LECTURE III.

THE SOLDIER'S SICK SERVANT.

And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.MATT. VIII. 5-13.

I WILL preface the exposition I give of this interesting miracle by some remarks in continuation of those I have already made on the nature of the miracles of our Lord.

It is not uninteresting to contrast the miracles performed by our Lord with those performed by his most distinguished servants in the Old Testament dispensation. In looking at the miracles performed of old, and prior to the advent of Christ, it seems as if they were done with greater difficulty, not because God was less mighty, but because his omnipotence was not so largely bestowed. For instance, Moses, in removing the leprosy of his sister, wrestles and persists in prayer, "Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee;" but when we read the record of the Saviour's miracle in an analogous circumstance, we find simply his touch; his accents are, "Be thou clean," and the party is so. Elijah prays long, and sends his servant seven times before the rain begins to appear; Christ speaks, and the winds are hushed, and the waves are still. Elisha, with great effort, and after partial failure, restores the life of the Shunammite's child; our Lord speaks to the dead, "Come forth," and the dead come forth accordingly. This was owing partly to the less glorious dispensation; partly to the greater remoteness from that day when the earth shall be restored, and all its discord shall be reduced to harmony; and

partly to illustrate a principle which pervades the Acts of the Apostles, as well as Genesis and the Pentateuch, namely, that Christ's miracles (and this is a very important and striking evidence of the deity of Christ) were done directly by himself, while the miracles performed by the apostles and patriarchs and prophets were done, as acknowledged by themselves in fact, in virtue of a delegated power. Thus, for instance when Moses divided the Red Sea, "Stand still, and behold the salvation of God, which he will show unto you," he referred the miracle, whatever it might be, to the instant power, and therefore to the exclusive glory, of God. When the apostles performed miracles, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, they were done with such a preface as the following: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk," and again, "Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.” But when Christ performed a miracle, he said, "I will, be thou clean ;" and again, "I say unto thee, arise." Now you have, in the very peculiar language used by the apostles when they put forth miraculous power, proof that theirs was a borrowed power, a reflected influence; but when Jesus performed the miracles, you can see

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that it was not the act of man, but the touch of that finger that created the stars, and wields them in their orbits, and that made all things, visible and invisible.

There is another contrast between the miracles of the Old and of the New Testament perhaps worth noticing; it is this, that all the miracles recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures were more in contact with external nature; they were more visible, more colossal, and if I might use the expression without being misconstruedmore gross in their character. It was the rending earthquake, the fire losing its power to consume, the wild beasts their ability to devourgreat, startling, portentous acts, fitted to awe and subdue the senses of all that beheld them. But when we look at the miracles of the New Testament, we find they are neither the whirlwind that rushes in its fury, nor the earthquake that spreads its terrible vibrations, nor the fire that consumes all that approaches it, but the "still small voice," -miracles that relate more to man's soul than to man's body, and occupy, as it were, a loftier sphere, hold communion with sublimer things, and give evidence of a new, and nobler, and more glorious dispensation.

Having made this contrast between the miracles recorded in the Old Testament and those in the New, I may also contrast the miracles of the New Testament with the pseudo or pretended miracles ascribed to our Lord in those silly legends composed in the second and third century, and, by courtesy, called the New Gospel, such as what was called "The Gospel of the Infancy," and "the Gospel of Nicodemus." They were legends concocted in cells, and palmed, some by superstitious, and others by wicked, persons upon the world, all bearing internal and external evidence of their utter absurdity and forgery. One of the most striking proofs of their absurdity, an indirect, but very powerful proof, is to be seen in the miracles they record as performed by Jesus. There are other proofs of their forgery, such as their making allusion to facts which did not occur till centuries after they were written, and their containing things that are positively contradictory, absurd, and ridiculous; but the most complete proof of their falsehood is in an investigation of the miracles which they ascribe to Jesus. In the gospel every miracle performed by Jesus was subordinated. to some great truth he was teaching, or associ