I suppose St. Luke did not want to reflect on the members of his own profession; but Mark lets us into the secret. He says, "She had suffered many things of many physicians," and became worse.

There was something, however, that Luke was familiar with, and he calls attention to it. He knew that doctors sent in long bills; and he points out that she had spent all her substance in attempts to obtain medical assistance: and there she was, with poverty staring her in the face, and death drawing nearer and nearer. Poor woman! she had done all she could, and her all had been a failure. How true to life! How many a poor wearied heart is thus described!

There is a certain class of people I am always coming into contact with, in conducting Missions. They are generally the first to come forward; and I am afraid that we, Mission Preachers, have got so little of the Master's spirit, that sometimes we feel a little impatient towards them. I do not think the Lord would have felt thus; and yet really their conduct is sometimes so much the opposite of this woman's conduct, that one must speak of them in terms of reproof. Their conduct is extremely silly, to say the least of it. They inflict upon themselves a great deal of moral torture that is altogether unnecessary. They "suffer many things of many physicians."

A poor girl wrote to me once, "I have tried almost every sect. I have been a Unitarian; I have been a Ritualist; I have been a Low Church woman; I have dabbled in Nonconformity; I have been "-I think she said a " Plymouth sister," or something of that kind,-"and the end of it all," she said to me, "is that I am as miserable as I can be." She had suffered many things of many physicians.' The truth is, dear friends, that none of us, clergy, are anything like infallible, and the result is that we are too frequently giving wrong advice; not that I deny for a moment that we should be rightly guided if we trusted to the Lord for guidance; but we are so frail; and there are times that we very nearly "break the bruised reed; and there are some times when we should come down with good, heavy strokes, and yet shrink from inflicting them. For one reason or other we are often administering the wrong treatment, so the poor soul "suffers many things of many physicians." Ah, well, I have been to Mr. So-and-So; and he gave me this advice. I have complied

with it, and am no better; I am just the same as I was before. I thought, that would never do; so I changed my physician. I tried Mr. So-and-So, who gave me the opposite advice. The first man told me to read my Bible more carefully; the second man told me that that was not what I wanted; I wanted to do some work for the Lord; the third told me to have more earnestness in my prayers; the fourth told me that if I would only just endeavour to be more regular in my attendance at religious ordinances, that would surely set me all right. Why did I not go to the sacrament every week? I was tossed from the one to the other, and I constantly grew worse. I have spent my substance; I have wasted my time; I have thrown away my energy; I have lost my opportunity; I look back now on a wasted life, and I cannot live it over again. I ought to have lived better; I should have laid up treasure yonder, but I have laid up none; my opportunities are gone; and if my soul be saved, even though as by fire,' surely that is all that I can hope for."

Now, dear friends, get away from these physicians. not mean to say that you should refuse any human help that may be offered to you; but, at the same time, do not repose your confidence in man, and be jealous of any help that does not lead you to the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ for help. This woman had been terribly disappointed; yet she had strong faith in this strange Physician. She had heard of one wonder being performed after another. She may have heard of "the water turned into wine,"-of the fishes of the sea streaming into the net at His command,—and she said in her heart, “If I am only able to touch the hem of His garment I shall be healed." She is persuaded she will be healed. Her faith is not perfectly intelligent. If she had had a real understanding of the nature of this mysterious Person, she would not have thought of gaining healing from "the hem of His garment" without His knowledge. But be that as it may, she had strong, clear faith in the Person whom probably she had never seen, whom she had only heard of. In other words, my dear friends, her faith reposes itself upon testimony, and it is a practical faith; it is like the faith of St. James, faith which perfected itself in works.

Again, there may be difficulties in our way: but few of us have such difficulties as that poor woman. The very nature of her disease was one which made her shrink back from any

thing like publicity. She might have waited until He was not surrounded by a crowd,-waited for a more favourable opportunity. She did not wish to obtrude herself before the eyes of all; but, at the same time, she wished to be healed. She says to herself, "I am going to be healed:" she does not say, "I am going to try." How often do we hear that word "try." There are two little words, beginning with "TR:" the one is "TRUST," and the other is "TRY." I wish we were a little fonder of the first, and less of the second. This woman has made up her mind, if she can, to "touch" Him, and be "healed." So, through the crowd she makes her way, draws near, stretches out her hand, and "she touched Him."

