lowliness of mind, confess our inability to obtain relief from any other quarter, and our dependence on him alone2. Moreover, in proof of our earnestness, we must not merely seek, but strive a, determining to take the kingdom of heaven by vio- lence^, and not to let the Saviour go, except he bless usc. Lastly, we must be sure to exercise faith on Christ, believing him both able and willing to save us : for we are expressly told that, he who wavereth and is of a doubtful mind, must not expect to receive any thing of the Lordd.]
4. There is a resemblance between the manner in which our Lord cured their disorders and the manner in which he will cure ours —
[He sometimes healed the people secretly, as when he took the deaf man aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and said, Ephphatha, be opened, and then charged him to tell no mane. So he has now many " hidden onesf," in whose hearts he carries on a secret work, and heals them without attracting the notice of the world. At other times he performed the cures openly, and in the sight of all ; as when he bade the man with the withered hand to stand forth g. So he often converts the souls of profligate sinners, or bitter persecutors, in such a striking manner, as to fill all around them with wonder and amazement.
Sometimes he wrought his cures instantaneously ; as in the man at the pool of Bethesdah : and so he effects a sudden change in the hearts of many, causing them to cry out like the first converts and the jailor, " What shall I do to be saved1 ?" At other times he performed his cures gradually, as in the blind man, who at first saw men, as trees, walking k : and so he often carries on his work in a gradual manner in our souls, leading us from progressive conviction to thorough conversion.
Sometimes he used means in curing them ; as when he put clay and spittle on the blind man's eyes1 : so he now converts many by the preaching of his Gospel. At other times he used no means, as in the case of the ten lepers, who were cleansed as they were going in the waym: and so he often imparts the knowledge of himself by the teachings of his Spirit, without using any particular means or instrument to convey it.
But however varied his manner was with respect to these things, in one respect it was uniformly the same : whomsoever he cured, he cured perfectly : and thus he always carries on the
7- Hos. xiv. 1 — 3. a Luke xiii. 24. b Matt. xi. 12.
c Gen. xxxii. 26. d Jam. i. (3, 7. e Mark vii. 34, 30.
f Ps. lxxxiii. 3. s Matt. iii. 3, 5. •' John v. 8.
1 Acts ii. 37. and xvi. 30. k Mark viii. 24.
1 John ix. G. m Luke xvii. 14.