This is just one among many examples of our Lord Jesus Christ's kindness and compassion. He is full of undeserved, unexpected, abounding love towards man. "He delighteth in mercy." (Micah vii. 18.) He is far more ready to save than man is to be saved, far more willing to do good than man is to receive it.
No one ever need be afraid of beginning the life of a true Christian, if he feels disposed to begin. Let him not hang back and delay, under the vain idea that Christ is not willing to receive him. Let him come boldly, and trust confidently. He that healed the cripple at Bethesda is still the same.
We are taught, lastly, the lesson that recovery from sickness ought to impress upon us. That lesson is contained in the solemn words which our Saviour addressed to the man He had cured : " Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee."
Every sickness and sorrow is the voice of God speaking to us. Each has its peculiar message. Happy are they who have an eye to see God's hand, and an ear to hear His voice, in all that happens to them. Nothing in this world happens by chance.
And as it is with sickness, so it is with recovery. Renewed health should send us back to our post in the world with a deeper hatred of sin, a more thorough watchfulness over our own ways, and a more constant purpose of mind to live to God. Far too often the excite- ment and novelty of returning health tempt us to forget the vows and intentions of the sick-room. There are spiritual dangers attending a recovery ! Well would it be for us all after illness to grave these words on our hearts, " Let me sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto me."
Let us leave the passage with grateful hearts, and bless God that we have such a Gospel and such a Saviour as the Bible reveals. — Are we ever sick and ill? Let us