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And now we have a blessed opening up of the inner life of Christ, which seems to bring Him wondrously near to us. It is this amidst all the subjects that occupied His mind, there cannot proceed from Him the very slenderest favour to any of the creatures whom He has made, but He is sensible of it. The reception of grace shall be a mutual thing:—a thing involving reciprocal consciousness, consciousness on our part, of our approach; consciousness on His part, that we are approaching: consciousness on our part, of our stretching out the hand of faith; consciousness on His part, of the flowing of the current of His own Divine healing. There shall be no blessing stolen from an unconscious God. We shall not get it from Him when He is asleep. We will not get it from Him when His attention is fixed upon anything else. It is when His own blessed God-consciousness comes into contact with our human sense of need, that the miracle of grace shall be performed. Is it not a wonderful thing He can think of us!-that, while He is giving us blessings every moment, He nevertheless gives every blessing consciously. How near this brings God to us! If one of us, requiring assistance, had to present a certificate to an almoner before we obtained it, that might satisfy our need; but it would leave us as far as ever from real knowledge of the sympathy of the giver. If the Queen of England gives two or three thousand pounds in charity, she has an almoner, whose business it is to bestow that upon the people. The widow goes to the door of the almoner's office, not to the door of Windsor Castle. Should a beggar go there, and say, "I hear her Majesty is giving away alms to the poor: let her give some to me." The reply would be, "Go to London, or

to such and such a place, and apply there, and your case will be taken into consideration." That is the way in which man is obliged to act. Blessed be God, it is not so with Him! The blessing He bestows is personally given; and He will never give a blessing without the consciousness of His giving it.

If our Lord had let this woman go away without letting her know that He was aware of the blessing which He was imparting, her faith would have degenerated into superstition. It is just here that the border-line lies between faith and superstition. She would have gone away and said, “What a wonderful thing the border of His garment is! I only touched the hem of His garment and was healed: His very clothes were instinct with spiritual power." She would have become a garment-worshipper; the progenitress of a whole race of garment-worshippers. But Christ would not have it SO. The blessing came not from "the garment," but from Christ, right out from His heart's core. She knew that uo blessing could be received without His will. Superstition leads us to be satisfied with a sideway, an indirect approach to God faith leads us right up into His presence, and lands us before the mercy seat.

Now, dear friends, bear that in mind, it will save you from a great many errors. There is a great deal of teaching in our our own day that has a certain value of its own; but it has also certain dangers of its own. I do not think we can be wrong in having a high estimate indeed of those blessed ordinances that God Himself has appointed. I believe we cannot be too devout, too earnest, too frequent in our use of them, within certain reasonable limits. But, while few value, perhaps, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper more than I do, believe me that that very ordinance becomes a superstition when we allow ourselves to regard it as that woman would have valued "the hem of our Lord's garment," if our Lord had not taken care that she should not do so. If I find the Lord in the Bible, then it is no superstition to read the Bible; if I find Christ Himself in the Sacrament, then it is no superstition; but if I read the Bible, and think I must get good because it is the Bible, and engage in religious ordinances merely because they are ordinances, at that moment they become the objects of superstition, and the result is that the blessing will not be a real one; it will lead me away from

Christ; and any blessing that leads you away from Christ is not the blessing you need, dear friends. Jesus will not have it so. He looks wistfully round: with an eager, friendly gaze, and says "Who touched Me?"

Simon Peter was a man of remarkable common sense; and he begins to make an objection. "You are wrong again: we are all touching you: John is touching you: I am touching you the whole multitude is touching you: what a ridiculous question to ask." But he was not able to understand the mind of Jesus: he lived on a lower platform. Jesus was not satisfied. He will not be put off by Simon Peter. Thank God! no one will put Him off: when He is in search of a soul who is in search of Him, not all the angels in heaven, nor the devils in hell can turn Him from His purpose.

This morning, He stands in this church, and asks the same question-"Who touched Me?” "Is it I ?" "Is it thou?" "Is thy hand stretched out? Is thy face turned towards Me? Who touched Me? Is it that poor, bewidered sinner, who goes from one church to another,—from one place of religious opinion to another, seeking alms instead of coming directly to Me for a blessing?" Is it that poor, weary one, who has all the while been suffering so much from so many physicians, never getting better, and always getting worse? Jesus is looking round and saying, "Who touched Me?" In St. Margaret's Church this morning, where is the man, where is the woman, that has got the hand stretched out? Do not think about your hand. That woman was not thinking about her hand when she touched the garment. She was thinking—“If I may but touch the hem of His garment I will be healed." You are thinking about your hand. 'Do I touch in the right way? Is my faith strong enough? Is my faith pure enough?" Put away the thought of your faith. Do you not understand you cannot be believing if you are thinking about your faith? This poor woman does not think about her hand: she thinks about Christ her faith rests fully upon this conviction-" If I but touch, I shall be healed." She touched, and she was healed. Surely Jesus waits to be "touched:" He loves to be "touched." But then, you know, He will not let anybody steal a blessing. He knows when they get a blessing from Him. "And Jesus said, Who touched Me?" Those words go home like an arrow to that poor woman's heart: Amidst these six or seven hundred people, He is looking at me. He

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