SECTION XIX.

Chap. ix. ver. 18-26.

CHRIST CURETH THE DISEASED WOMAN.

18. While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

This was a high degree of faith, but not more than was necessary. When we are so far awakened as to see the exceeding greatness of our wants, past sinfulness, and present deadness, we are hard put to it, to think there is a power and will in Jesus answerable to them. The Scripture, therefore, strives hard to keep up our belief in him, as every way sufficient for our case; and whatever it is, our faith must not come short of it. If the ruler had believed that Christ was able to cure the leprosy, or the palsy, but not to raise the dead, he must have gone without help.

19. And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.

There is no delay with Jesus. He is always thus ready, and waits only for the call of our faith.

20. And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:

21. For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

Observe again, for it is of great moment to our peace, comfort, and restoration, what faith is; it is a sense of want, earnest desire of help, and application to Jesus for it, with a firm trust in his grace and power. As the ruler, and this woman, believed in him, and came to him for re

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lief in their distress, so must we for our souls.

And when

we do thus come to him, we have no more reason to doubt of our faith, and all its saving effects, than we have of our

own wants.

22. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

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To one Christ says, Son, be of good cheer;" to another, “Daughter, be of good comfort;" What gracious, endearing language! Yes, Lord, thy forgiveness is cheering; thy healing is comfort; thy word assures it to us; thy Spirit settles us in it, and without it we shall never know peace.

23. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,

According to their custom at funerals.

24. He said unto them, Give place for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

They came to lament over the dead. There was no occasion for them. She was not to continue in death, as they apprehended; and he, therefore, calls it a sleep, knowing that she would immediately awake from it. “And they laughed him to scorn," knowing that she was dead.

25. But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.

26. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

The fame of Jesus is the ground of our belief in him, and we are now reading the history of him, written by St. Matthew, for that end. The first thing, therefore, to be considered, is, that no man could do such miracles except God was with him. The next is, for what end he was sent of God. But both these considerations will be ineffectual, unless a third is added, namely, what we desire he should do, and what he has done for us. The learned too often

stop at the two first; it is happy for the poor that they may be as well-grounded in the last, and have the benefit of it, as much as any.

SECTION XX.

Chap. ix. ver. 27-38.

CHRIST HEALS THE BLIND MEN.

27. And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on

us.

It is our own case till Jesus opens our eyes, and we all have as much cause as the two blind men had to cry out, "Thou son of David, have mercy on us." And he opens our eyes to see God, ourselves, and the nature of the world in which we live; to see sin, and death for sin; to see our utter inability to help ourselves, and insufficiency for our own salvation; to see our absolute need of his forgiveness, and of being turned by him to God in holiness; to see heaven, or hell, at the end of our lives, and the wretched folly of continuing in the broad way of destruction.

28. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.

They knew that they were blind, or else they would never have come to him. They knew also, that they could not give sight to themselves, and believed assuredly that he could, There must be a concurrence of both these to a true faith. So far as we see no want

of Christ, or trust in ourselves, or doubt of his power, we are given up to unbelief.

29. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.

So it will always be unto the world's end, if there is any depending upon what we are now reading.

30. And their eyes were opened;

Are our eyes opened? If they are not, what can be the reason that we go without our remedy, and have not the same help from the same Jesus, but that we are blind, and will not see?

30. And Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.

The reason why he would not have his miracles made more public, has already been given. The case is altered now; what we know of Jesus must not be concealed.

31. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.

It would have been very hard for them to have held their tongues. He had a reason for this command, though they knew it not. Obey him in the dark.

32. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.

33. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake; and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.

Let us think what use we are to make of this, and where we must look for ourselves.

34. But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

Those who are blind themselves will not own the work of God in others, and they will do what they can to hinder

the belief of it from spreading, and what they cannot deny, ascribe to any the most absurd cause.

35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Blessed be God, Christ is teaching here, and now preaching to us; and we may hear his words of saving truth to as good effect as those who heard them from his own mouth. He stooped very low, took great pains, refused no sufferings to bring the Gospel of the kingdom to us with all its grace; and wilt thou, O slothful, dead soul! turn a deaf ear to his instructions, neglect the Bible, be ignorant of thyself, and never once think of thy own healing by him?

36. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

He still sees his fainting, scattered sheep, with bowels of melting pity, knowing that when they are scattered from him, they are liable to perish. The whole passage is an affecting instance of his tender love to the souls of men, an earnest call to the sheep to have pity on themselves by returning to him, and a loud call indeed to those, whose duty it is, to labour for them.

37. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

Considering the greatness of the harvest, always few, if all laboured. Alas! how few do, with a how few do, with a measure of Christ's spirit, and a piercing sense of the miseries of mankind.

38. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Then this prayer will be heard as well as others; and, if you were zealous for the success of the Gospel, or wished well to your own souls, it would not be forgotten.