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Section 7—Fees and Wages
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was Christ’s desire to keep under His sheltering wing of preservation
all who would do His will.
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It was not by chance that in their journey the children of Israel
came to Marah. Before they left Egypt the Lord began His lessons of
instruction, that He might lead them to realize that He was their God,
their Deliverer, their Protector. They murmured against Moses and
against God, but still the Lord sought to show them that He would
relieve all their perplexities if they would look to Him. The evils
they met and passed through were part of God’s great plan, whereby
He desired to prove them.
“When they came to Marah, ... the people murmured against
Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord;
and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the
waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute
and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt
diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that
which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments,
and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee,
which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that
healeth thee.” Though invisible to human eyes, God was the leader
of the Israelites, their mighty Healer. He it was who put into the tree
the properties which sweetened the waters. Thus He desired to show
them that by His power He could cure the evils of the human heart.
In Christ’s Stead
Christ is the Great Physician, not only of the body, but of the
soul. He restores man to his God. God permitted His only-begotten
Son to be bruised, that healing properties might flow forth from Him
to cure all our diseases. Physicians are to act in Christ’s stead. Every
physician who has planted his feet upon the Rock of Ages draws
from the Great Physician his restoring power. Christ’s plans are to
be carried out more definitely by the Christian physician.
As Christ was about to leave His disciples, those who were to
represent Him to the world, He gave them a new commandment.
“A new commandment I give unto you,” He said, “That ye love
one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have
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