_FAITH AND RIDICULE_
MATTHEW ix. 18-26.
And, so one man's faith is more than a match for many people's scorn. The
steady trust of the ruler was not shaken by the rude flippancy of the
artificial mourners, and his daughter was brought from the dead. "This is
the victory that overcometh, even our faith." Everything bows, like
fragile reeds, before the march of a victorious faith. Scorn, and hatred,
and all manner of devilry, and death itself, all lose their power in the
presence of a belief which remains steady and steadfast. "Said I not unto
thee that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God?"
And what an infinite reservoir of power is waiting to be tapped by the
hand of faith! A ruler believes and his daughter is vitalized. A poor
woman, bent and broken, reaches out her thin, frail hand, and lo! she is
erect and graceful as the pine! And "my sufficiency is of God!" All that I
may need is in the same wonderful reservoir of grace. That healing flood
is like the ocean fulness, and it will fill every bay, and cove, and creek
in the wide-stretching shore of human need.
"The healing of His seamless dress
Is by our beds of pain,
We touch Him in life's throng and press,
And we are whole again."