obscurity and out of darkness1." And again, " Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped : then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing1";" which figures are afterwards explained as relating to the spiritual salvation of the Church11. The application which the inspired Apostles make of these pro- phecies further evinces the truth of our position. St. Matthew quotes a passage, which beyond all doubt relates to spiritual benefits that were to be obtained through the death of Christ, and explains it, in a way of accommodation, as referring to the bodily cures which our Lord had wrought0. Further, our Lord himself, having healed a blind man, takes occasion to trace this very analogy between the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees, and the bodily blindness which he had just healed: "For judgment I am come into this world, that they who see not might see, and that they who see might be made blind l\" And both the answer which the Pharisees made to him, and the reply which our Lord gave them, manifest that this analogy was intended to be pointed outq.]
3. There is a resemblance between the manner in which the diseased persons applied to our Lord for healing, and the manner in which we should apply to him for spiritual healing —
[Of all the multitudes that came to our Lord, there was not one who was not sensible of his disease. Moreover, they all came to him with deep humility, prostrating themselves before him in the most abject manner1, and acknowledging the utter insufficiency of all other means s. And such was their earnestness, that they came from afar4, and could not be pre- vailed upon to hold their peace11, nor would take a denial even from our Lord himself*. It is worthy of notice also, that they all came in faith : some few indeed doubted his power, and some his willingness, to help them : but none doubted both his power and his willingness; and the greater part entertained no doubt at all.
Thus then should we go to him, " weary and heavy-laden" with our sins, and so sensible of our spiritual wants, that if he should ask us, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee ? we may answer him immediately, " Lord, that this disorder may be healed, and that sin forgiveny." We must also, with all
1 Isai. xxix. IS. and xxxii. 3. m Isai. xxxv. 5, 6.
n Isai. xxxv. 10.
0 Compare Isai. liii. 4. with Matt. viii. 16, 17.
P John ix. 39. <i John ix. 40, 41. r Luke viii. 28, 41.
s Markv. 26,33. * Mark viii. 3. u Matt. xx. 30, 31.
* Matt. xv. 22— 28. 7 Matt. xx. 33.