v-9 ' \ ¦ M\ °YmH°¥MIIYiEI&SinrY° Gift of the Rev. Heber H. Beadle 1917 eyxa™it/i,its, J). I). 1 \P ^yjmx- c <0 ^8ysubs<^S c -9*i ¦<^&§0^9- : Subject. 1. Half Title 2. Title 3. Contents 4. List of Illustrations 5. Turning Water into Wine 6. Cana of Galilee . 7. The Wedding Procession 8. The Wedding Feast . " They have no Wine " Filling the Water Pots Water and Wine . . Healing the Nobleman's Son 13. At the Point of Death 14. "Come Down ere my Child Die" 15. " Thy Son Liveth " 16. Telling the Marvelous Story 17. Thankfulness 18. The Miraculous Draught of Fishes 19. Washing the Nets 20. Jesus Preaching from the Boat . 21. The Miraculous Draught . 22. Fishes and Net 23. Stilling the Tempest 24. The Sea of Galilee . 25. The Embarkation 26. The Evening Sail 9. 10.11.12. Artist. A. Will Page 1 Chapman & Will 3 7 " 9 " 13 F. A. Chapman 1719 " 21 " 24 • 2G ¦ 34 Chapman & Will F. A. Chapman 35 80 43 47 " 50 .54 Chapman & Will . White & Eytinge . 55 59 . 62 " 66 " 74 Chapman & Will . Wm. T. Richards. 75 79 " 81 10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Subject. 27. The Storm. 28. The Calm . . . 29. The Haven of Rest . . 30. Anchor 31. Restoring the Demoniac . . , 32. Coming Out of the Ship . 33. Meeting the Demoniac 34. Swine Rushing into the Sea 35. " Clothed and in his Right Mind" 36. Coast Scene . . 37. Raising the Ruler's Daughter 38. Capernaum Restored 39. Jesus and the Ruler . 40. " Be not Afraid, only Believe " 41. "Talitha Cumi" ... 42. The Little Maid 43. The Healing Touch 44. Touching the Robe of Jesus 45. The Woman Confessing 46. " Go in Peace " 47. Curing the Paralytic 48. Approaching the House . . . 49. Lowered through the Roof 50. Healed and Carrying his Bed 51. "Who can Forgive Sins" 52. Cleansing the Leper 53. Kurn Hattin 54. Jesus Meeting the Leper 55. The Leper Ceremonially Cleansed 56. The Dove Escaping . . 57. Healing the Centurion's Servant . 58. The Garrison of Capernaum 59. The Synagogue . 60. Jesus and the Centurion 61. The Servant Healed 62. Raising the Widow's Son . , 63. The City of Nain . . Artist. Wm. T. Richards Page 86 " 91 •• 98 it 100 F. A. Chapman . . A. R. Waud 101 105 it 107 " 109 " 111 F. B. Schell . 122 Chapma,n & Will F. B. Schell 123 127 White <& Eylingc it it 130132 " 135 F. B. Schell . . . 144 Chapman & Will Wm. L. Sheppard 145149 155 " 164 Chapman & Will Wm. L. Sheppard 165169 175 " 179 " 184 F. A. Chapman F. B. Schell 185 189 A. R. Waud 198 " 203 " 206 Chapman & Will . F. A. Chapman 207211216 " 218 " 228 Chapman <& Will F. B. Schell 229233 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 11 Subject. 64. The Funeral Procession. 65. The Bier . . 66. Healing the Impotent Man 67. Modern Jerusalem 68. The Pool of Bethesda 69. The Meeting in the Temple 70. The Porch . . ... 71. Restoring the Withered Hand 72. Jesus Preaching in the Temple 73. Nazareth 74. Stretch Forth thy Hand 75. Herodians Outside the Temple 76. Feeding Five Thousand . 77. Landing on Eastern Shore 78. Salome Dancing before Herod 79. Feeding the Multitude 80. " Twelve Baskets Full " 81. Walking upon the Sea 82. Departure of the Disciples 83. Jesus Approaching the Boat 84. Peter Sinking in the Waves . 85. Early Morning 86. Curing the Man Born Blind . 87. The Family at Bethany 88. Mary's Good Choice 89. Anointing the Eyes 90. The Pool of Siloam 91. Before the Pharisees 92. The Stone and Staff 93. The Syrophosnican's Daughter 94. Tyre 95. The Woman's Appeal 96. The Grateful Mother- 97. Curing One Deaf and Dumb 98. Damascus . 99. Christ Preaching in Decapolis 100. Christ Healing the Man A rtist. F. B. Schell Page 238 it . 250 Chapman & Will F. B. Schell 251255 " 204 " 273 " 278 Chapman & Will 279 Wm. L. Sheppard II. Fenn 283288 Win. L. Sheppard 299 ' 302 Chapman & Will F. B. Schell 303 307 F. A. Chapman . F. B. Schell 309 316 •< 324 Chapman & Will 325 F. B. Schell 329 " 335 •¦ 336 " 314 Chapman & Will 345 F. A. Chapman 349353 Wm. L. Sheppard 357 " 358 •• 366 " 372 Chapman & Will F. B. Schell 373377 F. A. Chapman . 386 392 Chapman & Will 393 F. B. Schell . . 397 H. Billings F. A. Chapman 401 405 12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Subject. Page 101. "Ephphatha" . . 412 102. Healing the Lunatic Child 413 103. The Transfiguration 417 104. Bringing the Child to Jesus 429 105. "Why could not we Cast Him Out?" 434 106. The Raising of Lazarus 435 107. Bethany . 439 108. Lazarus Sick .... 443 109. Mary and Jesus in the Garden 455 110. "Lazarus, Come Forth" . 459 111. Tomb of Lazarus . . 462 112. Cleansing Ten Lepers 463 113. Samaria 467 114. "Standing Afar off Crying" 477 115. "Where are the Nine?" 480 116. Bartimeus Restored to Sight 481 117. Jericho . . . 485 118. Elisha's Fountain 486 119. "Rise, He Calleth Thee" 494 120. " He hath Done all Things Well " 496 121. Withering the Fruitless Fig-Tree 497 122. Mount of Olives from Jerusalem 501 123. The Fig-Tree in Foliage . . 508 124. The Fig-Tree Withered . 511 125. Leaves and Fruit . 512 126. Second Miraculous Draught of Fishes 513 127. Early Dawn on Galilee . 517 128. The Net Full of Fish 521 129. Jesus and the Disciples on Shore 523 130. The Triumph of Christianity . . 528 t|0lm, H: i-ix. gluib tjje tbirb bag lljere bras a marriage in Cana of (falilec ; anb ijje mother of |esus bias tjjere. §,nb botlj |csns bias ralleb, anb gis bistiples, fo Ige marriage. §atb fogeu tgej) foanleb foine, % motger of §esus saifg unto gim, Stljeg Ipbe no btiirc. fesus saitg unto ger, SHoman, fugat Ijabe $ to bo brillj lljce? mine gour is not get tome. Jis mother saitg unto % ser- bauts, SKgatsocbcr \t saitg unto gou, bo it. ^ub fl^ere bias set Ihm si* bmicrpots of stone, after ige manner of tge purifging of the |etos, rontaining tbto or ttirce firkins apiece. |csus saitlj unto fgem, Jill % toaterpots brilli faiater. ginb %g filleb tgem up fo tge brim, gatb be saitlj unto them, |9rafaj out note, anb bear unto tge gobentor of tge feast, %\\is tgcg bare it. Slgen tge ruler of tge feast gab fasfeb tge farater tgai teas mabe bine, anb knefaj not fogenxe it bias, (but tge serbants bbitg brefaj tge foater kuebt,) the gobenror of tge feast tallcb tge bribegroom, anb saitg unto gim, ©berg man at lb;e beginning boilj set fortlj goob brine; anb to^en men gabe bell brunk, fgen Igaf bjjjicji is faorse: but fjjou gasl kept tge goob brine until nohr. ®gis beginning of miracles bib fesns in Cana of Galilee, anb mani- festeb forfg ^is glorg; anb gis bistiples beltebeb on him. "Light up the palace halls From roof-tree to basement, Bid the warm festal-glow Flood every casement, Chant ye the bridal song, Solemn and holy, Waking to Paradise Souls that lie lowly." THE MIRACLES OF IESUS. 17 -'n^rn^W Turning Water into Wine. It is a beautiful and most significant %£' fact that the first miracle of Jesus was performed at a marriage festival. This wedding that was honored by the pres ence and grace of Christ, and made for ever the most memorable wedding in history, was celebrated in the peaceful and lovely little town of Cana, some three miles north-east of Nazareth, lying in the lap of the Galilean hills like a bird in its nest. The names of the wedded pair are unknown. It is surmised that they were relatives of Mary, the mother I 18 THE MIRACLES OF IESUS. of Jesus. Her presence, the deep interest she mani fested in the success of the entertainment, together with the familiar authority she assumed over the servants of the household, render this supposition, to say the least, highly probable. The appearance of Jesus at this wedding in Cana, and his active participation therein, was an announcement to the world at the very beginning of his mission that he had not come to cloud the sunshine of home or to place a ban upon the innocent joys of social life, but to impress the seal of his sanction upon all things pure, lovely and of good report. He came to repudiate and destroy nothing but " the works of the devil f and it would have been in harmony with neither his disposi tion nor his dispensation to have ignored so holy and blessed an institution as marriage. Among all nations and in all ages the wedding festival has ever been one of merriment and joy. It was pecu liarly so with the Hebrews. From the earliest times nuptial occasions among them were celebrated with rejoicings that continued many days, and in which not only all the kindred, but the whole community, felt a sympathetic interest. The house of the bridegroom or his father's house was generally the culminating centre of the festivities. The first part of the wedding-day the bride and groom spent in seclusion, in the confession of sin and in rites of purification, as a solemn preparation for the vastly im portant relationship into which they were about to enter. ¦r: X it: n EH W.* til ¦-)¦> , if *.- u--^- _-.-._''¦"- ^ The most imposing feature of the marriage ceremony consisted in the removal of the bride from her father's house to that of the bridegroom. As the evening came on the bridegroom prepared himself for the public ceremonies by putting on a festive dress, especially placing on his head a handsome turban and a nuptial crown or garland. When the appointed hour arrived, he sallied forth from his chamber gorgeous in apparel, "redolent with myrrh and frankincense and all powders of the merchant," and with his groomsmen — termed in Hebrew " compan ions " — proceeded toward the .c'-~, .. i,y .._--. §/< 20 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. house of the bride. A band of musicians or singers attended the company, and preceded the procession. "To the sound of timbrels sweet, Moving slow with solemn feet, Thus they bore him on the road To the virgin's blest abode." As they drew near the home of the bride the music was heard by her friends who were in waiting, and the joyful cry went round the circle, " Lo, the bride groom cometh ; let us go forth to meet him. ' ' The bride, elegantly attired in- pure white raiment, some times embroidered with gold thread, her head crowned with a chaplet of flowers and myrtle, and her hair flow ing free, came forth closely veiled, accompanied by her maidens,' and received the groom. The combined com pany then marched back again to the house of the bridegroom. The whole route of the procession was marked by the greatest joy and hilarity. Music broke out on every side. Songs of welcome greeted them along the path, and fair virgins came forth and cast offerings of flowTers and of roasted wheat before the feet of the bride. Arrived at the house of the bridegroom, the legal settlements were perfected, and then followed a sumptuous banquet, of which the entire company partook. These festivities lasted many days, generally a week, and sometimes even a fortnight. They were enlivened by music, dancing, the relation of riddles and stories and various games. TURNING WATER INTO WINE. 21 Seldom, however, among the Jews did these festivals degenerate into scenes of dissipation ; but in those days, when travel was difficult and communication between distant points infrequent, they were made the happy occasion for the joyful reunion of long separated friends and kindred. It was in perfect harmony with the genius of the Hebrew religion that these social reunions should be accompanied by abundant eating and drinking. Man kind, indeed, in all ages and in all countries, seem to meet and mingle best on such a basis. The table of the host, therefore, from day to day during these festivities presented the best provision which the house could afford. Such generous and continuous hospitality would be likely to tax severely the resources of any family not 22 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. rich in this world's goods. For this reason it was not an unusual thing for the guests themselves to contribute to the long-sustained banquet. The family at Cana probably did not belong to the wealthy class. Christ's relatives were not rich. Mary was from the royal house of David, but the royal house was in its decadence. We know the Virgin was poor ; for we have a most touching proof of it in the gospel history when she brought her holy babe to the temple " to do for him after the custom of the law." The law required from those whose circumstances permitted it the offering of a lamb ; but if too poor to bring the lamb, a pair of young cloves was accepted as a substitute. When Mary came with her babe, she brought the doves. It is highly probable that the friends or kindred of Mary at Cana, like herself, were in humble circum stances ; whether from this cause or from an unexpected augmentation of the guests, the mortifying fact is dis covered at an early stage of the feast that the supply of wine had run out, or would soon be exhausted. Mary confidentially communicates this fact to Jesus. There have been many conjectures as to her motive, some of them not at all creditable to the humility and piety of this holy woman. It seems the most rational and proper of all things that in this embarrassing di lemma she should turn to Him whom she had ever found a wise and sympathizing counselor. The suggestion of some eminent authorities that she was prompted by vani ty and desired him to work a miracle for the glory of TURNING WATER INTO WINE. 23 her family, and was consequently rebuked by her Son, is an assumption we do not think warranted by the record. There is certainly nothing in the language of Mary calling for rebuke. She naturally and delicately directs his attention to the fact of the deficiency. She neither suggests nor dictates any method of relief ; her subsequent orders to the servants would seem to indicate that she thought they would be sent out for a fresh supply. Our Lord's reply to his mother in our version has indeed a very harsh sound : " Woman, what have I to do with thee?" We must remember, however, that much depends upon the manner in which anything is said. The glance, the expression, the emphasis, the smile or the frown gives the clue tq many an utterance. Unfortu nately, we cannot transfer tones, glances, smiles or frowns to the printed page. Of two things we are sure : that Jesus was gentleness itself, and that he loved and hon ored his mother. For he was — " A son that never did amiss, That never shamed his mother's kiss, Nor crossed her fondest prayer ; Even from the tree he deigned to bow For her his agonized brow, Her his sole earthly care." In the agonies of the crucifixion itself he thought of her and commended her to the confidence and care of his best-beloved disciple with those brief but significant words — to Mary : " Woman, behold thy son;" — to John : "Behold thy mother." The reply of Jesus in our translation seems unneces- 24 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. sarily severe; the words literally rendered are — " What to thee and to me, 0 woman V ' There was nothing disrespectful in the term "woman." It was an Oriental salutation addressed with great respect to women of the highest rank, and was as courteous as "madam" or "lady" is with us. And what is there in the rest of the reply that savors of rebuke? " What is that to thee and to me?" As if he said pleasantly, or even archly, " We are but guests ; what have we to do with the question of supplies?" And then seeing her troubled brow, in a different tone, calculated to assure her and relieve her anxiety, said: "Mine hour is not yet come." "Be not distressed; at the fitting moment I shall interpose in a way that will best meet the dilemma." TURNING WATER INTO WINE. 25 We must not think of Jesus moving amid this happy scene, grand, gloomy and severe, without the play of natural affections and a hearty sympathy with all that was pure and innocent in the festivities. His sociality and geniality were among the most notable features of his character, constituting the great offence of his ministry to the miserable pharisaical hypo crites of his day, whose faces were as long as their phy lacteries were broad, and who could appreciate no piety that was not born of pride and seclusion. We may indeed be sure that Jesus would not have permitted even a mother's heart to have interfered with that lofty mission which had its sole direction and pro pulsion from heaven. In his childhood he had said to her when she chided him for his absence, " Wist ye not that I must be about my Father s business?" That Mary did not on the present occasion feel herself rebuked, but her anxiety relieved, we think is evident from the fact that she immediately turned to the servants and said, " Whatever he desires, be sure you do it." In the mean time the least went gayly on, the guests being quite ignorant of the embarrassment of the host. The Jewish banqueting- or dining-room usually opens upon a court-yard, which constitutes the centre of the better class of Jewish houses. In those days the Jews carried to great extreme the ablutions of the Levitical law, and before they would sit down to a meal always had water freely poured over their hands, for fear they might have contracted some casual impurity. 4 26 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. To provide a supply for this purpose there were placed in the court or in the vestibule of the banquet-hall six great amphoroe, or water-jars, holding about twenty gallons each. These Jesus bade the servants fill up to the brim with wTater. When this had been done, he said to them, "Bear now to the governor of the feast." And as soon as the ruler of the feast pressed the goblet with this new supply to his lips, he started with glad surprise at its exquisite aroma and taste, and said to the bridegroom: "Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk. then that which is ivorse; but thou hast kept the good wine until now." The bridegroom gives no reply, for he knows not whence or how this better wine has come. TURNING WATER INTO WINE. 27 Unostentatious as was this first miracle of Jesus, how mighty a display was it of his divine power, and how free from defect or any room for suspicion of trick or secret arrangement. The vessels used were those standing by for ordinary purposes ; they were not wine-vessels, in which some sediments of wine might be left remaining, but were water-jars. Christ did not call his disciples, but the ser vants of the house, to fill them, thus precluding every idea of collusion. He did not approach the jars or touch the water ; he simply looked upon it, and, as has been beau tifully said, " The conscious water saw its God and blushed." It was neither Jesus nor his disciples who pronounced judgment upon the beverage, but the ruler of the feast, who knew nothing of the manner of its produc tion, and he declared not only that it was real wine, but wine of the best quality. The evidence is therefore so perfect that the keenest scrutiny can find no blemish in it. How like the loving and considerate Saviour of men was this miracle ! He who had but a few days before declined, at the suggestion of Satan, to perform a miracle even to supply his own necessities by turning stones into bread, or to secure popular favor by descending mirac ulously from the pinnacle of the temple to the surging crowd below, sustained by the pinions of his own almighty will, now in this quiet and graceful way shows his sympathy with the social and domestic dis tress of this household. He does not call public attention to the miracle, for 28 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. that would detract from the grace and beauty of the act by advertising the embarrassment of the host, but with out the knowledge, it would seem, of any of the guests, except his mother and the three or four disciples who attended him, he not only met the deficiency, but brought special honor upon the family for the excel lent quality of the wine furnished. The unobtrusive character of this miracle was in per fect harmonv with that kino'dom of heaven which " com- eth not with observation." It awakened no plaudits throughout Palestine ; it astonished neither the scribes nor the philosophers ; it seems to have been harcllv known or noticed by the many guests at the wedding : the record is, "BTis disciples believed on him." It simplv con firmed the faith of these humble fishermen who were to lay the foundation of his new kingdom, and yet it was a meet beginning of that mighty series of divine wonders of which his resurrection from the dead was the climax, which constitute the divine seals of his mission, the significant symbols of his beneficent empire, and the immovable foundation upon which his vast and enduring kingdom shall stand for ever. Since the advent of the temperance reform this mir acle has been a battleground for extremists of both sides. The fact that Jesus made and used wine seems to be a perplexity to some good men and an unfailing source of gratification to some evil ones. Men who never admire or imitate anything else that Jesus did, applaud and fol low his example in this respect. TURNING WATER INTO WINE. 29 It is beyond dispute that Jesus not only initiated his public life by thus miraculously making wine, but he constantly attended feasts where it was used, habitually partook of it himself, and dying left as his last legacy to his Church a ceremonial which is inseparably connected with the drinking of wine. Yet while this is true, it must be remembered that it is still an unsettled question whether this was intoxi cating wine or not. There were three kinds of wine used in Palestine. First. Fermented wines, which contained alcohol. These were the least common, and the percentage of alcohol was small. Second. New wines. These were like our new cider, entirely without alcohol, were not intoxicating, and were easily preserved in this condition for several months. Third. Wines in which, by boiling or medication, the process of fermentation was checked and the production of the alcoholic or intoxicating princi ple prevented. This last kind, mixed with water, con stituted the most common drink of the land. There is no evidence indicating which of these wines was used at this festival, nor which kind Jesus made. Of this we may be sure, that the fiery and poisonous com pounds of modern distillation and manufacture are widely different from the light, pure wines which formed a part of the usual beverage of Palestine ; for drunkenness was rare in that land — so much so that we do not find in the Gospels any rebuke of it or any reference to its existence ; and not until we come to the Epistles of Paul, and to 30 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. the customs and habits of the Gentile nations, do we find exhortations to sobriety, warnings against drunkenness, and the development of the true Christian reason for abstinence, namely, charity to the weak. St. Paul says : "All things are laivfid, but all things are not expedient." "It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother is made weak." Here is the proper basis on which to rest the great and beneficent cause of temperance. Let abstinence be urged upon men, not on the de batable ground that drinking pure wine is a sin itself, but that charity to the weakness of others in our day and nation calls for the sacrifice. This appeals to no questionable principle, but to the very spirit of true religion itself — the spirit of sacrifice — to that which is best in the best of men. To abstain from that which is evil is indeed praise worthy, but to yield a personal right for the good of others is still nobler. To rest the grandest and most beneficent reform of the age upon a philological argument over a disputed word is like trying to make a pyramid stand on its apex, but to establish the good cause on the ground of Christian char ity is to place the pyramid upon its base, broad and firm. It is very gratifying to the Christian philanthropist that Jesus, by the occasion on which he wrought this miracle, gave so explicit an endorsement to the ordinance of marriage, and to that precious domestic institution TURNING WATER INTO WINE. 31 around which it is the sacred enclosure, making home " neither an open bower nor a barricaded castle, yet our own vine and fig tree, beneath which we repose, with none to molest or make us afraid." There have been in different ages those who in the sacred name of religion have frowned upon matrimony and have set forth the celibate life as one of superior sanctity ; but all such theories are as false to religion as they are to nature, and the attempts to introduce them into practical life have been utter failures. Man was made to love and to crave the love of woman as an essential element in his earthly happiness. He needs the conscious affection of woman's heart to soften the asperities of his nature and give completeness to his being. Even in paradise God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, and created woman to be his com panion and a help-meet for him through all the trials and changes of his earthly pilgrimage. It was entirely fitting, therefore, that He who came to restore the lost paradise to man should begin his divine mission by a most significant approval of this sacred bond, thus assuring the world for ever that he had not come to "forbid marriage" and to destroy the hallowed relationships and influences of the domestic circle, but the rather to restore its sanctity, to elevate and purify its affections, to swell the current of its joys, and to make the . Christian Home the mightiest of instruments in the work of regenerating human character and ennobling and blessing the human race. 32 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. The light of a happy home is not only the brightest radiance that cheers the darkness of man's earthly con dition, but it is the guiding star of his good destiny, and that sweet spirit who presides at the altar of home, making it a holy and a happy spot, is the richest earthlv prize man can find and win. The modesty of woman's nature and the unobtrusive- ness of her home sphere cause us too often to overlook the almost omnipotent power of her influence, in this hal lowed relationship, over the character and destiny of mankind, yet in this quiet and retired realm, where she sways the sceptre of her gentleness and love, human characters are formed, human generations moulded and the destiny of the whole world affected. To her tender care God commits the generations of mankind in infancy, when their natures are pliable and most susceptible of permanent impressions, and to her gentle hand is entrusted the mighty task of moulding their characters and shaping their destiny. God seems, by the order of his providence, to say, " I cannot commit so delicate and important a trust to man. He must be out upon the rough sea of life struggling for sustenance. He is too much absorbed by that work, and becomes too rough and too impatient by his very ex posure, for so gentle an office. Woman shall be fitted for it;" And so infinite Avisdom and infinite love pillow the head of infancy upon woman's breast, where it may feel and hear a heart full of tenderness, patience and in exhaustible love. And thus the mother, by the gentle- TURNING WATER INTO WINE. ness of her nature and the sacredness of her office, holds the key of man's soul, and by her nameless and num berless ministries of love shapes his character. Oh, what might we not hope for this world of ours if we could fill it with homes supported and guarded by true and noble men, and presided over by pure and loving women, where every inmate, young and old, conspired to brighten and adorn the domestic circle, with all the light the mind can yield and all the love the heart can furnish ? Then would the fountains of our domestic happiness be alike pure in their depths and bright upon their surfaces, and there would be no joys found on earth so sweet, no pleasures so satisfying and ennobling, as those drawn from these crystal wells. Can we conceive of any higher ideal of earthly felicity than a world filled with pure, intelligent, well-ordered, happy Christian homes? We say Christian homes, for it is Christianity alone that can make home the nursery of noble affections and the fountain of innocent and purifying pleasures. " Home's not merely four square walls, Though with pictures hung and gilded ; Home is where affection calls, Filled with shrines the heart hath builded." All we need to make our homes radiant with purity, love and joy is the Spirit and presence of Jesus. Christ in the home will fill it with heavenly sunshine— Christ at 34 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. its weddings, at its feasts, at its births and at its burials. Christ to soothe all its sorrows, to sanctify all its joys, to meet all its emergencies, to consecrate all its bonds and to save all its inmates. Then, indeed, would the common waters of life be turned into the pure wine of heaven, and the Christian home become the paradise of earth and the sweet image of our " Father's house" above. St|0||lt, IV: xlvi-i.iv. So lesns came again into Cana of (lalilee, toljere ge mabe tge brain toine. g^nb lliere teas a certain nobleman, toljose son bras sitk at Canernanm. SSgtn be Ijearb %t |esus bias tome out of |ubea into Galilee, ge toent unto gim, anb besought (jim ilrat ge tooulb tome bofam, anb Ijeal Iris son: for ge toas at ibe point of bcatlj. ®;hra saib lesns unto Ijirn, C*repi ge see signs anb bmnbers, ge bill not beliebe. ibe nobleman saitlj unto him, Sir, tome bofon ere mg rbjtlb bie. lesns saitlj unto jjim, <®o % toag ; llrg son libel b. go\b tge man beliebeb tlje toorb iljal |esus gab spoken unto jjim, anb be toent (jis toag. ginb as j)e toas noto going bobnt, bis serbanfs met jjim, anb tolb ljim, saging, Cbg sou libeflj. ® jjen iiuintrcb Ije of tljem tire ^our toljen ht began fo amenb. §Ub tbeg saib unto him, gestcrbag at tlje sebentb (jour tbc feber left rjinr. So tlje father kntto that it toas at flje same bonr, in flje tojjirjj lesns saib unto bjm, 6Ibg sou libelb: anb (jimself beliebeb, anb bis to (role [jouse. olljis is again fge setonb miracle lliai lesus bib, toljen h^e toas come out of lubea into (ialilee. " God chaster^ but to prove thy faithfulness, And in thy weakness he will be thy stay ; Trust and deserve, and he will soothe and bless; The darkest hour is on the verge of day." THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 39 Healing the jnobleman's Son. When we contemplate the utter desolation which now reigns around the Sea of Galilee, it is difficult to realize that vast populations once encompassed it and that it was the centre of great commercial activities. And yet on good authority we are told that the quiet waters of this sea were once vexed by the keels of four thousand vessels of every description, and on its peaceful bosom fierce naval battles once raged between Roman and Jewish galleys. A perfect belt of beautiful and busy little cities encircled the waters, and far inland their white turrets glistened amid the green foliage. 