confess to Thy Name, and glory in Thy praise,”2611 that the Apostle Paul was sent. He, the
least, made great, not by himself, but by Him whom he once persecuted, was sent to the
Gentiles,2612 from a robber become a shepherd, from a wolf a sheep. He, the least Apostle,
was sent to the Gentiles, and laboured much among the Gentiles, and through him the
Gentiles believed. His Epistles are the witnesses.
6. Of this you have a very sacred figure in the Gospel also. A daughter of a ruler of the
synagogue was really dead, and her father besought the Lord, that He would go to her; he
had left her sick, and in extreme danger.2613 The Lord set out to visit and heal the sick; in
the mean time it was announced that she was dead, and it was told the father; “Thy daughter
is dead, trouble not the Master.” But the Lord who knew that He could raise the dead, did
not deprive the despairing father of hope, and said to him, “Fear not: only believe.” So he
set out to the maiden; and in the way a certain woman, who had suffered from an issue of
blood, and in her lengthened illness had spent to no purpose all that she had upon physicians,
pressed herself in, how she could, amongst the crowds. When she touched the border of
His garment, she was made whole. And the Lord said, “Who touched Me?” The disciples
who knew not what had taken place, and saw that He was thronged by the multitudes, and
that He was troubling Himself about one single woman who had touched Him gently,
answered in astonishment, “The multitudes press Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me?
And He said, Somebody hath touched Me? for the other press, she hath touched. The
many2614 then rudely2615 press the Body of Christ, few touch it healthfully. “Somebody,”
saith He, “hath touched Me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me. And when the woman
saw that she was not hid, she fell down at His feet,” and confessed what had taken place.
After this He set out again, and arrived whither He was going, and raised to life the young
daughter of the ruler of the synagogue who was found to be dead.
7. This was a literal fact, and was fulfilled as it is related; but nevertheless these very
things which were done by the Lord had some further signification, being (if we may so say)
a sort of visible and significative words. And this is especially plain, in that place where He
sought fruit on the tree out of season, and because He found none, dried up the tree by His
curse.2616 Unless this action be regarded as a figure, there is no good meaning in it; first to
have sought fruit on that tree when it was not the season for fruit on any tree; and then even
if it were now the time of fruit, what fault in the tree was it to have none? But because it
2611 Ps. cvi. 47.
2612 Acts ix. 15.
2613 Luke viii. 41, etc.
2614 Serm. xii. (lxii.) 5 (4).
2615 Molesti.
2616 Mark xi. 13, etc.
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On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xv. 21,’Jesus went out thence, and withdrew…