeking a Saviour. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the chief."

III. THE MANIFESTATIONS OF CHRISTIANITY ARE NEW. "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." Christianity is from heaven. God's work is not to be improved by man. Where there is real religion in man, its own manifestations will not be wanting in a Divine life, in all the graces of the Spirit, in godlikeness.

IV. THE RITUALISM OF CHRISTIANITY IS NEW. It has few symbols, but these are most expressive and appropriate. It meets us on the very threshold of life with its washing of water, and water is the universal and undying type of purity. It gives us, as Christians, the memorials of Christ's death. The ritualism of your spirit must be left to the moods and feelings of your own heart. You may content yourselves with mere outward acts of reformation, but these are manifestly insufficient. This is but a new piece of cloth on an old garment. This is the world's attempt to mend human nature. Christianity requires "a new heart and a right spirit." You must be a "partaker of the Divine nature," "a new creature in Christ Jesus," to be a Christian. The "inner man" must have its new attire. You must put off the old garment and put on the new. You must "put on Christ Jesus the Lord, and walk in Him." Do not try to mend the old nature Seek a new one. Old habits will not do for a new spirit, and yet we cling to them, or they cling to us There is often little agreement between our principles and our practice.

(H. J. Bevis.)

(T. Adams.)

1. Fasting was a sign of sorrow; but how could these disciples sorrow while Jesus was with them? it was like trying to weep in the midst of a wedding feast. Christians have alternations of experience. Sometimes the Bridegroom is with us; sometimes far away.

2. The other answer sets forth the essential difference between the new dispensation and the impossibility of confining it by the old forms and ceremonies of religion. Now, these bottles represent religious forms, and wine represents religious spirit or life. Consider —

I. The SUPERIOR ENERGY of Christianity over Judaism. It is new wine. Judaism was wine; but this is newer, and also better. But this is not the point of comparison. The point is, that the gospel has a freshness, expansiveness, and power, beyond what we find in Judaism, so that it is like new, working and fermenting wine as compared with old acetic wine, now cold and still. See it in a few particulars: —

1. Its earnest aggressive spirit and aim. It was meant for the world, to go out to all nations. Judaism was for the Jews, or if for Gentiles, it was by these coming to the Jews as proselytes. Its agency is the same.

2. Its potent and stimulating motives. Christ's love and death constrain us; and the apocalypse of the eternal world is made more impressive and influential. Compare these with Jewish types, etc.

3. The ardour of affection awakened in the followers of Christ. Their whole nature is elevated and vivified by a new love and a new hope.

4. The accompanying energy of the Holy Ghost.

II. The UNSUITABLENESS OF OLD JEWISH FORMS to the new Christian spirit. All are too narrow, cold, and cramping. As fastings, sacrifices, priestly exclusiveness, and even the Sabbath.

III. Yet CHRISTIANITY HAS ITS OWN FORMS. The wine is not spilt on the ground, but kept in bottles — the Christian Church in its New Testament simplicity, the ordinances, the Lord's day, spiritual modes of worship. All these naturally come out of the spirit of the gospel. The life makes its own body. Truly, this law has been tampered with most grievously by men, and the energy of the gospel has suffered; its freedom has been trammelled, and its life deadened. Lessons:

1. Our supreme concern should be to get the life of the gospel into our souls.

2. We should avoid a superstitious stickling for mere forms, however old and elegant, if they are but arbitrary and mechanical.

3. We should be willing to endorse and adopt the simple, natural, and living forms of the New Testament — joining the church, engaging in worship, etc.

4. We should apply it to our whole deportment and life — all must be renewed, and new wine put in new bottles. Let all our habits be determined and controlled by the inner spirit of piety. Things once pleasant to us will now be unpleasant and irksome. Many amusements and pleasures will be instantly abandoned, when we have got the right spirit within us; whereas, otherwise, it would be vain to contend and argue against them.

(Congregational Pulpit.)

(Quesnel.)

(R. Glover.)

I. UNITY IN VARIETY. To the unaccustomed eye the wheat seems one, and yet it is various. There is the white wheat, the rod wheat, and beneath these, varieties and sub-varieties in great number. Yet what unity in the variety. Variety, too, meets us as we look out upon the vast field of humanity; yet what unity. One hand has made us all; in Christ "there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free." In Him "all we are brethren."

II. FRUITFULNESS THROUGH DEATH is taught us by the fields of wheat. The field of burial shall become the field of resurrection.

III. THE PERMANENCE OF CHARACTER is suggested to us by the ripening fields of wheat — "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

IV. THE VAST PRODUCTIVENESS OF GOOD is suggested by the fields of wheat — "And bring forth fruit, some an hundredfold." Christianity, truth, work for God, yield "much fruit."