40 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Herod built here the famous city of Tiberias, naming it in honor of the reigning emperor, and lavishing alike his skill and wealth upon its decoration. Fairest among the mansions of one of these pretty cities by the lake stood a nobleman's palace, whose owner and occupant was a friend of King Herod Antipas, and an officer of his royal household. But with all his riches and honors, there was a shadow upon his beautiful home. His only son, the heir of his wealth and titles, had been struck by mortal sickness. The eye that had beamed with intelligence and love was now wild with delirium ; the limbs that had climbed with youthful agility the hills of his native hamlet, or driven with swiftness his skiff upon the lake, were now shaking and burning- with fever. The most skillful physicians had been summoned to the bedside of this idol of the household, but they had not been able to check the raging disease. o o A hush and a pall were upon the great house. The servants hurried to and fro upon their errands with light tread, or gathered in groups here and there and with bated breath whispered their dreadful fears. Neighbors were constantly coining and going, but always with sad looks, for they heard ever the same tidings: " The lad is no better." The mother sat and watched by the couch of her sick boy with eyes red with weeping, and a heart wretched because she could not relieve him. The father stole in and out the dim chamber, felt the hot hand, gazed upon HEALING THE NOBLEMAN'S SON. 41 the wandering eye, listened to the moans and incoherent utterances of his sick darling, and then with breaking heart went out and walked the corridor. The landscape lay there as beautiful as ever, but there was no beauty in it to the eye of that sad parent; there was a cloud upon all its loveliness and a sepulchral odor in all its flowers ; the very sunshine seemed cruel and the songs of the birds a mockery to his disconsolate heart. What were all his wealth and honors, his palace and all its adornments, if his child must die ? A neighbor comes to the palace with a quick step and a gleam of hope in his eye. He draws the anxious and troubled father aside and communicates to him some important information. He has just returned from Jeru salem, and is full of strange news about the wondrous powers of a certain Jesus, a prophet from the city of Nazareth, so mighty and so good, that many already be lieve him to be the long-promised and long-expected Messiah. This prophet, he declares, has awakened the most intense excitement in the Holy City by the marvelous wisdom of his discourses and the wonderful works he has wrought. And on his way back to Galilee, he has set all Samaria in a flame of enthusiasm, by the divine charm of his manner and the heavenly insight and spirituality of his teachings. "And where is he now ?" inquires the interested listener. The answer is, " He has gone with a friend and compan ion, Nathaniel by name, into Cana in Upper Galilee." 6 42 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. These tidings have hardly entered the father's ear, before the resolve and hope are born in his soul, " I will go and see him ; perhaps, like another Elisha, this great prophet can heal my dying child." He calls his servants at once, and bids them make ready without delay for his journey to Cana. By day- dawn they are on their way. It is a journey of some twenty or thirty miles; and being up hill and over a rough road, their progress is necessarily slow. What strange alternations of feeling, what fluctuations of hope and fear, must have surged through that father's soul as he made his way over the hill-country that morn ing, carrying his dying boy in his heart ! Would he find Jesus still at Cana ? Would he be able to induce him to return with him to see his child ? And would it be of any avail if he should ? If all the rumors were true, surely this great prophet was as gracious as he was mighty, and to his power there seemed to be no limit ; but, alas ! rumors are so unreli able, stories grow so by repetition. Still, it is the only hope of his heart, and he will not yet give it up. It is nearly high noon when they come in sight of the peaceful little hamlet which is the goal of their anxious journey. To their first eager inquiries there comes a gratifying response : Jesus has not left Cana. The distinguished prophet is still the guest of Nathaniel. The nobleman immediately seeks him out, and wait ing not for formal introduction instantly and earnestly presents his suit : HEALING THE NOBLEMAN'S SON. 43 Sir, come down and heal my son, for he is at the point of death." A crowd of Galileans, with morbid curiosity, had already gathered around, and it may have been to re buke them Jesus said, "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe." Or possibly there was something in the manner or tone of the courtier, calling for a slight check. It may have been necessary to show him that Jesus was no mere physician, ready to work local cures at the beck and call of any patron, especially if a person of rank and wealth. Men of this class, meeting with so much obsequiousness from their fellow-men, are apt to presume upon their position, and to forget that all such distinctions are as nothing in the sight of God. 44 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. When Naaman, the famous Syrian captain, came with his horses and his chariot, and stood at the door of Elisha, the Prophet of Israel, seeking a cure of his lep rosy, Elisha did not even condescend to come forth, but sent a messenger out to him, saying, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, .and thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt be clean." The great captain was very wroth at such a reception, and said, "Behold, I thought he will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper." He had arranged in his mind the very manner of his cure, and it was a plan that should give due deference to his rank and wealth, but to these the prophet of God paid not the least regard. This was the first time, and one of the few instances recorded, in which Jesus stood face to face with earthly rank and power, and there may have been something im perative in the tone of this nobleman, calling for the mild rebuke contained in our Lord's reply, which was cer tainly less gracious than his usual answers to afflicted suppliants. If the words of Jesus were intended as a rebuke, they seem to have been meekly received by this distressed father. He did not count them as a refusal to his plea, and so with still greater urgency and pathos, and perhaps with more humility, he cried, "Sir, come down ere my child die." We can hear the groan and see the hot tear that attended this pathetic utterance. HEALING THE NOBLEMAN'S SON. 45 He was a weak believer, but a most tender and loving father, and this is the strong compensating element in his character. He had no idea that Jesus could heal his son, unless he went down with him to Capernaum and per formed some kind of operation or manipulation upon the lad, still less did he suppose that he had power over death, and hence his anxiety to hasten the departure before the lad's decease should place the case past hope. And so, with all the urgency of agonized affection, he cries, "Sir, come down ere my child die." It is enough. Jesus has nothing but compassion for a breaking heart; and with a tone of tenderest sympathy, and a look of love that inspired faith in the man's soul, he said, " Go thy way, thy son liveth." There was something divinely royal in that utterance ; it was in the style and manner of Him ' ' who saith and it is done, who commandeth and creation throughout all its borders obeys." There was evidently that in our Lord's voice, or look, or manner, or in the power of a secret grace put forth at the moment, which told at once upon that father's heart, and made him feel that the end of his visit was gained — that his child was saved. " The man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him." He believed that the death he dreaded had not come upon his son — that the child he so tenderly loved would be spared to him. He did not stop to inquire whether the cure had been 46 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. instantaneous and complete, or whether the fever had reached a crisis and recovery surely commenced, whether Jesus knew this by supernatural knowledge, or had effected it by superhuman power. It was enough for him to be assured of the fact — "thy son liveth." Be lieving this on the testimony of Christ, his grief-burden was removed, and his heart filled with unutterable joy. There is a striking and beautiful proof of the strength of this man's confidence in Christ's word, and the tran- quilized state of his mind in consequence of such faith, in the fact that he did not return to Capernaum until the day following. This interview occurred at the seventh hour — one hour after noon ; there was, therefore, ample time to have reached his home by the close of the same day. But such is his repose in the assurance he has received, that he makes no haste to depart. Perhaps he wished to see and hear more of Jesus. Certain it is, that not until the next day does he go down to the city by the lake. And what a contrast to the journey hither, must have been that journey home ! How different the emotions swelling that father's heart ! How different the aspect of everything even to his eyes ! The sunshine was no longer cruel, nor the songs of the birds a mockery ; all nature seemed now to rejoice with him. We may be quite sure that the heavens and the earth never seemed half so beautiful to his eyes, as they did in the radiant hours of that early morning, in which he HEALING THE NOBLEMAN'S SON. 47 rode toward a home which held all the treasures of his heart, and from which the fearful shadow had been so suddenly lifted. And when, from some opening in the hills, he caught the first sweet glimpse of the lake, lying so pure and peace ful, reflecting in its still mirror the image of the heavens above it, we doubt not it seemed to him the type of his own soul, lately so tossed and troubled, but now calm and serene, filled from centre to circumference — filled to the brim — with the very peace of heaven. On his homeward journey, he is met by a delegation of servants from his own household. They evidently bring some important news. But, strange to say, he manifests no great anxiety to hear their report, for his faith has anticipated it. They are much more excited 48 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. than he, and are the first to speak ; and with hearts and voices full of joy, with one accord they cry, " Thy son liveth ! thy son liveth !" They may have been surprised at the serenity with which he received these glad tidings. He simply asked a significant question — "At what hour did he begin to amend?" And they answered promptly — "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." He had not " begun " to amend, he was well. It was not that the patient had revived, — it was not that the crisis of the disease had passed and the lad was im proving, — it was not that the case had taken a favorable turn, — this was not the good news they had brought him; but that the disease was absolutely gone, that the fever had suddenly ' ' left him, ' ' and that the lad was alive and well — these were the glad tidings that they had come with swift feet to bring. Then for the first time did this man perceive the full glory of the miracle that had been wrought in his behalf. The cure had been instantaneous and complete, and at the very hour when Jesus had spoken the word at Cana. A new tide of emotions and a new and loftier faith take possession of his soul. Before, he had believed the word of Christ; now, he believes in his omniscience and omnipotence. His child had been instantaneously cured of a deadly fever at Capernaum, by Jesus while standing five and twenty miles away at Cana ! HEALING THE NOBLEMAN'S SON 49 While he had stood there pleading with him to come down and heal his child, Christ had sent forth his omnipotent will, laid an instant arrest upon the fierce disease, delivered the lad from its strong grasp and started the rich currents of life and health again through his veins. The report of his servants as to the hour of the cure, and the sudden and miraculous nature of it, had let in a whole flood of new light upon his soul. Surely this must be the Christ. To restore life and health to a dying child at a distance by a simple act of volition, and at the same moment to have perfect know ledge of the recovery, required both omnipotence and omniscience. Jesus must be divine — the Son of God. He can doubt it no longer. Awe, conviction, faith and grati tude, flow in like heavenly tides upon his heart. And thus a double blessing is bestowed. The child is cured of his disease, and spiritual life, through faith, is poured into the soul of the father. Nor is this the end. The faith that is born in his soul is diffused like the light ; he cannot hide the blessed radiancy that has beamed upon him. He has received that he may give. Have the joyful household good news for him ? He has even better news for them. He enters his home with a peaceful soul and a beaming face. He folds his restored child to a heart that has had new fountains of love unsealed within it. 50 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. He gathers all his household around him, and tells them the marvelous story of the Prophet of Nazareth. They listen with wonder, with admiration, with grati tude, — and faith in Jesus enters into their souls also. "Himself believed and all his house." Thus was the first entire household brought into the Christian fold. Many valuable lessons may be learned from this inter esting history. First of all, let us impress upon our hearts this truth : Riches and honors do not exempt men from the afflictions- of life. There is no error more common, or more silly, than to suppose that the rich have no troubles, The world, looking up wistfully and admiringly to power, riches and splendor, has invented a very foolish proverb : "As happy as a king." Yet a great master HEALING THE NOBLEMAN'S SON. 51 of the human heart makes a king say, as he lies down upon a restless pillow, " Happy lowly clown ! Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown I" Wealth and honors do not lift men above trouble. Sil ver and gold may shut out the sheriff, but they cannot exclude disease, care and death. The rich are as liable as others to sickness, sorrow and bereavements, and they have a thousand anxieties the poor know nothing about. Royal robes may cover very heavy hearts, and dwellers in palaces often sleep less peacefully than those who live in cottages. It was David, king of Israel, a monarch whom the world called fortunate and great, who exclaimed, ' ' Oh that I had wings like a dove ! For then would I flee away and be at rest/" Looking out from the chamber of his palace, wherein he had shut himself to pour out before God the troubles of a breaking heart, and to utter his sad sayings upon that harp which has filled the ages with its sweet and pathetic melodies, he saw a gentle dove, with wings of silver, flying before a "windy storm and tempest " to her safe and quiet retreat in the breast of the cleft rock of the wilderness, and he cried out, "Oh that I could so fly away ! upon a wing as light, with a temper as harmless, to a rest as safe !" Let us therefore never envy the condition of the great, nor set too high an estimate upon riches and honors. Wealth, when reached by means in harmony with the 52 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. will of God, and employed in the service of benevolence and truth, has no sorrow in it, and may add in many ways not only to our own enjoyment, but do much also for the happiness of others. But it is easy to exaggerate its power and to set the heart too much upon it. He is the wise man who neither underrates nor overrates these things, but who esteems them at their just value ; who knows their uncertain nature and limited power ; who knows that they have no power to calm his conscience, subdue his passions, purify his soul, lift him above the fear of death or open to him the gates of heaven ; and who, knowing how easily they take wings and fly away, sets not his heart upon them, but holds them loosely, and uses them while he possesses them, for the benefit of his race and the glory of his Creator, and thus by the exercise and grati fication of his noblest affections, draws out of these per ishing things, the very best benefit they are capable of conferring upon the soul of man. Another thing we may. learn from this story: — That afflictions are often the greatest blessings in disguise. A sweet poet sings, " Let us be patient ! these severe afflictions Not from the ground arise, But oftentimes celestial benedictions Assume this dark disguise." How much did the sickness of this nobleman's son do for him ! It brought him to Jesus, which was the most blessed epoch in his whole life. HEALING THE NOBLEMAN'S SON. 53 Prosperity and health are what we naturally desire, but losses and crosses are better for us if they bring us to a knowledge of the power and grace of Jesus. God often makes these things his earnest messengers to bring us to his, feet, that he may bless us. When Absalom wished to see Joab, he sent a message to him ; but he would not come. He sent a second time, but still he refused. What did Absalom next? He said to his servants, " See ! Joab's field is near mine, and he hath barley there ; go and set it on fire, and he will soon come to know the reason." And so it came to pass. "Then Joab arose and came to Absalom, unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire?" And Absalom replied, " Not because I wished to do thee an injury, but I desired an interview, and could obtain it in no other way." Thus is it often between us and our Maker. We be come indifferent to him and to our highest interests. He sends message after message, and we heed them not ; by and by he says to some fiery trial : "Go and con sume one of his idols, blight one of his enjoyments, wake him up from his destructive lethargy." It comes. We are painfully aroused and alarmed. To whom shall we go ? There is but one refuge for afflicted souls. We fly to God. At his feet we confess all, and cry — " Have mercy upon me, 0 God, according to thy loving-kindness; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions." 54 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. He takes us by the hand and lifts us up, saying, " Go in peace and sin no more." And thus out of a soul sub dued by sorrow, and soothed by forgiving love, a new and better life begins to flow. " Deem not they are blest alone, Whose days a peaceful tenor keep ; The anointed Son of God makes known A blessing for the eyes that weep. "The light of smiles shall fill again The lids that overflow with tears, And weary hours of woe and pain Are promises of happier years. " Oh, there are days of sunny rest For every dark and troubled night, And grief may bide, an evening guest, But joy shall come with early light." Stfulie, V: 1-33. g.nb it came lo pass, tljat, as % people presseb upon him fo h/ar % toorb of <§ob, (je stoob bg % lake of (iennesaret. §>nb sato ttoo sgips sfanbing bg % lake: buf % fishermen toerc gone out of lljem, anb toere toasting lljeir nets. g.ub Ije entereb into one of % sljips, to^icg toas Simon's, anb prageb gim tgat ge tooulb thrust out a little from tge lanb. gmb \t sat bohrn, anb taught % people out of % ship. jpoto foljeu (je (jab left speaking, ge saib unto Simon, Staunch, out into % beep, anb let boton gour nets for a braugljt. J^nb Simon anstoering saib unto him, faster, toe Irabe toileb all % nigjit, anb habe taken nothing : neber%less at fbjJ toorb 1 toill let boton i^re net. giirb fobeu fljeg bab tfjis bone, ijjtg incloseb a great multifubt of fishes: anb %ir net brake, ^.ub tljeg berkoncb unto lljeir partners, tob^clj toere in tlje otjrer sjjip, fjral tjjeg sljoulb come anb rjelp iljem. ^ub tljeg came, anb filleb botg % scrips, so Ih^at %g began to sink. JESjjen Simon |)etcr sato it, Ije fell boton at lesns' knees, saging, jllepart from me; for 1 am a sinful man, ® |forb. Jfor jje toas aslonisljeb, anb all tljat toere toitjj Ijim, at the branglit of f(je fishes toljitg tijeg gab taken: garb so toas also fames, anb loljn, tlje sons of $ebebte, tofjicg toere partners foitlj Simon, gtitb lesns saib unto Simon, Jm not; from Ijenceforflj fljon sljalt calcjj men. J^nb toljm tbeg gab brought Hjeir sljips to lanb, tbeg forsook all, anb Mofoeb Ijira. "Lord, thou wilt surely greet Souls for thy service meet ; No bars of brass can keep thine own from thee. Oh, vainly earth and hell Guard their grand captives well Against the glimpses of thy radiancy I Thou str earnest on their startled eyes, And makest them thine own by some divine surprise. THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 59 IKST THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT of Fishes. It is day-dawning in the beautiful vale of Gennesaret. The inflowing tides of light are flooding the empurpled sky with tints of celestial glory. The flowers and shrubs, refreshed by dew out of the cool cisterns of the night, are filling all the air with their fresh and fragrant breath. The feathered minstrels of the garden and the grove are pouring forth from every tree and bush their sweet melodies. The mist that has been hanging over the water is now rising, and transfigured by the light, seems a veil of silvery brightness which the unseen hands of angels are lifting up ; while the lake, as yet unruffled by the breeze, is reproducing in its calm clear depths with ex- 60 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. quisite charm, all the varied shadows of the sky, and all the enchanting accidents of the dawning light. Who can gaze upon such a scene, or even call it up in imagination, without amazement at the beauty and love liness which God has lavished upon this temporary abode of man, and without wondering what inconceivable splen dor must adorn the eternal home of his children? "Since o'er thy footstool here below Such radiant gems are strewn, Oh, what magnificence must glow, My God, about thy throne ! So brilliant here those drops of light, There the full ocean rolls, how bright!" Some one has beautifully said : ' ' There are three things which appear to have been uninjured by the fall of man, — the song of birds, the beauty of flowers, and the smile of infancy;" and may we not add, the charm of pure and living water? It is indeed difficult to conceive how either could have been more perfect had man remained sinless. And it would seem as if God bv these things which so charm the soul, would remind us of the beauty and innocence lost in the first garden, and direct our thoughts to the paradise above, where both may be regained. Early as it is, Capernaum begins to stir with its awakening life, for in that land where the noon is given to rest, the tides of humanity flow with the dawn. There is one inhabitant of that citv who has been up and abroad long since, enjoying the beauty of the scene THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 61 and the heavenly serenity of the hour. It is Jesus. He rose while it was yet dark and went down to the lake side for meditation and prayer. Although his mission daily called him amid the thronging and excited multi tudes, Jesus loved retirement, and often while others slept, he was awake and in solitude communing with his heavenly Father. In the present instance he does not remain long in seclusion ; his retreat has been discovered, and the multi tudes which have followed him from the hill-country, and who have slept over-night in the town, reinforced by many people of the city, are hurrying down to the beach to see and hear one of whom so many strange things are told. Their expressed desire "To hear the word of God" is one which Jesus always encouraged. But in their eager endeavor to catch every word that falls from his lips, or to touch him and be healed of whatever disease they may have, they crowd upon him with unseemly and dan gerous pressure, and force him to the very brink of the lake. There are, however, close at hand, drawn up upon the white sand-beach that lines the shore at Bethsaida, two fishing-boats, belonging to two pairs of fisher brethren, Simon and Andrew and James and John. These men have been out fishing during the night, and now, quite weary and dispirited from ill success, are washing their nets preparatory to hanging them up to dry. Jesus enters into one of these boats and requests Simon, G2 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. the owner, whom he knows, to push a little space from the shore, that he may use his boat as a pulpit from which to address the people. Simon readily complies, and soon anchors his little craft at a convenient distance from the crowd. This gives Jesus an excellent position for his purpose. The boat elevates him in sight of all ; the slight watery barrier keeps them from inconveniently pressing upon him ; the circling cove and the shelving beach present his audience in a kind of natural amphitheatre before him ; while the calm water makes a fine conductor for his voice, enabling all to hear him plainly. The whole scene is one of singular beauty and interest. Upon the shore stands a vast and motley multitude, mostly poor and ignorant, their faces full of wonder and expectation, and their eyes fixed upon the divine Teacher, THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 63 who sits in the bow of that little boat and pours out over the placid waters and into their attentive ears, in his own inimitable manner, those sublime and blessed truths which he had come from heaven to impart to just such people, and which, received into their hearts by faith, had power to transform their nature and translate them from darkness to light, from pollution to purity, from wretch edness to peace, from death to life. Blessed and beautiful scene ! What a moral grandeur gathers about it when we consider who it is that speaks, who they are who listen, and what infinite blessings are condensed in the matchless words, more precious than pearls, that are dropping from his lips ! Ages before, the inspired prophet of God saw this impressive scene, and exclaimed, "The land of Zabulon and the land of Nephihalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of ihe Gentiles : the peo ple which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up." Dark indeed was their spiritual condition. Darker than the literal night that had just lifted its shadows from the lake, was the moral night that hung over their souls till Jesus came. But brighter than that fair morning in whose beams they now stood, and which was covering those sleeping waters with a surface of silver, and making every shell and scale glisten like a pearl and every dewdrop flash like a diamond — far brip-hter than this, was the divine light of that moral morning which had now dawned 64 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. upon them, and more blessed and beneficent the rays of that Sun of Righteousness, who was now pouring his enlightening and healing beams upon their souls. What a wonderful thought it is that He who lately sat upon the throne of heaven, receiving the homage of angels, now sits upon the seat of that rude fishing-boat delivering the truths of his kingdom to peasants and fishermen ! And what is more amazing still, by the om nipotent power of his grace and truth, he will convert that little fishing-boat into a throne and these rude fisher men into prime-ministers of his kingdom, and begin there and then to lay the foundation of a spiritual empire which shall outlive all the dynasties of earth, which shall go down through all ages, and sweep its conquering way over all the realms, until the kingdoms of the whole earth, shall become subject unto it, and heaven itself be filled with redeemed and glorified souls — the trophies of its power. Let us mark here, the intensely interesting beginnings of this vast empire ; let us see with what easy grace Jesus captures these fishermen and makes them his loving and faithful vassals for ever. When our Lord had concluded his discourse to the people, he turned to Simon and directed him to launch out into deeper water and cast out his net again for a draught. "And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net." THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 65 The command of Christ was one well calculated to try the faith and obedience of these fishermen. The night was not only the most suitable season for fishing, but we might say the only suitable season for net- fishing in those clear waters, the fish in the daylight easily discovering the nets and the boat and making their escape. Having toiled so unsuccessfully through the whole night, it seemed a useless work to cast the net in the broad day. Yet recognizing who it was that spake, and having faith in his wisdom and power, Simon promptly obeyed. And what was the result ? A great multitude of fishes was enclosed in the net — so many that the net brake with the weight of them, and the fishers had to beckon to their comrades in the other boat to come to their assist ance in securing them ; and when they came, they found fish enough in the net to fill both boats to the very verge of sinking. There could not possibly be any better judges of the greatness and genuineness of this miracle than these fish ermen. They were perfectly familiar with these waters, with the habits of the fish and the art of taking them. They could not be deceived in a matter so entirely within their own province. The hour the draught was made, and the immense quantity of fish captured, combined to make it a miracle of the highest character, and just such a miracle as would most powerfully impress them. There was but one feeling among them in regard to it : an emotion of overwhelming astonishment. The evangelist says that not only Simon was aston- 66 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. ished, but all that were with him: "So also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon." One sentiment pervaded both crews — they had never seen or heard before of anything to compare with it. There was but one rational explanation of the miracle : The Lord of the sea was there. Just at this point in the narrative there is one of those simple touches of nature which so frequently occur in these artless records of the evangelists, and which to every ingenuous mind are the inimitable and indubitable proofs of their honesty and truth. Filled with amazement and gratitude by what he saw, convinced that he was standing in the presence of a divine being, and the thought of such a juxtaposition forcing instantly upon his soul a profound consciousness THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 67 of his own unworthiness, Simon falls at the feet of Jesus, and with a heart overflowing with adoration and humil ity exclaims, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord!" The heart is the true interpreter of such an utterance. It is no desire for Christ to depart either from him or his little ship ; quite the contrary, indeed. It