about their souls. We read, that " great multitudes came to Jesus, ha^dng with t liem those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others/' Many of them, no doubt, had journeyed many miles, and gone through great fatigues. Nothing is so difficult and troublesome, as to move sick people. But the hope of being healed was in sight. Such hope is everything to a sick man.
We know little of human nature, if we wonder at the conduct of these people. We need not wonder at all. They felt that health was the greatest of earthly blessings. They felt that pain was the hardest of all trials to bear. There is no arguing against sense. A man feels his strength failing. He sees his body wasting, and his face becoming pale. He is sensible that his appetite is leaving him. He knows, in short, that he is ill, and needs a physician. Show him a physician within reach, who is said never to fail in working cures, and he will go to him without delay.
Let us however not forget that our souls are far more diseased than our bodies, and learn a lesson from the conduct of these people. . Our souls are afflicted with a malady far more deep-seated, far more complicated, far more hard to cure than any ailment that flesh is heir to. They are in fact plague-stricken by sin. They must be healed, and healed effectually, or perish everlastingly. Do we really know this ? Do we feel it ? Are we alive to our spiritual disease ? Alas ! there is but one answer to these questions. The bulk of mankind do not feel it at all. Their eyes are blinded. They are utterly insensible to their danger. For bodily health they crowd the waiting-rooms of doctors. For bodily health they
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take long journeys to find purer air. But for their soul's health they take no thought at all. Happy indeed is that man or woman who has found out his soul's disease ! Such an one wiU never rest till he has found Jesus. Troubles will seem nothing to him. Life, life, eternal life is at stake. He will count all things loss that he may win Christ, and be healed.
In the second place, let us remark the marvellous ease and poiver with ivhich our Lord healed all tuho tvere brought to Him. We 'read that " the multitude won- dered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see ; and they glorified the God of Israel/'
Behold in these words a lively emblem of our Lord Jesus Christ's power to heal sin-diseased souls ! There is no ailment of heart that He cannot cure. There is no form of spiritual complaint that He cannot overcome. The fever of lust, the palsy of the love of the world, the slow consumption of indolence and sloth, the heart- disease of unbelief, all, all give way when he sends forth His Spirit on any one of the children of. men. He can put a new song in a sinner's mouth, and make him speak with love of that Gospel which he once ridiculed and blasphemed. He can open the eyes of a man's under- standing and make him see the kingdom of God. He can open the ears of a man and make him willing to hear His voice, and follow Him whithersoever He goeth. He can give power to a man who once walked in the broad way that leadeth unto destruction, to walk in the way of life. He can make hands that were once instruments of sin, serve Him and do His will. The time of miracles