"Ye will answer," our LORD seems to mean, "that it is easy to say, 'Thy sins be forgiven,' for there can be no certain visible proof before the last day, as to the effect on the soul of such absolving words. But it is not so easy to say, 'Be thou healed,' for the effect of those words may be proved at once. This proof, therefore, of the effect of My words I will give."

24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying GOD.

The Son of Man upon earth is therefore One and the same with the Son of GOD in heaven; so perfectly have the two natures been combined in One, and that One, CHRIST our GOD.

O Thou Who didst forgive sin by Thy Word, and by Thy Word restoredst to perfect life the palsied man; speak pardon and grace to my soul, and restore strength to my palsied heart, that I may rise up from earthly things, and follow Thy holy and loving life here, until I attain, through Thy merits and mercy, to be with Thee hereafter.

26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified GOD, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day.

27 And after these things He went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom and He said unto him, Follow Me.

28 And he left all, rose up, and followed Him.

Such virtue had the calling of CHRIST, it drew S. Matthew away from his money; it enabled him to "count it and all things but dung, that he might win CHRIST and be found in Him." But doubtless he had often before heard of CHRIST, and pondered in his heart what he had heard; and in return the blessed One pondered His servant's words, and considered his meditation, and hearkened unto the voice of his prayer.

O Almighty God, Who by Thy blessed Sox didst call Matthew from the receipt of custom to be an Apostle and Evangelist; grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires, and inordinate love of riches, and to follow the Same, Thy SON JESUS CHRIST, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the HOLY GHOST, One GOD, world without end. Amen.

S. Luke now goes on to mention what took place some months later.

29 And Levi made Him a great feast in his own house and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.

30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against His disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners ?

"Their Scribes and Pharisees," that is, such of the people of Capernaum, as were Scribes and Pharisees.

They spake to and against the disciples openly, yet in their hearts they meant to include Him Whose servants the disciples were: He therefore answers for them.

31 And JESUS answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.

32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

By righteous, the LORD JESUS means the self-righteous, they who are satisfied with themselves and with their state in GOD'S sight; those who, as the Prophet says, "are settled on their lees.”1 Such were these Scribes and Pharisees; but there were others who knew themselves to be sick with sin, who knew their need of healing, and such were they with whom our LORD was sitting in Levi's house. "Do not wonder," He seems to say, "that I am with them, seeing that I came from heaven on purpose for them, to call them to repentance, and through repentance to grace and glory." A great encouragement truly to sinners, but no encouragement to sin. He came to call sinners, but it was to repentance.

1 Zeph. i. 12.

O Thou, Physician blest,
Make clean my guilty soul,
And me, by many a sin oppress'd,
Restore, and keep me whole.

I know not how to praise
Thy mercy and Thy love;
But deign Thy servant to upraise,
And I shall learn above.

33 And they said unto Him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but Thine eat and drink?

They now speak directly to our SAVIOUR, for, by His answering for His disciples, He had given them the opportunity; and their meaning is, "Ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners; we hold that to be wrong: pity, however, and compassion may be some excuse for you. But why do ye not fast and pray as other professors of religion do ?"

34 And He said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the Bridegroom is with them?

35 But the days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

Observe how, in this answer, the LORD JESUS, by calling Himself "the Bridegroom," reminds the disciples of S. John Baptist, who were now with the Pharisees, (see S. Mark ii. 18,) of what their master had said concerning Him. (See S. John iii. 29.)

Our LORD's answer is, in effect, "I am the Bridegroom; I am now uniting to Myself My spouse, the Church: this, therefore, is a time, not for fasting, but for deep spiritual rejoicing. But when I have gone,—that is, when ye by wicked hands have crucified and slain Me, and when, after that, I have gone from their sight into heaven,-then will be the right time for fasting; then My disciples will fast."

36 And He spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the

piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.

37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.

38 But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved.

The old garment is that which is threadbare, with little power of holding together left in it; the old bottles were those worn thin, being made of leather. The general meaning of both these verses is the same: My disciples are not yet prepared to receive some doctrines, I have many things to say unto them, but they cannot bear them now, I have fed them with milk, and not with meat, for as yet they are not able to bear it."

But we may believe that our LORD implies more. By old garments and old bottles He may mean the traditions of men," and vain ceremonies which the Scribes taught, and in which His disciples had been brought up. He would not make patchwork of men's falsehoods and His truth; neither would He mix up mere "weak and beggarly elements" with the "new wine" of the everlasting Gospel. Such a course could end only in utter confusion, in utterly defeating the merciful object He had in view, when He came from heaven to earth.

39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

Observe the word "straightway." The Jews, our LORD means, having been brought up in "old things," could not all at once desire and love the "new,' as we may see in the case of the Apostles: therefore He was very patient and forbearing towards them. So, in like manner, we cannot all at once unlearn our love of sin, neither can we all at once be perfect in holiness, and saints as well might the child think to become in a day a fullgrown man. "Nevertheless, my soul, wait thou still upon GOD; for my hope is in Him." "As for me, I will patiently abide alway, and praise Thee more and more."

1 2 Cor. v. 17.

CHAPTER VI.

1 And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that He went through the corn fields; and His disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.

This sabbath day seems to have been the sabbath before the day of Pentecost, or as we should say, "the Eve of Whit-Sunday :" for the Jews were wont to call some sabbaths Principal, or Great: the sabbath at the Passover, or Easter Eve, was the first of these; the second was the Pentecostal, which would therefore naturally be called, "the second 'great' sabbath after the first."

2 And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?

Plucking the ears of corn was expressly allowed by the law, (Deut. xxiii. 25.) With regard to the disciples doing so on the sabbath, surely only very hardened hearts, hearts bent on finding fault, would ever imagine that it was forbidden by the fourth commandment.

3 And JESUS answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him;

4 How he went into the house of GOD, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?

Our LORD's answer for His disciples comes to this: "David on the sabbath did that which certainly was not lawful; yet no one of you ever blamed him, because ye know, that the necessity of the case was a sufficient justification of his act : My disciples are doing on the sabbath day that which certainly is lawful; and they have the same excuse, if any be needed, which David had,—yet ye do accuse

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