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because his heart impelled him to it. He felt that his first step must be to raise them up by quickening their sense of their own worth, and restoring them to self-respect. And he could only do this by showing them that he at least did not think them too bad, too hopeless, to be associated with as friends. Not that he had deliberately argued out this line of conduct, but his fine perception led him to it instinctively. Indeed, to gain any influence over such outcasts he must treat them with still more frank and cordial friendship than he displayed to others. If he had only shown them a lofty condescension he could not possibly have healed them.

And he had to heal them. He regarded and treated them as sick men. It was a characteristic saying of his, in which he defended his strange conduct, and openly declared that it was no accident that found him in such company; that he did not intend to shun it in future, but that he bore a special commission to call the sinners into the kingdom of God, and had not come for the sake of the healthy or righteous. We must not press the saying too hard, and ask whether there is, or ever was, a man who could really be called altogether sound or righteous; for in comparison with these sinners the portion of the people that was strictly faithful to the Lord and to his Law and temple might fairly be called devout and virtuous, and so not sick.1

This metaphor of the physician and his patients, which Jesus applied to himself and the sinners, gave rise to many emblematic representations. Indeed, it readily lent itself to every kind of elaboration; and we find a typical counterpart to the very story in which it is imbedded just before it. Here the rescue of the publican" is simply altered into "the healing of the leper." But it may be said once for all that these symbolical sketches do not refer to special definite occurrences. From the nature of the case they are generally types or specimens. And, indeed, many of the ordinary narratives of the Gospels - that of the invitation to Levi among them must themselves be taken as mere specimens of the line of conduct or the experiences of Jesus.

But to return to the emblematic story of the leper. Once, we are told, a leper came to Jesus, bowed down in reverence to the earth, and cried, "Lord! if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Jesus was deeply moved, stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will. Be clean! And immediately the hideous disease left him, and he was 1 Compare, for example, Matthew xix. 17 b-20.

clean. Upon this Jesus dismissed him, saying, "Tell it to no one, bu go to Jerusalem, show yourself to the officiating priest, and make the sacrifice ordained in the Law."1

How are we to interpret these last words? Do they mean that Jesus forbade the publican to parade the fact of his conversion, and told him if possible to restore, according to the Law, any thing he had exacted by deceit or extortion? Or did the Evangelists add the words because they accepted the story literally? However this may be, they certainly did understand the story literally, and consequently fell into exaggerations such as that the man was full of leprosy" (Luke); or contradictions such as that "great multitudes followed him, . . . and Jesus said, 'Tell it to no one’" (Matthew); or pointless glosses such as that "the man proclaimed it everywhere, so that all men came to Jesus, and he was obliged to withdraw into a desert place" (Matthew and Luke). But the broad lines of the original symbolic sketch may still be traced. In the first place, the special disease is carefully chosen. The sinners were as unclean, were as anxiously avoided, were considered as incurable as the lepers themselves. And again, the longing to be cleansed and a reverential trust in Jesus were indispensable to the salvation of these outcasts. And yet again, most striking and important of all, Jesus touches the leper. Such an unheard of, almost incredible, act is a noble symbol of the actual facts, a beautiful indication of that fine perception and delicate sympathy which made Jesus the friend of sinners, which made him seek rather than shun the friendly relations of familiar intercourse with them. So only can the lost be saved!

8

We will take another illustration of the friendship shown by Jesus to sinners. And here, again, we find two pictures, one conveyed in the ordinary, and the other in the emblematic style of narrative. This time we shall let the copy precede the original.

Jesus had just returned to Capernaum after a short absence; and no sooner was it known that he was there than all the city went out to hear him, till the very door of his house was thronged all round. Then there came four men carrying a mattress, upon which lay a man struck with paralysis. He

1 Leviticus xiii., xiv.
2 Compare Luke xix.
8 Compare John v. 6.

with Exodus xxii. 1, 4; Numbers v. 6, 7.

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wanted to come to Jesus and be healed, but it was impossible to get near him. What was to be done? They were determined not to go back disappointed; so they hoisted the bed with the sick man in it to the roof, broke up the tiles, and carefully lowered the sufferer at the very feet of Jesus. The Master was struck by such an earnest desire for help and such great confidence in his power, in a word by such faith, and said to the man, My son, be of good cheer! Your sins are forgiven." Now there happened at the moment to be certain Scribes sitting by Jesus and conversing with him about the kingdom of God; his words shocked them greatly, and they thought "What blasphemy! Who can forgive sins except God alone?" But Jesus saw what they felt, and said, Why do you think evil in your hearts? Is it easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or Stand up and walk'? That you may know then that the Son of Man has power upon earth to forgive sins" - here he turned suddenly to the sick man "Stand up, take up your bed and return to your home!" And, behold! the man stood up, and went home in the sight of them all; and they were all amazed and praised God, saying, "We have never seen the like."

