But whilst the Scribes and Pharisees would not believe the evidence of their own eyes, the poorer people were less obstinate. When they saw the poor sick man walk away completely cured, the multitude were all amazed at such a wonderful proof of the power of God. "And they said, We have seen strange things to-day: we never saw it on this fashion: and they glorified God, which had given such power unto men." Perhaps some of these people became real and true followers of Christ: but many of them, notwithstanding all they had seen, did not like to give up their sins, so as to become holy, as Christ's disciples must be. We think it strange that men could see such miracles, and not believe and follow Jesus: but do we do everything that He bids us? and yet we _know Him_ to be the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. Let us take care that we do not love our sins, so as to make us unwilling to be true followers of Jesus Christ. After these things, we read that as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw "a man, a publican named Levi," also called Matthew, "sitting at the receipt of custom." A publican was a tax-gatherer; one who was appointed by the Romans to collect the taxes which they required the inhabitants of Judæa to pay. The Jews disliked paying taxes very much, because it was a mark of their being under the dominion of Gentile rulers: and therefore they hated all publicans or tax-gatherers. In general, too, the bad characters and ill conduct of these men did not tend to make men like them: the Romans were in the habit of farming out the taxes; that is, they appointed some person who was willing to give them a certain sum of money, and take his chance of what taxes he could collect. If the taxes he collected did not amount to as much as the sum he had paid to the Romans, of course he was the loser: if, on the contrary, the taxes came to more than what he had to give to the Romans, he was the gainer: thus the publicans, having paid a large sum of money for the privilege of collecting the taxes, were anxious to collect as much as possible, in order to have more for themselves: and so they often oppressed the people, by making them pay more than was right; and of course the people could not like those whom they found so troublesome and unjust, and therefore they hated the whole class of tax-gatherers. Levi, or Matthew, of whom we are speaking, was a Jew, who had taken the office of tax-gatherer under the Romans: his particular business seems to have been to receive the money, which every person who carried goods across the Sea of Galilee was obliged to pay as a tax to their Roman masters. Matthew was sitting in his appointed place for the receipt, or receiving, of "custom," that is, of the tax which it was the custom to pay on landing, when our Lord passed by and saw him.