IV
SAVING AND HEALING FAITH
"Look unto me, and be ye saved,[1] all ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."—Isaiah xlv. 21.
The passages where faith and believing are mentioned in the gospels are the following: as in Matthew: "There came a centurion to the Lord, saying, Lord, I am not fit that thou shouldst come under my roof, but speak the Word only, and my boy shall be healed. Jesus hearing admired, and said to them that followed him, Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith in Israel: and he said unto the centurion, Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, be it done unto thee; and his boy was healed in that hour" (viii. 8, 10, 13). The reason why the Lord healed this and other persons according to their faith, was, because the first and primary principle of the church then to be established was, that they should believe the Lord to be God Almighty, for without that faith no church could have been established. The Lord was the God of heaven, and God of earth, with whom there cannot be given any conjunction except by the acknowledgment of His divinity, which acknowledgment is faith.
"A woman labouring with an issue of blood, touched the hem of Jesus' garment; for she said within herself, if I may only touch the hem of His garment, I shall be healed. Jesus turning about and seeing her, said, Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole; and she was healed in that hour" (ix. 20, 21, 22). "They brought unto Him a paralytic lying upon a bed; Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the paralytic, Be of good comfort, thy sins are remitted; arise, take
- ↑ The Hebrew idea and word saved (yasha) mean to be eased,—not diseased.
