makes every one of us feel its presence and acknowledge its reality; and so it is a perpetual reminder to us that there has passed upon our nature this transition from perfectness to imperfection; it is an argument none can altogether resist telling him there has passed upon his nature, and upon his spirit, and upon his soul, that of which all that he sees cast outwardly upon the body is in every single man the shadow. Well, now, that which all disease is in this way intended by God to be, that the leprosy was specially; it was selected by God Himself to be, as it were, an acted out parable of this inward evil. The treatment of leprosy under the law which God gave by Moses marks it as possessing this character. And you must remember that this leper was a Jew, and our blessed Lord when he stood amongst men, was under the Jewish law, and therefore it was He Himself, a son of Abraham, meeting this other Jew, under the conditions and with the knowledge which the law of Moses gave to them. Now, the law of Moses treated leprosy always in this way. Remember what it led to-the separation from tho congregation of the uninfected. Not, mind you, because there was anything infectious in leprosy. It seems perfectly plainly established, that it was not communicable from one to another by any of the ordinary modes in which infectious diseases are communicated. Every where, in those countries where the law of Moses did not extend, the leper was admitted freely into all societies. We find a leper conversing with the king of Assyria, and we find a leper commanding the armies of the king of Assyria. We find no fear of the disease spreading from one to another. It was not, therefore, as as anitary regulation that this was laid down, and the Jews must have known that it was in order that it might impress upon their minds, that the evil, of which this was the external mark, did exclude those whom it possessed from the company of God's pure creation, and so the whole treatment of it was the treatment of death. The leper was not allowed to touch another; he kept his lip covered as in perpetual mourning for himself, as one already dead. The leper, when through God's mercy he was cleansed, had to go through a course of purification which one who had touched a dead body went through. The same course of purification, with hyssop, and with ashes, and the scarlet wool, was enacted for him as for one that had touched the dead. God taking this one signal form of disease, in order to stamp upon the feelings of that sensual people this great truth, that moral impurity, of which this was the external shadow, did part from the company of the holy the being that it possessed.

Now then you see this man, possessed by this evil, full of it, meets the Lord. Mark what it is that our Lord is doing: He is showing, as in an acted parable, the way ij. which He deals with the conscious sinner. The man comes to him, and worships Him, and says to Him "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." It was a great utterance of faith. It was the first leper, as we gather from St. Mark's account,' whom our Lord had ever healed. The leprosy was a disease incurable, and how was the man enabled to believe that the Lord, whose power was veiled in the likeness of flesh, was master of this disorder? Doubtless, my brethren, the vehemence

of his desire added strength to the weakness of his faith. Doubtless, it was the suffering of that disorder which drove him from his doubts, and brought him to the feet of Him, that could cure him. He came with a strong faith, although he had but an indefinite apprehension of the character of Him to whom he came; for mark the words, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." He had so small a measure, as yet, of the knowledge of the love of the Son of Man, that though he was able to believe his power he still had, doubts about his readiness to heal. But he cast himself before Him.

And now mark how our Lord treats him. Remember, it was absolutely forbidden for any Jew to touch a leper; it at once conveyed ceremonial uncleanness to him who even accidentally had done it. The man polluted by that touch was shut out from the congregation of the people of the Lord, until he had gone through the appointed purifications. But what does our Lord do? He puts forth his hand-although the prayer was not for the putting forth of the hand, but for the cleansing from the disease he puts forth his hand, and touches him, saying "I will, be thou clean." And why does He do this? Remember how careful He was to observe the law in all things; how He paid tribute rather than cause scandal; how in all things He came to fulfil, and not to destroy the law. Why therefore does He in this way touch this leprous man contrary to the law? Because, as I have said to you, He was not only healing that one sick man, but He was, as in a parable for all times, for us this night, declaring to men what was the mode in which He healed, and that He was the healer of humanity.

Here, my brethren, are the two lessons we are taught. One, that He was incapable of pollution; that whilst bearing our new flesh, whilst having taken from his Virgin mother our very nature, whilst being incarnate, whilst being man as truly, as really as the very weakest and the most tempted of us is man this night-He was yet incapable of being reached by that pollution which infected all the rest of the race; and so, secondly, that from Him, the fount of purity, from Him, the very man from Him having our nature Himself, having united it in his own person to the eternal and glorious Godhead,—that from Him the new man should be derived, that which we needed and which He could give,-the help, the strength, the deliverance, from pollution, which pollution touched Him not, though He handled the unclean and from Himself conveyed cleansing to it.

