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THE POOL OP BETHESDA.

CCLXII.

JHE POOL OF PETHESDA.

x BOUT this time, there was

yj @ feast of the Jews, and
\\| Jesus went to Jerusalem
to keep it.

There was at Jerusa-
lem, by the sheep-market, a pool
called the pool of Bethesda. Round
this pool were five porches, and.in
them lay a great number of poor
sick people. Some were blind, some
Jame, some withered; all were suf-
fering from some sad disease. Why
did these poor people come to the
pool of Bethesda? Because they
wanted to be cured, and they might
be cured there in a very wonderful
way. God was pleased, at certain
times, to send an angel into the
pool to trouble the water: and the
first sick person who stepped in
after the water was troubled, was
cured of any disease he had. How
wonderful this was! We cannot
tell ow the troubled waters could
cure the sick people :—their cure
was a miracle; for God, who once
cleansed the leper Naaman, by the
waters of Jordan, could still cure in
any way, and by any means he
pleased.

When Jesus passed by the pool,
He saw a poor man lying there, who
had been ill a yery long time.
Thirty-eight years he had been in
pain and suffering, and he could
find no cure for his disease. Could
not the troubled waters cure him ?
Yes, they might ; but he was too
ill and weak to step into the pool.

 
  

He used to see others brought
there, and put into the water; and
he saw them come out well and
strong, and he wished he could be
so too. But he had no kind friend
to put him in. Sometimes he tried
to come alone; but while he was
coming another stepped down before
him. Then he was too late; and
he was obliged to wait till the angel
came again; and so it was many,
many times. Jesus knew all this.
He knew how much, and how long,
the poor man had suffered ; and now
He was going to cure him Himself,
not by the waters of Bethesda, but
by His own almighty power. So
Jesus looked kindly upon the sick
man, and asked, “ Wilt thou be »
made well?” The man wanted to
be made well, but he had waited so
many years in vain, that he was
now almost in despair. So he told
Jesus all his sorrow, and then the
kind Saviour said, “Rise, take up
thy bed and walk.” And the man
was made whole directly, and took
up his bed and walked.

It was the Sabbath-day when
Jesus did this miracle ; and the
Jews, when they saw the man carty-
ing his bed, told him that it was
wrong to do so on the Sabbath ; and
they asked who had made him well.
He did not know, for he had never
before seen Jesus; but soon after,
Jesus found him in the temple, an
spoke to him, and said, “Sin »é
more, lest a worse thing come upo#