is the adoring and loving soul crying out, ' ' 0 gracious Lord, I am unworthy of thy presence ; thou art too good and too great to be in this humble vessel and with its sinful owner, and yet, 0 Lord, permit me to kiss thy feet and be thy adoring servant for ever !" Such is doubtless the true import of Simon's language and actions. And so should all we sinful men feel when we think of what Christ Jesus has done for us. How infinite his love and grace ! How utterly be yond price the services he has rendered our guilty race ! And yet how unworthy are we of it all ! When we think of these things, how can we withhold from him our gratitude, our faith, our adoration ? Surely we should all fall at his feet and with one of old exclaim, — "0 Galilean, thou hast conquered /" How admirably was this miracle adapted to win the faith and love of these men ! Its fitness to this end shows the divine wisdom of Jesus, as much as its greatness proves his divine power. He who by the magic power of his will drew the fishes into the net of Simon is about to draw these fish ermen into his service to make them " fishers of men." 68 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. So, having permitted them first to hear the gracious and blessed doctrine of his kingdom, he next gives them an exhibition of his divine power in a form which they could best understand and appreciate. It was entirely effectual. These simple-hearted and honest men were as completely caught in the net of Christ as the fishes were caught in the net of Simon. From thenceforth "they left all and followed him!' The question might naturally arise here, Why did Jesus call such men to be his apostles ? We can con ceive of several reasons. They were pious men, disciples of John the Baptist, and were thus prepared in heart for the reception of the doctrine of Christ's kingdom. They were comparatively unprejudiced men, and were much better adapted to his purpose than the bigoted scribes and Pharisees, who had to empty themselves of so much error before being ready for his truth. They were hardy, industrious, practical men, and were well fitted in these respects for the severe and exposing work of gospel pioneers. But no doubt the great reason of all was, they were poor, obscure, unlettered men, without any of those ele ments of power which the world deems so essential to success — that the glory of their spiritual conquests might be given to God, and not to man. It was to present a moral miracle to the world which should in all subsequent ages be the invincible evidence that Christianity was divine. THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 69 "It shall be to the Lord for a name, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. ' ' Infidels and rationalists say, "Show us a miracle, and then we will believe in them." We direct their atten tion to the blessed results of the gospel — to the noble monuments of Christian civilization rising on every side of them, and say, " Behold the greatest of all miracles !" How can we account for the continued progress and the beneficent influence of Christianity except on the hypothesis that it is of heaven and is protected and propelled by a divine power ? Can we believe the monstrous absurdity that twelve fishermen and tax-gatherers of Judea, without wealth, learning or social position, without any of the means and agencies considered needful for successfully establish ing their authority or propagating their opinions, invented a lie — the most stupendous ever conceived — and with out any earthly motive or reward, but through suffering and persecutions unparalleled, lived and died to propagate the delusion ? Can we believe that to be a falsehood which has lived eighteen hundred years, prevailed over all the mighty forces arrayed against it, and entrenched itself in the faith and love of the foremost nations of the world ? Can we believe that a falsehood or a delusion could purify and ennoble human character, could morally ele vate human society, could assuage human sorrow, could give to the soul such triumph over the fear of death and 70 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. the grave, as does Christianity ? It would be a strange thing indeed if an error or delusion should thus bring to man sweeter and better fruits than all the truths known to science and philosophy ? It is true wisdom to judge the tree by its fruits ; and by its fruits we know Christianity to be no error, but the truth of God which " endure th for ever." There are many beautiful lessons taught by this mira cle. It teaches — The blessedness of implicit obedience to the word of Christ under all circumstances. When Jesus commanded Simon to launch out into the deep of the lake and cast forth his net, unpromising as the prospect seemed, he obeyed. He did, indeed, say, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing." Yet he added, in the true spirit of obedience : "Xeverthe- less, at thy word I will let down the net;" and we see by the record how his obedience was rewarded. Our first duty is to learn the will of God, our next to do it. "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." An admirable story is told of the late duke of Welling ton. He was present where some Christian gentlemen were discussing the practicability of missionary labors among the heathen, and was appealed to whether he believed such efforts were likely to yield a success com mensurate with their cost. The sensible and heroic old soldier replied : — " Gentle men, what are your marching orders ? Success or non- THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 71 success is not the question for you to discuss. What are your inarching orders? If I read them aright, they run thus : ' Go ye forth into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.' Gentlemen, obey your march ing orders!" A brief sermon was this, but a most ex cellent and comprehensive one. We may also learn from this miracle " the blessedness of consecrating our craft to Christ." Jesus asks the use of Simon's boat from which to preach. Although weary with the night's toil and dis appointed with the result, and needing both refreshment and rest, he cheerfully complies with the Master's request. The little fishing-boat is extemporized into a pulpit for the greatest Teacher that ever spake to men ; and from it went forth that day truths which not only may have blessed for ever many who heard them, but which, em balmed in these sacred records and transmitted through the ages, have been ever since exerting a blessed influ ence upon the souls of men. All the good done by that sermon will never be known until in the light of the judgment fires the books are opened that contain the moral history of this world, and since God graciously makes us partners with himself to the extent of our co-operation, a share in all that good belongs to him who furnished the purpit. Surely the lit tle craft of Simon's was never so ennobled and never put to so profitable a use for its owner, as on that day when it was loaned to Jesus. Even on the lowest grounds, how well was he re- 72 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. warded. At the close of the sermon Jesus, by this mira cle, paid the rent of the boat in his own munificent way. So it is ever. Service for Jesus is always rewarded both in this world and the next. He is the most princely and generous of all masters. Ah ! what a mistake some people are making in this matter ! Jesus, in love to us, asks the use of our time, our labor, our talents, our influence, our money, for the promotion of his kingdom in the earth. Yet many de cline to respond to his call, thinking they cannot afford so great a consecration. So thought the young ruler when Jesus said to him, ' ' If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come and follow me." 1 But he thought he could not afford it, and went away sorrowful — turned his back upon the exalted office of the Christian ministry, upon the benediction of the poor, upon the fellowship and services of Christ, upon the splendid prize of personal perfection, upon the eternal glories and riches of God's kingdom, turned his back upon them all, that he might hug his money-bags a few days longer before he sank, a moral pauper, into an unblessed grave ! ' Alas ! how blind and stupid are selfishness and sin 1 If men wish to toil the whole night of this life, and wake up in the morning of eternity and find they have "caught nothing," let them live to themselves, let them THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 73 keep Christ and his claims out of their craft, and they will certainly succeed in so doing. But if they desire to " cast the net upon the right side of the ship," if they would come into port full freighted at last, let them welcome Jesus on board. In a word, let them consecrate their business, their hearts, their lives, their all, to Him whose claims to them are supreme and indisputable, and who asks our services only to make us sharers in the eternal riches of his kingdom. There is no sacrifice we can make for him that shall not be eternal gain to us. These fishermen not only yielded their boat most will ingly to the service of Jesus, but as soon as they had brought their ships to the shore. At the invitation of Christ, " they forsook all and followed him." True, this "all," as some might reckon it, was not a great deal — only a few nets, boats and cottages. But it was everything to them — their home, their kindred, their living, their all. By forsaking these for Jesus they made as great a sac rifice, and proved the sincerity of their faith and the heart iness of their devotion as truly, as did the princely Moses when he made his memorable choice — when he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, turning his back upon the fascinations of a court and the wealth of an empire, " choosing rather to suffer affliction with the peo ple of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." 10 74 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Yet in both these cases, although the momentary sac rifice was great, the ultimate gain was infinite and eternal. Peter on a subsequent occasion said to Christ — "Be hold, we have left all and followed thee." And Jesus answered him, " Verily, I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sis ters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time, houses and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions ; AND IN THE WORLD TO COME ETERNAL LIFE." £t.$l8rk, IV: xxxv-xli. ginb the same bag, toben tlje then toas tome, Ijc saitlj nnto fb/m, |ief us pass obex*nnto tlje olber sibe. ^.ub toljeu lljeg Ijab sent atoag fljc mnttiiube, tbeg took Ijim ebeu as Ije toas in % s|)ip. ^nb fljcre toere also toitlj him otber littlt sijtps. §ji.nb fljere arose a great storm of toinb, anb tlje foabes beat info tlje sliip, so ijjaf it toas noto full, gaxb Ije toas in % |jinbrr part of % sljip, asleep on a pilloto: anb tljeg atoake him, anb sag unto Ijim, Paster, rarest l|mn not tljat toe prrisl; ? Qni) jjc arose, anb rtbnkeb the toinb, anb saib unto tlje sea, |leate, be still, ginb tlje toinb teaseb, anb there toas a great talm. gbb Ije saib unto ihnn, IRljg are ge so fearful? Ijoto is if tljat ge Ijabe no faiij)? ginb %g feareb esteebinglg, anb saib one fo anofljer, Sfflbat manner of man is this, tljat ebeu the toinb anb tlje sea obeg Ijim ? "My bark is wafted to the strand By breath divine, And on ihe helm there rests a hand Other than mine. "One who has known in storms to sail I have on board; Above the raging of the gale I hear my Lord." THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 79 The Sea of Galilee or Tiberias is not a great sea. It is only about twelve or thirteen miles long, and about seven miles broad even at its widest part. Neither is it very remarkable, taken as a whole, for its picturesque beauty ; there are many at least that surpass it in this respect. And yet, of all the seas of earth, none arouses the imagination or stirs the soul of the Christian traveler as does this sea. For around these shores, and even over these waters, " walked those blessed feet Which eighteen hundred years ago were nailed For our advantage to the bitter cross.'' The public life of Jesus had its centre and chief de- 80 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. velopment around the Sea of Galilee. Here he selected his apostles ; here he wrought some of his mightiest works ; and here he delivered some of his most remark able discourses. It is to this ever-memorable spot the subject of our present contemplation carries us. It was at the close of a Sabbath day when Jesus, utterly exhausted from continuous and excessive labors, entered one of the little fishing-vessels of his disciples to escape from the multitude to the solitude and quiet of the eastern shore. From the time he had chosen his twelve apostles he had taken little or no rest. A whole night spent in prayer, succeeded by four days of incessant toil in teaching the crowds that followed him, in debating with the Phar isees and in healing the sick, had made very serious draughts upon his physical nature. But the throngs grew only the more numerous and clamorous as his fame spread. Unable to endure the strain another hour, Jesus flies from what he cannot sup port. Matthew says : ' 'Now when Jesus saw great mul titudes about him he gave commandment to depart to the other side." The greatness of the multitudes about him and the urgency of their applications were surely reasons why he should stay rather than go, and reasons which none would feel more keenly than the sympathetic and loving Jesus. There can therefore be but one possible reason for his departure under these circumstances, and that is the one already intimated : Jesus could endure the fatigue no STILLING THE TEMPEST. 81 longer. Ready to sink with exhaustion, he was com pelled by physical necessity to withdraw and seek in seclusion the rest and recuperation necessary to enable him to serve them in the future. The disciples, therefore, dismissing the multitude as best they could, and hurrying Jesus into the boat " even as he was " — a phrase plainly indicating the haste of their de- parture — pushed from the shore, hoisted sail, and directed their course to the other side of the lake. On the eastern shore runs a green strip about a quarter of a mile wide, beyond which rises to the height of about nine hundred feet an escarpment of desolate hills rent with gray ravines, without tree or village or the least vestige of cultivation. This solitude was the frequent scene of our Lord's retirement when exhausted with labor and seeking the sweet refreshment of uninterrupted communion with nature and God. Toward this seclusion they now direct their course. Aided by the inspired record, let us follow in imag ination the little ship as she moves quietly off with her 11 82 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. precious freight ; for never did waves of the sea bear a nobler burden than that little fishing-boat which car ried as her passenger the Redeemer of the world. The scene and circumstances are not without their charm. A sail on the bosom of almost any lake in the calm evening of a summer's day is soothing and pleas ant, but it would be peculiarly so on the Sea of Galilee, for it was then one of the most attractive inland seas of the world — the ' ' Como ' ' of Palestine — its cities beautiful with palaces and gardens and populous with life, and its shores green and golden with luxuriant culture. Josephus, in a passage of glowing admiration, after describing the sweetness of its waters, the delicate tem perature of its air and its rich productions, its palms, vines, oranges, figs, almonds and pomegranates, and its warm springs, says that the seasons seemed to compete for the honor of its possession, and Nature to have created it as a kind of emulative challenge wherein she had gathered all the elements of her strength. Overcome by the heat and labors of the day, but now gently cooled by the breeze of the evening and soothed by the sweet scene and the gentle motion of the boat, Jesus, reclining in the " hinder part of the ship," made a pillow of the helmsman's cushion, and prepared to rest. Let not the word pillow, dear reader, betray you into a dream of the soft linen, and softer down, upon which your head nightly rests. Seldom, if ever, did his blessed head rest upon such a pillow as that. STILLING THE TEMPEST. 83 Just before starting upon this voyage, Jesus said to a scribe who — struck by the charm of his teaching and dazzled by the growth of his popularity — had proposed to follow him, " The foxes have holes and the birds of the air nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." We do not sufficiently realize how literally true this was. How often was his blessed head without even a boatman's pillow upon which to rest ! How often was he without shelter for the night — sleeping in the mountains, under the trees and on the rocks, and waking wet with night dews and rains, and shivering with the cold ! We read of his teaching in the temple during the day ; and then we read, "At night he went out and abode in the Mount of Olives." But we too often overlook how much of physical discomfort and suffering may be embraced in. such a sentence. 0 blessed Son of God, what didst thou not endure when upon earth for us, and for our salvation ! Yes, Jesus was accustomed to a hard bed. His infant head was laid in a manger; his dying head was to be laid on the cross ; and so he shrinks not from the hard board and the leathern pillow of the rude fishing-boat. He lies down there without a complaint, and is soon lost in sweet and profound slumber. Then came to pass the saying that is written, "He giveth his beloved sleep /" Jesus sleeps. It is a rare sight. He was in labors often, in rest seldom. His motto was, "I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day; the night 84 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. cometh when no man can work." So we hear of his being early in the temple teaching ; we hear of his rising a great while before day for devotion ; we hear of his con tinuing a whole night in prayer ; we hear of his watching while others slept; and now for the first time we read of his sleeping. Reverently and gently draw near as the little boat glides quietly before the soft west wind, and gaze upon the face of this blessed sleeper. It is a face full of sweet ness and benignity ; a face in which the innocence and purity of childhood blend with the wisdom and soberness of age ; a face on which love and mercy have firmly set their seals; and yet a "visage marred" by sorrow and sympathy — sorrow for the sins of the world, sympathy with the sufferings of humanity. He sleeps sweetly, for he is a laborer ; and only those who toil can tell how sweet is rest. He sleeps sweetly, for he is innocent; and a pure conscience is a pillow softer than the down of swans. He sleeps sweetly, for he rests in the bosom of his Father, and fears not. STILLING THE TEMPEST. 85 Happy are they who can thus lie down to rest, weary only with the labors of usefulness or the recreations of innocence, who fearless, because trustful, can, as they lie down at peace with God and man, look up and say with the devout Psalmist, "I will both lay me down in peace and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety." But let us now turn from this peaceful sleeper to those who are awake in the little craft. The few moments we have been occupied have wrought a great change both in them and their surroundings. Their countenances are full of alarm, and by their glances northward and skyward you at once discover that their anxiety is caused by the rapidly changing state of the atmosphere. The shadows of night are settling down upon them, and the darker shadows of an approaching tempest. The fair and gentle wind has expired, and the empty sail flaps idly to and fro against the spars. A boding silence reigns, the prelude of the hurricane; a dull, muttering sound rolls o'er the distant hills, disturbs the flood, and yet without a breath. The dark clouds swing out their sable wings both right and left like the shadowy cohorts of an approaching army. They know what it all means, these experienced fishermen ; they know with what sudden fierceness the cold, heavy winds from the snowy ranges of Lebanon and Hermon often swoop down upon the deep basin of Galilee ; they have seen such signals before, but never more threatening than to-night. They say but little, for silence is the instinctive tribute 86 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. which the soul pays in such an hour to the majesty of Nature and Nature's God. But though silent, they are not inactive. They take in their sail — every inch of it ; they make everything as secure as possible, and await the bursting of the storm. They do not wait long. Hark ! what sound is that ? It is the roar of the coming tempest as it sweeps through the funnel-like ravines of the Perean hills. Now it smites the lake and lashes it into an instant frenzy. The multitudinous waves come bounding and roaring like a thousand lions in conflict. The white crests gleam through the darkness like the teeth of ravenous beasts. Ah, those cruel waves ! what myriads have they devoured ! The little craft careens to her deck as the tempest strikes her, then, veering around with her head from the blast, flies like an affrighted living creature. STILLING THE TEMPEST. 87 The whole sea is now foaming in rage. The white- capped waves scud like spirits from another world before the breath of the hurricane, and the black wind-flaws pursue them, shrieking like demons upon a mission of de struction. It is a terribly sublime scene, and the dark ness of the night adds both to the terror and the sublimity. And yet amid all this Jesus sleeps ! The sharp gleam of the lightning, the crash of the thunder, the roar of the storm and the cries of the seamen, all combined, do not shake him from his deep and profound slumber. The rain beats upon his face, the spray drives across it, and yet he sleeps ! It is as if the very soul of consciousness were gone up in a holy dream to bask in the divine peace and rest of his heavenly home. Why this strange profundity of slumber? Ah! it tells a story that we are all too apt to forget — the story of his true humanity ofttimes utterly exhausted in labors of love and sympathy for man. Look at him lying there in this strange hour, amid this wild and stormy scene, the rain and spray drenching his body, his head and pillow wet by the driving storm, his calm and benignant face lighted up by the glittering flashes that set the night ablaze. Oh, look upon this King of angels and men, descended to this mortal plight, and see how truly he humbled himself to our low estate, to all its exposures and tempests, that he might guide us poor storm-tossed and storm-driven wanderers to that ce lestial haven " Where tempests never beat nor billows roar.'' THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 0 great and blessed Benefactor of our race, thou dost sleep through this wild storm because exhausted with the virtues and works that have gone out of thee ! The warrior sleeps deeply when he has returned spat tered and spent from the bloody horrors of battle. The devotee of pleasure sleeps heavily after the night of dissipation. Jesus sleeps profoundly because he has poured him self so completely out in works of mercy and love to the sick, the sorrowing and the poor. Sleep on, exhausted goodness ! Take thy rest even in the bosom of the storm ! For it is thy Father's bosom, in which thou dost always rest, and where they who are weary in works of love may safely trust, and sink so deep in peace that even the thunders of the tempest may not arouse them. The little vessel is skillfully managed by the disciples in this fierce conflict of the elements. They cannot, it is true, bear up against such a blast; they cannot hold their desired course toward the east. They must let her drive before the gale. Yet experienced hands hold the helm and keep the ship straight before the wind and sea ; and, as the wilder waves ever and anon break over and into her, strong hands and brave hearts cast the waters out again. But every rod they fly to leeward increases their danger, giving more sweep to the hurricane and more swell to the sea. The fury of the blast and the height of the waves increase every moment. It is only with the STILLING THE TEMPEST. 89 utmost strength and skill that they can keep the little craft before the sea. One single lurch to right or left would place them sidewise in the treacherous trough, where they would instantly capsize and sink. But although they manage to keep the ship fairly be fore the tempest, a new danger now threatens them. The seas, swelling into gigantic breakers, are overreaching them and breaking in upon the deck and hold. The flood comes in now faster than all hands can cast it out. The waves hurl themselves upon her with such force and with such fierce rapidity that she begins to founder beneath a weight too great either to cast off or surmount. They look up, and, as Matthew expresses it, they behold her "covered with the waves." Mark says, "The waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full." Luke says, ' ' They were filled with water, and were in jeopardy." Human skill and strength are impotent under such cir cumstances, and therefore these strong men, these experi enced mariners, give up in despair, and with vehement and agonized voice cry out, "Master, Master, save! we perish !" That cry was never uttered in the Saviour's ear in vain. The storm cannot wake him ; the elements clash around his head unheeded ; but one touch from the hand of an alarmed disciple, one earnest cry in his ear, "Master, save!" and he is instantly aroused. The ap- 12 90 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. peal of distress, the softest call for compassion, is louder than the thunders of the tempest. "And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still." Yes, if he sleeps as a man, he wakes as a God. He is neither flurried nor startled by the tumult. There is neither look, tone nor action indicating the least confusion or alarm. The hurricane that shakes the courage and baffles the skill of the hardy fishermen does not for an instant ruffle the deep and calm serenity of the Son of God. In the divinest sense he is instantly master of the situation. With a few quiet words he stills the tempest in their fearful souls ; and then with a voice of authority and power he instantly calms the raging of the sea and wind. Sublime spectacle ! He sleeps, and the tempest rages with uncontrolled fury ! He wakes, and lays the storm in a slumber profounder than his own ! Was there ever anything more simple and yet sub limely grand than this exhibition of the divine power of the Son of God ? Call up the whole scene — the night, the storm, the darkness, the roaring waves, the howling winds, the tossing bark, the fears and cries of the mariners, and then behold Jesus — suddenly aroused from sleep, with all these confused sounds breaking together upon his ear — rising from that half- emerged deck, his hair streaming in the wind and his drenched garments fluttering for a moment in the gale, without a sign of confusion or a STILLING THE TEMPEST. 91 tremor of alarm, but with calm majesty and almighty power stretching forth his hand into the darkness and tempest and simply saying, "Peace, be still!" And instantly the wind drops, and the sea falls as if smitten with a sudden palsy. Nature at once recognizes the voice of her Lord and Master ! He speaks to the winds, and they fold their wings to sleep beside him ! He speaks to the waves, and they cease their roaring to lie down at his feet ! And over all those miles of angry and agitated water, and through all those leagues of wild and rushing air, at the first sound of his mandate there falls a great calm. This miracle was wrought for us as well as for those who witnessed it, not only that we might believe in the 92 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. divine nature and mission of the Son of God, but that we might realize him to be "a very present help in trouble!' " Life is a sea ; though fair its face, And smooth its dimpled waters' pace, Its canopy all pure, Yet rocks below and tempests sleep Insidious o'er the glassy deep, And leave no hour secure." Fair as life may seem to the young voyager just start ing forth with light sails spread and gay streamers flying to the propitious breeze, yet storms will surely arise ; no human life can escape them. The hours will come when the sun will be hidden from our sight ; when dark and portentous clouds will overshadow us ; when the stream ers will have to be taken down, the sails reefed for the gale, and the deck cleared for the terrible conflict of the elements ; when fearful flashes will startle us and mighty thunders shake our souls ; when the waves will swell into moving mountains beneath us, the hurricane roar frightfully around us, and our little bark "reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man," and we be at our "wit's end." Then shall we cry out in our extrem ity and anguish for some one to help us. And this story of the power and grace of the Son of God is to teach us upon whom to call. Ah ! blessed shall even the storm be that drives us to Christ, and that constrains us to cry in earnest unto him. The storms of life are far from being unmitigated evils. Many souls that have forgotten God in the fair day of prosperity have been led to seek and find him in the day STILLING THE TEMPEST. 93 of trouble. When the night came down in blackness and fearful clouds overspread them and a terrible tem pest was upon them, then they looked up. And, lo ! through the rifts of the storm there shone a star of hope and salvation ! And now, with hearts trembling with joy and eyes glistening with tears of gratitude, they sing the sweet old hymn, " Once on the raging seas I rode, The storm was loud, the night was dark ; The ocean yawned, and rudely blowed The wind that tossed my foundering bark. " Deep horror then my vitals froze ; Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem ; When suddenly a star arose : It was the Star of Bethlehem. " It was my guide, my light, my all ; It bade my dark forebodings cease ; And through the storm and danger's thrall. It lead me to the port of peace. " Now safely moored, my perils o'er, I'll sing, first in night's diadem, For ever and for evermore, The Star— the Star of Bethlehem !" But let us not suppose that when we have found Christ we are thenceforth to be exempt from storms of trouble and tempests of affliction. It was to his own disciples he said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation;" but he also graciously added, "Be of good cheer ; I have over come the world." We may therefore learn an important lesson from this 94 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. thrilling incident in the life of Christ's disciples, viz.: The servants of Christ, even when in the path of duty, are exposed to storms and trouble. Here we see the disciples of Jesus — men who had given up all for his sake, who were daily serving him and showing to the world how sincerely they believed on him and how truly they loved him — here we see these men in great trouble, driven by a dreadful hurricane, tossed up and down by this fearful tempest, and appar ently in danger of perishing in the sea. Now, we are sure that He who could thus by a word calm the tempest and assuage the sea could just as easily have prevented its coming, or directed its course so that it should not have crossed their path. And why did he not do this ? Evidently because he saw that it was best for them to pass through it, and be made to realize their own impotency and his mighty power to deliver. And oh, was not such an experience worth all the peril and alarm through which they went to obtain it? Could they ever doubt his sympathy for them, or his power to deliver, after that ? What could He not do for them, who could thus still the raging tempest at a word? Surely after such an experience they would be able to say : ' ' Our divine Lord and Master is equal to all emer gencies. Nothing is impossible to him ; no difficulties within us or without us but he can conquer ; no stormy passions in man or nature so strong but he STILLING THE TEMPEST. 