8. 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. 9. 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. into place again. He said that when the spasm was upon him, even to touch him was like striking him with a hammer TORMENTED, Baoavilóμevos, the underlying Greek word means a touchstone, by which gold and silver are tested, hence trials by fire and torture. Any one who has seen at Nuremburg and other ancient cities the horrible instruments of torture by which men were tried in ancient times, gains some idea of the torments here described. The same word, in Matthew xiv. 24, is translated tossed with the waves. The torments were like the tossing of the sea in a storm. Faith and Foot-power. THERE CAME UNTO HIM.-In a little book, “Saint Indefatigable," is related the following incident: “When we had diphtheria here (the Shelter for Destitute Children), there were twenty cases among the children, and no one would watch. Our president, Miss Jackson, and Mrs. Sarle both knew our need, and both believed we would get assistance. Miss Jackson went home to pray over it. Mrs. Sarle commended the praying, and added, ‘A little foot-power will be needed to go with it; so while Miss Jackson prays, I will furnish the foot-power.' Thus, through the prayer of faith and the feet of faith, the necessary nurses were secured."-H. L. Hastings, in The Christian. 8. THE CENTURION ANSWERED AND SAID.-The centurion built his faith on his own experience, and on what he had known of the works of Jesus. FOUNDATION OF FAITH.-Jesus has proved himself able and willing to help, by having already bestowed upon others the very blessings we need. He is a tried and proved Saviour. He has sustained others in trials and needs like ours; therefore he will sustain us. He has forgiven others' sins; therefore he will forgive ours. He has heard others' prayers; therefore he will hear ours. He has healed others; he will heal us. His words calmed the sea that raged and stormed 10. 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. 11. 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. 12. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13. 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. A.D. 28. SECOND YEAR GREAT GALILEAN MINISTRY. ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH. like the one that is tossing us; therefore when we see him walking on the waters, we know that the winds and the waves will again obey his "Peace, be still." The history of God's people is full of monuments of his promises. ANTEUS. In the Grecian story the giant Antæus, in wrestling with Hercules, doubled his strength every time he touched the earth. And our faith renews its strength every time it touches the solid ground of fact. Sickness Means of 10. SO GREAT FAITH.-The centurion's faith that built a synagogue, now grows into new power and richer blessings. and trouble are often one means of increasing faith. Like Jacob, from this pillow of stones in the night of sorrow, many have seen visions of heaven and of our Father, and have received the messages God's angels have brought. Countless stars, invisible by day, shine upon us in the night. Faith. "The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, LIBRARY.-Blanco White's sonnet, "Mysterious Night." According to thy 13. AS THOU HAST BELIEVED so be it DONE UNTO THEE.-The poor widow, whose story is told in 2 Kings iv. 1–7, was told to go to her neighbors and borrow jars and vessels, and pour from her oil jar into them. The oil was miraculously increased till every vessel was full, Then and then only it ceased to flow. If she had had faith to borrow more vessels, she would have had more oil; if less faith, less oil. Her faith was the measure according to which she received. Faith. 14. ¶ And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her and she arose, and ministered unto them. 16. When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick : A Parable in Action. 14. PETER'S WIFE'S MOTHER.-The sick woman was an emblem of sinful man-weak, in pain, hastening toward death, unable to save himself. Jesus gives renewing grace, he comes at the invitation of others, he restores the soul to health and life; and whosoever is cured by him immediately sets to work to minister to others. 15. REFERENCE. "Touched her hand." See on ix. 20,“ The healing touch." 16. HEALED ALL THAT WERE SICK.-" Imagine, if you can, the condition of a country in which there are no doctors, where the healing art is only practiced by a few quacks, who rely more on Calls for Healing in the East. charms than on physic for their cures. Such is now, and such was Palestine in our Lord's day. "There, until the medical missionaries were sent by several English societies, there was not a physician in the land, and even now there are very few. In such a country as this, with sick and crippled in every village, picture the eager excitement when the news spread that there is a good physician arrived in town; that he has healed a fierce demoniac by a word, and a great fever by a touch."