V. HUMAN DEPENDENCE is taught us by the cornfields; God giveth the increase.

(G. T. Coster.)

II. In reading we ought to SEEK OUT THE SPIRITUAL TEACHING OF THE WORD. This should be the case in reference to the historical passages, ceremonial precepts, and doctrinal statements.

III. Such a reading of Scripture as implies the understanding of, and the entrance into, its spiritual meaning, and the discovery of the Divine Person, who is the spiritual meaning, IS PROFITABLE. It often begets spiritual life. It comforts the soul It nourishes the soul. It guides us.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

(G. Petter.)

I. "The Sabbath was made for man" as a WORKING man. It is a simple fact in medical science, that the human frame is not made so as to bear up under constant labour without rest. He can no more do it than he can live under water; it is contrary to nature; and the consequence will be premature decay; the frame will break down and wear out before its time. This is a simple fact in science. Besides, labour is God's appointment, His wholesome and needful law. But did He mean us to bear the drudgery of ceaseless toil? How wretched, how degrading, how brutalizing! And God has not appointed it: "Six days shalt thou labour." But on this head I need say no more; those admirable Essays by Working Men, which ought to be in everybody's hands, and which so vividly portray the experience of those who have kept the Sabbath, exhaust this part of the subject.

II. "The Sabbath was made for man," as a social being. What is God's great instrument for promoting the temporal good of His creatures? It is the family tie. What is the great stimulant to exertion? What the great safeguard, what the great cordial of life — speaking of mere human things, I mean? It is to be found in the word "home." My experience as a gaol chaplain convinces me that the great cause of crime arises from the breach of the fourth and fifth commandments. Let but the family tie be rent asunder, and society falls to pieces. And how can this be maintained without a Sabbath? The observation of an omnibus conductor the other day sets this in a striking light: "Sir, I am at work every Sunday, all the day, as well as on week days, and I hardly know the face of my own children." Then what must become of those children? And why should they be deprived of a father's care, and he of his children's love? And how has God provided against such a danger? "The Sabbath was made for man." Then the various members of the family, scattered through the week, are once more united; the mutual feelings of affection are elicited; they are excited to seek each other's welfare, and to value each other's good opinion and esteem; and, short of the power of God's grace, there is no bond half so strong, no security half so certain, that they will fill up their places as good members of society. I constantly meet with those who are lost to every other feeling of shame but this.

III. "The Sabbath was made for man," as a SPIRITUAL being. Earthly things must not engross all the time and thought of man. God interposes, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."

IV. But it is not enough to offer man the blessing — it is made imperative; it is confirmed by the sanction which is added, "The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, the Proprietor of it, the Owner of it, the Master of it. It is His. It was made for man, but never given to man. The six days were given to man — the seventh never was. He is "the Lord" of it. It is at His disposal, not at yours, nor any man's, nor any body of men, however great or powerful. "Will a man rob God?" Yes. If he apply to his own purposes that which does not belong to him, what is it? Robbery. You have no right over another's Sabbaths; you have no right over your own. It is the Lord's day. It is for Him to say how the day shall be spent; and man has no more the right to alienate that day from the service of God to his own service than he has to appropriate his neighbour's property or despoil him of his honour for his own behoof. The Sabbath is not man's, but the Lord's, and you can't repeal that law, no more than you can change the laws of motion or reverse the force of gravity. You may arrest it for a time, but it will prevail at last; the laws of God execute themselves, you cannot make them inoperative and null.

V. "The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath" — the JUDGE to punish the breach of it. Nothing is more certain than that this is one of the sins which He especially requires at the hands of men. We know it from His dealings with Israel; Jeremiah is full of such declarations; so are many of the other prophets; to refer only to one, Ezekiel 20:13, 16, 21, 24. He is the Lord — the Judge — to vindicate His own law. And why? First, Sabbath breaking is a deliberate sin. And then Sabbath breaking is (if I may coin such an expression) a fundamental sin. It goes to the root of all godliness; an habitual Sabbath breaker cannot have any true religion. It opens the door of his heart wide to Satan.

VI. "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" — TO DIRECT THE MODE of its observance. It is the Lord's day — the Lord who died for us. He claims it, to be devoted to His service and consecrated to His honour.

VII. And is it not the Lord's day? — the day on which He specially MANIFESTS HIMSELF to His people; when He invites them to draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation.

(J. Cohen, M. A.)

(J. Cohen, M. A.)

(H. W. Beecher.)

(H. W. Beecher.)

(H. W. Beecher.)

(Dr. Talmage.)

(Dr. Talmage.)

(Dr. Talmage.)

