The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1889-02-15
TIE TIMID BELIEVER.
LESSON VII, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL eERlea Fec. n.

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stsarns.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quartese By Per
mission OF H. 9. HOFFMAN, publisher. Phiiadel'
phia.
After healing the man or men Of Gadara,
who were 20 afflicted by the demons, He, at
the urgent request Of the people, left them
aud recrossed the sea to His own city, Caper-
naum Matt. IL, y, where Luke viii, 40, says
that the people gladly received Him, for they
were all waiting for Him. Let all Christian
workers learn from this that whether teach
ers or preachers, II they speak the truth faith
fully, and In some quarters 1t IL not received,
there are other places where they are waiting
for It The field 10 the world, and our orders
are to preach the gospel to every creature,
but we are not told that all will receive IL;
rather are we taught that some will believe
and some will believe not (Acts xviii, ~,
and that perhaps only a fourth Of the seed
will bear fruit, and tares spring up even
among that Matt. xiii,); but all that the
Father giveth unto Him tout Of this present
evil world shall come to Him, and Him that
cometh shall not be cast out John vi, 81;
the elect body, the church, shall be COM
pleted, the bride shall be gathered, the we'd
ding shall be furnished with guests the mar
riaRe Of the Lamb shall come, and after that
shall Israel be comforted and all the earth
be filed with His glory. Hallelujahl But
what is the connection Of all this with the
lesson Of today' Why, just this: II you
would be there and see and share His glory,
you must not simply hear of Him and know
about Him, but you must 90 touch Him that
virtue R. ", power) shall flow from Him to
you and know that you are healed.
Is. "A certain woman had an issue OF
blood twelve years." Jesus was at this time
on the way to the house of Jairus, a ruler Of
the synagogue. to bring back to life his
daughter, little girl Ii years Of age, who
was dying when the father left home Uu.
viii, 40; as He and his disciples went with
Jairus great crowd followed and thronged
Him, and this poor afflicted woman among
the rest. 1t mattered not whether, as in the
case Of this woman, the life flor the life Of the
flesh is in the blood, Lev. xvii, 1D was slowly
but surely ebbing away; or whether, as in
the case Of the little girl, the Me had clean
gone; whether it had just gone, or been gone
q few hours luke vii, 12, or some days
John xi, &c.,; it mattered not to the Prince of
Life, for in Him is life, and a word from Him
is sufficient in either case. It mattered not
whether the affection had lasted twelve,
or eighteen, or thirty Eight, or forty years.
luke xiii, II John v, 8; Acts Nv, 22.) His
power was more than sufficient in either
case Now as to life and health that amounts
to anything, we have it not until we receive
Jesus Christ; let every teacher and scholar
ponder carefully that marvellous verse COM
posed of words of one syllable which almost
any little child can read and remember: sHe
that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath
not the Son Of God hath not the life.n
Il John v, IL, r. w
90. 'Had suffered many things, =
had spent all, was nothing bettered,
but rather grew worse" Many physicians,
much suffering, money all gone, given up by
all, all the time growing worse, no hope,
utterly helpless, unclean, undone; what q
pitiable case and yet just the one for Jesus.
for "He giveth power tothe Nfaint and to
them thst have sla8. sRiebt H)e, Inc seaseth,
strength" Gsa Il, 29). II she had been i'm
proving ever so little under some one Of
these many physicians, the probability is
that she might not have come to Jesus, but
her complete failure to find help anywhere
else led her to Jesus The least reliance upon
ourselves may hinder us from coming to
Jesus for salvation, or being saved, may him
der Him from working in us to will and to
do of His good pleasure To be saved, we
must come to Him without one rag of our
own filthy Righteousness.
81. "When she had heard of Jesus" Some
body's testimony had reached her, perhaps
the testimony Of several had been necessary
to convince her; many had been healed Of
divers diseases in this city, among others
Peters wife's mother, the man in the syna-
gogue with the unclean spirit, the nobleman's
son, the sick OF the palsy Mark i, ii; John
ivy, and the testimony of some of these
healed ones or their friends had reached this
woman and convinced her that He could heal
her too.
%. IF may touch but his clothes, shall
be whole" This was her firm persuasion
and on this belief she acted.
30. Sand straightway the fountain of her
blood was dried up, y she was healed"
Over twenty times have we already met in
this Gospel the word ''straightway," or
forthwith" or immediately" which in
each case is the same word in the Greek, and
it should incite us as servants of Christ to do
very quickly whatever our hands find to do
for Him, expecting quick results and yet pa
tiently continuing, leaving results to Him.
Quick as the lightning flash, but with health
and not death. came the fullness of physical
life back to her body; she had not felt like
this for twelve long years, she is young again,
she is well, and He did it just as she believed.
80. "Jesus Immediately knowing
said, Who touched my clothes" Even be-
fore she came near He saw her coming, His
spirit wrought the faith in her and brought
her to Him; and yet she might have resisted
the Spirit as SO many did, have done and are
doing, but, blessed be God, she did not resist.
81. "Thou seest the multitude thronging
Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Mef'
This was what the disciples said to Him
when all the people denied, and the woman
herself sought to be hid luke viii, As, ~,
for they did not seem to understand the diff
ference between touching Him as the crowd
did and the touch Of faith that drew from
Him the healing power. They were like
many today who frequent the house of God,
but wonder at any one who finds the utmost
delight in SO doing.
80. HE looked round about to see her that
had done this thing" Not in grief or anger,
but kindly, lovingly He looked upon her and
she could not Withstand His look.
So. 1.-THE woman, fearing and trembling,
knowing what was done in her, came and
fell down before Him and told Him all the
truth" Luke viii, Al, says that she declared
before all the people why she touched Him
and how she was healed Immediately.
81 "And He said unto her, Daughter"
90 tho ,v,1x, ;,,c<o uo, .~l:-A