95 can tame them ; no temper so rough and violent but he can change it ; no sea or soul so disquieted but he can speak peace to it and make it calm. No man need doubt nor despond who commits his soul to the keep ing of such a master. Jesus will carry him through every danger." With what new significance and emotion would they now in every peril be able to sing the old triumphant Psalm ! — " God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be re moved, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." We must not expect, therefore, dear Christian, a smooth and unruffled sea on our way to heaven. We must "count it no strange thing" if we have buffetings and trials, losses and disappointments, sicknesses and be reavements. Christ, our blessed Master, has indeed promised to bring us in the end to a peaceful haven, but he has not promised us a fair wind and a smooth sea all the way there. Nay, on the contrary, he has plainly informed us that we shall have "tribulations." It is a part of our moral education to pass through these storms. There are many precious lessons for us to learn and many noble graces to gain by such discipline. No great characters have ever been formed in this world without self-denial and suffering. To what a noble moral stature did St. Paul attain ! But 96 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. by what process was that splendid soul developed ? By a life of the most antonishing toil and peril. "In perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfidness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." Even now we are often permitted to see how good it is for us to be " afflicted," but we shall see and understand it far better hereafter. In the future world we shall see how closely these trials were connected with our sal vation, and how these light afflictions worked out for us " a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Then shall we thank God for every storm that taught us our own weakness and a Saviour's power, patience and love ! History tells us that Julius Caesar was at sea in a little boat when a terrible storm came on, and he inspired the courage of his men by telling them their little boat bore Caesar and his fortunes. But, behold, a greater than Caesar is here. The disciples, therefore, showed great want of faith, and gave way to unseemly fear, when we consider the fact that their Lord and Master was with them in the ship. It was a very impatient and im proper spirit, to say the least, with which they cried, " Master, carest thou not that we perish ?" And yet how tenderly he deals with them ! He gives them no keen retort, no sharp reproof, he makes no STILLING THE TEMPEST. 97 threat of casting them off for their unbelief; he simply says, " Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith ?' ' Oh, surely the Lord is pitiful and full of tender mercy. He does not deal with his children according to their sins, but is long-suffering toward them. He sees their weak ness, he knows the defects of their faith and courage, and yet he does not cast them off. He bears with them con tinually. Having loved them, he loves them to the end. 0 gentle Jesus, how infinite is thy tenderness ! Where should we all have been but for thy forbearance ? The most patient angel of heaven would have wearied of us long since. Surely it is of thine infinite mercy alone we are not all consumed. We think of the patience of Jesus toward his weak and erring disciples, and the thought is very sweet that he is still the same. Ah ! how full of soothing and comfort is this sentence ! — " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and FOR EVER." Yes, the same human sympathy, the same patient love, the same almighty energy, as when he stood up in the little ship in that night of storm and darkness and fear, and with words of soothing power stilled the tempest and calmed the souls of his disciples ! Another thing we should remember. It is that, al though storms are not pleasant to pass through, they not only ennoble and enrich the character by their dis ciplinary power, but they greatly enhance by contrast the very joys of heaven itself. 13 98 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. : Behold yon weatherbeaten bark just coming into port. Her sails are tattered and her spars are broken. She has reached the desired haven at last, but oh what a struggle the crew have had for it ! Ofttimes they seemed near to port, but contrary gales and adverse currents drove them back again. At length a tempest more vio lent than any they had yet encountered broke upon them. To all human appearance, they must be lost. "Sails ripped, seams opening wide," could it be that they were doomed to perish at last, even at the haven's mouth ? How the sea raged ! How the hurricane shrieked ! How the good ship groaned like a human soul in her desperate struggles with the tempest ! and oh how the poor mariner lifted up his heart to Him that ' ' ruleth the waves," and earnestly begged to be permitted to see home and wife and little ones once more ! STILLING THE TEMPEST. 99 The prayer is heard and answered, the winds retire howling to their lairs, and, as if an angel's hand poured oil upon the troubled waters, the sea abates ; there is a great calm. The morning dawns ; with it comes a clear sky and a soft, fair wind ; the reefs are shaken out, yards sent aloft, every tattered sail spread to the favoring breeze, and with joy the rescued mariner glides into the desired haven. Ah ! how sweet the placid waters appear to his eyes ! How pleasantly secure seems the land-locked bay ! And yonder curls the smoke of his own humble but beloved home. He directs his glass thither, and sees his wife and little ones out upon the greensward straining their eyes seaward as if they recognized, although tattered and storm-beaten, the well-known and long-expected sail. The hardy mariner's lip trembles and he wipes away a tear as he thinks of the dangers he has passed, and the joy of meeting his beloved ones never seemed half so sweet before. So shall it be with the Christian mariner. When — the storms all weathered and the ocean crossed — he " Shoots into port at some well-haven'd isle Where spices breathe and brighter seasons smile.'' the perils through which he has passed to reach that blessed shore, will only enhance the rapture of his home coming. The dark clouds, the howling winds and the tempest uous seas of earth shall only make brighter and lovelier 100 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. the crystal and placid waters, the green and golden shores of heaven. The beauty and grandeur of the starry heavens are only to be seen when their lustres are set against the brow of night. And so the night and storm and dark ness of time shall present the contrasting background, over against which the glories of heaven shall stand out with unspeakable splendor. " City of the pearl-bright portal, City of the jasper wall, City of the golden pavement, Seat of endless festival, City of Jehovah, Salem, City of eternity, — To thy bridal halls of gladness From this prison would I flee, Heir of glory, That shall be for thee and me." -v,V-^N '' ¦'"!/¦' ¦O ^ - St. Pttfc, V: ii-xm. guib toljcir Ije toas come out of tlje ship, immebiatelg there met gim out of tlje tombs a man toitlj an unclean spirxt, tobo Ijab bis btoelling among tlje tombs; anb no man coulb biub Ijim, no, not toitb chains: because tljat be Ijab been often bounb toitb fetters anb tbains, anb tge tljains bab been plutkeb asunber bg him, anb tlje fetters broken hi pietes : neither tonlb any man fame Ijim. gitib altoags, nxgbt anb bag, be toas in the mountains, anb in the tombs, rrging, anb cutting Ijimself toitlj stones. §lut toben Ije sato |esus afar off, Ije ran anb toorsljippcb Ijim, anb cricb toitlj a loub boice, anb saib, fflljat babe $ fo bo toitlj tljce, |csns, tbou Sou of the most Ijiglj dob? | abjure thee bg (§ob, tljat fbcu torment me not, (Jfor Ije saib unto Ijim, Come out of the man, tljou unclean spirit.) §Ub Ije askeb gim, Mjai is iijg name ? §j.nb (je anstotreb, saging, Pg name is Region: for toe arc mang. §)uxb be besought Ijim much tljat Ije tooulb not senb tljem atoag out of the countrg. $Joto lljere toas niglj into tlje mountains a great Ijerb of stoine frebxng. giixb all the bebils besought bim, saging, Senb us into the stoine, fljat toe mag enter into %m. §tnb foriljtoitlj |esus gabe them leabe, anb the unclean spirits toent out, anb entereb into tlje stoine; anb tlje ljtrb ran biolentlg boton a steep plate info tlje sea, (tljeg toere about ttoo tljousanb,) anb toere cbokeb in the sea. " Him the almighty power Hurl'd headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fires, Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms." THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 105 It was a wild and solitary shore where Jesus and his disci ples landed in the early morning af ter the tempestuous night upon the lake. The landing-place is located by the best authorities near the mouth of the Wady Semakh. Here all the peculiar topographical features required by the narrative of the evangelist seem to be fully met. There is a high mountain with large cavern-tombs in its sides and a steep declivity to the lake, and near by are the ruins of an old town, called by the natives Kerza, u 106 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. or Gersa, — as pronounced by the Arabs, giving almost exactly the ancient " Gergesa," — from which, no doubt, the whole region round was named which Matthew calls the " country of the Gergesenes." The people in this section, in our Lord's day, appear to have been as rude as their country, evidently much less religious and respectable than the Galileans on the oppo site shore. They were largely engaged in rearing swine, which among the Jews was not only an illegal business, but was considered especially disreputable and degrading. Our Lord arid his disciples had proceeded but a short distance from the boat, when a most startling incident oc curred. Out of one of the rock-tombs or caverns of the mountain side there burst a furious demoniac. A few fluttering and filthy rags were his only clothing. Frag ments of chains hanging to his limbs told most signif icantly the story of his desperate rage and strength, and how vain had been all attempts to bind him. Unable to restrain him, and with no asylum in which to confine him, the combined force of the community had driven him forth from the habitations of men as too desperate and dangerous for human intercourse. He had made one of those tomb-caverns, with all its associations of terror and ghastliness, his unclean and miserable abode, from which he ever and anon sallied forth to make the night hideous with his unearthly yells, and to attack with savage ferocity any who might pass that way. RESTORING THE DEMONIAC. 107 It was a most fearful and appalling sight, therefore, when this devil-haunted maniac, in savage nakedness and demoniac fury, his body all torn and bloody from self- inflicted tortures, came rushing down the ravine with wild screams and fierce gestures upon these new invaders of his dominions. The startled and terrified fishermen would gladly have fled to the shelter of their ship, but Jesus with the calm majesty of almighty power continued to advance ; and to the amazement of the disciples, the furious madman as he drew near, instead of falling fiercely upon Jesus, fell a prostrate suppliant before him. He who so lately by a single sentence arrested the fury of the tempest now by a simple look brings this furious maniac in humble sub- 108 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. mission to his feet ; for the same voice of omnipotent power that had said to the raging sea, " Peace, be still !" had said to the demon that possessed this miserable man, ' ' Come out of him, thou unclean spirit ! ' ' A strange colloquy now takes place between Jesus and these possessing demons. They seem to have recognized at once the divine nature and power of the august Being who had crossed their path, and cried out with fear, " What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou tor ment me not /" With a pitying glance upon their poor victim, Jesus asked his name, but the demons within the man replied, " Legion, for we are many." And perceiving or fearing the purpose of Jesus to exorcise them, they besought him that he would not send them out of the country, nor re mand them to their own abyss, but cried, "If thou cast us out, send us into these swine," referring to a herd of some two thousand of these unclean beasts feeding on a hill near by. Jesus gave them permission, and the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine ; and imme diately the whole herd, seized with a furious panic, rushed violently down a steep declivity toward the lake, and with an impetus so great that they were carried across the narrow beach into the water, where they perished. And what became of the demons ? Doubtless they went into that deeper abyss which they had dreaded, where, St. Jude says, they are kept "in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." RESTORING THE DEMONIAC. 109 But what pen or tongue shall fittingly depict the mar velous change that now came over the spirit and the countenance of this poor Gergesene whom the potent word of Jesus had thus so suddenly delivered from the dark and terrible tyranny of these demons from the pit ? Can we not see the mild, beautiful light coming into those wild eyes, as reason begins to assume her throne and a consciousness of deliverance takes possession of his soul ? What a glow of wonder, faith and love must have lighted up that pale and haggard face, as he looked up into the benignant countenance of his divine deliverer ! He had heard the demons hail him as the Son of the- most high God. He did not for a moment doubt his claim to this title. For who else could have wrought for him so marvelous a rescue ? Who else could release him from foes so numerous, so spiritual, so powerful and so malignant? Surely he is the Son of God. He cannot doubt it; 110 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. and tears of gratitude and smiles of joy mingle upon his wan cheeks as he clasps the feet of his gracious ben efactor. And can we not also conceive something of the delight and wonder with which the disciples look upon this man, so suddenly and miraculously transformed from madness to reason, from the fury of a raging demoniac to the docility and gentleness of a little child ? What a new conception of the power of Jesus it gives them ! They had marveled greatly at the stilling of the tempest the night just past, and had said, " What man ner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" But how much increased is their amazement to find not only the realm of Nature, but the Spirit-realm as well, subject unto him — demons acknowledging his divinity, and a whole legion of them trembling before his presence and supplicating his clemency ! We can see them gathering round this poor tossed and battered but now released captive of Satan, and with ten der sympathy ministering to his necessities, stripping the filthy rags from his person, removing the broken fetters from his limbs, washing and binding up his wounds, and from their own scanty store furnishing clothing sufficient to cover his nakedness. When- the people of the city and suburbs came crowd ing to the scene, drawn thither by the report of the swine herds, they found him that had been " possessed with the devil and had the legion," — the ferocious, fear-inspiring maniac whom they all knew, — "sitting at the feet of Jesus, RESTORING THE DEMONIAC. Ill clothed and in his right mind." What a marvelous sight was this for their eyes ! Would you not have thought that when they beheld the wondrous and happy change that had been wrought upon their poor afflicted countryman, they would have rejoiced greatly, and welcomed Jesus as a most blessed and heavenly visitant to their shores ? One who can thus drive devils out of the land by the legion, and relieve the bodies and souls of men from their accursed tyranny — surely they will beg him to tarry in their coasts, or at least to divide his time between them and Galilee. And if he will only consent to do so, he shall have the freedom of the ten cities of Decapolis, the gratitude of the inhabitants of the land, and a hearty welcome to the best mansions in all Perea — surely such in substance must be the message they have come to 112 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. bring the illustrious visitor, and if not, what, pray, is their message ? Hear, Oh heaven ! and give ear, Oh earth 1 "And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts." Had they not heard of the wonderful restoration of the demoniac? Yes: "They that saiu it told them how it befell him that was jwssessed with the devil," and also — "concerning the swine." Ah, yes ! there was the rub. The swine — the two thousand swine ! Half the wealth of Gergese lay there in the lake. True, they ought not to have had them; true, it was an illegal traffic in which they were engaged. They could not therefore blame this Prophet of God for vindicating the divine law in their destruction. Nevertheless, it was a great loss of property, and they would prefer him to depart out of their coasts. Oh, cu pidity ! what a devil art thou, and how many dost thou both blind and bind ! This was the "day of visitation" to this people; but the things that belonged to their true peace and prosper ity were hid from their eyes. It was the day of their moral trial, when it would be seen of what spirit they were — whether the kingdom of heaven was the first or the last thing in their estimation. It was a great test of their character, and under it they utterly failed. It was nothing to their mercenary souls that their coun tryman had been saved : — their swine had been lost. It was nothing that here was a mighty Prophet of God RESTORING THE DEMONIAC. 113 able to deliver their afflicted people from all the ills which afflict the body and all the sorrows that distress the soul : — he had made a breach in their worldly prosperity, and that thought canceled everything else. The devils have been driven out, and they may re turn if Christ is sent away ; but they are willing to risk that. They would rather have all the bottomless pit turned in upon them than lose their swine. They care nothing for spiritual blessings if they can only fill their purses with bright Roman sesterces. So they prayed Jesus to " depart out of their coasts." What an awful thought it is that these people should prefer their swine to the gracious presence and beneficent services of the Son of God ! But such is the blindness and stupidity of sin. Even to this day and in this enlightened Christian land how many prefer their sinful profits, pleasures and companion ships to the presence and blessings of the Son of God ! Jesus took these people at their word. He was not wont to press his ministry upon an unwilling community, and therefore prepared at once to re-embark for Galilee ; and we never hear of his visiting this region again. Their sinful prayer is heard, but, like the prayer of the demons, answered to their own ruin. Not till the day of final account will it be known how much these Gergesenes lost by their rejection of Jesus. It will take eternity to unfold even what a single soul loses which waves away the presence and grace of the Son of God. It is a fearful sentence when God shall say 15 114 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS of any people or any soul, "Ephraim is joined to his idols; let him alone." What a contrast to this reception was the treatment which Jesus received in Samaria ! When the woman of Samaria had gone to her countrymen and told them to come to the well of Jacob and see a prophet that opened the secret book of her life, sins and all, they came and listened with reverence, and then besought him that he would tarry with them ; and he consented, and abode there two days. And many believed and were saved, and said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of thy saying ; for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." So was it also at Capernaum. The people of that city heard him preach and were astonished at his doctrine ; they saw him cast out a devil, and were amazed and charmed. Determined to improve the opportunity which his gracious presence afforded, they pressed on him to hear the word of God, and brought to him all their sick to be healed. Having spent the day and the evening in these labors of love, Jesus rose early next morning and departed into a desert place, partly for the purpose of prayer, and part ly, perhaps, to see if they would follow him and request his longer stay. And what is the record in regard to their feelings and conduct? " And the people sought him and came unto him and stayed him that he should not depart from RESTORING THE DEMONIAC. 115 them." And that city became his abode more than any other city. So we see how easy it is to drive away the gracious presence of Christ, and how easy and how blessed to re tain it. Oh, who would not say with the disciples walk ing to Emmaus, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent ' ' t Yea, blessed Lord, abide with us and in us ! " As some rare perfume in a vase of clay Pervades it with a fragrance not its own, So, when thou dwellest in a mortal soul, All heaven's own sweetness seems around it thrown. " Abide in me ! There have been moments blest When I have heard thy voice and felt thy power; Then evil lost its grasp, and passion, hushed, Owned the divine enchantment of the hour. " These were but seasons beautiful and rare : Abide in me, and they shall ever be ; Fulfill at once thy precept and my prayer: Come and abide in me, and I in thee." There was one soul in Gergese that day that did not wish to be separated from Christ, and that one' was the restored demoniac. From the moment of his deliverance he had clung to the side of his deliverer; he never thought of parting with him. The ties that bound him to home, country and friends were as nothing to the new bond, stronger than fetters of iron, that bound his soul to Jesus ; so when Christ was about to step into the ship to return, he entreats that he may be allowed to bear him company. 116 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Whether it was because he feared that in the absence of his great deliverer the powers of hell might regain their dominion over him, and only felt himself safe when by his side, or whether it was the outflowing of his grati tude and a desire to be henceforth the follower and ser vant of his gracious benefactor, or whether it was both of these motives combined, certain it is, his soul clave to Jesus as Ruth's clave unto Naomi, and like her heart, his was saying, ' ' Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from follow ing after thee, for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." But natural and beautiful as is this poor man's prayer, it is not answered. The Lord has better purposes regard ing him. He will make him a missionary of truth and grace to his own family and his besotted countrymen. Badly as they have treated him, he will not leave them without a witness of his grace and power. This restored man shall be the living monument of his mercy; and therefore Jesus says to him, " Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." Not without an heroic effort, we may well believe, did he tear himself away from his beloved benefactor; but he did it — for Christ's sake he did it — did more even than he was told to do. Not in his own house alone, nor merely amono- his RESTORING THE DEMONIAC. 117 own friends, but throughout the whole Gentile district of lgs Decapolis, he published abroad the great things that Jesus had done for him. Ah ! what a preacher would such a man.be ! No matter whether he had learning or not — whether he possessed the art of the rhetorician and the orator, or was only the simple, untutored child of Nature — there would be a divine power in his testimon}T, because drawn out of the deep wells of his own heart's experience. It was this that gave to the preaching of Paul a pathos, a fire and a force that all the schools of earth, ex cept the school of experience, must fail to impart. " I who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, I obtained mercy . . . that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." Here, then, was the path Jesus marked out for this man — a path of gratitude, of safety and of usefulness. " Go home and tell thy friends." Become a living witness to your family and your neighbors to the power and compassion of the Son of God. Deny yourself the pleasure of being near my bodily presence in order to be useful to your kindred and your countrymen. "Go home!" How much even in that brief word was there to stir the man's soul to its profoundest depths ! It may be, he had not entered that home for months or years ; it may be, that home had been the scene of some of his wildest paroxysms of demoniac fury ; it may be, that friends and neighbors had been called in again and 118 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. again to protect his wife and children from his foul words and fearful blows. It may be that his very name was a terror to his children. If so, with what strange emotions he must now have turned his footsteps toward that home ! His whole nature so changed ; his heart, once filled with the passions of the pit, now gentle, tender, and overflowing with pure and natural affections. And what joy must have filled that home, so long clouded by this great sorrow, when they found their dead was alive, their lost found, their naked clothed, their de moniac husband and father restored : — reasonable, peace ful, happy ! With what eager interest would they gather round him, and how unweariedly would they listen again and again to the wondrous story of the mighty and gracious Son of God, who had exorcised the demons, restored his reason, and filled his heart with the peace of heaven ! This is a most remarkable history ; abounding with vivid and soul-stirring contrasts of light and shade ; re vealing to us how low our poor humanity may sink under the dominion of "the devil and his angels," and how swiftly and highly it may rise under the divine touch of the Son of God. We cannot read this narrative without deep compassion for this wretched victim of satanic power, and without gratitude that since the ascension of the Son of God to his throne, the power of Satan has been so limited that he no longer thus afflicts the bodies and minds of men. RESTORING THE DEMONIAC. 119 And yet the Scriptures everywhere speak of good and bad angels as still being engaged in a contest over man as a prize. Jesus represents Satan as busy in catching up the good seed of God's word when scattered by the Sower in the soil of the human soul. And when base and unholy thoughts are injected into our minds — oft- times in our most sacred hours — we do not hesitate to as cribe them to the same diabolical agency. And why not, when holy and ennobling thoughts pass with silent tread through our souls, leaving upon every chamber of our spirit the impress of their purity and power, kindling our love to a holy flame, exciting our fainting hopes to new life, filling our cup with divine peace and joy, and nerving our souls to heroic resistance of temptation, — why not ascribe all this, under God, to the ministry of those blessed spirits that rejoice over a sinner the moment he is converted, and never leave him without practical sympathy and aid till earth's fiery trial is ended ? "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to min ister for them ivho shall be heirs of salvation?" For such an office how admirably are they qualified by the tenderness of their nature, the extent of their knowledge, the greatness of their power, the easy access they have to our spirits, and the impossibility of exclud ing them from even the solitary sufferer to whom human sympathy may be prohibited ! No dungeon walls, no iron gates, no soldier guards, can keep off these sympa thizing ministers from heaven to the suffering heir of 120 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. salvation. " Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the Keepers before the door kept the prison, and behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, . . . and he raised him up, . . . and his chains fell from off his hands." What quiet but sublime power was here ! The laws of matter were no barriers to the flaming, penetrating nature of this heavenly visitant. He was bound only by spiritual laws, and could penetrate the thickest walls and doors, light up the gloomiest dungeons, and dissolve chains with a touch and without noise. Blessed be God, man is not left helpless and unshielded to the foul incursions of those dark spirits whose forces are legions and whose legions are invisible ; the hosts of the good spirits are as numerous and as mighty. "The Lord forgive me," says good Bishop Hall, "for that among my other offences I have suffered myself so much to forget not only his divine presence, but also the presence of his holy angels. It is, I confess, my great sin that I have filled up my eyes with other objects, and been slack in returning praise to my God for the con tinual assistance of those blessed and beneficent spirits who have ever graciously attended me from the first hour of my existence to the present moment, nor shall ever, I hope, absent themselves from my tutelage and protection till they shall have presented my poor soul to her final glory." Amid this mighty struggle of spiritual forces over the RESTORING THE DEMONIAC. 