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Sunday School Lesson LESSON V. 'MINISTERING TO SPIRITUAL NEEDSâ€"Mark 2:1-12 â- - Golden Text.â€"Son, thy sins are forgiven! Mark 2:5. THE! LESSON IN ITS SETTING Time.â€" The early summer, A.D. 28. Placeâ€"Capernaum, at the north- ern end of the Sea of Galilee. With' this chapter begins the peri- od of conflict in the life our Lord. Instead of the superficial enthusiasm of the people, he has to encounter the growing opposition of their lead- ers. At. first, this is aroused by his extraordinary claims, then by his re- volutionary act in calling Levi, the tax-clleetor, to become his personal disciple <-2,:l?.-17), and finally, by his revolutionary teachings in regard to fasting and Sabbath-observance (2: 18-28). Mark produces this impres- sion as plainly by his selection of events as if he had given this section the title “Period of Conflict.” Proclaiming God’a Word” 1. And when he entered again in- to Capernaum after some days. Luke tells US'at the close of his account of the heating of the leper that Jesus “withdrew himself in the deserts and prayed” (5:16) and from this we gather that Jesus had been away for some days in complete solitude. It was noised that he was in the house. It was always noised, reported, pub- lished that Jesus Christ was in the house.. Everybody seemed to know it as if by intuition or instinct. 2, AM many were gathered to- gether, so that there was no longer room for them, no, not even about the do.«r: and he spake the word un- to them. The phrase “the word” in- tentionally raises the word of Christ above the words of all others; it is the pre-eminent word-because of its eternal truthfulness, because of its power, because it comes from God. Forgiveness of Sins 8. And they come, bringing unto him a man sick of the palsy, borne of four. The word here translated “palsy” designates a nervous offee- tion sometimes known as paralysis. It “commonly denotes loss of motive power in a muscle or set of muscles, and is equivalent, to motor paralysis.” This palsied person was not borne in the arms of his four friends, but, as the next verse indicates, was car- ried by them on a bed, whereon he lay prostrate. 4. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was : and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed whereon the sick of the palsy lay. Concerning this incid- ent Dr. William M. Thomson, for for- ty-five years a missionary in Syria and Palestine, has written a very il- luminating interpretation. The houses in Capernaum “were, I suppose, like those in modern villages, low with flat roofs easily reached by a stairway from the yard or court. Jesus prob- ably stood in the open court, which is the reception-room between two oth- ers; . . . Examine one of these houses and you will, see that the thing is natural and easy to be accomplished. The roof is only a few feet above the floor, and by stooping down and holding the corners of the couch, merely a thickly padded quilt, the sick man could have Keen let down without any ropes or cords. And this I suppose was done.” 5. And Jesus seeing their faith, Thejpronoun “their” does not refer only to ..these four men, as'many claim but. to all five, the paralytic and those who werp carrying him. “Surely, his friends did not bring him against his will, and surely, he must have con- sented to be lowered through the roof. Where in all the Scriptures is remission of sins ever obtained with- out faith?” And yet the faith of these four men is directly referred to, and, had they not had faith in the Lord Jesus, the paralytic would prob- ably never have been brought into the presence of the Saviour. Saith unto the sick of the palsy, Son. Literally, this word should be translated “my child,” and was “an affectionate address doubtless intend- ed to encourage the man and strengthen his hope.” Thy sins are forgiven. “Here lies the man. His muscular action has lost its motion. He lies here helpless as a log. The Master looks at him, through Mm, and, behold, another kindofparalytic is revoaied, The man cannot command the activities of his own soul. His body is imprisoned, in the palsied 'spirit” “In the entire Bible no sweet- er word meets the sinner’s eye than the word ‘forgiveness’ or ‘remission.’ â- Siji is a word involving our rela- tionship to God, a word indicating that things are wrong, that we have transgressed the law of God, and that that transgression must be punished by God. No man can wash away his own sin, nor present anything to God that will atone for that sin. Jesus Had Critics 6. