Many passages might be quoted illustrating the proposition that faith was a necessary condition in the minds of the apostolic healers; but it is believed that no one will gainsay the proposition. It may be said, however, that Jesus did not require faith in himself to enable him to heal the sick,--that he healed independently of that law. The obvious answer is that he had that knowledge of his power which transcended faith: or rather, that he had the faith which came from knowledge of that power. In the sense that faith ceases where knowledge begins, he may be said not to have had faith. His disciples arrived at that point after an experimental demonstration of their power; and so may we all do likewise. As I have shown in a former chapter, subjective faith may be acquired in direct contradiction to objective faith or belief; but after an experimental demonstration of the power of subjective faith, objective belief no longer sets up an auto-suggestion against it. It then becomes knowledge, and in that sense it ceases to be faith. Nevertheless, in the sense in which it is said that the healer must have faith to enable him to heal the sick, he has faith. In that sense it cannot be disputed that Jesus had faith in his power to heal the sick. It is thought, therefore, that enough has been said to demonstrate the proposition that faith was a requisite element in the healers of Jesus' time. Certainly no one will dispute the proposition that it is necessary in the psychic healers of to-day. We may consider, therefore, that two points in our argument are established,--namely (1), that the conditions requisite in psychic healers of this day are identical with those required in apostolic times; and (2) that Jesus was the first to proclaim the principle and to exemplify it in his works. The difference is not in principle, but in degree of power. It is said, however, that Jesus did not require faith in those whom he healed. The first answer to this proposition is that there is nothing in his recorded words to warrant the statement. He never professed to be able to heal independently of that condition. On the contrary, all his expressions on that subject lead to the inevitable conclusion that faith was a necessary condition of the patient's mind to enable him to effect a cure. It may be true that in some cases he said nothing about it; but this is only negative evidence, and of the weakest kind, in view of what he _did_ say on the numerous occasions when circumstances required an utterance on the subject. A striking instance of healing, and a fair example of his utterances on this subject, is recorded in Matthew ix. 28, 29, 30:-- "And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. "Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. "And their eyes were opened."