121 soul of man let us never forget our own agency in de ciding the contest. Plow solemn the declaration of Holy Writ ! "To whom ye yield yourself servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." Ah ! what a hapless slave is he who has yielded to evil enticements until, " possessed " by the demons of some Unholy lust or passion, or by a host of them, he is driven on to ruin without power to resist, seeing his fate, lamenting it, cursing it, and yet unable to escape it, all his attempts to rise to a higher and nobler life as vain as the attempt of an eagle to soar aloft with the folds of a serpent about its neck and the fangs of the reptile in its heart ! What though it struggle upward with brave and even convulsive energy ? What though it scream out wildly in the silent sky ? What though it strike madly and desperately with beak and talon and wings? It struggles in vain, it screams in vain, it strikes in vain. Its up ward flight is not only retarded, but soon completely checked, and with swimming eye and faltering wing it flutters back to the dust and to death, unless some kindly deliverer step forward quickly and put his heel upon that serpent's head and set the captive free. Oh, unhappy man struggling thus hopelessly with the fierce and fiery serpents of evil passion, there is yet hope for thee. It is written : ' ' The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." Although you cannot deliver your self, there is One who can deliver you, to whom even the in 122 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. devils are subject. It is Jesus, the deliverer of this poor Gadarene. Oh, fly to him, cast yourself at his feet, implore his compassion, and it shall not be in vain. He will come to your rescue ; he will bruise the head of the ser pent, release you from his accursed folds for ever, and enable you to sing with gratitude and joy, " Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers ; the snare is broken and we are ESCAPED." St. f|t3ill, V : xxii-xxiv & xxxvill-XLUl. gaxb, beljolb, %re rometlj one of tlje rulers of fge sgnagogue, faints bg name; anb toljen Ije sato Ijim, Ije fell at Ijis feet, anb besougjjf Ijim greatlg, saging, Pg little baugljfer lieljj at tlje point of brailj : $ prag %e, come anb lag fljg Ijanbs on Ijer, f Ijat slje mag be Ijealeb ; anb sljr sljall libe. g^nb fesns toent toitlj Ijim ; anb murlj people follotoeb fiim, anb iljrongrb giro. * * * * ^nb Ije tometlj to the bouse of % ruler of tge sgnagogue, anb seetlj tlje tumult, anb iljrnx tljat toepf anb toaileb greatlg. §^nb toljen Ije toas come in, Ije saitlj unto tljcm, SSJijrr make ge thi& abo, anb toeep ? tlje bamsel is not beab, but sleepeib;. gmb tljeg laugbeb Ijim fo scorn, §ut toljen Ije jjab put tljem all out, ije iakellj. tlje father anb the mofljcr of tlje bamsel, anb tljem tljat toere toitlj Ijim, anb enferefb in toljerc the bamsel toas Iging, ginb Ije took tfje bamsel bg tlje Ijanb, anb saib unto Ijrr, falitlja cumi ; tohklj is, being interprefeb, IBamsel, (| sag unto fljee,) arise, gaxb siraiglji- toag tlje bamsel arose, anb faalkeb; for sbe toas of tlje age of ftoelbe gears. ginb tljeg toere astonisljeb toitlj a great astonisljment. ^nb be rljargeb tljem sfraiflg tljat no man sljonlb knoto it; anb tommanbeb tljat somefljing sljoulb be giben Ijer to eat. "The Saviour raised Her hand from off her bosom, and spread out The snowy fingers in his palm, and said, 'Maiden I arise f and suddenly a flush Shot o'er her forehead ; and along her lips, And through her cheek, the rallied color ran; And the still outline of her graceful form Stirred in the linen vesture; and she clasp' d The Saviour's hand, and fixing her dark eyes Full on his beaming countenance, Arose!" THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 127 A ^jsbb '\?:\ Raising the Ruler's Daughter. Beautiful for situation, and the gem of Galilee in its day, was Capernaum. Before it lay the Lake of Gennesaret, in pure and peaceful loveliness, reflecting in its waters the white stone of its dwellings and the marble pillars and porticoes of its palaces. Behind it, hills rising with gentle ascent, and enameled with the richest verdure, encircled a paradise of beauty through which crystal streams flowed and sparkled, and along whose borders flowers and shrubs in great variety spread their foliage to the sun and scat tered their fragrance upon the breeze. 128 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. In the distance, toward the north-west, Hermon lifted its snowy peaks against the intense blue Syrian sky, and in the south-west the mount of Safed shut in the horizon. This' beautiful city Jesus had selected as his residence while in Galilee. He had not chosen it as a charming sylvan retreat, but as a convenient centre of earnest ac tivities. Had Jesus desired retirement, he never would have left the quiet little hamlet of Nazareth, in the bosom of the green hills of Galilee, where he had been brought up. But the days of contemplation with him had passed, and the days of action had come. Capernaum was chosen as the headquarters of his wonderful missionary labors in Galilee because it was one of the chief cities of the coast, and because it was the very heart of the most populous districts in Palestine. No less than six cities of considerable size — Chorazin, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Magdala, Dalmanutha and Tiberias ¦ — were strung like beads, on a line only thirteen miles long, on this western shore. " The cities," says Josephus, " lie here very thick ; and the numerous villages are so full of people, because of the fertility of the land, . . that the very smallest of them contain above 15,000 inhabitants.'' Upon leaving the shores of Gadara, whither Jesus had gone for a temporary respite from his labors, the little ship had directed its course back to "his own city." The reception he received on landing at Capernaum was ex ceedingly enthusiastic, and formed a most striking con trast to the repulsion he had met at Gergese. RAISING THE RULER'S DAUGHTER. 129 The rumors of his wisdom and power had permeated the whole region round about, and vast multitudes who desired to hear him or to be healed by him, had been drawn to the city where he was supposed to reside. They were greatly disappointed in finding that he had taken ship to the other side of the lake ; yet understanding that he was likely soon to return, they patiently waited and longed for that event. An electric thrill therefore went through the whole city with the tidings that Simon's boat was returning ; and by the time the vessel's prow had touched the strand there was a great crowd in waiting to give a glad wel come to One whose name was now upon every lip, and whose praises were resounding through all Galilee. That this interest was so great as to have worked its way up into the very highest circles of society at Caper naum is evident from the fact that among the first that came seeking Jesus after his arrival was the Ruler of the Synagogue of the city, Jairus by name, the chief elder of the congregation, and one to whom the people looked up with great respect. The disciples involuntarily give way at his approach, nqt merely out of reverence for his sacred office, but be cause his countenance bears evidence of great internal anxiety and agitation. Flinging himself at the feet of Jesus in all the despera tion of grief and with all the passion of a father's love, he cries in words that seem to choke him in the very utter ance, and which show how full of anxiety his heart is, 17 130 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. "Master, my little daughter lieth at the point of death; but come and lay thine hand upon her, and she shall live." The grief, the love, the faith, that are crowded into this brief, heartbreaking utterance come home at once to the tender and sympathizing soul of Jesus. Without a moment's delay he starts with the sorrow-stricken ruler toward his residence. His disciples go with him, and the crowd also fol lows to see the end. Luke informs us that it was the ruler's "only daughter," and that she was "about twelve years of age" — items which awaken in every sympathetic heart a more tender interest in the case. The distance to the ruler's residence could not have been great, and would soon have been traversed had not the magnitude of the crowd which thronged about these RAISING THE RULER'S DAUGHTER. 131 noted personages seriously impeded their progress. The healing of a poor woman by the way also somewhat de layed them. We can readily conceive how trying these detentions must have been to that anxious father, whose heart was all the while in that sick-chamber where death was shak ing the last sands from the glass of his daughter's life. And while, no doubt, he struggled in his soul not to be selfish in his sorrow, and while he gave no outward sign of complaint, yet we can almost hear his heart crying, " Oh, my poor darling, shall we ever be able to reach you before you breathe your last !" At length the woman healed by the way is dismissed, and, with a sigh of relief from the ruler's heart, the walk is resumed. But, lo ! just at this moment a messenger from his own house meets him with tidings that blast all his hopes : ' ' Thy daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the Master any further ?" What a stroke was this to the heart of Jairus ! Whilst he hung over the couch of his sick child and observed her gradual descent to the tomb, and marked the inefficacy of all human remedies, sorrow and despondency had filled his soul. But when he heard that Jesus had returned, when the compassionate Saviour before whom disease and pain had so often fled had consented to accompany him, hope and assurance had again taken possession of his heart ; his child would be rescued from the grasp of death and restored to his loving bosom. But, alas ! how are these fond expectations blighted in a moment ! The 13i THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. arrow of death has smitten his child, and the tidings of that calamity fall like a bolt from a clear sky upon him. While there was life there was hope ; but who can bring back the dead? Even this great prophet has never raised the dead. His heart is sinking within him, his faith is fast dying out. Jesus sees it all, and with a word of reassuring power he calmly says to him, ' ' Be not afraid : only believe. It is a word fitly spoken: how good it is! The fainting heart drinks it in like a cordial, and is strengthened ; the sinking faith rallies at that masterly call ; the leaden look of despair that was beginning to glaze the eye of the ruler gives way again to the radiant beam of hope. They move on toward the mansion. On arriving at the court-gate of the ruler's house, Jesus puts back the RAISING THE RULER'S DAUGHTER. 133 multitude and all pf his disciples except Peter, James and John — the three privileged apostles, who alone also were permitted to witness the scenes of his transfiguration on the mount, and his agony in the garden — these three witnesses are permitted to enter with Jairus and himself. Within the court and in the house a large number of friends are gathered, and also a company of 'hired mourners, who are making of the place a perfect bed lam ; for the rites over the dead have already begun, and the court is resounding with funereal hymns and noisy lamentations. In that Eastern clime it is the custom to give great dramatic expression to all feelings of the soul, and on fu neral occasions the friends of the dead not only put on habiliments of grief, as with us, but they rend their gar ments, beat their breasts and make the house resound with their wailings. Professional mourners, skilled in the simulation of grief, are hired to swell the sorrowful lamentations, and the higher the rank of the afflicted family, the more nu merous the wailers and the more vehement the demon strations. Such, is the noisy scene which presents itself to Jesus as he enters the house of Jairus. Of course there is no heart in this outcry — it is all sound and show — and we can readily conceive how re pulsive it must be to the heart of Jesus. His whole ministry has been a protest against hypocrisy and con ventionalism, and the hypocrisy of grief is the most offensive of all things to his sincere and honest soul. 134 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. He therefore sternly rebukes these professional mourn ers, and says to them, ' ' Give place : why make ye this ado ? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth." Not dead? Cannot they — professional experts — tell the difference between sleep and death? She is dead, and they know it to be so, and they laugh him to scorn. Their laughter is real, and shows plainly how truly the lamentation was a sham. Both are discordant to the ear and heart of Jesus and unsuited to the hour and the place, and so, with the help of the proprietor of the house, our Lord drives them all out. We must not understand Jesus as absolutely affirming that the maid was not dead, but as speaking figuratively of her death as being but a sleep out of which he would soon awake her. In the same manner he spoke of the death of Lazarus : "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of his sleep." And then, seeing that the disci ples did not understand his figurative language, he said plainly, "Lazarus is dead." Having expelled from the house the noisy professionals, Jesus, taking the father and mother and the three chosen- disciples, ascends to the upper chamber where the little maid lies habited for the tomb. Approaching the couch with quiet reverence, and gazing a moment upon the silent and yet beautiful form of the deceased child, Jesus takes the little cold, dead hand in his and utters two thrilling words : " Talitha Cumi /"— RAISING THE RULER'S DAUGHTER. 135 ^mm "Little maid, arise!" It is - the voice of Him who holds the keys of the invisible world, and at once the spirit returns to its vacated ten ement. It is the touch of Him who quicken eth whom soever he will, and instantly the cold clay responds. The heart begins again its mysterious pulsations ; the ruddy current of life starts through all the channels of the little body; the marble limbs and the pallid face flush with the crimson beauty of awakened life ; the lungs heave again with living breath ; and with a deep sigh the little maiden opens her sweet Jewish eyes, as bright as stars. For a moment she gazes with loving surprise and awe into the sweet, kind face of the stranger bending over her, and then, rising up in the bed by the help of his 136 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. hand, she looks around; beholding her mother kneeling beside the couch, she throws her arms around her neck in a fond embrace. The father bends also to clasp his restored darling in his arms. Then, releasing herself from these fond embraces, she abandons the couch and walks about the room. Who can describe — who can even conceive — the joy of the happy parents, the fervor with which they pour forth their praises to God, and the thankfulness to Jesus which swells their hearts? The evangelist says, "They were astonished with a great astonishment." They could hardly believe the reality of their blessedness. They seem like those who dream. But as they gaze upon their beloved child walking about in perfectly restored health their rapture is unbounded. They break forth into the most ardent expressions of wonder and gratitude at the display of such power and kindness, such omnipotence, set in all the grace of gentleness. In their rapture they are wellnigh forgetting the ne cessities of their restored child ; and the calm and thought- fui Jesus, to bring them back to the duties of life and the reality of the restoration, bids them give the little maid something to eat. And then, with a humility as divine as his power, he charges them to " tell no man." He represses the fame of his mightiest act, lest it might lead to a fanatical enthusiasm. Who else could combine so much majesty with so much meekness ? Well might Rousseau declare him to be "without weakness and without ostentation." RAISING THE RULER'S DAUGHTER. 137 Let us believe they did their best to obey. But it was like the attempt to confine the light or the air. The deed proclaimed itself, and St. Mark tells us " the fame thereof went abroad in all the land." It is a pleasing fact that St. Mark has preserved and transmitted the very words our Lord addressed to the ear of the sleeping maiden. And there is an inimitable touch of grace and tenderness in their use — one of the prettiest points of the whole narrative. The Greek tongue was the language of the schools and public speakers of our Lord's day, and in our Greek Tes tament we have, therefore, the very words that fell from the lips of Jesus, it being without doubt the ordinary lan guage employed by Christ. But in the old Jewish families the old language, the Aramaic — a dialect of the Hebrew tongue — was always used in domestic intercourse. The little daughter of the ruler, who lay dead, it is quite likely had learned no other language. How beautifully accordant, therefore, with the character of Him whose heart is tenderness itself that as he leaned over the dead form of the little maiden, and breathed that life-giving whisper into her ear, it should have been in the familiar accents of the mother-tongue, saying — "Tal'-i-tha Cu'-mi!" This is the reason why Christ on this occasion used He brew instead of Greek, and this is evidently the reason why Mark has especially noticed and preserved it. It was a beautiful and affecting touch of the Saviour's graciousness. 18 138 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Softly and sweetly must the tones of that loving voice, speaking in the language of her childhood, have fallen upon the sleeping spirit of the little maiden ; and thus by words of tenderness as well as by words of power was she recalled to life and happiness. There was ever this superlative charm, this union of gentleness and wisdom, of tenderness and power, in all that Jesus did ; his mightiest acts were inlaid with grace. It is a beautiful fact that in each of these highest man ifestations of his power, the restoring of the dead to life — of which three cases only are recorded — Jesus gives as touching an evidence of his sympathy with our domestic affections and afflictions as he does of his divine power. Here, it is the only daughter of two fond parents he restores to their arms ; at Nain, it is the only son of a widowed mother he gives back to her fond embrace ; at Bethlehem, the only brother of two devoted sisters, tho head of their household, he rescues from the grave. In each instance it is the restoration of one whoso loss in the domestic circle is most deeply felt and la mented, and whose recall to life turns a grief the most acute into a joy the most rapturous. So touched is he with the feelings of our nature, and so much regard has he for the hallowed affections of the household. 0 blessed Jesus ! thine was not only the voice of omnipo tent power, but thine the heart of infinite love, beating only with the desire to comfort, bless and save. But let us not overlook the splendor of this miracle as an evidence of the omnipotence of the Son of God. RAISING THE RULER'S DAUGHTER. 139 This was the first miracle Jesus wrought upon the dead, and it stands forth the highest proof yet given of his divine power. His other miracles have left all earthly physicians at an infinite distance ; for he has not only wrought instant and perfect cures in cases which they had abandoned as hope less, but he has accomplished by a word, a touch, a look. what all their skill and remedies through long years of treatment failed to do. But when he comes to stand in the presence of death and pluck the victim from the iron grasp of the skeleton king himself, then Jesus absolutely stands alone. There is no rival who will attempt to measure power with him here. Since the sad catastrophe of man's fall, death has reigned supreme upon the earth ; there has been none found to dispute his sway. God has been constantly replenishing the world with life, but in every age death has swept and cleared the stage. Over each generation in succession he has thrown his black pall. The number of his victims would topple down all the columns of human computation ; could even their bones be gathered together, they would make a mountain of mortality that would reach the heavens. But the grim conqueror has borne them all away to his gloomy caverns ; he has hidden them in the dust of ages. " The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just, Have silently mingled their bones with the dust." Who, then, shall have the courage or the audacity to 140 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. dispute the sway of this all-conquering despot? Jesus comes. Boldly and openly he announces himself as the antagonist of death and the bestower of life upon all who will believe in his name ! "I am the resurrection and the life ; whosoever believeth in me shall never die : I will raise him up at the last day." Amazing proclama tion ! Stupendous announcement ! Can he maintain so lofty an assumption ? Can he give proof of a power so mighty ? He proceeds to do so. He makes instant and constant invasion upon the empire of death. ' ' He heals all man ner of sicknesses and all manner of diseases among the people," thus defeating the designs of death by drawing the arrows he had infixed, and healing the wounds. But here at the house of the ruler he goes a step far ther. He arrests the Pale Archer himself ! The vic tim is in his arms, and he is about to bear her away, but with a single word Jesus compels him to give back the little maiden and retire discomfited. A little farther on, and we see him stand by the bier at the gates of Nain, and again pluck the prey from the teeth of Death. And still later in the ascending steps of his progress and power we see him by the graveside of one who has been dead four days, and at his call the dead comes forth to life. Is not this sufficient to vindicate his lofty claims? Can he give any greater evidence of his power over death ? Yes, one more proof will he give. It shall be RAISING THE RULER'S DAUGHTER. 141 the climax of all his miracles and the demonstration supreme of his power. He humbles himself unto death, he lays down his own life. He suffers the ghastly king to bear his own body into the very heart of his gloomy citadel, to bar the en trance, to fortify himself in his stronghold with all the power that earth and hell can give to aid him. And then the Son of God, rising in all the omnipotence of his divine nature, and with more ease than Samson broke the green withes of the Philistines, breaks the bands of death, o'ertopples his skeleton throne, rolls back the great stone that blocks the door of his tomb, and stands forth again among men radiant with immortality, and by signs infallible and innumerable, shows that he is the Prince of life, and that over him Death has no power ! His claims are therefore substantiated, his word is true and the hour coming when all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation. Oh, blessed hour for his redeemed, when this corruption shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, and the saying be brought to pass, "Death is swallowed up in victory"! If there was joy in the house of Jairus over this single victory of Jesus over death, what shall be the rapture that will fill our Father's house above when the whole family of the redeemed shall celebrate the complete and final triumphs of the Prince of life ? 142 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Oh, most blessed hour, after all the sorrows, darkness and burdens of this life, to find redeeming love has tri umphed, and we and our ransomed kindred are safe in our Father's house ! Ah ! what joyful recognitions and unexpected raptures shall then surprise us ! No Rachel shall be there " weeping for her children" and refusing to be comforted "because they are not;" no Jacob crying out, ' ' Me have ye bereaved of my children : Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away ; all these things are against me;" no David exclaim ing, "Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness." Ah, no ! these days of sorrow and sighing are gone for ever, and the morning of eternal rapture has dawned. There the mothers of Bethlehem find their martyred babes, and press them to their holy hearts, in a land where Herod never reigns, and malice and rage never come ! There Jacob meets again his beloved Rachel — for whom he served seven years with a love that made it seem but seven days — and in the rapture of reunion forgets the sorrow with which he mourned her death at Bethlehem. There David clasps again to his bosom his beloved friend Jonathan, and expresses his joy in accents more eloquent and impassioned than those in which he lament ed his fall on the heights of Gilboa. Oh, tell me, ye who have felt the power of friendship or affection, and have also known the bitter pangs of separa- RAISING THE RULER'S DAUGHTER. 143 tion, what must be the felicity of renewing love and fellowship, in a world where no discord mars the per fect harmony of the intercourse, and where death shall never tear us asunder ? If Cicero, although a Pagan, could cry out with so much delight, " Oh, glorious day when I shall retire from this low and sordid scene to associate with the divine as sembly of departed spirits !" with what holy joy should the Christian anticipate the hour when he shall be intro duced to the church of the first-born in heaven, to mingle his voice with theirs in the anthems of glory, and to dwell in their blessed society for ever ! If good old Jacob, in meeting his beloved son Joseph after their long and painful separation, threw himself into his arms with such delight, and uttered with such rapture, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, my son: because thou art yet alive," who ' can even con ceive the joy of meeting in heaven our beloved ones, rescued from the grave and clothed with the splendors of immortality ? And oh what joy unspeakable, to see in his glory Him who loved us, and who gave himself for us, and to behold the hands that were pierced for our re demption stretched out to welcome us ! Oh, blessed hour of rapture ! Will it not be worth waiting for, suffering for, laboring for? What matter though we be poor, or sick, or slighted, or slandered, or overlooked, or forgotten, moving here amid the shadows of this world, so that we attain unto this resurrection of the blessed dead, and share in this rapturous joy. 144 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Well might St. Augustine exclaim, " Oh joy most ex quisite, most excellent, most comprehensive; above which, in comparison with which, beside which, there is no joy ! When shall I enter into thee, and behold my God that dwelleth in thee ! What is it that detains me from him whom my soul loveth ? How long shall it be said to my eager heart, ' Wait, wait patiently' ?" ' "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Oh, let our longing souls soon hear the escorting angels say, " Lift, lift thy wondering eyes ! Yonder is paradise, And this fair shining band Are spirits of that land. And these that throng to meet thee are thy kin, Who have awaited thee, redeemed from sin ! The city gates unfold ; enter, oh enter in !" jsf. $|taili, V: xxv-xxxiv. ^nb a certain toomau, fajjitb jjab an issue of bloob ffaelbe gears, anb Ijab snffereb mang fljings of mang pijgsirians, anb Ijab spent all tljat sjje bab, anb toas nothing bettereb, but ratljer greto toorse, fejjen she (jab jjearb of |esus, came in f Ije press beljinb, anb foucljeb Ijis garment. J or slje saib, |f | mag ioutjj but Ijis clotljes, f sljall be toljole. ginb straigljttoag % fountain of ijer bloob toas brieb up; anb sjje felt in Ijer bobg tljat slje toas Ijeafeb of tljat plague. §axb |esus, imraebiatelg knotoing in Ijimself tljaf birtue bab gone out of jjim:, funxeb him about in tlje press, anb saib, fflljo foucljeb mg clotljes? garb Ijis bistiples saib unto jjim, % Ijou seest fge mnlfitnbe fljronging tljee, anb sagest ijjon, Htjjo toutbeb me 1 gaxb Ije lookeb rounb about fo see Ijer fjjat Ijab bone tjjis f jjiug. $3ut ijje toomau fearing anb trembling, knotoing tojjaf toas bone in her, eame anb fell boton before jjim, anb tolb Ijim all % irnf jj. §i.nb Ije saib unto jjer, Jaugljter, tljg failj; Ijaf jj mabe ijjee tojjole ; go in peace, anb be tojjole of tljg plague. "As evening's pale and solitary star But brightens while the darkness gathers round ; So faith, unmoved amid surrounding storms, Is fairest seen in darkness most profound." THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 149 "If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole." It was a poor woman who gave utterance to this strong and beautiful expression of faith. Some of the finest sayings upon record — the best that have ever escaped human lips — have been uttered by women, and by women, too, who had no extraordinary culture, but who had been refined in God's great furnace of affliction. Gifted by nature with more heart than man, and with finer and keener perceptions, their intuitions of love and faith are stronger, quicker and brighter than those of 150 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS, men, and in moments of great heart excitement these flashes from the emotional side of their nature have often been exceedingly brilliant and happy. Where in the whole range of human literature, for instance, can there be found anything more admirable than the reply of the woman of Canaan to Jesus ? In answer to her petition for help, our Lord, to test her, had said, "It is not meet to take the children's bread and throw it unto dogs;" to which she instantly responded, "True, Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the children's table." Matchless answer 1 Nothing can exceed its beautiful humility. No wonder it took captive the heart of Jesus, and unsealed all its fountains of love and approbation. The incident we are now about to relate occurred in one of the streets of Capernaum, and has ever been con sidered one of the loveliest of our Lord's acts of mercy, and one of the most beautiful instances of faith. Jesus was on his way to the house of the ruler ; a great throng of people followed him, some few in devout love for his person and doctrines, and many, perchance, with nothing but an idle and gaping curiosity to see or - hear some new and wonderful thing. But there was one in that pressing multitude conscious of personal need, and intent on personal benefit. She was quite unfit to be in a crowd, for she was a poor, frail, sickly creature, languid and weak from a chronic internal hemorrhage, which had undermined her constitution and was endangering her life. For twelve long weary years THE HEALING TOUCH. 