basis of belief in Christ is the submission to and reliance on His word alone, and without such faith it is impossible to perfectly please God. Take the community of Capharnaum as a case in point. Of all the towns of Galilee it was the most favored, as the home of Christ and the scene of His greatest miracles. It lies on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee; twenty-five miles to the southwest is Cana, and a few miles further on, Nazareth, while eighty miles to the south lies Jerusalem. When Jesus inaugurated His public ministry by the changing of the water into wine at Cana, He was on His way from Nazareth to Capharnaum, and for the rest of His stay in Galilee, Capharnaum was His home. Here lived the fishermen, Peter and Andrew, and the sons of Zebedee; here Matthew was called from his office in the custom-house to be an Apostle and an Evangelist. In the local Synagogue Jesus expounded His doctrines, among others, you remember, the forgiveness of sins, but the people believed not. Then, and then only, did He prove His words by signs and wonders, such as the cure of the man sick of palsy. The opportunity He gave them for the exercise of perfect faith they rejected, and regretfully He had recourse to miracles. And what stupendous miracles! Not to mention the miracle of Cana a few miles away, in Capharnaum itself occurred the cure of the ruler's son and of the man possessed by an unclean spirit. What a commentary it was on the incredulity of the people that that spirit instantly confessed Christ to be the Holy One of God! Here,
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