of boil or carbuncle, which put hi~ life in peril. He turned to God in bis distrese1, and gained from God recovery. Evidently be prayed the prayer of faith. As evi- deutly the Prophet Isaiah prayed for him the prnyer of faith. And yet it is signifi- ca.nLly told us tbo.t means were used to ensure his recovery, "Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a. cake of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover." The Ilook of Job is not a.discussion of the question-What ought a godly man to do who is smitten with sickness? Its subject is rather this--Wbat moral end can explain the Divine permission of sickness 7 One king was seriously reproved because, when he was ill, he "sought unto the physicians, and not unto God." But the wrong was r..ot in his seeking the help of the physicians, but in his failing to seek God first, and to let him send him to the physicians. All we can say about this matter, in connection with the Old Testament, is that when moral considerations began to prevail over cere- monial ones, a truer and worthier view of sickness began to gain power. Then sicknesa was seen to he one of the gre:it moral agencies by means of which God wrought bis higher work in characters aud in souls. II. WHAT IS BA.ID ABOUT SICKNESS IN TBE GosPELS? Our Lord, as a moral and spiritual Teacher, our Lord as a Saviour, found in men's sicknesses, infirmities, and disabilities his best agencies for reaching their souls with saving influences. To him suffering was the issue and consequence of sin, A.nd so it was to everybody in bis day. Sickness illustrated sin. Suffering produced moods of mind in men which laid them open to his higher influence. So be worked very largely for and among sick people, always trying to get their sicknesses sanctified to them, even in the very act of healing or removing them. He revealed fully to the world the moral relations of sickness, the moral possibilities that lie in sickness. Our Lord's dealing with it is unique, not so much because it was supernatural, as because it was moral. He dealt with it only as a means of securing soul-healing. Since Christ':. time, sickness, disease, and disability have taken rank among God's remedial agencies, God's character-culturing agencies, God's sanctifying agencies. III. WHA'r IB SAID ABOUT SIOXliESB IN THE EPISTLES? The apostles never claimed to exert any independent powers. They always healed "in the Name of Christ." They conceived of themselves as holding tbat special ability in trust for particular ends in the propagation of the gospel. They did not heal everybody. Tbey only healed when the healing could make a way for the gospel, draw attention to it, 0r prove its Divine origin. And the historical fact is that the power of healing passed away with the first generation of disciples. It is found, in later ages, only in se1Jarate and highly endowed individuals, to whom has been entrusted a genius for healing. 'l'he case of the Apostle Paul is a remarkable one. He had the gift of healing. H~ did heal the father of Publius. But he was not carried away by the gift he possessed. Ile held all his gifts under the most careful restraints. His friend and fellow-labourer, Epaphroditus, was "sick, nigh unto death," but St. Paul put forth no power to heal him. God had mercy on him, and restored him in the ordinary way. Trophimus was left at Miletwn sick, but it did not enter the apostle's mind that he, or the elders, could have cured him if they had tried. St. Paul himself bad some bodily iafirmity which he calls a" thorn in the flesh," but he simply prayed about it, as we pray about ~uch things now. The reference made to this matter by the Apostle James has been gravely misunderstood. It must be read in the light of the chief point he deals with in his Epistle, viz. that faith which cannot get expression in action is not acceptable faith, it is mere sentiment. Anointing sick people with oil was no religious ceremony in the days of the o.postle. Using oil in the toilet was simply the sign ot· health. Those who prayed in faith for the healing of the sick should show their faith by acting as if their prayer was answered. Get the sick man up, dress him, anoint him, in the full confidence that God answers prayer. So Jesus said to the man with the withered hnnd, "Stretch forth thine hand I" If he believed, he would do what Christ told him, and find power come in so doing. In every oge God has healed diseases through his own appoiuted healing agencies; and those we must use in faith.-R. T.
Ver. 4..-The Divint crown on man. "Who crowneth thee wi.th loving-kindness and tunder mercies." Who.t vo.rious answers could be given to the question-What is the 392 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. (Ps, cm. 1-22.