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NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY  
The forsaking of sins, and the forgiveness of sins, are the subjects of the Epistle and Gospel for this Sunday.  St. Paul writes to the Ephesians in much detail concerning the Christian moral law, and shows its relation to the newness of nature which belongs to those who are new born by Baptism into Christ.  In the miracle by which our Blessed Lord restored to life the dead limbs of a paralytic this change from the old man to the new man is vividly illustrated.  We also see in the circumstances attending this miracle two other illustrations of the relation between our Lord and His people.  First, in His words, "Thy sins be forgiven Thee," He shows that His forgiveness is the highest good that can be desired on earth; and that although He may also see fit to say, "Arise, and walk," it is this blessing that is to be sought before all others.  Secondly, His peculiar expression, "that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins," shows that this power, which originates only in the Godhead (as the Scribes truly thought), extended to the human nature of our Lord, that sins might be forgiven on earth as well as at the last judgement before the throne of God.  These words thus contain a statement of the whole principle of Absolution.