hatred to Christ; and they would not consider the difference between carrying burdens for traffic or business, and a sick man's carrying his bed to show what God had done for him, and that too at the express command of Him, who had miraculously healed him. They immediately began to inquire in anger where he was that had given such a command; but Jesus, it seems, had conveyed Himself away. There were a great multitude of people in the place, whom our Lord was no doubt unwilling to stir up either in his favour or against him. It had been said of Christ, by the prophet Isaiah, "He shall not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the streets." Accordingly, we find our Lord avoiding all noise and strife, and shunning all public applause.

E. Then did not the sick man see our Lord any more, Mamma ?

M. Christ met him afterwards in the temple, where he had gone, as we may well suppose, to return thanks to God for his wonderful cure. Here our Lord graciously warned him to beware of sin, lest he should bring down upon himself fresh afflictions, and greater perhaps than that from which he had just been delivered: "Behold, thou art made whole," said Jesus; "sin no more; lest a worse thing come unto thee." E. Then had this man been a great sinner, Mamma, that he had suffered so much?

M. We cannot venture to say that he was a great sinner, compared with other men. It would be very unbecoming in us, and highly dangerous, to measure men's sins by their sufferings. Many are the troubles of the righteous; and some of the most favoured servants of God have been remarkable for what they suffered;

whilst, on the other hand, we often see the wicked in great outward prosperity, and flourishing for a long time, as the Psalmist says, without any changes, like the ever-green bay-tree. Yet without presuming to judge individuals, this we may be sure of, that there never would have been in the world either sorrow or sickness, if there had not been sin: we may learn too, that such troubles then answer the purpose for which they are sent, when they put us on our guard against sin, teach us to hate and dread that which has been the bitter root of so much evil, and lead us to seek more and more the cleansing and sanctifying grace of Christ our Saviour. If our troubles are not thus blessed to us by the Spirit of God, we may well expect that He will change His gentle chastisements into heavy punishments; and either use severe methods of bringing us back to Him, or else, (and oh! how far worse would that be!) hide His face from us in displeasure. Let us think then, after every sickness and every sorrow, that we hear our Saviour saying to us as He did to this poor infirm man, whom He had restored to health and strength; "Thou art made whole sin no more; lest a worse thing come unto thee."

When the Jews learnt who it was that had bidden the man to carry his bed, they followed Jesus, and sought to put Him to death. So dreadful is the force of prejudice! so completely does it harden the heart against the voice of reason and truth! in vain did our Lord tell them that the works which He performed were in fact the works of God His Father, by whose authority and power He wrought all His miracles. So far from being softened by this answer,

the Jews were only the more enraged, because He had not only broken the Sabbath, as they thought, but called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

E. But was He not equal with God? I am sure we are taught in our Church Catechism, Mamma, to believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; so I thought there was no difference. M. Whatever the Church in the Catechism teaches us we may firmly believe; for all that it contains is taken from the word of God. She does indeed instruct us very properly to believe in the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity; God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; for such is the doctrine of Scripture. Our Lord Himself said, "I and my Father are one; he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" and on this occasion when the Jews sought to kill Him, for calling God His own Father, and making Himself equal with God, He did not try to undeceive them, as if they had mistaken His words. On the contrary, He went on to speak of Himself as the Son of God, and as doing His works by the power of God, and as able to do whatever His Father did. And then, Edward, He spoke of greater works than these, which He should still perform; works of greater power, in causing even the dead to hear His voice and live, as we shall have occasion to observe more than once in dwelling upon our Saviour's miracles ;-works too of greater authority, which He should one day exercise in judging all men, even those poor deluded Jews, who were now presuming to condemn His actions, though so merciful, holy, and divine ; for the Father hath given the Son authority to ex

enemies, can have no power at all against them, unless it is given them by God.

I said that our Lord withdrew Himself on this occasion from the anger of the Pharisees, and their wicked plots against Him; He still, however, continued to employ Himself in instructing men and doing them good; thus leaving us an example of quiet activity in our different duties, and of meekness and prudence in avoiding as much as possible all contention, as well as all unnecessary danger. Such quiet activity in the path of duty is indeed the humbler and safer plan, and in general much more successful than a noisy and bustling course. It was thus that the Gospel made its way in the world. It was thus that our Lord advanced the cause of righteousness and truth, and enabled them to conquer the sins and follies of mankind.

Though our Saviour had left the city, the people continued to follow Him in great multitudes from all parts; that is to say, not only from Galilee, but from Tyre and Sidon on the north; from the country beyond Jordan on the east, from Jerusalem to the south, and even from Idumea.

E. How far was that, I wonder?

M. You may remember my mentioning Idumea, when we were reading the Old Testament, as one of the southern boundaries of the Holy Land. Now if we look on the map, and take the scale of miles which is given with it, we shall find that the nearest of the towns mentioned, which was Tyre, lay a considerable distance from Capernaum; not less than fifty miles in a straight line; the windings of the road, particularly among the mountains, would make it much more for the people to travel.