anner of sickness, and all manner of
disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria; and
they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers
diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils,
and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he
healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from
Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and
from beyond Jordan." What a blessed beginning of the most blessed of
all ministries this was! He came to bless our world. He did bless it,
as no one else could have done. And here, we see, how he entered on
his work.

And one of the first things he did, after thus beginning his
ministry, was to gather his disciples round him. The first two that
we find named among his disciples are John and Andrew. They had been
disciples of John the Baptist. Their master pointed them to Jesus,
and said--"Behold the Lamb of God." When they heard this they
followed Jesus, and became his disciples. When Andrew met with his
brother Simon Peter, he said to him "we have found the Messias--the
Christ. And he brought him to Jesus." After this we are told that
"Jesus findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me." He was an
acquaintance of Andrew and Peter, and lived in the same town with
them. He obeyed the call at once and became one of the disciples of
Jesus.

Philip had a friend named Nathanael. The next time he met him, he
said, "we have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets
did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." But Nazareth was a
despised place, and had a bad reputation. Nathanael had a very poor
opinion of the place, and he asked--"Can there any good thing come
out of Nazareth?" Philip saith unto him--"Come and see."

And this is what we should say to persons when we wish them to become
Christians. There is so much that is lovely and excellent in Jesus
that if people will only "come and see," if they will only prove for
themselves what a glorious Saviour he is, they will find it
impossible to help loving and serving him. Nathanael came to Jesus.
And when he heard the wonderful words that Jesus spoke to him he was
converted at once, and expressed his wonder by saying--"Rabbi, thou
art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel." We can read all
about this in John i: 43-51. Nathanael became a disciple of Jesus,
and one of the twelve apostles, and is supposed to be the same