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We have given this story in its fullest form, as it appears in Mark and Luke. The symbolical interpretation is demanded by the existence of a corresponding narrative in the fourth Gospel,' by details in the picture which do not admit of a literal interpretation, and, above all, by the fact that if interpreted literally it exhibits an inexplicable confusion of spiritual and material elements. What would be the sense of trying to cheer the sick man by promising that, on the strength of his great desire to be cured of paralysis, his sins should be forgiven? Again, the question addressed to the Scribes appears to compare two things together which are absolutely incapable of comparison, inasmuch as they have nothing whatever to do with each other; namely, peace with God, and the use of one's limbs. Nor did it by any means follow that one who could restore a sick man to health had an undeniable right to assure him that his sins were forgiven, for a miracle might be equally well ascribed to divine or diabolic agencies; and the question, " Is it easier to restore peace to a man's soul or health to his body?" admits of a very different answer from that which the context indicates as the only possible one. On the other hand, every thing fits into its

1 John v. 1-15.

2 Matthew xii. 24, xxiv. 24; Deuteronomy xiii. 1, 2.

place, and the whole narrative flows smoothly, if we bear in mind that the disease really meant is moral paralysis, the incapacity for good which evil habits have produced. The perception of the sufferer's passionate longing to be restored enabled Jesus to assure him that the sinful past was washed away; the devout bystanders were indignant at the restoration to honor of such a notorious sinner, and the story teaches the great truths that moral renovation is impossible unless preceded by forgiveness, and that he who has the power to bring a sinner back and make him tread the path of God's commandments has, indeed, the right to tell him that his sins have been forgiven. If this is what the story represents, the bystanders had good cause indeed to "glorify God." The narrative, then, might have been headed, "Moral Paralysis Cured by Jesus!" and the emphasis falls not only upon the connection between forgiveness and restoration, but still more upon the difficulties which the sinner braved to come to Jesus, upon the faith to which his conduct testified, upon the indignation raised in the minds of the religious teachers by what Jesus did, and upon his own defence of it.

We will now give the original of which this is a copy, and it will hardly be necessary to point out the similarity of the two. It runs as follows:

A pious man of the school of the Pharisees, whose name was Simon, had asked Jesus to dine with him. When he came at the usual hour he was received without much distinction, and took his place among the other guests, who were of the same school as the host himself. But the meal had hardly begun before it was interrupted. The door was left open in accordance with the usages of Eastern hospitality; for some one might come in, as often happened, in the course of the meal, perhaps to listen to the conversation. Now, through this open door there came a woman, which was strange enough in itself, for none but men were present. Simon looked at her with amazement. What! Could he believe his eyes? Was it that miserable and abandoned creature? Dare she pollute his threshold? Yes, it was she, "a woman who was a sinner." How came she there? She had heard Jesus, and a change had taken place in her heart. His presence and his preaching had completely overpowered her. She had happened to hear where he was being entertained, and she must and would follow him and do him homage. She left her house with an alabaster flask of ointment in her hand, and at the risk of being driven from the door like a dog by the master

of the house, she went in quest of Jesus. She approached the place where he lay, leaning on his left arın, after the custom of the time, with his face to the table, his body resting on a cushion, and his naked feet stretched backwards. There she bowed down her head and burst into tears as she kissed his feet in sign of deepest reverence, and bathed them in a flood of tears. Presently she recovered herself, and dried the feet, which she never ceased to kiss, with the luxuriant hair that hung loosely down her shoulders; and, remembering the purpose for which she came, poured over them the precious contents of the flask she had brought with her.

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Meanwhile, the host could hardly contain his horror and contempt. Amazement and indignation had at first deprived him of utterance, and then he had kept quiet to see what would happen and what Jesus would do. He had seen enough now! "What!" thought he, "will he let her kiss his feet, dry them, and anoint them? How loathsome is the thought! Let who will hold him for prophet, I know he is none. For were he a prophet he would know who and what that creature is, and before he let her pollute him with her touch he would shake her off, and hurl the curse of the Lord upon her!" Did Jesus see the contemptuous curl of Simon's lip? Did he read in his face the sense of loathing that filled him? At any rate he broke the painful silence with the words: Simon! I should like to ask you something." "Speak on, Rabbi!" answered Simon coldly. · A certain money-lender," continued Jesus, "had two debtors, one of whom owed him five hundred denarii (say £20), and the other fifty (£2). But when the debts fell due, and neither of the debtors could pay, he generously forgave them both. Which of the two do you suppose would love his benefactor most? "A childish question," Simon may have thought; but all he said was, “I suppose the man to whom he had remitted most." Yes," said Jesus. Then he turned his head, and stretched out his hand towards the woman, whom he had left so far as though he had not noticed what she was doing, for he felt that this was the truest kindness to her. "Simon," he cried, "do you see this woman? You think her still bowed down by the great guilt of many unpardonable sins. But consider. I came into your house. You did not so much as offer me water to wash my feet when I had put off my sandals, but this woman has wet my feet with her tears, and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but since she came in she has never ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she

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