lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.

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And it came to pass when he was in a certain city,* A leper behold there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and healed. kneeling down to him, and saying, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with passion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and said unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away; and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

healed.

And again after some days he entered into Capernaum; A paralytic and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door : and he preached the word unto them. And as he was teaching, there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

"In a certain city." Here, as in many other instances, the means of identification are denied, and we cannot accordingly trace the course Jesus was pursuing. With the exception of the last of the circuits through Galilee, very few details are given us of the incidents which transpired, though such periods in our Lord's ministry were integral portions of its whole duration, and were as full of action and benevolence as any other part of it.

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And Jesus seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason in their heart saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? But when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, which had given such power unto men, and were filled with fear, saying, We never saw it on this fashion, we have seen strange things to-day.

SECT. XIII. THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. (LUKE V.)

And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,* and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets 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. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were

The lake of Gennesaret, or the sea of Tiberias or of Galilee, the scene of many of our Lord's teachings and miracles, was 14 miles long, and 6 broad.

in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken : And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.*

SECT. XIV. THE CALL OF MATTHEW, AND THE FEAST IN HIS HOUSE.†

(MATT. ix. MARK ii. LUKE V.)

CAPERNAUM.

And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the receipt of custom and he said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed him.

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And Levi made him a great feast in his own house and it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat, many publicans and sinners sat down also with him and his disciples for there were many, and they followed him. But when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he answering, said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John, and of the Pharisees, fast often, and make prayers; but thy disciples

* As Peter retained his house in Capernaum, and many times afterwards sailed in his boat, taking fish to pay the tribute money, and naturally returning to his ordinary calling even after the resurrection, the word "all" cannot be used in its strictest sense. The remembrance of this removes the greatest difficulty in the way of those who make Sections X. and XIII. refer to the same transaction. † Some have thought that Matthew, describing the feast presumed to be given on the occasion of his call from his former employment to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, refers to a different occasion; but it is natural that he himself should neither mention the greatness of the feast nor the honour done to his dwelling. Hence the simple and general phrase used by him. (See note, † p. 70.)•

eat and drink, and fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.*

* Here, as we believe, the first year of Christ's eventful ministry is brought to a close. The mission of John the Baptist has been finished, Jesus has collected many followers, a general expectation has been raised regarding his Messiahship, an impression of the greatness of his power and of the purity of his character has been produced, and a foundation has been laid for greater results in his subsequent earthly career.

After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.* Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool,† which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water; whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down

* Could we ascertain what the feast was which Jesus at this time attended, it would go far to settle the question as to the duration of his public ministry. If it be a passover, our Lord's labours extended to three and a half years; but if not, then in all probability we must deduct one year from that period. Authorities are very much divided in opinion on the subject. Chrysostom, Erasmus, Calvin, Bengel, Ellicott, &c., oppose the view that it was a passover; but, with Irenæus, Luther, Grotius, Robinson, Greswell, &c., we rather think that should be regarded as one-the second of Christ's ministry. The construction of this harmony is therefore based on the belief that in the passage before us Jesus went up to Jerusalem to attend the passover feast.

Ancient tradition, which is supported by recent investigations, has fixed upon a reservoir in the vicinity of St. Stephen's Gate as the site of the Pool of Bethesda. It is 360 English feet in length, 130 in breadth, and 75 in depth. Bethesda means "house of mercy," and was so called from its being a place of resort for the sick, who came, to partake of its healing waters.