FORTY-FOURTH PORTION,

I. BEGINNING PRAYER.

MAY GOD, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST, give me the HOLY SPIRIT, that I may understand this portion of his Holy Word, and that I may profit by it. Amen.

II. THE SCRIPTURES.

Read St. Matthew's Gospel, chap. viii. ver. 2 to 4 ; St. Mark's Gospel, chap. i. verses 40 to 45; and St. Luke's Gospel, chap. v. verses 12 to 16.

III. THE MEANINGS;

or sense in which some words are used in this portion. Matthew viii. verse

2, &c. a leper means here a person who has the

leprosy

well

a proof of being cured

particularly desired make it known

talk a great deal about

IV. THE EXPLANATION.

It happened that while Jesus was at one of the towns in the neighbourhood of Capernaum, he was met by a man who had the leprosy.

As this is the first time that the leprosy has been

mentioned, it will be necessary to give some more particular explanation concerning it. It is a very dreadful disease, which corrupts all the blood, and consequently affects the skin and every part of the body, putting the person who has it into a most painful and offensive state. This state is particularly described in the thirteenth chapter of Leviticus. It goes on gradually getting worse and worse, and there is no means which has ever been found to cure it; but if people recover, it is by God's good will, as they get well without medicine, (2 Kings v. 7.) and their flesh becomes white and fresh, being renewed like the flesh of a little child. (2 Kings v. 14. Lev. xiii. 16, 17.) This disease is infectious, that is, it may be taken by touching any one who has got it; and therefore it was a law amongst the Jews, that all persons who were thus afflicted should have nothing to do with other people, but keep themselves entirely distinct and separate-they were obliged to wear clothes that were torn, which was a mark of grief, and they were commanded to cry out "unclean, unclean" when any one came near them. (Lev. xiii. 45, 46. Numb. v. 2, 3 ; xii. 10, 14, 15. 2 Kings. vii. 3.)

This dreadful disease was intended to be a sort of picture and representation in the bodies of men, of that more dreadful disease of sin which affects their souls so that by making them see and feel the effects of leprosy in the body, they might learn to understand the effects of sin in the soul. Some cases are told in the Scripture, in which persons became lepers in consequence of particular sins which they cominitted; as Miriam, Azariah, Uzziah, Gehazi (Numbers. xii. 9,10. 2 Chron, xxvi. 19. 2 Kings v. 22, 25, 27.), but it is the general

sinful state of all men's hearts which the disease is intended to shew. Sin is not an evil which is hurtful in one part of the character only, but it corrupts the whole heart, and turns us from God altogether. (Gen. vi. 5. Isa. i. 5, 6. Rom. vii. 14,18.) By degrees it deadens the conscience, and hardens the heart; so that it leads men at last to commit and to tolerate the most wicked and offensive things. (Eph. iv. 18, 19. 1 Tim iv. 2. Isa. v. 20.) We ourselves have no means of delivering ourselves from the power of sin, nor from the habit of it-no strength in our own wisdom to stand against it, no remedy for the consequences which we produce by sin; but if any one is redeemed and taken out of this dreadful state, it is by the power and mercy of God alone. (Zech. iv. 6. Eph. ii. 8. Titus iii. 4, 5. Ps. xlix. 7, 8.) When any sinner is brought out of the power and condemnation of sin, his soul is said to be born again—a great and entire change takes place, by which he is renewed in spirit, and becomes "as a little child." (John iii. 5. 2 Cor. v.17,18. Rom. xii. 2. Matt. xviii. 3.) Sin is infectious; that is, persons who keep company with sinners, and meddle with their sins, will be led on to commit the same things themselves. (Pro. vi. 27,28; xxii. 24, 25. 1Cor. xv. 33. Psa. cvi. 35.) They who profess to love God and to hate sin, are forbidden to keep company with open sinners. (Prov. v. 14,15. 2Cor. vi. 14-18.) Such persons by their improper conduct, give warning of their miserable condition as plainly as if they wore particular clothes to distinguish them, or were constantly crying out, "I am unclean:" (Matt. vii. 16—20. 1 Tim. v. 24. Phil. iii. 19.) and the time will come, when those who continue in sin will be for ever shut out from the company of those who left

their sins and turned to God. (Matt. vii. 23. Eph.v. 5. Rev. xxii. 15)

Thus then the leprosy was meant to be an outward picture or representation of sin. And, in like nanner, when God appointed amongst the Jews a particular way in which every leper who recovered should be restored to society, and be considered as cleun, (see vol. i, p.62) He was pleased to order some things to be done, which may serve also as an outward picture or representation of the work of Christ, by which alone sinners can be restored to God's favour, and be considered just in his sight. The leper was not to be treated as cured, until he had been declared to be so by the Priest, who is said to make him clean. (Lev. xiv. 2,3,11.) Just so, no sinner can be looked upon as having returned to God, but according to Christ's holy word and by His power. The leper was to take two clean birds, he was to kill one of these birds in an earthen pot, over a stream of running (or living) water; (see vol. i, page 189) the other bird was to be dipped into the blood of that which had been thus killed, and then let fly away in the open air, while the leper was to be sprinkled with the same blood. (Lev. xiv. 4-7.) These things were intended to shew by outward tokens the crucifying of Jesus Christ; who, as a man, clean from sin, was killed for the sins of the world (1 Peter ii, 22, 24.) who had the fulness of the Holy Ghost (John iii. 34. Col. i. 19.)-who rose from the dead (Acts ii 23,24; xvii. 31,) —and ascended into heaven. (Acts i. 9. iii. 21 .Mark xvi. 19.) And they include also a token of that particular faith, by which this great act of general mercy is applied to any one sinner. (Mark xvi. 16. Rom. v. 1. 1Tim. iv. 10.) Two birds were used, because one after being killed could not be brought to

life again, which would be necessary, to make the token altogether a correct one. They were to be clean birds, to shew that Christ was without spot of sin. The killing of one bird shewed the crucifixion of our Lord, and its being done in an earthen vessel shewed that he was in the flesh, a man born of a woman. The running or living water represented the Holy Spirit, which he, as a man, possessed without measure, and was thereby prepared for an atoning sacrifice. (Heb. ix. 14). The dipping of the live bird in the blood of the dead one, and then letting it fly away in the open air, shews how that the same Jesus who died and was buried, afterwards rose again and ascended into Heaven: and the leper was sprinkled with the blood, to signify the faith, which by particularly applying the great atonement of Christ, brings the advantage of it to the sinner's soul. In consequence of all this, the leper was declared to be clean of his leprosy; thus to teach us, that it is the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John i. 7.)

After this ceremony was ended, the person was commanded to wash himself very carefully in water, and to put away every thing that was in the least likely to hold any of the corruption of his past disease. (Lev. xiv. 8, 9.) This was to give a plain token, that the sinner who has faithfully applied the salvation of Christ, must put away from him altogether those sins which made Christ's death necessary; that he must not only give up his old sins, purifying his heart by the Holy Spirit, (shewn by careful washing in water, see Heb. x.22) but he must avoid every temptation which is likely to keep the least remnant of indulged sin in him. (2 Tim. ii. 19. Rom. vi. 1, 2, 11-23. Matt. xxvi. 41; vi. 13.) Another part of