Now, my brethren, here is the parable of this miracle; and I said to you, at first, that the lesson would have been sufficient for us, if it had only been, that we sufferers in this vale of sorrow, had each one of us in him a Friend who would sympathize with us, and never refuse to let us lean upon him our heart of sadness. But I say to you, that here is a greater lesson still; for, my beloved brethren, we are all sufferers-are we not all also sinners? Is not the leprosy upon us? why, that eprosy, by one of those most remarkable laws, was often times transmitted from father to son. That was the case, you remember with the prophet's greedy servant, Gehazi; when he went forth a leper white as snow, he was to hand on the

curse to his children after him. And even so is it with us lepers; born lepers, lepers because sprung from lepers, the taint upon our inmost nature, the taint of the evil upon our soul and upon our spirit. Do you doubt it, my brethren? Does not every one of you, if you dare to look, see and know that the stain is within himself? Is it not round about us? For how long the religion of Christ has been preached within this metropolis of ours, and what is the state of things amongst us still? Is it not as if that other curse, the leprosy upon the wall, had broken out amongst us Christians? Are not houses of abomination multiplied in this great capital? Do not our streets swarm with the ministers and the enticers of iniquity? Have not we read that second lesson that we read to-night, time after time in our churches, and yet can we walk home this night from church, amidst a Christian people, without having every moral sense shocked by the abundant evil which throngs our thoroughfares? What have we been doing, my beloved brethren? What have we been doing in our legislation, whether right or wrong, as to marriage, declaring that Christian people are so sunk in sin amongst us, that there must be facilities for putting asunder those whom God hath made one? I ask you is not the leprosy plain? And can any one stand up and say it is not in himself? Well, then, my beloved brethren, is not this the message of all messages, that there is One still amongst us that can heal the leper? There is no good covering it. No doubt in the old dispensation, when the discovered leper was cast out of the company and of the society of his family, many a man in the beginning of the disorder was tempted to cover it, and did cover it; but the leprosy was there. Covering did not cure it. And there is many a man who goes about this world, covering up his secret leprosy, covering it with religious phrases, covering it with zeal for certain doctrines, covering it with zeal for certain religious observances with forms and ceremonies and the like, covering up, but not curing the leprosy. And who can cure it for us? Remember, my brethren, the teaching, in passing, that it shuts out the soul that it possesses from the company of the pure. Is not this the question of questions for every one of us, if we would only dare to face it,-"Who will cure me of my leprosy? Who will say to me, 'I will, be thou clean ?'"

Brother lepers, here is the message of Him who has come down amongst us in likeness of our flesh, that He may do this work for us-come down, even as He came down when He met this man-come down from the mountain, from the mount of teaching, yea, from the mountain of spoken benediction-come down amongst us and taken our very flesh, in order that He may touch us. And so He does touch one and another. From that body of his, there still goes out healing; from that human nature of his, imparted to one and another, when they feel their leprosy, and come to Him for cleansing; yea, my brethren, to the most unclean, there goes out from Him this power of healing and this perfect cleansing, and still it is by his touch. Hearing about Him won't do; talking about Him won't do; knowing about Him won't do. Is there one amongst you who knows that he is leprous, that some lust has long tyrannized over him, who has groaned out his, "I cannot get rid of this evil, which clings to me like a second nature; would to God I had

never given way to it; but I cannot get rid of it?" My brother, here is the power that can set thee free: not mere hearing of Him, not talking of Him, not making a profession of being his, but reaching to his touch; and thou canst reach to it. Oh! my brethren, who can tell what that touch is? Who can speak of it? Who can convey to another what it is? No, not even those whom He has touched can speak of it worthily. I know that I cannot. Would to God that He would open my lips to speak of it this night to some one amongst you; to speak of that change when the deliverance comes, when through every current of impure blood, the healing virtue flows, when there is the giving back, to the fallen son of the fallen Adam, the new life of the new man;--not healing him here, not cleansing this sore, not delivering him from this infirmity, but flowing a fountain of renovation through the whole purified being. And, my brethren, do you doubt that He will do this for you? Is there any one of you to night who doubts for a single moment that you may receive the same healing which this leper at the foot of that mountain found? Why do you doubt it? Do you say it is because you doubt whether He can make you clean? No, my brethren, look at the lepers He has cleansed. It is not now as it was with this man. See the multitudes to whom He has given life; see the impure to whom He has given back their flesh, like the flesh of a little child; see the miser whom He has made generous; the suspicious whom He has made loving; the peevish and the irritable whom He has made to bear the burden of others. See, every where around you, in the Church of the redeemed, that his touch can make the leper cleau.