--H. B. Tristram, LL.D. " 'My earliest walk in the Arab quarter of Alexandria, and on the streets about it, showed me, in one hour, more blind beggars, more children with sore or sightless eyes, more hopeless cripples, and halfnaked creatures full of sores, than I had seen in all my life before.' At Cairo the blind, or the sick, or the crippled, sat at every street corner, and on every square; were laid at every mosque door, and were crying out for help or for an alms before every bazaar.' 'Palestine now, as doubtless was the case in the days of our Lord, seems fairly overrun with those afflicted by one form or another of bodily ailment.' They thronged the entrance ways to Jerusalem, and the 17. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. paths to Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives. And for these there is little help. There are no hospitals or poorhouses. The native doctors have little scientific knowledge of the healing art, so that the Talmud says, 'The best of physicians deserves hell.'"-H. C. Trumbull. A.D. 28. SECOND YEAR THE GREAT GALILEAN MINISTRY. HEALING THE SICK. LIBRARY.-Trumbull's "Studies in Oriental Social Life," "Calls for Healing in the East.” " A Colony of Mercy" describes what Christianity is doing for all forms of disease in a town in Germany. Pointing to the sick, one said, "These are our treasures." Whittier's poems, “Our Master." REFERENCE. See on iv. 23-25, and xiv. 30. PICTURES.-The Vale of Tears, Doré; Christus Consolator, Plockhörst, Ary Scheffer; Healing the Sick, Schönherr, B. West, Zimmermann, Hoffmann. WHERE TO FIND THE DOCTOR.—“Is your father at home?' a gentleman asked a child, on the village doctor's doorstep. "No, sir,' the boy answered, 'he's away.' "Where do you think I could find him?' “Well, you've got to look for him some place where people are sick, or hurt, or something like that. I do not know where he is, but he's helping somewhere.' "If one had been seeking for Christ in Galilee he would have found Him where people were sick or distressed in some way. He was always helping somewhere."—Anon. 17. BARE OUR SICKNESSES.-eẞáoraoev, he bare, as a burden laid upon him. The word means to take up with the hands in order to carry; also to bear away, to carry off. He took the burden on his heart, and bore it away. HOW GOD HELPS.-Prof. Alfred A. Wright calls attention to the derivation of the Greek word for "help" in Luke x. 40, where Martha wants Jesus to make Mary "help" her. It is ovvavrikáßntai,— ovv, together with; ivri, over against, on the other side; haßŋrai, take hold of, lift. The "help" was to take hold of the burden on the opposite side, and lift together with. The same word is used in Romans viii. 26, where the spirit "helpeth" our infirmities. So Jesus bears our griefs and pains. He takes hold of them on the opposite end and bears them with us till He bears them away, by removing them, or by transforming them into faith, courage, patience, sympathy. LIBRARY.-Hawthorne's "Mosses from an Old Manse," "Earth's Holocaust" of all burdens, cares, sickness, and pain. VENUS DE MILO.-" Dr. Maclaren compares human love to the Venus of Milo, which, though a statue of most magnificent qualities as a work of art, has no arms. It may smile in pity, but has no arms to aid; it may look on in sympathy, but has no power to help. Many a time human love stands helpless, armless, impotent to aid; but in Jesus Christ we have One who is not only matchless in beauty and grace, but is mighty to save."- Rev. F. D. Kelsey. MASSING THE MIRACLES.--The miracles of chapters viii. and ix. seem to be massed together as a cumulative proof of Jesus' authority to utter the Sermon on the Mount They are God's seal and signature. WHAT IS A MIRACLE.-A miracle is the personal intervention of God by his will into the chain of cause and effect in nature. It is not "breaking of the laws of nature," nor "the suspension of the laws of nature," nor any change in the laws of nature, but simply God's doing with his infinite power the same quality of action though vastly greater in degree, that we do every hour when we exert our personal will amid the forces of nature. I lift up a book. The act is a new personal force, which marks the power of my will. It breaks no law of nature, suspends none. It is the same when God, by his infinite power, lifts up a mountain or raises the dead. It is his personal will touching nature and showing that God himself is there. Just as a friend can grant Definition of Miracle. |