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was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Like many of the miracles of healing, this has its symbolical allusion marked, by the emphatic words, "thy faith hath saved thee." Its characteristic however, as distinguished from the others, consists in its being the one which most clearly denoted the doctrine contained obscurely in the preceding chapter-that Christ was not dealing out his spiritual privileges as arbitrary favours that he was not selecting at random subjects for his kingdom-but that the ground of his selection was one which depended on men themselves. Hence the striking fact, which was made as public as possible, that the "virtue which went forth from him" followed the manifestation of the woman's faith, as if in accordance to a general law, and not as by an incidental exercise of mercy. He had not by word or sign communicated with the woman-he had not seen her, for she stood behind him—and yet she had shared in the divine influence with those whom he had called, conversed with, and taught. And to mark

the circumstance more pointedly, after the general attention to the fact was sufficiently excited, he observes emphatically, "Thy faith hath made thee whole."

This lesson might have been the more requisite, because the object on whom he was proceeding to work a miracle--the damsel who lay dead-was one incapable of an act of faith at the time. This miracle, performed while he was on his way to her, became a preparatory warning against drawing a wrong inference from the circumstance. To strengthen the impression, he expressly requires, that the damsel's friends, who were capable of faith, although at the time she was not, should believe. His words to her father are, "Be not afraid, only believe."

CHAPTER VI.

CHRIST NOT ACCEPTABLE IN HIS OWN COUNTRY.

Ver. 1-6.

And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon ? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

MUCH of Christ's ordinary life must doubtless have partaken of the character of other men's lives. This, connected with the knowledge of his earthly birth and parentage, seemed quite irreconcileable with the preconceived image of

Christ the Immanuel, which occupied men's minds; and is a warning to us, not to frame theories of propriety respecting the measures of divine wisdom, and to try those measures afterwards by these theories.

Any record, accordingly, of those parts of our Saviour's life and conversation which were unconnected with his ministry, would have been likely, from the same natural disposition in mankind, to occasion mischief, after his claims to be the Messiah had been unquestionably established. The same bent of mind, would have led us probably to the error of attributing an extraordinary character to these, as well as to the parts of his life which were really entitled to it. Like his countrymen, we should have been unwilling to see any thing in the actions, words, or person of Immanuel, which was not extraordinary-extra-human-a part of his ministry—a portion of his doctrine— a feature of his example. Even without this record, such has been the mischief produced by the Church's legends. How much more would this have been the case, had the topics which form the subject of those legends rested on Scripture authority. It is impossible to calculate the ex

tent of the superstitious practices which might have been founded on a description of his dress, for instance, his hours of rising and going to rest, and the like; if these matters had formed part of the inspired histories. But we may reasonably suppose that it would have been great ; judging from the effect produced by the unauthenticated tales, which pretend to furnish information of this sort.

One statement in this passage of St. Mark is at first sight strange, and requires to be noticed. It is said, that Jesus "could there do no mighty work." Now we know abundantly from other parts of Scripture, that "God gave not the Spirit to him by measure";" that " in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily";" and that "God in Christ "" must have been omnipotent. When it is said therefore, that he could do no mighty work, it cannot be meant, that he had not the power to do it, but that it was incompatible with the rule of his ministry—that, granting that rule to be unbroken, it was impossible.

In like manner we say that God cannot act unwisely, unjustly, and the like; meaning thereby,

⚫ John iii. 34.

Coloss. ii. 9. i. 19. c 2 Cor. v. 19.

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