151 she had been a sufferer, and had spared no pains or means to obtain a cure. She had tried many physicians, had spent all her living upon them, had suffered much from their treatment, yet had gained nothing — indeed, ' ' rather grew worse." It was a peculiar aggravation of her affliction that, ac cording to the strictness of the Levitical law, she was considered unclean and her very touch pollution. It was altogether a case of great hardship ; she had been reduced from competency to poverty, left with an incurable dis ease, and by the peculiar nature of her malady cut off from human society and sympathy, and separated to a sad loneliness in all her sorrow. But it is her good fortune to hear of Jesus — of his wonderful power over disease, of his condescending grace to the suffering and the poor. If what she hears is true, he is just the physician she needs ; and in the ashes of her desponding heart a little flame of hope leaps up. At the rumor of his return to the city she is one of the first to go forth to seek him. Closely veiled, she presses her way through the throng, quietly but steadily, evidently anxious to get near to Jesus, without attracting the attention of the multitude. She has reached the central group, and is an intensely interested listener when the ruler approaches and makes his passionate appeal for the life of his little daughter. She marks with what a gracious look and with what kind promptness Jesus responds to the call of Jairus. Hope for her own case mounts higher as she looks and 152 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. listens. Surely here at last is the mighty and gracious one for whom her soul has been pining. She follows the crowd with a heart beating quickly, pondering to herself this difficult question, "How shall I make my case known to him ?" It is too much to expect that in the midst of his admiring friends, and on his way to this great man's house, he will stop to listen to the sad story of a poor creature like her. Besides, poor as she is, she has not lost her womanly delicacy, and modesty forbids her to state her case before the crowd ; and if she should, she has cause to fear their resentment for mingling among them, and thus defiling OOO' o them. It may be she even fears that Jesus himself will shrink from her unclean touch. What can she do ? He is her last, her only hope, and she may never be so near him again. She feels the preciousness of her opportunity, and her great need quickens her wit. She has been told that he can not only cure with a touch, but that a word or a look of his, has power to heal all manner of disease. She believes it all — yea, more, she believes the virtue of this blessed Healer is not con fined to his eye or hand or word, but that his whole body is a reservoir of life and health, and that it is only necessary for her to touch him, to be healed, nay — if she can but touch the hem of his garment, power will come out of his holy person, and she shall be made whole. She at once resolves, therefore, what to do. She will not go before him and attempt to arrest his steps ; nor speak THE HEALING TOUCH. 153 to him in the presence of the crowd, and expose her in firmity and incur their displeasure ; but will only press up quietly behind him and touch the fringe of his robe, and she shall be cured. Truly, this was wonderful faith, and wonderfully was it honored. No sooner has this resolve formed in her soul than it ripens into action ; with an energy of faith and hope as strong as desperation, she presses her slight and delicate frame through the rude crowd, until she is close behind Jesus, then, stretching out quickly and nervously her trembling hand — all her faith and hope concentrated in that single act — she touches the blue fringe of his robe. Instantly, like the thrill of an electric current, a sen sation of perfect health shoots through her frame ! "Straightway . . . she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." In every function of her person and in every faculty of her soul she feels it — feels she has been instantly and perfectly restored. Oh how her poor heart bounds at the rapturous thought ! That single touch of the remotest hem of the garment of the One mighty to save, has clone more for her in an instant, than all her physicians, and all their prescriptions, have clone in twelve long years. But hardly has the believing touch been given, and the healing influence felt, and the restored woman, with feelings of bewildering joy, fallen back into the obscurity of the crowd, when Jesus stops, turns round, and asks, " Who touched my clothes ?" The impetuous Peter replies at once, and in a way which 20 154 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. indicates that he thought the question almost absurd under the circumstances : "Master, the multitude throng thee, and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me ?' ' But Jesus knew well the difference between the crowding of mere curiosity and the touch of faith ; amid the pres sure of thousands he could instantly recognize the inten tional touch, however silent and gentle, of a single be liever, so much higher is internal union with Christ above external. He knew there was one there who had touched him with a purpose, and that the purpose was accomplished. He did not ask the question for his own information, but to draw out the confession of this woman, to make manifest and magnify her faith, to show her and all others, that he did not work miracles unconsciously, and that it was the moral act rather than the physical, that had reached the fountain of his compassion and power and brought healing to her nature. So he turned his mild eye upon her and said, "Some body hath touched me!' "And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she de clared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately." There was nothing strange in this poor woman's agita tion when thus called out; her heart was full of unspeak able joy, and she trembled with that, and she may have trembled also with fear, lest she had done wrong in not asking a more formal permission, or being ceremonially unclean, in mingling with the crowd, and even touching THE HEALING TOUCH. 155 the great Teacher himself. But no word of censure comes from the lips of Jesus, only words of gracious love and consolation : "Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole: go in peace." "Be of good com fort!" Let no fear of having given offence embitter thy joy ; thine was an act of faith to be approved, not of presumption to be cen sured. "Go in peace!" In the consciousness of health restored to thy body, and of thy Sa viour's blessing upon thy soul. Jesus loved to honor faith, and to make a way through the healing of the body for that greater work, the healing of the soul ; and we cannot doubt that these words of grace and power conveyed to her spirit a blessing infinitely more precious than that which her faith had brought to her physical nature. He would not permit her to depart with only half a blessing, or in ignorance of his knowledge of her desire, her faith, and her cure. 156 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. He asked, " Who touched me?" to draw out her con fession, to commend her faith, to confirm her cure, to im part the blessing of his peace to her soul, and to dismiss her with the endearing appellation of " daughter." Oh, was not the whole act altogether like the blessed Son of God, as matchless in the grace of its manner, and the completeness of its nature, as in the greatness of its power ! Having healed, blessed, and dismissed, this poor woman with words of peace and life, Jesus resumed his walk toward the house of the ruler, this act of grace being merely incidental — a parenthesis of compassion in the bosom of a mission of mercy. What a conception it gives us of the beneficent life of the Son of God while upon earth ! The poet tells us, " We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heai't-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." If we measure life by this true and exalted standard, brief as the ministry of Jesus was, how long a life was crowded into those few years! His incarnation was in deed but momentary, "a sudden flash through the ^ O twilight of the ages, seen no more by mortal eyes, yet shining upon the soul for ever with a light above the brightness of the sun." Plis was a ceaseless mission of beneficence ; his days were filled with deeds of mercy, and even at night, when his wearied body required repose, the children of sorrow and affliction besieged his retreat, THE HEALING TOUCH. 157 and never did they seek his help in vain. Over the door of his most secret chamber was written, " Knock, and it shall be opened ; seek, and ye shall find. As you may trace a stream of living water through the fields and meadows by the luxuriant foliage that gems its border, and the line of brighter verdure that marks its course, so the path of Jesus could be traced from place to place by the health, the life, the joy, he left in his train. " Wherever he came, disease and suffering fled from his presence; . . . where he was expected, the public way was thronged with forms of helplessness, disease and woe. Where he had passed, the restored might be seen making trial of their new-found powers ; listeners formed into groups to hear the tale of healing ; and the delighted objects of his compassion rehearsing with earnestness what had passed, imitating his tones, and even trying to convey an idea of his condescending ways. His voice was the first sound which many of them heard ; his name the first word they had pronounced ; his blessed form the first sight they had ever beheld." Among the ignorant, he was the fountain of light, among the needy, the fullness of the Godhead, among the sick and the dying, the almighty Healer and Quick - ener. With him the close of one act of beneficence was but the beginning of another, and he dispensed his favors as freely and profusely as God gives the air and the sun shine — as if all the garnered treasures of eternity were in his hands and he was yearning with the godlike desire 158 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. to impart them unto men. They brought thousands of sick and diseased persons unto him, and the simple record is, "He healed them all." He refused but one application to his miraculous power, and that was when his -indignant disciples rashly desired that fire from heaven might be called down upon the heads of those who in a certain village rejected his ministry. He rebuked their spirit and told them, " The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." 0 Jesus of Nazareth ! what tongue or pen can fitly set forth thy matchless grace and power ! What didst thou not say. and do, and suffer, to convince us that the great heart of Infinite Love throbs with the tenderest pity and the divinest compassion for this guilty race ! And what does this blessed Son of God ask in return for all his acts of love and compassion ? Simply that we should have Faith in Him. The world was lost through unbelief; it must be restored through faith. Hence, of all the exercises of the soul, none is so frequently men tioned and so highly commended in the gospel as faith in the Son of God. No other grace brings such glory to God and such blessings to man. When the Jews said to Jesus, " What shall we do that we might work the xvorks of God?" he gave them this remarkable answer : " This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." And St. John, in closing up his Gospel, says to us all, "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book : but THE HEALING TOUCH. 159 these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye might have life through his name." It becomes, therefore, one of the most interesting and important, because one of the most vital, of questions, What is faith in the Son of God ? What is the nature of that belief on Christ of which the gospel makes so much account, and which it declares essential to the sal vation of our souls ? It is just this which the New Tes tament sets itself continually to make plain and clear to the minds of mankind — not, indeed, by elaborate and philosophical definitions of the faculties of the mind, and their mysterious and subtile operations, for there is noth ing harder to describe, and nothing more difficult to com prehend, than the simplest acts of the soul, when you enter into the metaphysics of the matter. But the gospel does not attempt to explain faith metaphysically, but practically by the most interesting, and ofttimes most touching, illustrative examples. The Holy Spirit, in his infinite benevolence, takes these things of Christ — the grand vital things upon which the salvation of the soul hinges — and shows them unto the minds of men in these beautiful narratives in a way so plain, so impressive, that even a child need not err therein. How simple is faith in the light of this touching story ! How strong this woman's confidence in the power and willingness of Christ to heal her ! Her case, so far as human help was concerned, was desperate. 160 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Yet, sick, polluted, poor and solitary, she believes the Son of God can cure her, and will. He has never turned away a suppliant. His power has never failed in a single case. He asks no recompense. Nor does she be lieve he is confined to any particular mode of communi cating his virtue ; and as the circumstances seem to make it impracticable for her to speak to him in the crowd and ask him to lay his hands upon one so polluted, she be lieves his power is so great that if she can but touch the hem of his garment she shall be cured. Could faith in Christ be simpler or stronger than this ? But strong as her faith in the power and grace of Christ is, she knows it will not effect her cure unless ac companied by fitting works. There must be personal application to the great Physician. It was not enough for her to know that he was a mighty Healer. It was not sufficient to be convinced that he could heal " all manner of diseases" — that he had healed them, and was still healing them. She knew — though he was willing to receive and bless all who came to him — that he could not be expected to cure her unless she should seek the favor, or in some way express to him her need and her hope. In other circumstances she would have knelt before him and openly besought his blessing; but since that mode seems closed to her, she resolves to touch the hem of his garment, and by that simple but significant gesture express her faith and her desire. Some method of communication between her sick body THE HEALING TOUCH. 161 and her Lord's virtue she felt there must be. Had he laid his hand upon her, that would have healed her ; had he spoken to her the word of grace, that would have ac complished her cure ; had he even looked upon her, that would have been sufficient. So she believed that even the touch of her finger upon the hem of his robe, slight as the connection was, would be sufficient. And so it was. That much was necessary, and that was enough. Thus in her own ingenious way ; in a way her circum stances seemed to say was most fitting ; in a way that was modest and humble, yet full of earnestness and -faith ; she sought personal application and appropriation of a Saviour's virtue and grace to her own case, and was made whole ! Oh how simple, and yet howT blessedly efficacious, is this personal trust in the Son of God ! It is this very simplicity of the act of faith that stag gers many. They cannot be convinced that all they have to do is to " believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ' ' and be saved! To stretch forth the hand of faith as this poor woman did, and touch the robe of a Saviour's righteous ness, and be blessed for ever ! And yet this is all. The believing touch ! Many touched Christ in that day and bore no blessing away, but this single touch of faith emptied the compassion of Christ's heart into this poor woman's body and soul. Oh how easy it is to obtain blessings that are beyond all price ! In the Old Testament history we have a very striking and beautiful illustration of the way of salvation through faith. At one time in the journey of the people of 21 162 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Israel through the wilderness, they displeased God so greatly by their unbelief and murmuring that he was pro voked to manifest his wrath, and as a judgment upon their sin he sent among them a great number of fiery serpents, which bit the people ; and no cure being found for the bite, multitudes died. Terrified at this awful judgment, they came in great fear and sorrow to Moses, humbly confessed their guilt and besought him to inter cede with God in their behalf. Moses prayed unto the Lord for them, and the prayer was heard and relief came, not precisely in the way they had asked, but in a way most instructive and significant. The fiery serpents were not at once removed, yet a way was made known by which those who were bitten might be instantly cured. Moses was commanded to make a serpent of brass, and to raise it up on a pole in the midst of the camp, so that all the congregation might see it. And to this ¦ the wounded people were directed to look, and it was prom ised that every one who was bitten, on looking at this brazen serpent, should be cured ; his deadly wound should be healed, and he should live. And thus it came to pass as many as believed and obeyed the direction were in stantly saved. Here was a method of salvation entirely original and perfectly simple. It was surely a way of giving relief that never would have entered into the mind of man ; but even had man conceived it, he could not have made it effectual. It was altogether of God. His wisdom planned it, his power gave it efficacy. All its virtue lay THE HEALING TOUCH. 163 in the divine appointment. It was not necessary that there should be any natural connection between the disease and the remedy. It was a supernatural remedy. It was not necessary that the Israelites should understand the philosophy of it, or that their learned men and doctors should approve of it. It was only necessary that they should believe the promise of God and obey his com mandment. Every Israelite who desired to be healed had but to look with faith upon this remedy of God, to turn his eyes upon it in hope and expectation of a cure, and find it. It was a striking type of salvation through Jesus. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up : that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." This is the way of salvation for sinners, which the wisdom of God has planned, the love of God has provi ded, and the mercy of God has made known to us. It is all of God. He alone could say what satisfaction he required for our sins, and in what way he could be reconciled to his guilty creatures, and he alone could fur nish the costly sacrifice. He has done so. We have only thankfully to receive the remedy thus provided. If we reject or neglect it, there is no other way of salvation. What would have become of the wounded Israelites, had they refused to make use of the remedy proffered them ? Had they said, "No ; we will try some other means. We will go to the physicians. We will have recourse to medicines. We will see if we cannot heal ourselves," 164 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. What would have been the inevitable consequence of thus rejecting the only cure? They would have all per ished. So it is with the way of salvation through Christ. It is the only way. And those who, through pride or per- verseness or neglect, refuse to have recourse to it, must die in their sins. How sad the thought that any should be lost, when it is so easy to be saved ! " Oh how unlike the complex works of man Heaven's easy, artless, unencumbered plan ! No meretricious graces to beguile, No clustering ornaments to clog the pile ; From ostentation, as from weakness, free, It stands like the cerulean arch we see, Majestic in its own simplicity. Inscribed above the portal, from afar Conspicuous as the brightness of a star-, Legible only by the light they give, Stand the soul-quickening words, BELIEVE and LIVE." St. park, ii: iii-xh. guxb tljeg come uufo gim, bringing one sick of tjje palsg, tojjkjj toas borne of four, gtixb tojjen ijjeg coulb not come nigjj unto Ijim for % press, tbeg uncobrreb tlje roof fojjere jje toas : anb tojjeu tljeg Ijab broken it up, %g let botou tlje beb tojjcrein tlje sick of tlje palsg lag. Sftjjen |esus sato tbeir faifjj, Ije saib unto tlje sick of tlje palsg, Hon, tjjg sins be forgibeu fjjee. §ut tjjere toere certain of fjje scribes sifting ijjere, anb reasoning in ijjeir gearfs, foljg botjj tljis man fjjus speak blaspljemies? tobo can forgibe sins but (Sob onlg ? guxb immebiatelg, tojjen frsns perceibeb in jjis spirit fjjat tjjeg so reasotteb toifjjiu tgcmselbes, jie saib unto %m, SStjjg reason ge tjjcse flings in gour jjcarts ? SEjjef jjer is if easier fo sag to tjje sick of fjje palsg, 6Ibg sins be forgiben Ijjee ; or lo sag, girise, anb take up tjjg beb, anb foalk ? $3nt tljat ge mag knoto tljaf tlje Hon of man jjatjj potoer on eartb to forgibe sins, (ge saifb to fjje sick of tlje palsg,) $ sag unfo fljee, girise, anb take up tjjg beb, anb go tjjg toag info fjjine jiouse. glnb immebiatelg lie arose, took up f Ije beb, anb toent fortlj before tjjcm all ; iusomnrlj fljat f Ijeg toere all ama^eb, anb glorxfieb (fob, saging, WS.i neber sato if on tljis fasjjtou. "Perseverance is a virtue That wins each god-like act, and plucks success E'en from the spear-proof crest of rugged, danger! THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 169 Curing the Paralytic. The fame of Jesus was filling the whole land. From Capernaum as a centre, he made circuits of beneficence through all the towns and cities of Galilee, and it is hardly possible to estimate the vast number, and variety, of cures wrought by him, and the intense enthusiasm which they awakened among the people. Nothing is so contagious as enthusi asm, and it spread from city to city, and from town to town, like fire among the dry grass of the fields. The ordinary affairs of life were brought almost to a 22 170 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. stand, and the currents of society turned out of their usual channels. Every miracle added new fuel to the flame of popular excitement, and the people, dropping everything else, caught up their sick and suffering and bore them to his presence, or awaited his approach with the deepest interest. Capernaum was fairly besieged on his return from these tours, so that Mark says, "He could no more openly enter the city." Not that Jesus was unwilling to teach and heal all that would come to him, but a fame so great had its perils ; there was danger lest the popular enthu siasm should become ungovernable and compromise the people with their political rulers. The jealous Herod was watching the movements of Jesus with a vigilant and suspicious eye, and was in constant fear lest under the guise of religious ardor there lurked a civil revolution which would unseat him from his throne, and break the Roman yoke from the neck of the nation. But the kingdom of Jesus was not of this world ; he had no political designs, and therefore he sought to allay rather than to arouse the enthusiasm of the people. But this was a very difficult thing to do; for while his words were calm, his teachings purely spiritual, and not a syllable escaped his lips calculated to influence them against their rulers, yet his mighty deeds set the heart of the nation ablaze. Nor can we wonder at this, when we consider a mo ment the number and marvelous character of these works. Take a single scene as pictured by St. Mark. CURING THE PARALYTIC. 171 It is in the city of Capernaum, and at the close of a Sabbath day. "And at even xvlien the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased and them that were possessed with devils, and all the city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils : and suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him." All the diseases caused by the violent heats of tropical climates acting upon the uncleanly habits and squalid poverty of the masses, were represented. Fevers, drop sies, palsies, blindness, deafness and demoniacal posses sions — human misery was there in all its various forms. It was like a camp hospital. But Jesus moved amid the scene like a breath of life from another world. One by one, by a word or by a touch, they were all restored, and sent on their way with hearts bounding with joy and lips vocal with praise- Is it any wonder that such scenes produced the deepest impression upon the people ? That they were astonished beyond measure, and that the renown thereof filled the whole land ? Power like this can no more be hid, than you can hide the light of the sun ; fame like this can no more be confined, than you can confine the winds of heaven. We are not surprised, therefore, when Matthew tells us that the name of Jesus was spread "throughout all Syria," and that multitudes came to Capernaum from "Decapolis, from Jerusalem, from Judea (generally) and from beyond Jordan." 172 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. On a certain occasion after one of these Galilean cir cuits, an incident occurred which has become a striking historical illustration of what perseverance may accom plish. Jesus was teaching in a private house; a number of dignitaries of the synagogue and the temple were gathered there to hear him : " There were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem." The rumor of this interview between Jesus and these distinguished strangers fills the whole city with excite ment ; crowds come pouring to the spot ; the rooms and court-yard are soon filled ; the gate of entrance is choke full, and even the street outside thronged. So that when others come they find "no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door." In the midst of this great- press four men approach, bearing upon a couch or litter a poor man sick of the palsy — a disease found everywhere and in various forms and degrees, sometimes attacking the whole body and sometimes only parts. It is a cessa tion of nervous and muscular activity, all power of the will over these functions being destroyed and the affected parts being left virtually dead. When the whole system is the subject of this nervous paralysis, death usually soon ensues ; but if death come not to his relief, the vic tim is left to drag out the most miserable existence. This man they are bringing is evidently very sick — so entirely helpless that he can only be brought to Jesus on his pallet or couch, by his friends. But while compelled by his peculiar disease to be thus CURING THE PARALYTIC. 173 physically passive, there is every reason to believe that his mind and heart are intensely awake and his whole soul interested in this attempt of his friends to bring him to Jesus. It is probably his earnest desire that leads them to make an effort so extraordinary that it has be come memorable for ever. They find it utterly impossible to penetrate that dense . and selfish crowd and gain access to the court-yard by the ordinary and only passage way. What will they do ? Shall they give up the attempt to approach Jesus, and bear their poor sick friend home again to die ? Ah ! that heart-appealing look from the litter forbids the thought. No, they will not give it up. All things are possible to determined souls. — Remember that, Oh ! anxious heart ! — A happy thought strikes one of them ; he looks up and perhaps sees persons on the roof, and he exclaims, " The house-top, the house-top ! Let us bear him to the house-top and lower him into the court." But how will they gain access to it ? The stairs leading thither are within the court-yard. They must go next door. So they at once bear him to the top of the adjoining house, across the flat roof and the low separat ing parapet, to the roof of the house where Jesus is. The houses in the East are built in the form of a hol low square, around an open space, presenting blank walls to the street, except at the front, where there is a door of entrance leading through a narrow arch-way into the court-yard, which in the better class of houses is some forty by fifty feet square, generally paved with 174 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. tiles, and frequently with a fountain and shallow pool in the centre. From the court-yard an outer stairway reaches the roof, which is flat and guarded by battlements, and is the frequent resort of the people in the cool of the day, and often their resting-place at night. At the farther end, opposite the entrance, there is gen erally an elevated arched recess or lewan, some ten feet in depth, extending the whole width of the court, with a luxuriously-cushioned divan in the rear. This is the usual reception-room. It is probably in this recess, with the Pharisees and doctors of the law seated around him, and the crowd in the open space before hirn, Jesus is teaching. The bearers of the paralytic have therefore only_ to r&move a portion of the breast-work or battlement, made of tiles, which guards the roof, lift the board or linen covering of that part of the court-yard, and lower the man down, couch and all, to friendly hands beneath, who will lay him at the very feet of Jesus. Luke says, " They let him clown through the tiling." Mark says, " They uncovered the roof where he was." The method we have indicated seems to meet both statements, to be the most practical, and least offensive and disturbing to those beneath. It is certainly a most extraordinary interruption of a discourse. But our Lord and the people understand the case at a glance. A sick and dying man, greatly troubled in soul, desires to see Jesus. — Ah! time is precious to him, CURING THE PARALYTIC. 175 too precious now to be wasted upon mere ceremony. — And thus the motive of the act, and the urgency of the case, make that seemly and decorous which under other circumstances would be rude and improper. Jesus is not displeased at this exhibition of earnestness and faith. Indeed, nothing pleases him better. "Seeing their faith," he speaks graciously. Their faith is manifest in their great effort to get their sick friend into the presence of Christ. The plural pronoun includes them, but it does not exclude him. He was probably not only a sharer of their faith but the leader of it, a hero of faith on a lit ter, stimulating his friends by all means to bring him to 176 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Jesus who alone was able to save him. How often have we seen those who were weakest in body, strongest in faith in God ! Such is frequently the paradox of Chris tian experience. Paul says, " When I am weak then am I strong." Jesus probably sees by his omniscient glance that the man's greatest trouble is his soul trouble, — his unfitness for death, his need of forgiveness. He sees that this distresses the poor man more even than his bodily infirm ity. So he graciously turns attention first to his soul, to the troubled heart. And oh what heavenly music to that burdened heart are the words which Jesus utters ! "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee." How much of heaven's own blessedness Avas in this brief sentence from the lips of the Son of God ! For giveness ! What a benefaction to a lost sinner ! Alas that it should be so often unprized by those who need it most ! But here is one whose eyes have been opened to see his need of it, whose heart has been longing for it, who has come seeking it earnestly, and wdro, having received it graciously, enjoys it unspeakably. