“Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see.”—Luke 10:23

“Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”—John 20:29.

The former of these passages pronounces a blessing upon those who saw the fulfilment of what others have believed; the latter upon those who should believe the gospel upon the ground of their testimony, without having witnessed the facts with their own eyes. There is no contradiction in these blessings; for there is a wide difference between requiring sight as the ground of faith, which Thomas did, and obtaining it as a completion of faith, which those who saw the coming and kingdom of the Messiah did The one was a species of unbelief, the other was faith terminating in vision.