and sufferings. "Are you able to take your share in My appointed lot? to drink of the bitter draught which is about to be presented to Me, to plunge into that sea of unfathomed suffering in which I shall presently be overwhelmed?" "They say unto Him, 'We are able.' " Did they know to what

they were pledging themselves? Probably not. They were too eager for their object to hesitate about the conditions. But we know that by God's grace they were able in the end to stand to their hastily given word. "And He saith unto them, 'Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ;" but even that, though an indispensable condition, will not insure the highest places-there may be others yet more worthy-" to sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of My Father."

One of the great evils which is constantly complained of in human society, is the proneness of men in authority to gratify their private friends and family connexions with posts of honour and trust, without regarding whether they are the fittest men for the post. But in God's government there is none of this partial favouritism. Even Christ would not indulge the leanings of private friendship; the first places were for those whom God had prepared for them, and who were therefore the best fitted to Occupy them.

The petition of James and John, though it had met with so little encouragement, gave great offence to their brethren. 66 And when the ten heard it,

they were moved with indignation against the two brethren." Very naturally they would resent their having tried to take such advantage of them in their absence. "But Jesus called them unto Him, and said, 'Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them." Power, authority, for its own sake, and for selfish ends, was the idea of heathen despotisms. It has been so no less in nominally Christian natious. But the Church ought to be formed on different principles. "It shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister"-him who works for you" and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.' Power, office, sought and used only for the good of the rest -"if any man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work"-unselfish labour, willing selfsacrifice, is the eternal law of the Church, formed on the normal type of its Master. It ought to be the same in every Christian society, in civil and political, no less than in ecclesiastical relations, and it is up to this standard that the best social and political philosophers are ever fighting their way. Their highest theories do but embody the simple words of Christ.

SECTION XL.

CURE OF BLIND BARTIMÆUS.

MATTHEW XX. 29—34; MARK x. 46–52; LUKE xviii. 35-43.

"A

ND they came to Jericho and as He went out

of Jericho with His disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimæus, the son of Timæus, sat by the highway side begging.”*

Jericho was the principal city in the Valley of the Jordan, and no city in Palestine, except Jerusalem, had occupied a more prominent place in history. It was here that the Israelitish spies came,† and were concealed by Rahab; here the captain of the Lord's host appeared to Joshua ; and here it was that the walls fell down at the blast of the trumpet, after the city had been compassed seven successive days by the priests bearing the ark.§ It was destroyed by Joshua and rebuilt in the reign of Ahab, in defiance of a curse on the builder. It afterwards became the seat of a "school of prophets"-that anticipation of our modern college-and was connected with much of the history of Elijah and Elisha. "The third stage," says Canon Stanley, "in the history of Jericho, is that in which its palm-groves and gardens were given by Antony to Cleopatra. They were first farmed for her, and then redeemed for himself by Herod the Great, who made this one of his princely residences, in which he was living at the

* Mark x. 46.

Josh. ii. 1, &c. § Josh. vi. 1, &c.

Josh. v. 13.

Kings xvi. 34.

time of his death. It was this Roman Jericho through which Christ passed in His final journey to Jerusalem."*

Our Lord had now advanced on His journey as far as this city, eighteen Roman miles from Jerusalem. He passed through the town, followed by a crowd of people, and at the outskirts of the place there sat by the road side a well-known beggar, a blind man who probably took his daily station there, and subsisted on the alms given by charitable passengers.† "And hearing the multitude pass by," says St. Lukea great noise of footsteps and hum of people attracting his attention-" he asked what it meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth"inspired with sudden hope-" he began to cry out, and say, 'Jesus, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.' And many charged him that he should hold. his peace." They were anxious to prevent him from interrupting and annoying the Saviour; perhaps he was troublesome to themselves, preventing them from catching what Jesus might be saying as He passed along. Persons intent upon some sight, or something they want to hear, often act with great selfishness towards those wishing to share the same privilege. "But he cried the more a great deal, 'Thou son of David, have mercy on me.' And Jesus"

* Sinai and Palestine, p. 304.

+ St. Matthew places the incident of the blind man-or rather men, for he mentions two-as occurring on their entrance into the town. We have not the means of reconciling the two statements, but as St. Mark is the fullest in detail, and is also corroborated by St. Luke, his account is here followed.

-never regardless of such a cry-" stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, 'Be of good comfort, rise; He calleth thee."" These were kind people, willing to cheer him with the almost certain prospect of success. "And he, casting away his garment"joyfully thrusting aside everything that might impede his motions-" rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him"-answered "What wilt thou that I should do unto

his cry-" thee?'

The blind man said unto Him, 'Lord, that Ι may receive my sight.' Not the slightest doubt seems to have disturbed him as to the power of Jesus to give him what he sought, if only He was pleased to exert that power. "And Jesus said unto him, 'Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.'" It had brought him to Jesus in full confidence, and that was all that was needed. "And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way." That was the use he made of the blessing, to follow his deliverer, "glorifying God," as St. Luke says; "and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God."

SECTION XLI.

ZACCHEUS.

LUKE Xix. I—10.

ND Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchæus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich."