Was the sick man able to walk to Christ? How did those who brought him contrive to place him before Christ? They let him down through the roof. What did our Lord say when he saw their faith? "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." What did the Scribes and Pharisees say when our Lord told the man this? "Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sin but God alone?" What is blasphemy? Speaking against God. Did our Lord know the thoughts of the Scribes and Pharisees? Yes. of man Is it not as far beyond the power to cure the palsy by a word, as to forgive sin? Yes. What reason did our Lord give for saying to the man, "Thy sins be forgiven thee?" That they might know the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins. How did our Lord convince them he had power to forgive sins? He said unto the sick of the palsy, “I say unto thee, arise, and take up thy couch, and go unto thine house.” Did the man obey the command of Jesus? Yes, he took up his bed, and departed to his house. What did those who beheld the miracle say? 66 'We have seen strange things to-day." What followed? They glorified God. This miracle shows us our Saviour's power and mercy; the poor paralytic man was unable to move, he could only be at his Saviour's feet, and trust to his compassion. Christ was not angry when he saw the sick man let down by his friends, and brought before him, because he knew that it was faith which made them do so. He said to the sick man, "Man, thy sins are forgiven." What joyful news was this, for the poor man only expected to be cured of his bodily ailment, but Jesus forgave him his sins, which was far better than the cure of his sickness. The Pharisees, instead of believing in our Saviour, and being converted by this miracle, accused him of blasphemy; and if our Saviour had been a mere man, it would have been blasphemy in him to pretend to forgive sins; but, as the Son of God, he had power to do it, and if he had not been the Son of God, he could not have cured a man sick of the palsy by only speaking to him. Remember that our souls are as weak and helpless as this poor man was: they are sick; the sickness of the soul is sin, which, if not cured, will at length destroy both soul and body in hell; we cannot cure ourselves, but Jesus can do so, and he is willing to save all who come to him, for he tells us, "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." My speech, sight, hearing, and my limbs, Thy praise I'll sing in grateful hymns, With all I am and all I have, My tongue shall kindly speak to all, My feet in swift obedience move, LESSON TWENTY-FIFTH. MATT. IX. 9-13. MARK III. 13—21. AND as Je-sus pass-ed forth from thence, he saw a man named Mat-thew, sit-ting at the re-ceipt of cus-tom: and he saith un-to him, "Fol-low me." And he arose and fol-low-ed him. And it came to pass, as Je-sus sat at meat in the house, be-hold ma-ny pub-lic-ans and sin-ners came and sat down with him and his disci-ples. And when the Phar-i-sees saw it, they said un-to his disci-ples, "Why eat-eth your master with pub-lic-ans and sin-ners?" But when Je-sus heard that, he said un-to them, "They that be whole need not a phy-si-cian, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that mean-eth, I will have mer-cy, and not sac-rifice: for I am not come to call the right-e-ous, but sin-ners, to repent-ance." And Je-sus went up in-to a mountain, and call-ed un-to him whom he would: and |