Forty-fourth Sunday.

THE MINISTRY.

FIRST READING.

"He went about doing good."—Acts 10:38.

SIMON PETER had a house at Capernaum, which is one of the towns that stand upon the shore of the Lake of Galilee. There our Lord cured the mother of Peter's wife of a bad fever by His mighty power in one moment, and there He generally lived when He was in those parts; but He never stayed long there, for He went about doing good.

In every town or village that he came to, He used to go and teach in the synagogue. A synagogue was a place where the Jews who lived too far from Jerusalem to go to the Temple every Sabbath-day used to meet, and hear the Old Testament read and explained to them, and pray together.

Our Lord used to teach in the synagogues, and draw out all the meaning of the Law; and when He came out, all the sick people who were near, and all the blind and deaf and dumb people, were brought to Him, and He cured them all by only just touching them, or even only by bidding their disease to go away. For He was God as well as man, and could do all things. Or He would sit on the mountain side, and all the people would come round Him, and He would teach them.

JESUS RAISES THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS.—Mark 5:41, 42.

JESUS GIVES SIGHT TO THE TWO BLIND MEN.—Matt. 9:27, 28.

There is one beautiful discourse of His, called the Sermon on the Mount, which I hope you will soon know well. And in it He taught his disciples the prayer we all say, and call the Lord's Prayer, and which we love the best of all prayers.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT.—Matt. 5:1-3.

QUESTIONS.

1. In whose house did our blessed Lord Jesus live? 2. Where was Capernaum? 3. What had He done for Simon Peter's wife's mother? 4. Where did He teach? 5. What is a synagogue? 6. When did the Jews go there? 7. What did they do in the synagogue? 8. What did our Lord explain? 9. Whom did He cure? 10. Where did He sometimes teach? 11. What is one great discourse of His called? 12. What prayer did He give His disciples? 13. How does it begin? 14. When do we say it?

JESUS RAISES THE WIDOW'S SON.—Luke 7:14, 15.

JESUS SLEEPS DURING THE STORM.—Matt. 8:24, 25.

SECOND READING.

"I have compassion on the multitude."—Matt. 15:32.

OUR Lord Jesus chose out twelve of His disciples to be always with Him, and to teach and work with Him. All the six you have heard of before were among them, and there was another called Matthew, who had been a rich man, but left all his riches to follow our Lord. These twelve were called apostles.

I told you that the Jews were in two parties, called Pharisees and Sadducees, and they used to quarrel and have many bad ways. When they found that Jesus blamed them, they were very angry; and when He was called the Holy One whom God promised, they said that the Christ would be a great king, and that He was only pretending. But all the poor heard Him gladly; and when He was driven out of the towns, they came after Himinto the hills and open places, and went everywhere they could to hear Him.

SENDING FORTH THE TWELVE APOSTLES.—Matt. 10:5-7.

One day, evening was coming on, and all these people had been with Him all day, and had nothing to eat. He said to Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" Philip came from a village just below, but he did not know what to do.

DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.—Mark 6:27, 28.

Andrew said there was a little boy there, who had brought five loaves and two small fishes; but what would they be among so many? Indeed, the loaves were not like ours—only thin barley cakes. But our Lord said, "Make the men sit down."

So they all sat on the grass; and He gave thanks, and began to give out to the apostles the bread and the fish, and they never came to an end, but there was enough for all the five thousand; and when they had all done, He told the apostles to gather up the remains, that nothing might be lost. And there was enough to fill twelve great baskets.

JESUS FEEDING THE FIVE THOUSAND.—John 6:10, 11.

QUESTIONS.

1. How many disciples did our Lord choose? 2. What were they to be called? 3. What were the names of the first six? 4. Who was the rich man? 5. Who hated our Lord? 6. Why? 7. Why did they think He could not be Christ? 8. Where was He driven from? 9. Where did he go? 10. Who came after Him? 11. What was all He had to feed them with? 12. Who brought the five loaves and two fishes? 13. Where did they sit? 14. What did our Lord do first? 15. Who gave out the food? 16. How much was left? 17. How many had eaten?

The Lords PrayerOur Fatherwhich art in Heaven,hallowed be Thy Name.Thy Kingdom come.Thy Will be done in earthas it is in Heaven. Give us thisday our daily bread. Andforgive us our trespasses, aswe forgive them that trespassagainst us. And lead us notinto temptation; But deliverus from evil: For Thineis the Kingdom, ThePower, and the Glory,For ever and ever.AMEN.

THIRD READING.

"Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid."—Matt. 14:27.

THE people whomJesushad fed wanted to make Him a king, but He would not be an earthly king; so He told the apostles to row away across the lake, while He went up alone into the hills to pray to His Father, where the people could not find Him.

It was a rough night. The wind came down from the hills, and tossed the lake up in great waves; and the apostles rowed with all their might, but they made little way. But when the night was far on, they saw a Figure coming to them, walking on the waves. They were frightened, and cried out. Then the Figure said, "It is I; be not afraid!" and they knew it was their Master, and were glad.

JESUS SUPPORTS THE SINKING PETER.—Matt. 14:30, 31.

And Peter said, "Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water." So he came out of the boat, and as long as hetrusted in His Master, he could walk; but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and cried out, and then he began to sink.

He called out, and Jesus put forth His hand and held him up, saying, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Then they were both taken into the boat, and the wind ceased, and the lake was calm and still.

QUESTIONS.

1. What did the people want to do? 2. Why did they want to make Jesus a king? 3. What did He do to get out of their way? 4. Where did He bid the disciples go? 5. What sort of night was it? 6. What happened to the apostles? 7. How did our Lord come to them? 8. What did they do when they saw Him first? 9. How did they know Him? 10. Who came out to Him on the water? 11. When was St. Peter safe? 12. When did he begin to sink? 13. What did our Lord say to him? 14. What happened as soon as they were in the boat?

THE WELL OR FOUNTAIN AT NAZARETH.

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