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto .whom the Lobd imputeth not iniquity!' Ah ! it is all important to know who it is, that gives absolution. Here was the Lawgiver himself pronouncing pardon. It was the verdict of the highest court, subject neither to appeal nor reversal. How blessed, therefore, CURING THE PARALYTIC. 177 the sentence, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," when uttered by those lips divine ! Not only does he bestow pardon, but adoption — restor ation to the family and favor of God. Mark the words : "Son, be of good cheer." How much is there in a single syllable when spoken by the voice of authority !' It is related of Napoleon Bonaparte that, upon receiving from a soldier in the ranks some courteous service that pleased him, he simply said, "Thanks, Captain!" The soldier, with a wit as ready as his courtesy, touched his cap and inquired promptly, "In what regiment, Sire?" He knew that the title from those lips was promotion itself. So when the great Captain of our salvation says to this poor sinner, "Son, be of good cheer," it is more than promotion in the ranks. It is a complete change of moral relationship. It is the blessed realization of what St. John speaks in his Gospel : "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." If Jesus had simply said, "May thy sins be forgiven thee," it would have been but an aspiration of piety to which none would have excepted. But he goes infinitely beyond this — he forgives ihe man's sins on his own au thority ; and he thus presents a claim so high and so sacred that he arouses at once all the religious and tradi tionary prejudices of these great men who are listening to him. To their minds it is the greatest of all crimes. It is nothing short of blasphemy. It is claiming to exer- 23 178 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. cise the prerogative of God. And it is therefore making himself equal with God. They did not utter a syllable, but in their hearts they said, " Who can forgive sins but God only ? ' And they were correct in that idea. God only has the power to forgive sin, but they erred in not discovering that Christ was God incarnate. With the same omnis cient glance that read the troubled heart of the paralytic, Jesus reads their hearts and tells them just what is passing in their minds. Does he tell them they have mistaken him — that he assumes no such divine preroga tive as the forgiveness of sins ? Not a word of it. He proceeds not only to reiterate it, but by irresistible evi dence to prove it. Any insane man or impostor mav advance high claims ; but being unable to establish them by conclusive evidence, such pretensions are at once seen to be as futile as sinful. Jesus asks no man to receive his claims without good evi dence. And therefore he says to these men, " Which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven, or to say to this helpless paralytic, Rise, take up thy bed and walk?" To heal such a disease as this, instantly, and by a word, is not less difficult than to forgive sins. Neither can be done without the will of God, and God will not endorse a blasphemy by a miracle; and therefore, "that ye may know that I have power to forgive sins," Listen, and look! Then, turning to the sick man, he says, "-4ri.se, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." There is no painful struggle, no slow stretching of him- CURING THE PARALYTIC. 179 self, no friendly hands needed to help him regain his feet, no difficult effort to drag himself and his pallet through the crowd. He immediately arises, and stands before them a perfectly restored man ! Every muscle, and nerve, and faculty, and function, in healthful action ! He stoops and rolls up his pallet, swings it upon his shoulder, and through the disparting and shout ing crowd makes his way, glorifying God. Amazement, awe, gladness, take posses sion of the people ! The power of God has indeed come down among men ! Learn from this miracle the possibilities of earnestness. Whatever may be the difficulties, real or apparent, all men may get to Jesus if they are so determined. Behold, also, the social usefulness of men. We all can help one another. And when we bring or direct a sinful soul to Christ, we confer the greatest of all possible ben efits. Let us never cease our efforts to do good to men be- 180 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. cause we are misunderstood, misrepresented or maligned. It will all be made clear and right in the end. How admirably the account closes : — " When the mul titude saw it, they marveled and glorified God." The enthusiasm of the people swallows up all the murmur- ings of the scribes and Pharisees. The dissonances dis- solve in harmony, the shadows in light and life ! What is this but a type of the final vindication of the claims of the Son of God, and of the character of his ser vants; and of the joy of glorified humanity, over redemp tion complete and triumphant in heaven ? The hallelu jahs of the universe shall drown all the clamors of God's foes ! The discords of hell itself shall be lost in the harmonies that shall then peal through the vaults of heaven ! Louder than the voice of mighty waters, the redeemed host, standing on the sea of glass, shall lift up their anthem of rapture : " Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God almighty. Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, 0 Lord, and glorify thy name?" This miracle in one respect is more remarkable than any we have yet considered. Here for the first time, as we have shown, Jesus assumes the divine prerogative to forgive sins. He makes an astounding advance in his pretensions. He steps upon a higher platform than ever before. There can be no mistake as to these stupen dous assumptions of Jesus, and there is no escape from their logical consequence. Having advanced these lofty claims, he can no longer be regarded simply as a great CURING THE PARALYTIC. 181 and good man. He is something more, or something less. If these assumptions be true, he is the incarnate God. If false, he is an impostor and is guilty of blas phemy, and the Jews are justified in condemning him. But may they not have misunderstood him ? No ; that is not possible, for again and again they gave him oppor tunity to explain, to qualify or to deny his assertions and their inferences, but he only reaffirmed, and in the most solemn manner, his supreme power and Godhead. On one occasion the Jews said to him , ' ' Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ?" Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was I am." "I and my Father are one!' Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them: "Many good works have I showed you from my Father ; for which of those works do ye stone me?" The Jews answered him, saying, "For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy : and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God." Here was a fair opportunity for Jesus to repudiate such a charge if it were false. But he only appeals to his divine works as the evidence of the truth of his divine nature and mission : "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works ; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him." How sublimely solemn and unmistakable the assertion of his divinity at the scene of his trial ! When the high priest said, "7" adjure thee by the living God, that thou 182 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God," Jesus, affirming, saith unto him, "Thou hast said; and hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, "He hath spoken blasphemy: what further need have we of wit nesses?" We are irresistibly driven to one of three conclusions : Jesus was either insane, or an impostor, or he was what he claimed to be, the only begotten Son of God. There is no escape from one or the other of these conclusions. Can we hesitate a moment as to which one we shall ac cept ? Was Jesus insane ? Was he the victim of a strange hallucination? Were the exalted pretensions he put forth nothing more than the innocent yet wild vagaries conceived by the tenants of our lunatic asylums ? To put such a question to any person of candor and intelligence who has read the gospel history, is to have it answered instantly and indignantly in the negative. When we look at the discourses of Jesus contained in the Gospels, at their calm and profound wisdom, at their deep spiritual insight, at their marvelous freshness, origi nality and self-evident truthfulness ; when we see that the discoveries of ages have only shed additional lustre upon their excellence, and that the wisest and best of the race have come to sit as rapt and docile scholars at his feet, we see how absurd is the charge of madness. When we remember that even the foes of Christianity, CURING THE PARALYTIC. 183 compelled by an admiration it was impossible to resist, cried out, "Never man spake like this man," and that modern infidelity itself exclaims, " What sweetness, what purity in his manners ! what affecting grace in his in structions ! what elevation in his maxims ! what profound wisdom in his discourses ! what presence of mind ! what delicacy and what justness in his replies ! what empire over his passions ! where is the man, where is the philos opher, who thus knows how to act, to suffer, and to die, without weakness and without ostentation?" — when we think of all these things, we know that Jesus was not an enthusiast with unbalanced mind, but that in him dwelt " all the treasures of wisdom, and knowledge." There were some indeed who said, "He hath a devil and is mad; why hear ye him?" But to that there was given this unanswerable reply : "These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?" But was Jesus, on the other hand, an impostor? Did he, in the exercise of a sound mind, put forth these amaz ing assumptions simply to deceive men ? Do we not know this to be impossible ? Would not such a supposi tion drive all faith in virtue and goodness out of the human soul? For eighteen centuries these claims of Jesus to supreme divinity have been published and preached to a world that is quick to take hold of conceit, and bring down the lofty pretensions of deceivers, and yet- during all that time whole nations of people, the foremost in the world for wisdom and intelligence, have 184 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. paid homage to the name of Jesus, detecting no disagree ment between his celestial merits, and his exalted claims. His worth is seen to be so great, his wisdom and power so divine, his spirit so heavenly, that, instead of being offended at his arrogance, they stand amazed at his meekness and humility, and are conscious that he is ever veiling his glory, and hiding his power — that he is infinitely greater than, he seems. But if Jesus is neither deceived himself, nor a deceiver of others, then he is what he claimed to be — what his disciples and apostles have all declared him to be, and what the universal Christian Church in all ages have believed him to be — the Son of God, the Almighty Saviour of men ! And such, dear reader, he is. And these things are written that you might believe that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing find life in his name. St. Pttfttto, VIII: I-IV. SSjjcn Ije toas come boton from tjje mountain, great mnltitubes follotoeb Ijim. JSnb, bejjolb, tljere came a leper anb toorsjjippeb Ijim, saging, Jorb, if tljou toilf, tljou canst make me clean. §,nb |esus put fortjj gis banb, anb foucljeb jjim, saging, $ toill ; be tljou clean, gaxb immebiatelg Ijis leprosg toas cleanseb. ^nb fesus saitlj unto htm, i§ec tljou tell no man ; bnl go tjrg toag, sjjeto fhgself to tlje priest, anb offer % gift tljaf Ptoses commanbeb, for a festimong unto f Ijem. "And onward through the open gate he came, A leper with the ashes on his brow, Sackcloth about his loins, and on his lip A covering, stepping painfully and slow, And with a difficult utterance, like one Whose heart is with an iron nerve put down, Crying, 'Unclean! Unclean!'" THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 189 Cleansing the Leper. Ascending from the shining level of the Sea of Galilee and the flowery plain of Gennesaret in a westerly direction, through a wild and tropical gorge called the Wady Hamam or Vale of Doves, — the rocky and precipitous sides of which, rising often to the height of a thousand feet, give shelter to vast flocks of these birds, — a short journey of six or seven miles brings you to an elevated plateau, on which lies the village of Hattin. 190 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Directly back of this settlement is a curious double- peaked hill or mountain in shape something like an Oriental saddle, rising some fifty or sixty feet above the level of the surrounding plain, known as Kurn Hattin or " Horns of Hattin." This mountain overlooks the beautiful plain of Genne saret and the lake. Capernaum is seen lying across the valley some seven miles to the north-east. As seen from that city, Mount Hattin is the highest and most conspic uous elevation on the west side of the lake, excepting Mount Tabor in the far distance ; hence it would naturally be spoken of by the people of Capernaum and its vicinity as " The Mountain," and would be their most available mountain retreat. This spot is known to Christian pilgrims as the Mount of Beatitudes, being almost without doubt or dispute the place where Christ delivered the proclamation of his new kingdom — the immortal discourse known as the "Sermon on the Mount." What a striking and beautiful contrast does the scene and circumstances of the delivery of the law of the new dispensation present to that of the old ! Not in the burn ing and barren desert at the feet of the rugged and light ning-crowned crags of Sinai, amid reverberating thunders that shake the souls of the listening multitude, does Jesus dispense the law of the new kingdom. But seated on a grassy and flowery slope with a most enchanting land scape before him, and with his chosen disciples at his feet, and a vast multitude from many regions peacefully circled CLEANSING THE LEPER. 191 around him, he opens his mouth filled with benedictions, and in words of matchless grace declares the laws and conditions" of the realm of truth and love. Out of this broad and beautiful page of nature he draws with divine felicity the simple and striking illus trations of his discourse. Yonder at the north, within sight, rises a sharp peak nearly three thousand feet above the sea, with the city of Safed at its summit. " A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." Before him are clouds of doves rising and descending from their coverts in the gorge. " Behold the fowls of the air," saith the Preacher ; " for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ?" All around him the grass glows with beautiful flower ing plants. "Consider the lilies of the field," says Jesus, " how they grow ; they toil not neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-mor row is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith?" Thus amid these quiet and beautiful scenes does Jesus call men back from the mad pursuits of pride and ambi tion to the calm virtues of a peaceful life ; to content ment, to trust in Providence, and to love to God and man. Here he shows them that the eternal kingdom of God 192 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. opens its gates — not to riches, not' to power, not to pride and self-complacency ; but to self-abasement, to peniten tial tears, to that sweet humility which exhales from a broken heart as perfume from a crushed flower ; to the spirit of meekness, mercy and forbearance ; to the souls that sigh for purity, and to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness as the most precious and desirable of all things. No wonder that they who heard this sublime and divine discourse marveled. No wonder that — just as idie shepherds felt when the heavens closed and the angels were silent — when Jesus ended his sayings, " the people were astonished." Well might they be. They had heard a sermon which was to be the inexhaustible text of a new and everlasting dispensation, a discourse whose fullness and preciousness of meaning no sage of earth, no seraph of heaven, will ever be able to ex haust. They had heard from the only begotten Son, who dwelleth in the bosom of the Father, a lesson on the fatherhood of God, and his tender love for his human children, worth more to them and to us than all the treasures of earth. No words can fitly express our obligation to the Son of God for this precious sermon. Blessed be the tongue that spake it, and the pens that recorded it, and hallowed for ever be the spot where it was delivered. If the Son of God had done nothing else but deliver this single discourse, it would have been well worth his CLEANSING THE LEPER. 193 mission to earth, and on this account alone he would have deserved the homage of all mortal and immortal beings. Oh, if these precious truths were universally believed, and these blessed precepts everywhere practiced, how soon would the blessings of the Mount of Beatitudes fall in copious and continuous showers upon the parched fields of humanity, and the moral deserts of earth blossom with all the fragrance and beauty of the rose ! But Jesus not only preached the most exalted human ity — he constantly practiced it ; and his life was a lumin ous and beautiful illustration of the kind and merciful sentiments he inculcated. Pie has therefore no sooner closed the ever-memorable discourse and descended from his mountain pulpit than we are called to admire another display of his marvelous power and kindness : ' ' When he was come down from the mount great mul titudes followed him. And behold there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean." Leprosy was a horrid disease of the skin. It appeared at first in certain circular red spots, somewhat like ring worm ; these formed ultimately into dry white scales — hence the name, from lepis, a scale ; the whole body often became thus covered, and the man was, as the Scrip ture expresses it, "a leper white as snow." This withering of the skin was only an index of what was going on within ; for there was a rottenness in the 25 194 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. very marrow of the poor victim's bones that was con suming him like a dry decay. By degrees the bones would literally rot, and in many cases the fingers and toes would drop off ; and when it came to the last and worst stages of the disease, the poor patient became a hideous spectacle,, and almost literally fell to pieces. The disease was comparatively painless, but nothing could check its silent, insidious and deadly progress. The inveterate form of the disease was absolutely beyond the power of medicine. In neither the Old nor the New Testament do we find a single example of one who was infected by this awful malady being healed except by miracle. No physician ever attempted to cure it. Nor did any quack, of whom there have been enough in every age, ever arise bold enough and bad enough to pretend to cure a disease that was considered a special visitation of God, and was there fore styled by the Jews "The stroke," " The finger of God. But the poor leper was not only in this loathsome and hopeless physical condition ; he was also ceremonially un clean, and legally defiled in all his acts. The Levitical law pursued him like an avenging Nemesis. If he drank out of a vessel, that vessel was defiled. If he lay on a bed, the bed became unclean, and whoever sat upon it afterward was also pronounced unclean. If he touched but the wall of a house, the wall became un clean and must be purged. Whatever spot he touched he polluted, and wherever he came he tainted the atmo- CLEANSING THE LEPER. sphere. Therefore the leper was shut out from the society of Israel, and all the privileges of the house of God. Other men might offer sacrifices, but not the unclean leper. Other men might share the offerings and interces sions of the high priest, but not the leper. He had no part nor lot in all this. Think of this. Plow great his hardship ! All the ordi nances and privileges of the sanctuary are nothing to him. Shut out not only from the society of his fellow- men, but also from the public worship of his God. This was the severe letter of the Levilical law in regard to him : " The leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip and shall cry, Unclean! Unclean! He shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be!' Wherever the Levitical law had sway, such was the inflexible requirement without respect to persons. Even kings, when attacked by it, were obliged to leave their palaces, to abdicate their government and to abandon society. Thus alone, "without the camp," without social and religious privileges, and without hope of cure, the poor leper dwelt. Into this isolated community of lepers imagine the story of the Prophet of Nazareth, the wonder-working Jesus, finding its way. How intense would be the in terest which it would naturally awaken ! Ah ! can you not see the lighting up of those pale and haggard faces, 196 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. as one story after another of his power and grace would be rehearsed ? And can you not hear the question that would be thrust from many directions toward the narrator of Christ's miracles : " Yes, yes! but has he ever cured a leper" ? And when he was compelled to answer "No," then would they sadly shake their drooping heads and say with a sigh, " No, indeed ; for who, since the days of Elisha the prophet, ever heard of a leper being cured?" But into the sad heart of one poor leper there, a ray of hope seems to have entered, and being nourished, grew into faith. The more he thought upon what he heard of the Prophet of Nazareth, the more he believed that there rested upon him a power such as the world had never known or seen before. And why should leprosy be beyond its reach? He did not believe it was. Christ could cure even leprosy. He believed it. And faith in Christ's divine power fairly entered into the poor man's soul. But there was another question : Would Christ cure him? Even though he possessed the power, would he deign to look upon an object so loathsome and so defiled? Would he not rather, as scores of famous teachers and learned doctors had already done, warn him from his path as a pollution? No, he could not believe it. From all' that he had heard of this wonderful Jesus, he was as gracious as he was mighty, as condescending in kindness as he was majestic in power. It was a common report that none had ever been re- CLEANSING THE LEPER. 197 jected that had applied for cure : "he healed them all." Nor had he failed to cure them perfectly, no matter what their malady. True, no leper had yet been cured ; but no leper had been rejected. He would go to him. Yes, he would try it. He lost nothing by going, even if repelled — nothing but the hope that was rising like a new life in his soul — but if accepted, if heard, if cleansed, then, oh then he gained everything. With such conclusions in his mind, and almost the desperation of hope in his soul, he goes forth to seek Jesus. He cannot go into the city, but he can intercept Jesus in the way, on his return from the mount. He knows the road he must come, and he awaits him. At length he sees the crowd approaching, and soon he sees Jesus in the midst of them. It is not difficult to distinguish him from the rest. The poor leper's heart beats wildly, for he feels it is a mighty epoch in his history. At the proper moment he advances, and bowing low in reverence he worships him, and at the same time lifts up the brave cry of a staunch and beautiful faith, "Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean!" Oh the agonizing suspense of the moment that fol lowed ! But it was not protracted ; a voice sweeter than the music of angels to that poor soul immediately replied, "I will." And moved with divine compassion, the mighty and gracious Healer put forth his hand and touched him — whom no unleprous hand had touched per haps for years — and the same voice said, "Be thou clean." 198 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Ah ! how that sound must have lingered in his soul ever after like an echo from heaven ! At the omnipotent word the disease fled : "Immediately the leprosy left him." New blood rushed along the shriveled veins and arteries. The parched skin was in a moment moist. The tainted limbs felt a quickening power, the dim, dull eye flashed with its old brightness, the husky voice re gained its musical tone — in a word, the whole disordered body recognized the magnetic touch of its Lord and Creator, and leaped instantly with all its functions into healthy action. The leper was immediately and completely healed by a touch and a word from the f-fon of God. What a benefaction was this to this poor exile from CLEANSING THE LEPER. 199 society, beholding life from afar, yet shut off from all its joys ! In a moment restored to health, to home, to social intercourse, to the house of God — in a word, to life and all that makes life desirable. Now he may embrace mother and wife and little ones. The lips of love will no longer shrink from his polluting touch. His face is now smooth and comely, his breath pure and sweet ; he may take little children to his arms and press them to his heart without let or hindrance. He may again go to the house of God, and mingle with the worshipers, and share in its blessed sacrifices and services, and lift his voice with others in its songs of adoration and gratitude. Oh what blessings are in a single word from the lips of Jesus ! Ah ! poor soul struggling with inward corrup tion so ineffectually, sighing for a purity that seems so unattainable, why not lift the prayer of the leper to Him who sitteth at the right hand of God, and who can hear the faintest whisper of thy heart, and who from that throne can breathe into thy soul the monosyllables that have such omnipotent power, "/ will, be thou clean"? Let us not fail to mark the regal manner of this miracle. It presents a striking evidence of the true divinity of the Son of God. When Moses, the mighty man of God, sought the re moval of his sister's leprosy, how did he proceed? Did he speak to the invalid or rebuke the disease ? Nay, he importuned God to remove it. In earnest and persistent prayer he cried, "Heal her now, 0 Lord, I beseech thee!" But Jesus simply sa3?s, ."/ will: be thou clean." 200 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. When the apostles performed a miracle, they never did it in their own name and by their own power. This was their language : "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." They were ever careful to have the people know that they claimed no such power as belonging to themselves: "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this ? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk ? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus, whom he hath raised from the dead : whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong whom ye see and know : yea, the faith that is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." All the servants of God, both those who preceded Christ and those who followed him, whenever they per formed miracles, acted and spake as those who only pos sessed delegated powers. Jesus always spake as one who possessed that power in himself. Theirs was the voice and touch of men appointed by God. His was the voice and touch of God himself. All the miracles of Jesus have this royal stamp. Both in their nature and in their manner they bear the impress of a God. We are told in the gospel to come to Jesus, to give him our whole hearts, to serve him with all our powers, to bring all our sorrows and burdens to him, to cast all our cares upon him, to trust in him for the safety of our CLEANSING THE LEPER. 201 immortal souls for time and for eternity. Plow can we do this without faith in his divine nature ? How precious, therefore, these evidences of his omnipotence ! We need an Almighty Saviour, and such is Jesus. He is there fore "able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." As soon as Jesus had healed this leper he said unto him, " See thou tell no man, but go thy way ; show thy self to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses com manded for a testimony unto them." The design of Jesus in advising him thus to restrain even his gratitude and joy for the moment, and go at once to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by the law, is that he may secure promptly, and before malice can intervene, the legal recognition of his cleansing and restoration to his forfeited privileges. Jesus well knew how bitterly the Jewish priesthood hated him, and how ready they would be to deny the reality of the cure if they knew that it had been effected by his despised instrumentality, and thus the poor man, through their malice and prejudice, even though physically clean, would be denied that ceremonial purification needed to restore him to his social and religious privileges. Therefore he instructed him to be silent about it, to hasten at once to the priest and secure the approval the law re quired, and which would restore all his forfeited blessings. But while the healed man did hasten to offer the gift, he found, poor fellow ! the injunction of silence quite too much for him. 26 202 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Feeling that he had been cured of a disease which all men believed to be hopelessly incurable, and by that cure restored to all that made life a blessing, his full heart over flowed with gratitude. He could not — no he could not — re press his praise. And so, as he went on his way, he began "to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter." Who can find it in his heart to blame him ? Surely, if ever disobedience were excusable, it was in this case, prompted as it was .by heartfelt gratitude, by irrepressi ble joy and a noble unwillingness that his great deliverer should fail of any of the honor so justly due to him. But let us follow him to the priest, for the ceremonial cleansing is both beautiful and instructive. This is the direction given in the Levitical law : " And the priest shall look, and behold if the plague of the leprosy be healed in the leper ; then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop, and the priest shall command that one of the birds shall be killed in an earthen vessel over running (living) water; as for the living bird, he shall take it and the cedar-wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running (pure) water, and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field." The cedar-wood was for a stick, the hyssop branch for a kind of brush, the scarlet tape to bind hyssop and bird CLEANSING THE LEPER. 