JESUS MASTER OF SICKNESS.

This poor man, on whose head Jesus lays his hand,, .
is afflicted with that loathsome disease called the leprosy..

_ There was no sickness so dreadful as this, or one so hard.

to cure. This disease would eat away the flesh until,

sometimes the fingers or toes would drop off. How

very sad it must have been, when these leprous spots pee

made their appearance.

There was another thing which added very much to:
the fear and terror of this disease. It was contagious.
So the Jews had a law, that as soon as any one was.
afflicted with it, he must be removed from among the
people. They were compelled to leave their home and
children, and go outside the city to live; and perhaps never
- see their loved ones again.

We can hardly imagine how dreadful it would be to-
suffer pain, night and day, with no loving friend to watch
beside us. We think it very hard to be sick when we
have a nice bed, and everything we need, with mamma.
to take care of us, but I am afraid if we were in the place
of these poor lepers, we should want to die. There was. _
no doctor who could cure this kind of sickness, no one but:
Jesus could ever make the leprous man whole.