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts. “These scribes form- ed an exceedingly powerful organiza- tion in the time of Jesus. The scribes had become a special learned class, which charged itself with the care of the law, as the priests and Levites took charge of the temple services. They were allotted the first seats in the synagogue; the upper places fit table were reserved for them; and their dress marked their dignity. Their political importance was great, for it was their instructions which enveloped the whole Jewish life from the cradle to the grave in the pre- cepts and intensifying its minute ceremonial observances, and there- fore were instinctively opposed to a teacher -whose aim was to enforce the moral ideas which lay beneath the Mosaic code.” 7. Why doth this man thus speak? he blasphemeth: who can forgive sins but one, even God? “This is the un- spoken charge in their hearts, which Jesus read like an open book. The word ‘blasphemeth’ means injurious speech or slander. It was, they held, blasphemy for Jesus to assume this divine prerogative. Their logic was correct. The only flaw in it was the possibility that Jesus held a peculiar relationship to God which justified his claim. The FARMER’S CORNER Conducted by PROFESSOR HENRY G. BELL With the co-operation of the Various Departments of the Ontario Agricultural College Why He Was Healed 8. And straightway Jesus, perceiv- ing in his spirit that they.so reasoned within themselves, saith unto them, Why reason ye these things in. your hearts? 9. Which is easier, to say to the side of the palsy, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? Jesus did not ignore the question. He was not afraid of the question. Forgiveness of sin is something that takes place at the throne of God, and secondly, in the heart of a man ; and forgiveness can never be touched or seen or heard. That this man had truly been forgiven, and Jesus’ words declaring such forgiveness expressed an actual condition of forgiveness, we as be- lievers never doubt; but these scribes did doubt it, and Jesus is now going to prove to them that he can do something that they can see with their own eyes and judge with their own natural powers of examination, something beyond all human possi- bility, which will prove that he has power over a human body such as no mere man has, and which ought to shock them into at least seriously con- sidering whether he also then did not have power over the heart and spirit of a man. Nevertheless, we should remember that Christ healed the mail in answer, not to the unbelief of the scribes, but to the belief of the man and his bearers. 10. But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy), 11. 1 say unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house. “We here meet for the first time in Mark’s Gospel the title which Jesus gave himself: ‘the Son of Man.’ That the human nature of Christ is thus expressed is beyond question. But ‘the Son of Man’ lifts this one man out from among all men as one who bears this human nature in a way in which no other man bears it. Here is a case in which Jesus did not touch the sick man, hut uttered only the word as the expression of his mighty will. As in all the miracles, the proceeding is astounding and ov- erwhelmingâ€"three short, sharp com- mands and a terrible disease like par- alysis is literally blown away, and the man’s body made sound and whole.” 12. And he arose, and straightway took up the bed, and went forth be- fore them all. Jesus asked this man to do, thus far, things that would ab- solutely testify to the fact that his disease had been removed, that his paralysis had gone. Men when conver- ted should show unmistakable signs to those with whom they work, that there has been a real change in their lives. Their talk should be different, the places where they go, their thoughts should be different; their social life should be different; the sins that formerly marked their daily condrict are put away, and every one recognizes at once the change that lias come. Insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, Bâ€"D By VIRGINIA DALE ^ The day of the handsome hero with soulful eyes and long lashes is defi- nitely over according to theatre managers throughout the country. William Powell, Clark Gable, 1 aul Muni and Spencer ’fracy are the cur- rent idols of audiences everywhere, and the most up and coming young actor is James Stewart. Certainly if the Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer story department continues to do as well by young Stewart as they have in “Navy Blue and Gold” he will soar to the very crest of the wave of success. Lanky and homely, Jimmy Stewart has naturalness and shy sin- cerity that endear him. Almost every company has hail a try at making a picture about mid- shipmen at Annapolis and all of them, have been pretty stirring with their martial music, their Navy Spirit, their campus romances. But Metro-Gold- wyn-Mayer have taken all the old ingredients and made them seem fresh. Nowadays Shirley Temple rare- ly romps around the Twentieth Cen- tury-Fox lot visiting sets where pic- tures are being made. She stays in her dressing room bungalow and strange are the sounds that come out of there. It seems that Alan Dwan who is to direct her next picture thought it would be very cute for Shirley to beat a drum, so he sent, her a whole set of trap drums and hired a teacher to give her lessons. No one, least of all Mr. Dwan, real- ized that Shirley would take to drum- ming" with such enthusiasm. 