203 to the cedar stick. Dipping all into the bloodstained water, the priest sprinkled the leper seven times with this strange aspergillum. The string was then cut, and the living bird set free. This was the first stage in the ceremony of cleansing. The second part was this : The man was required to shave off his hair, to bathe, and to remain seven days out of his house, again to shave and bathe, and then re turn to the priest, bringing one lamb for a trespass-offer ing, and a second, with a ewe lamb, for a burnt- and sin- offering, and flour and oil for a meat-offering. Some of the blood of the trespass-offering and some of the oil was then put, with certain ceremonies, upon the tip of the leper's right ear, upon the thumb of his 204 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. right hand and the great toe of his right foot ; the rest of the oil was poured upon his head. The leper was then pronounced clean. These ceremonies were appointed of God, and were full of instruction. Leprosy was the great typical disease, and its treatment under the Levitical law was especially designed to teach us how the guilt and pollution of sin is to be removed. The case of the leper was one beyond all human aid. One leper could not cleanse another, and as for himself he could only communicate defilement to every person and thing he touched ; it was therefore obviously impos sible for him to do aught to cleanse his own person. There was no help for him either in himself or in his fellows. His only resource was in God. Again, his legal cleansing was to be wrought only by the person appointed by God for this purpose, and hence Jesus said, " Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer the appointed gift." The shedding of blood was essential to the legal purifi cation of the leper ; the death of an innocent and spotless victim was the basis of this whole ceremony : " Without the shedding of blood there was no remission of sins." It was not only necessary that a sacrifice should be made and offered to God, but also that the blood thereof should be applied to the leper. The priest touched with the blood of the trespass-offer ing the prominent parts of the man's body, to indicate his complete defilement by reason of the leprosy, and his CLEANSING THE LEPER. 205 thorough cleansing in virtue of the sacrifice and its appli cation to him. All pollutions of ear, hand and foot of the whole man were cleansed when the blood of the Heaven-appointed offering had touched him. After the application of the blood came the application of the oil, which was a type of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The cleansed man was to be henceforth a conse crated person to God. The ear no longer was to be a channel of defilement, but be swift to hear and know the voice of God. The right hand no longer the instrument of unrighteousness, but to be employed in acts of holiness. He was hence forth to be the Lord's right-hand man. The foot was no longer to tread the paths of folly and of sin, but to run in all the way of God's holy commandments. Thus the whole man was dedicated and anointed for the service of God. Nothing can be more interesting than to thus mark the footprints of divine grace, going forth from the hallowed precincts of the sanctuary to the defiled place where the poor leper stood, with bare head, covered lip and rent garments, and taking him by the hand leading him back to pardon, purity and the fellowship and service of God. This ceremony of the two birds, one slain and the other dipped in the blood of his fellow, and then, and not till then, set free in the open air, is one of the most beau tiful of all the rites of the Levitical law — and what a " schoolmaster to lead us to Christ" ! 206 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Behold in the innocent bird slain for the cleansing of another, the type of a crucified Saviour. Behold in the living bird mounting upward into the open heavens, bearing upon his wings the significant token of an offered and accepted sacrifice, the beautiful type of a risen, ascended, triumphant, glorified Christ, who has passed into the heavens, bearing in his sacred person the marks of an accomplished atonement. " Dip't in his fellow's blood, The living bird went free ; The type, well understood, Express' d the sinner's plea, Described a guilty soul enlarged, And by a Saviour's death discharged." YvuMl / t. Hattto, VIII: v-xin. guxb tojjen |esus toas entereb into Capernaum, tjjrre came unto him a renturion, beseerjjhxg jjim, anb saging, |torb, mg serbanf lietlj at jjome sick of tlje palsg, griebouslg formenfeb. g^nb |esns saitlj unto Ijim, $ toill come anb jjeal jjim. ollje centurion anstoereb anb saib, JTorb, | am not toorfjjg fjjat ijjon sjjoulbest come unber mg roof: but speak fjje toorb onlg, anb mg serbanf sjjall be Ijealcb. Jfor | am a man unber autjjorifg, Ijabing solbiers unber me : anb | sag to f gis man, (fo, anb jje goetlj ; anb fo anotljer, Come, anb Ije comeflj; anb to mg serbant, Jlo tljis, anb jje boefjj it. Mljeu |esus jjearb if, Ije marbelleb, anb saib to tjjem fljat follotoeb, ©erilg | sag unto gou, | jjabe not founb so great faiijj, no, not in Israel. §axb | sag unto gou, Cjjat mang sjjall come from tlje east, anb toest anb sjjall sit hahm toiijj ^brajjam, anb |saac, anb |acob, in tjje kingbom of jjeaben : §Jat tlje cljilbren of tjje kingbom sljall be cast out into outer barkness: tjjere sjjall be toeeping anb gnasljing of teetjj, gtnb |esus saib unto fjje centurion, (&a tljg toag; anb as tljou jjast beliebeb, so be it bone unto lljce. g.nb Ijis serbant toas jjealeb in tlje selfsame jjonr. 27 "The saint that wears heaven's brightest crown In deepest adoration bends; The weight of glory bows him down The most, when most his soul ascends; Nearest the throne itself must be The footstool of humility." THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. 211 Healing the Centurion's Servant. The power and extent of the Boman empire in the first centuries of Chris tianity were simply marvelous. Her victorious eagles had swept a path of conquest from the Pillars of Hercules to the Caspian Sea, from the Rhine and the Danube to the 212 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Euphrates and Tigris, from the forests of Sarmatia to the deserts of Africa. The empire extended about three thousand miles from east to west and about two thousand from north to south, and it covered thirty-five degrees of latitude and sixty- five of longitude. The Mediterranean Sea, upon whose shores the great cities of antiquity flourished, was the centre of this vast empire, within whose limits were nearly all the seas, lakes and gulfs which commerce had explored. It was the grandest exhibition of centralized power the world had ever seen, or probably ever will see. A single city of Italy, by the military genius and hero ism of her great captains, by the remarkable discipline and courage of her warriors, became the haughty mistress of the world. From her lofty seat on the banks of the Tiber she stretched out the sceptre of despotic rule over nearly the whole of Europe, and over the best portions of Asia and Africa. The symbols of her presence and power were in every known quarter of the globe. Her proconsuls ruled over six and thirty of the richest provinces, her banners rustled in the breeze of every clime, and the tramp of her soldiers was heard in every principal city. The Roman army was divided into legions, the number of which varied considerably, each under six tribunes, who commanded by turns. The legion was subdivided into ten cohorts, the cohorts into three maniples, and the maniples into two centuries, containing originally one HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT. 213 hundred men, as the name implies, but subsequently from fifty to a hundred, according to the strength of the legion. There were thus sixty centuries in a legion, each under the command of a centurion. . The tribunes, the chief officers of the legion, were in the palmy days of Rome elected by the people, and no one was eligible to this great office who had not served ten years in the infantry or five in the cavalry. Next in rank to the tribunes were the centurions, of whom, as we have shown, there were sixty in each legion. These men were selected with great care, and solely for their merit — for their calmness, sagacity and firmness rather than for daring valor — men who would keep their posts at all hazards. It was their duty to drill the soldiers, to inspect arms, clothing and food, to visit the sentinels and reg ulate the conduct of the men. The office was both hon orable and lucrative. It is a noteworthy fact, and one that gives us a high conception of the character of the leaders of the Roman army at that time, that all the centurions mentioned in the New Testament of whom we learn anything beyond the line of their office, appear in a most favorable light. The centurion who was on guard at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, and who was a witness of the por tentous phenomena which attended that awful tragedy, with a frankness and fearlessness that did honor to his character, acknowledged the justness of Christ's claims, and openly confessed : " Truly, this was the Son of God." 214 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. Cornelius, the centurion of the Italian band at Cassa- rea, we are informed in the Acts, had renounced idolatry and become a worshiper of Jehovah, even before he had any knowledge of the gospel. He is represented to us as "a devout man, and one that feared God, with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." His prayers for light and guidance were heard and answered ; and by a remarkable adjustment of visions and prov idences, he became a convert to Christianity. His ad mittance into the church forms one of the most interest ing chapters and marks one of the most memorable epochs of Church history. It is not certain that Julius, the centurion who had charge of Paul on his way to Rome, became a Christian, but he is described as a model of courtesy and kindness, and seems to have fully appreciated the noble character and rare endowments of his prisoner. Upon our Lord's return to Capernaum after the de livery of the sermon on the mount, an incident occurred of great interest and importance, and which brings into notice a centurion whose character — although his name is not given— is one of rare beauty and excellence, and whose faith received the highest eulogium from the lips of Jesus. Though the province of Galilee acknowledged Herod Antipas as its tetrarch, yet, since the Romans were the real sovereigns of it, they always kept there a body of troops. Capernaum was the seat of the garrison. HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT. 215 The centurion in command at that city, although rep resenting the unpopular despotism of Rome, had, by his humble piety, his generous liberality and his high-bred courtesy, won the hearts of the people, and his case pre sented a most striking contrast to the feelings and rela tions usually existing between the hating, subjugated Jew and the proud and scornful ruling Roman. This centurion, although a pagan by birth, seems to have become what was called "a proselyte at the gate," one of those Gentiles, many of whom were found at that age, who, without submitting themselves to the discipline and ceremonies of Judaism, adored the one only true God and observed the precepts of the moral law. His situation having brought him in contact with the Jewish religion, he was enabled to observe the great superiority of its moral and religious spirit, and the re freshing contrast which the pure and simple belief in one God offered to the perplexing crowd of divinities which paganism presented. His heart therefore rejected at once the superstitions that had never satisfied it, and clave to the living religion of the Jews, which, though overlaid as it was by rabbini cal lore, was not extinguished, but rays enough of its primeval purity and brightness shone through all obstruc tions, responding to all that was spiritual and earnest in his own soul. The reality of these convictions and the warmth of his admiration for the true religion was evinced by his hav ing built at his own expense a synagogue for the Jews, so 216 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. conspicuous and beautiful as to be called — in a city where there must have been many others — " the synagogue." ^agsoKmmr^ This centurion had a faithful servant who had fallen sick and whose life was despaired of, and for whom he seems to have felt a strong and tender attachment, and for whose relief he evinced a degree of anxiety and solicitude that does great credit to his character, especially when we remember that Roman servants were slaves, bought and sold in the market, and usually treated with a consummate disregard of every instinct and feeling of humanity. He has heard of Jesus. It is quite likely he is an ac quaintance of the nobleman of Capernaum whose son our Lord had formerly healed ; it is not improbable that he had heard all the particulars of that case from the HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT. 217 lips of his friend ; from some source he has obtained suf ficient knowledge to give him a profound reverence for the character of Christ and an unbounded faith in his power. His heart turns at once toward Jesus when he hears of his return to Capernaum. But he is a heathen, and so is his servant. He seems to have feared that on this account his request might be declined, unless supported by some authority which, as a Jew, Jesus might be supposed to respect. Perhaps his friends, the Jewish elders, may be willing to intercede for him. They will not only have access to Christ, but influence with him. He accordingly applies to them, and they willingly undertake the mission. For whatever may be their prejudices against Jesus, their, admiration for the amiable, upright and devout character of the centurion, and their obligation to his generosity, is so great that they accede with readiness to his request. As our Lord enters the city he is met by the deputa tion of Jewish elders, probably the batlanim of the chief synagogue, bearing this earnest request from the centu rion, that he would come and heal his beloved servant who lies at the point of death. The honorable men who bear this message are well known to Jesus, and the importunity with which they press their request shows the sincerity of their application. "They besought him instantly, saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this." Nor did they omit 28 218 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. an appeal to his patriotism, for they added: "He loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue." Jesus was touched with the appeal, and with prompt sympathy, said: "I will come .and heal him." And suiting the action to the word, he went with them at once to the centurion's house. When the centurion heard that Jesus was approaching his residence, he sent other friends to Jesus with senti ments of worshipful regard, and assuring Jesus that he did not feel himself worthy to receive so illustrious a person age under his roof; and not till he had thus preferred his petition twice by the mouths of his friends, did this truly God-fearing soldier venture him self to approach. Then followed from his own lips words of such beau tiful humility and faith — words con taining so humble a view of himself and so wide and lofty a view of the charac ter and power of Christ — that they awakened the wonder of our Lord himself, and have commanded the admiration of the ages : HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT. 219 ' ' Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof, wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee : but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it." This was remarkable language. It was as if he had said, " I am an humble man, a mere subordinate, having not only Ceesar over me, but the tribunes, yet within its narrow limits my authority is supreme. I can say to one of my soldiers, Go, and he goeth, to another, Come, and he cometh, to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. But thou, Lord, art subordinate to no one, thou art supreme over all. As my slaves and soldiers are under me, so are all the powers and processes of nature under thee. Thou canst say to disease, Go, and it shall go, to the heal ing influence, Come, and it shall come, to thy servants Life and Death, Do this, and they shall do it. Say but the word, therefore, and my servant shall be healed." There is not only extraordinary felicity and grandeur in this illustration, but the most amazing beauty and strength in this man's faith in Christ. It is indeed, under all the circumstances, most wonderful. A Gentile, and yet he eclipses in faith all the children of Abraham. A soldier, a representative of imperial Rome, and yet he recognizes the superiority of spiritual power over brute force, and beholds in Jesus a greater than Cassar or all the rulers of the earth. 220 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. The remarkable faith of this centurion awakened in the mind of our Lord sentiments of the profoundest admiration. Turning to the crowd about him, he said: ' ' Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Among all those in Judea who had welcomed his teach ings with more' or less readiness, among all who had trusted him with more or less confidence, he had found no example of faith to be compared with this. We read in a certain place that he marveled at the unbelief of the Jews, and now we are informed that he marveled at the faith of a Gentile. Our Lord institutes the contrast, and by a word flashes a startling fact upon them. The Jews had everything to prepare them for the ac ceptance of Christ. To them were committed the sacred oracles. They had been instructed in the word of God from childhood. Theirs were the prophecies, and the cov enants, and the significant worship of the temple. Where as with the centurion, there had been no such preparatory advantages. He belonged to a different nation. His youth had been spent in the atmosphere of a corrupt paganism. His mother had not taught him the stories of the patriarchs and the prophets. His later life had been passed in the army, a poor school for piety. And yet, notwithstanding these difficulties, his faith in God's Son had risen pre-eminently, had surmounted all others and put to shame the unbelief of the Jews. But his humility and love were as great as his trust, and constituted, no doubt, the fruitful soil in which his HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT. 221 faith took such deep root and sent forth so generous and beautiful a growth. His position was evidently unfavorable for the promo tion of either love or humility. Capernaum was not a large city, and. -he was there in supreme command of the garrison. He . had the town very much at his mercy, and the race of "people round him were Jews, who were notoriously despised by the Romans. And as hatred begets hatred, we can easily conceive the bitterness in the Jewish heart toward their conquerors. What a warm, generous heart there must have been in this man to have overcome all this Jewish antipathy, to have melted all this ice to streams of love, and com pelled the Jewish rulers to say, " He is worthy for whom thou shouldst do this, for he loveth our nation, and at his own expense hath built us our synagogue." And yet, with all this power of place and justly earned fame, how lowly the estimate he sets upon himself, and how exalted the view he has of Christ ! Pie feels that there is an immeasurable distance between himself and this great and holy Prophet ! Many of the Jews utterly despised Jesus and treated him with scorn and insult. And even when they ostensibly sought to do him honor, it was too often only to do honor to themselves. How often, when they invited him to banquets, did they watch him, set snares for him in questions, and seek to discredit him with the people ! But in this man's heart how pro found the reverence and respect, and how openly and 222 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. repeatedly does he declare that he does not deem himself worthy that Jesus should come under his roof! Admirable and beautiful character ! Shining out amid the dark contrasts of pride, hatred and unbelief, how dost thou win all our hearts and puzzle our minds to say which was the greatest, thy love, thy humility or thy faith ! AVe never read of Jesus admiring the things of this world. Worldly pomp and power had no attraction for him. He always checked the ill-placed adulation that sacrifices at such shrines. But he loved the sight of a noble nature, and his whole heart therefore went out to this royal-souled Roman. But Jesus never contents himself with barren approba tion. He gives substantial proofs of his approval and love. Pie gave joy to this man's heart, not only by com mending the greatness of his faith, but by instantly honoring it. He said to the centurion, "As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee," thus assuring him that his power or his grace had not been over-estimated by him, that the "word" had been given, the healing influence sent forth, and his servant healed. They returned to the house of the centurion, and found it even so. The servant had been restored to perfect health that "selfsame hour" by the simple act of Christ's will. Thus were the pain and peril of the sick man instantly removed, the distress of the centurion and his household relieved, and the faith which shone so brightly, and spake out so bravely, approved and rewarded. HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT. 223 The Scriptures are silent in regard to the subsequent life of this noble centurion, but we may be sure that the love and piety, the humility and faith, which received so marked an approval from Christ on earth, found their true and congenial home at last in heaven. From this incident our Lord drew a lesson which must have fallen with chilling influence upon the ears of his Jewish auditors : " I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac. and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness : there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." It is the picture of a celestial banquet ; the holy patri archs are reclining at their ease at the board, while their children and friends are listening to their exalted converse and enjoying their blessed fellowship, when, lo ! strangers from a great distance who had not been expected, come in to this delightful social entertainment, and their dignity and worth are such that they are at once made welcome by the fathers. This is the first surprise, but the second is greater than this. Some of the children are laid hold upon as un worthy a place at the banquet, and are cast violently into the darkness outside, where they give vent to their rage by wailing and grating their teeth. It was both a warning and a prophecy. It was designed to be a blow at the narrow exclusive- ness and the false reliances of the Jews — to teach them 224 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. that the kingdom of God was as wide as the earth and as broad as the ages ; that its doors of security and blessedness were to be opened to all mankind, but that there was one fundamental, unalterable condition of ad mission, which was a regenerated moral character — a new heart and a new life; that no circumstances of birth, position, creed or Church relationship could be accepted as a substitute for personal piety, for humility, love and faith. The Jews thought that they were sure of the kingdom of heaven, both on account of their national lineage and their Church relationship. They were the legitimate de scendants of Abraham, to whom pertained the promise and the covenant. They never for a moment doubted that all the distinctions conferred on their great ancestor, all the privileges assured to him, would be the natural and inevitable heirloom of his descendants. Their con stant boast was, " We be Abraham s children." This they considered both title and qualification for all the blessings of heaven. It was indeed something to be able to trace their lineage back through such men as David, and Moses, and Joseph, and Jacob, and Isaac, to Abraham. The moral influence, traditions and prayers of such an ancestry are things not to be despised or lightly esteemed. But we make a sad mistake if we imagine, as the Jews did, that God will accept the virtues and piety of the sires as a substitute for holiness in the sons. This was HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT. 225 the fatal fallacy with which the Jews of our Lord's day were deluding themselves. And it was against this delu sion that both Christ and his forerunner, John the Bap tist, most solemnly warned them. "Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father ; for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. . . . The axe is laid unto the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth GOOD fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." The Jews inherited a great name, a great history and exalted privileges and advantages from their ancestors. But, alas ! they were degenerate sons of illustrious sires. The greatness of their descent only aggravated the shame of their unworthiness. It is a noble and blessed thing to have had great and pious ancestors. It is a good thing to have such blood in our veins, to have such holy mem ories in our souls, and to have their prayers in our behalf laid up in heaven. Such things should be a great help in forming a virtuous and noble character, but they can never be a substitute for it. The true conception in regard to an illustrious ancestry is not prerogative, but obligation — obligation to be nobler and better than others in virtue of such alliance. But not only did the Jews depend upon their ancestral prerogatives for admission into the kingdom of God, but also upon their sacerdotal privileges. They were great churchmen. They were birthright members of a Church established of God, and whose ritual was heaven-ap- 29 226 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. pointed. There could be no doubt about this Church : it was the only true Church. Their ecclesiasticism was above question, and they depended upon it. They not only boasted of being "of the stock of Israel," but also of " the circumcision of the eighth day." They were members of the only true ecclesiastical corporation in the world, had entered it by the right door, and were strict observers of its ritual services. But Jesus taught them that this would not save them, apart from personal holiness — that the Church and its ministry, its sacraments and services were not ends, but means, not substitutes for grace, but divinely-appointed agencies for its development in heart and life. Member ship in a Church, no matter what Church, will never of itself save a man ; it is only regenerated character that can fit a man for heaven ; and the only reason for found ing a Church upon earth, and gathering men into its bosom, is to improve their spiritual character, and to con centrate their moral influence and wield it more effect ively for the salvation of others. The Jews had great privileges. Their Church was a goodly tree to behold, stately in size, full-branched, and as luxurious in leaves as any tree of the tropics. But there was at that time an awful destitution of good fruit; and when the great Husbandman came to visit it, he was disappointed and displeased. Therefore, when he found this branch of " wild olive " bending with such beautiful clusters of green and golden fruit, he smiled with delighted surprise. But while he HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT. 227 graciously and generously commends it, he cannot withhold a rebuke from the tree which, having so much greater advantage, bore no such fruit. Great as this miracle is, the truths which fell from the lips of Jesus while performing it are greater. A truth is greater than a miracle. The miracles of Jesus are chiefly valuable to us as seals to the truth, and for the light they shed upon the character and mission of the Son of God. How sweet the picture Jesus here gives of the kingdom of God in the heavens ! "Many shall come from the cast and the west, and sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the king dom of God." How wide is the kingdom of God ! How vast its sweep! How glorious its ultimate results ! The number of tho redeemed and glorified shall be " many." St. John says: "I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no ?nan could number, of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." They shall come from every clime of earth — from the everlasting snows of the poles and from the burn ing sands of the tropics. They shall come from all classes and conditions of humanity. Redeemed by the same Saviour, accepted by the same Father, sanctified by the same Spirit, they shall meet in. the same heaven. And they shall "sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, 228 THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. and Jacob in the kingdom of God." Beautiful picture of dignity, enjoyment and repose ! It is the palace of God. The doors are pearl, the floor is emerald, the dome is sapphire. It is a banquet of princes. God's nobles are there from all the realms and all the ages. The attendants are angels. It is a feast of reason, of love, of joy. The guests are God's redeemed children. After their long exile and weary wanderings they are at last and for ever at home. Blessed picture ! How the heart loves to meditate upon it ! How the pen or the lip hesitates to touch it for fear of marring it, and conscious of inability to do it justice ! " Love, rest and home ! Sweet hope ! Lord, tarry not, but come I" St. fake, vii: xi-xvn. guxb it came to pass tjje bag after, tjjat Ije toent into a citg talleb $Jain ; anb mang of jjis bisciples toenf toitlj Ijim, anb mnrjj people. $Jofa toljen jje came nigg lo lj)e gate of ilje citg, beljolb, tjjere toas a beab man carrieb out, tjje onlg son of jjis motjjcr, anb sjje toas a toiboto : anb much people of the citg toas toilJT Ijer. §mb toljen tjje 3Torb sato jjer, jje jjab compassion on Ijer, anb saib unto Ijer, SSrep not. glmb jje came anb toucjjcb tjje bier : anb tjjrg tljat bare jjim stoob still. g.nb Ije saib, |fonng man, | sag unto tjjee, §lrise. giiib jje tjjat toas beab sat up, anb began fo speak. §lnb Ije belibereb jjim to Ijis mother. %\\i tjjere came a fear ou all: anb tjjeg glorifieb