and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." (Psa. lv. 22 ; 1 Pet. v. 7 ; Phil, iv. 6.)
Let us not only remember this rule, but practise it too. We live in a world of sin and sorrow. The days of darkness in a man's life are many. It needs no prophet's eye to foresee that we shall all shed many a tear, and feel many a heart-wrench, before we die. Let us be armed with a receipt against despair, before our troubles come. Let us know what to do, when sickness, or bereave- ment, or cross, or loss, or disappointment breaks in upon us like an armed man. Let us do as they did in Simon's house at Capernaum. Let us at once " tell Jesus."
We learn, in the last place, from these verses, what a complete and perfect cure the Lord Jesus makes, when He heals. He takes the sick woman by the hand, and lifts her up, and " immediately the fever left her." But this was not all. A greater miracle remained behind. At once we are told "she ministered unto them." That weakness and prostration of strength which, as a general rule, a fever leaves behind it, in her case was entirely removed. The fevered woman was not only made well in a moment, but in the same moment made strong and able to work.*
* Let us not fail to observe here, that Peter, one of our Lord's prin- cipal apostles, had a wife. Yet he was called to be a disciple, and afterwards chosen to be an apostle. More than this, we find Paul speaking of him as a married man, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, many years after this. (1 Cor. ix. 5.)
How this fact can be reconciled with the compulsory celibacy of the clergy, which the Church of Rome enforces and requires, it is for the friends and advocates of the Roman Catholic Church to explain. To a
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We may see in this case a lively emblem of Christ's dealing with sin-sick souls. That blessed Saviour not only gives mercy and forgiveness ; — He gives renewing grace besides. To as many as receive Him as their Physician, He gives power to become the sons of God. He cleanses them by His Spirit, when He washes them in His precious blood. Those whom He justifies, He also sanctifies. When He bestows an absolution, He also bestows a new heart. When He grants free forgiveness for the past, He also grants strength to "minister" to Him for the time to come. The sin-sick soul is not merely cured, and then left to itself. It is also supplied with a new heart and a right spirit, and enabled so to live as to please God.
There is comfort in this thought for all who feel a desire to serve Christ, but at present are afraid to begin. There are many in this state of mind. They fear that if they come forward boldly, and take up the cross, they shall by and bye fall away. They fear that they shall not be able to persevere, and shall bring discredit on their profession. Let them fear no longer. Let them know that Jesus is an Almighty Saviour, who never for- sakes those who once commit themselves to Him. Once raised by His mighty hand from the death of sin, and washed in His precious blood, they shall go on " minister- ing to Him" to their life's end. They shall have power
plain reader, it seems a plain proof that it is not wrong for ministers to be married men. And when we add to this striking fact, that Paul, when writing to Timothy, says, that " a bishop should be the husband of one wife" (1 Tim. iii. 2), it is clear that the whole Romish doctrine of clerical celibacy is utterly opposed to holy Scripture.