1,__Q.â€"“Would you please advise us the value per ton of farm manure, well rotted, all cut straw used for bedding on dairy farm, as compared with commercial fertilizers?”â€"G.R., Grey Co. A.â€"I hasten to say that a ton of farm manure from dairy farms where the liquid manure is retained will car- ry approximately 10 lbs. Nitrogen, 5 lbs. Phosphoric acid, and 10 lbs. of Potash. A conservative estimate of the value is $2.00 per ton. A ton of 2-12-10 fertilizer will carry 2% Nitrogen, 12 % Phosphoric acid, and 10% Potash, or 40 lbs. Nitrogen, 240 lbs. Phosphoric acid and 200 lbs. Pot- ash. This will cost approximately $34.00, or for; $2100 you would be able to make an application of 117.6 lbs. ner acre or $2.00 worth contains 2.3 lbs. Nitrogen, 14 lbs. Phosphoric acid, and 11.7 lbs. Potash. The man- ure contains a considerable amount of very valuable organic matter which fertilizer does not contain. On the other hand, you get nearly three times as much Phosphorus and con- siderably more Potash in the fertil- izer for $2.00. 2.â€"Q.â€"“We have recently , been discussing the advisability of mixing our own fertilizer for treating aspara- gus beds and have wondered what to use as a filler, What would you sug- gest? Is it advisable to mix your own fertilizer for say a 5-7-10 ratio, us- ing Nitrate of Soda, Superphosphate and Muriate of Potash? I under- stand that mixing this ourselves is more economical and just as ef- fective as purchasing the same thing from a manufacturer already mixed.” â€"P.F., Halton Co. A.â€"It is true that you can either make or have made a fertilizer of the analysis 5-8-10. This would call for the following mixture: Nitrate of Soda ..........,.667 lbs. Superphosphate (16%) .......875 lbs." Muriate of Potash ..........400 lbs. Studying box-office reports for the past few months, R-K-0 have decid- ed not to renew the contracts of Lily Pons and Nino Martini. Too hard to find stories for singers. Paramount has notified Marlene Dietrich that she can make pictures elsewhere; they are in no hurry to make another with her. Joan Blondeil has decided she would rather free-lance than stay with Warner Brothers, and Rosalind Bussell has decided to go back to the stage when Her contract expires next summer. Total ...............1942 lba- This would leave room for 58 lbs. fil- ler to the ton. You can either use fine sand or fairly finely ground lime- stone. If you use the Hatter, it would be well to put in 900 lbs. of Superphosphate to overcome any re- version of the soluble phosphate that may occur from coming into direct contact with the lime. As to the advisability of mixing, your own fertilizer,â€"this will of course depend upon yotir knowledge of figuring out the mixture that you wish to make and upon your equip- ment for mixing the materials. If you have a small cement mixer and if the materials that you are com- bining are given time to be thorough- ly mixed in this machine, chances Eire you will get a fairly good uniform distribution of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium throughout the mix- ture. If your mixing is done with a shovel on an average floor, I doubt very much the thoroughness with which the plantfood carriers are dis- tributed uniformly throughout the pile. I do not know of any firm of- fering 5-8-10, hence you can have it made by written application to. any firm, in accord with the Fertilizer Law, as shown in section 9(a) on page 5 of that pamphlet. My impression would be that un- less you have considerable cheap la- bour available, you would do well to buy this mixture under specifications from some standard fertilizer com- pany and have them mix it up for you. When Mervyn Le Roy finishes the last picture under his contract with Warner Brothers and moves to Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer as a producer, he and Clark Gable will both start arguing with executives that they simply must make a picture to- gether. Clark has not forgotten how hard Le Roy tried to give him a start in pictures years ago. When Clark was a to im Warner Brothers made such a hit with “Alcatraz” that they are filming a whole series of prison stories. Next you will see “Girls on Probation,” then “Reform School,” then one by Warden Lawes of Sing' Sing called “Chalked Out.” “Chalked Out" is prison slang for execution. ODDS AND ENDSâ€"Connie Bos- well will be on the Paul Whiteman program again on January 28th . . . Robert Taylor asked to have Vir- ginia Bruce play opposite him in “Northwest Passage” because she was leading woman in his first