And then, do you say, "Yes; but will He do it?" Ah! brethren, listen to his "I own words. Hear Him say to you to-night, in the parable of this cleansed leper, will; be thou clean." His will is that every one of you should be cleansed. If it were not so, my beloved, why did He come down from heaven? Why did He knit, in unity with his Divine self, the flesh which He took from his Virgin mother? Why did He lie in that cradle at Bethlehem? Why did He bear the spitting, and the scourging, and the crowning with thorns, and the bitter cross, and the shame of death? Why, if it was not true, as He declares, that He willeth not the death of a sinner, but that He should turn to him and live? Why, if he does not say to you tonight, in the midst of your soul-leprosy, "I will; be thou clean?

Or, is it that you say, "This may apply to other sinners, but how can it apply to ⚫ me, so lost, so ruined, so wretched. I had a good education, I had parents who cared for me, and I have thrown all away, and chosen iniquity." This man was full of leprosy. Think of that-full of leprosy. There was not one part of that aching body of his but what the disease possessed. Look at thy soul, and set it side by side with his body full of leprosy; and he was so, in order that thou mightest have hope.

But perhaps you say, again, "Yes, if I could but cry to Him; yes, if I could but believe thoroughly in Him; yes, if I could but come to Him, as I would ́ain come, He might perchance heal me." But mark again, this man came with his doubts and

his fears. He said, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." I dare not say which is the worst unbelief, to doubt his power, or to doubt his will. But this man came as no perfect believer, no perfect beggar for his cure; he did but go because his sense of disease drove him, he did but go with a trembling and doubting expectation that perchance he might get healed. And thou canst go so. Only go to Him because He does touch.

For see the healing: the man was healed immediately; and so it is even now. Of the guilt of thy sins thou art healed, when the Christ toucheth thee. Of the power of thy sins, in its measure, thou art healed by that touch; and He has provided that thou mayest go again and again for that touch. What does He do in

his Word? What does He do in all the ordinances of his Church? What does He do in the blessed Sacrament of the Holy Communion, but come and touch the penitent man with that life-giving and cleansing touch of his? And are not these open to thee? Is it not of his love that this very building has been opened, and thou gathered this night amongst the company, in order that thou mightest meet thy Lord, and hear of his touch, and cast thyself before Him, the Lord of tenderness, as well as the Lord of power? Oh! my beloved brethren, trifle not with such opportunities as these.

Remember, I beseech you, the lesson that leprosy is death, and that leprosy of the soul is the death of the eternal part of us. Remember, I pray you, that leprosy shut out the Jew from the company of the accepted, and that the uncleansed soul must be shut out from the company of the perfected creatures of God. There is no escape from the conclusion; and so I say to you, in the name of the Lord, trifle not with this deliverance. Leprosy is death, is separation, is e'ernal suffering, is the death of the soul in its eternal parting from God, which itself is the very concentration of misery. Then, my brethren, go straight to Him, and go to no other. Go to Him, the Fountain of strength. Do not rest in word, do not take up with form, do not trust to feelings, do not trust in any particular religious profession, but go to Him. Find Him out as a person, a living Saviour. Take thy soul to Him, that wounded, sin-sick soul of thine; pierce through the crowd; it is a work that must be done alone; thou must go to Him thou must say to Him, "Thou knowest my sickness, Lord, stretch out thy hand and give me healing," and never let Him go until He blesses thee. There is this truth, which every one of you, my beloved brethren, may know in his own experience. The Lord will meet you. Press only to Him, and He will draw you to Himself. His love is infinite; his power of healing infinite; his cross of power almighty. Hasten to Him in the inmost recesses of your heart. Take your own lust to Him. Look round about in your family; look round about in your house, in your lodging, in your daily life; see where the leprosy has broken out. Is it in that sinful companion of thine? Is it in thy having chosen the life of licentiousness, and not the life of chastened and obedient holiness? Find out where the leprosy has broken out in thyself, and take that thy spot to the Lord, the Healer, and do it to-night, for who can say that you shall see to-morrow's sun rise? Who can say but that to-night, for the last time for thee, He