II. We must consider the Lord's day AS A FREEDOM, rather than a RESTRICTION. So it will seem to us a gracious respite.

III. This leads us on to say that Christians should consider the Lord's day as a REST rather than a DISSIPATION. So it will become a recuperation to us from its chance of a change. The original idea of the Sabbath was rest; the word signifies rest; the fourth commandment gives as the basis of the law the fact that God rested and so hallowed the rest day. We come up to the end of the week worn and excited. Most of us know what the poet Cowper meant when he wrote to his friend John Newton: "The meshes of that fine network the brain are composed of such mere spiders' threads in me, that when a long thought finds its way into them, it buzzes, and twangs, and bustles about, at such a rate as seems to threaten the whole structure." At these times we need tranquil hours for change of occupation, as well as for genial and agreeable entertainment. Dr. Addison Alexander used to say he found his recreation in change of toil. He would go from the study of languages to the study of mathematics. He would turn from writing commentaries to writing sermons. He would discuss theology, and refresh himself after his dry work by composing little poems for children. We all ought to know and recognize this principle. What we need for Sunday rest is not so much sleep as something to do different from what we do during the week; and what we should shun the most is this wear and tear of a crowded excursion. A real rest is found in variety of labour, inside of exhaustion and fatigue. Quiet does not mean stupid slumber on the Lord's day, or on any other. The best relief from worldly cares is discovered oftenest in the gentle industries of religious work.

IV. We must consider the Lord's day as a BENEDICTION rather than a FRET. Thus we shall rebut the charge of bigotry. It is sometimes claimed that Sabbath laws exasperate men who make no claim to religion, and this is a free country. It has to be admitted that there are always some people who grow exasperated whenever the subject of law is mentioned. But liberty is not licence, nor is freedom lawlessness. This one day in seven is no less a blessing because some men do not think so; it is not a fret because they are fretted. Even decent people have some rights. God does not engage to commune with His children, and then expect them to allow the interview to be disturbed by the rollicking riot of a beer garden, or the band of target-shooting parades.

V. We must consider the Lord's day as a HELP rather than an institution.

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

(M. F. Sadler.)

II. As a stated season for attention to religious truths and interests.

III. As a day of holy convocation for the purpose of worship and instruction.

IV. As an emblem and an earnest of the saint's everlasting rest.

(G. Brooks.)

II. It is kept on a day which is fixed by His authority.

III. It is intended to commemorate His resurrection.

IV. It ought to be observed with a special regard to His will, and word, and work.

(G. Brooks.)

(H. M. Luckock, D. D.)

(Sir W. Blackstone.)

(Quesnel.)

(Monday Club Sermons.)

(Monday Club Sermons.)

(Monday Club Sermons.)

(Monday Club Sermons.)

(A. Barnes, D. D.)

(A. Barnes, D. D.)

(A. Barnes, D. D.)The mighty mind and the vigorous frame of Napoleon once enabled him to pass four days and nights in the exciting scenes of an active campaign without sleep, and then he fell asleep on his horse. The keenest torture which man has ever invented has been a device to drive sleep from the eyes, and to fix the body in such a position that it cannot find repose; and even this must fail, for the sufferer will find repose on the rack or in death. The same law, demanding rest, exists also in relation to the mind, and is as imperious in regard to the intellectual and moral powers, in order to their permanent and healthful action, as to the muscles of the body. No man can long pursue an intellectual effort without repose. He who attempts to hold his mind long to one train of close thinking, he who pursues far an abstruse proposition, and he who is wrought up into a high state of excitement, must have relaxation and repose. If he does not yield to this law, his mind is unstrung, the mental faculties are thrown from their balance, and the frenzied powers, perhaps yet mighty, move with tremendous but irregular force, like an engine without balance wheel or "governor," and the man of high intellectual rowers, like Lear, becomes a raving maniac. So with our moral feelings. The intensest zeal will not always be on fire, the keenest sorrow will find intermission, and even love does not always glow with the same ardour in the soul. This law, contemplating our welfare, cannot be violated without incurring a fearful penalty.

(A. Barnes, D. D.)

(A. Barnes, D. D.)

(A. Barnes, D. D.)

I. THE DAY DESIGNED. "The Sabbath was made for man" by Him who also made man.

II. THE DAY PERVERTED. It is so, and variously, by different people.

1. These Pharisees made it everything, and regarded the day more than man, and his need (to supply which it was first given).

2. Others pervert it by regarding it as a day for mere physical rest and recreation, as if man were a mere animal. Such are secularists and materialists, etc.

3. Others, again, pervert the day who make it a day for study, as if man were a purely intellectual being. Such would open museums.

III. THE DAY CHANGED. Learn —

1. Rightly to understand the Sabbath as meeting a human need.

2. To honour the Lord of the Sabbath by preserving His day from innovation, and by services of religion and mercy. "It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day."

3. A practical reverence for the Lord of the day is the best way to keep the day from being stolen from us.

(C. Gray.)

(H. W. Beecher.).