big screen success, and he counts on her to bring him luck . . . Ted Busing ace sports director, has entered a knitting contest in New York and defies anyone to make a crack about it . . . When Grace Moore, Gladys Clark Gable stage actor agfl| trying to get pictures*p^®E8commended to WarnerBffflpP. He asked only $250 a week, but Warners»,thought that was too much for a guy with such big ears. Now they would glad- ly pay that much just to get one of his ears in a picture! Swarthout, and many other famous singers attended a business meeting of the Metropolitan Opera Singers Association, they insisted on calling a recess so as to listen to a Charlie McCarthy broadcast . . . Edward G. Robinson and Jean Hersholt are transporting their whole radio pro- gram companies to New York for a few weeks. Jean Hersholt will be the guest of Lauritz Melchior, Metro- politan opera singer and fellow-Dane, while he is in the metropolis. The Panama Canal makes San j Francisco closer to Liverpool by 5,665 miles, a saving of two-fifths of the old journey. The post office of Dagenham, Es- sex, England, has a skylight which takes the glare and most of the heat out of the sunlight. The Stars And You © Among new the return to air shows of 1938 is radio of Bob Beck- dog food. He is heard -over NBC’is red network at 2 p.m. with a rebroad- cast over WGN of the Mutual network at 2.45. Becker knows the woods er, nationally known sportsman, author, hunter and authority on dogs who broad- casts each Sunday in the interest of a popular brand or and waters of North and South Am- erica as few men do. He has hunted bear, moose, and sheep in Alaska and made explorations in the little- known reaches of the Amazon. Bob Becker v © V * V V * V © V © v © V V © V © V © â-ºI< We never saw it on this fashion. “How can we stir the outside world to wonder and praise? We must first of all arouse their attention. Men’s minds must be compelled to turn their eyes and look and think, and how is it to be done? They must he made to see something very extraordinary in the commonplace. Out of the church of Christ must go forth vigor- ous, healthy mon and women who went in paralyzed. v *3 V V © V © V © © V © © V © V â-º3 © © â-º3 © © V *3 © © By A. R. WEIR WHAT THE STARS FORETELL FOR THOSE BORN ON JANUARY 28, 29, 30, 31 and FEBRUARY 1, 2 and 3 *Â¥* Those whose birth dates are listed above were born when the Sun was in the Sign Aquarius. Aquarius people are usually very determin- ed, have fixed ideas, motives, aims, likes and. dislikes and are usually hard to swerve from any given course. Their tempers are always in control but are very forceful, being controlled by a strong' will. Yet, these people make good friends, kind and considerate and, because ot their sane reasoning ability, seldom hurt or harm others. YOUR OWN BIRTH DATE: JANUARY 28: This should be rather a changeable year for you- you will gain by a contract, agreement or legacy but will have difficulty with elderly people. Much happiness, however, is denoted when deal- ing with the opposite sex. JANUARY 29: A great improvement should occur in your business and financial affairs and there is indication of money coming to you through unusual ways. . Your lucky years are 1938 and 1946. ii are inclined to be egotistical. JANUARY 30: This should be a brilliant year for you financially, relatives should benefit you and the year should be excellent tor social affairs and for love. You are rather selfish at times. JANUARY 31: If you are single there is every possibility you will marry this year as all signs indicate the way clear and bright for both love and social affairs. You will also have good health and several long journeys are indicated. You have a great desire foi wealth an honors. FEBRUARY 1 : You will receive some important news from a. long distance and journeys are shownâ€"probably abroad. Saturday is the most fortunate day in the week for you. You are a hard and studi- ous worker but at time covetous of the possessions of others. FEBRUARY 2: Money should come to you in many small ways this year and your own shrewd business ability will .come to your aid and prove of real advantage. Socially all indications are always good and some new work may come your way. You havae a sweet disposi- tion. FEBRUARY 3: A very important change should come to you this y]'â€"new workâ€"journeysâ€"excitementâ€"adventure. Socially, af- faira are a bit mixed, however, so be cautious.. Young people are your best aids this year and will bring you diversion, amusement and re- laxation. You are a very clear reasonin'. K you birth date is not listed above and you, Would like a horoscope © © ©i © for any birth date in the year, or if you would like a complete personal â-ºÂ«? horoscope for any date listed above, send 10c to A. R. Weir, 73 Adelaide „£«! ,, st. W., Toronto. Please print your name, address and birth date plainly. â-º*<