wliich the gospel takes of the lowly, Consider the fo.ct that wherever the truth of Ohriet has been preached in its purity and its integrity, man ae man has been approached; all human souls have been treated ae of equal and incalculable worth, the poor a.e well ae the rich, the slave a.e well ae hie master, the illiterate ae well ae the learned, the unknown and untitled ae well ae the illustrious. The gospel has gone a.mong the people, it has made its appeal to the multitude; it is " the e<,mmon salva- tion;" it does not content Itself with imposing a faith 11,Ild a cultus upon the nation; it does not rest until lt has permeated the entire people with the knowledge and the love of God, and wrought in them the practice of its own pure and lofty principles. Surely this is not a. system for Galilee or Syria; this is not a doctrine for one age of the world; it is the ever-living truth of God. Christ is ovr Teacher, our Saviour, our Lord; we do not look for another.-C. Ver. 22.-The leprosy of sin. Why specify the fact that the lepers were cleansed? Why single out this disease from others that might have been named? Because it was peculiarly desirable that, when the Messiah came and gave credentials of his heavenly origin, he should exercise his power in this direction. For leprosy was the chosen type of sin. All disease is pictorial of sin; it is to our bodily frame what sin is to the soul-it is inwa;rd disorder showing itself in ootward manifestation. But leprosy was that peculiar form of sickness which the Divine Lawgiver selected as the type of sin. And surely it was perfectly fitted to be so regarded. We look at- I. 1TB LOATHSOMENESS. Why was the leper so rigidly excluded from society? We have no convincing evidence that this was a dangerous, contagious disorder. But the extreme loathsomeness of the leper's appearance fully accounted for the decree. It was not fitting that anything so terribly repulsive and shocking should be seen in the homes and in the streets. Sin is the most odious of all things; it is "that abominable thing which God hates." God "cannot look" upon it. In its fouler forms it is infinitely offensive to the pure of heart. II. ITs DIFFUBIVEN:J:SS, Leprosy was eminently diffusive. It was communicated from parent to child; it spread from limb to limb, from orga11 to organ, until it covered the entire body. Sin is a thing which spreads. It, too, is communicable by heredity, and it also spreads from faculty to faculty. Sin leads to si11. "There's not a crime but takes its change out still in crime." Theft leads to violence, drunkenness to falsehood, impurity to deceit. Sin also spreads from man to man, from child to child, from friend to friend. You cannot circumscribe it; it passes all bounds that may be set up. III. ITS PITIFULNESS, Who could regard the leper, doomed to a long, perhaps a lifelong separation from his family and his business and all favourite pursuits, without heartfelt pity? Life was worth nothing to him. Sin is condemnable enough ; but it is pitiable also. Blame the erring, reproach the faulty, remonstrate with the foolish, but do not fail to pity those whom sin is shutting out from all that is best below, and from all that is bright above, Pity these ~ith a profound compassion, and help them with an uplifting hand. IV. 1TB SEPARATING INFLUENCE. As the leper was exiled from mankind and banished to a severe isolation, RO does sin come in as a separating power. 1. It separates a man from Gud, opening the wide, deep gnlf of conscious guilt. 2. It sepa- rates man from man. It is not high walls, or broad acres, or unmeasured seas, 1hat divide man from rc,an: it is folly, hatred, malice, jealousy, sin. V. ITS DEATHFULNE~S. ln tl:ie leper the s;:,rinf!S of health were poisoned, there was a process of dissolution goiug on; it was de,1lh in life. Sin is death. "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth," wrote Paul. Aud our Lor,l's words imply the B '1110: "'Whoso believeth on me, thoucrh he were dead, yet shall he Ii ve." A nw 11 li viug apart from God and in rebellion against him is so far from answering the tihl of human life that he may be rightly regarded as dead while he lives. VI. !TB IN0URAULENESB BY MAN, '!'he Jews did not briug the leper to the phy- ■ician; they regarded him as incurable by the art of man. Sin is incurable by buman methods. Regulations for conduct, vows of abstinence, parliamentary statutes, l~,i;al penalties, do not cure, They may be very valuable as e.ccessories, but they will nOJt heal. Only the Divi.ue hand can accom1>foh that fur the hum,m hca.rt. Oue I.here iB 190 TRE GOSPEL .ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [cu. vn. 1-60.
who offers bimRelf R8 the Divine PhysiciRn; he who sent back to John In prison the convincing message, "The lepers are cloans<'d." In him is Rll-forgiving grace 1111d nll- clee11sing power. A living faith iu him will lead to pardon and to purity. Instead of loathsomeness, there will be spiritual beauty; instead of isolation, communion• instead of a li\'ing death, eternal life.-C. '