infirmities to which our nature is liable. Further on in this Gospel, we behold our Lord again coming to the relief of men's infirmities; healing by a word, at the request of his master, the paralysed servant of a Roman Centurion-" Jesus said unto him, "Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee and his servant was healed in the selfsame hour."

Both of these miracles of recovery are rich in lessons for our learning. With regard to the first of them, the healing of the leper, I may remark, that the leper's act and the leper's prayer are both set forth for our imitation. "Behold there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean; and immediately his leprosy was cleansed."

And would we, dear brethren, be made whole of our infirmity, would we be cleansed from the leprosy of sin,we must do as this man did, we must approach Jesus Christ and worship him as God, we must fall down on our knees before Him, and confess Him to be the Lord, and beseech Him to use on our behalf His all-healing might-"Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." Think of these words, think of them as the fittest and best words in which to make our supplication to God. Sure I am that we have cause enough to use such words-sure

I am that there is in us and on us that sore sickness which Jesus Christ alone can cure, the leprosy of sin. We cannot cleanse ourselves from that defilement; we must go to the great Physician, or we shall never be made whole, never have the plague spot removed, never be clean in God's sight and we must go in faith; not at all doubting; believing in Christ's power as well as in Christ's will to work a cure-"Lord, if Thou wilt, thou canst make me clean!" Be to me

"Of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power."

And notice what the Lord said to the leper whom He had cleansed-" See thou tell no man, but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them." The restored leper was sent to the priest: he was bade do there all that the law required-offer the gift: first, the two birds, and, secondly, on the eighth day, two he lambs, without blemish, and one ewe lamb, and three tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, and one keg of oil; he was also to wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he might be clean. All this is symbolical-all this laboured ceremonial, and these offerings, which to a poor man would be very costly, typify what is required of us to whom the Lord Jesus Christ has mercifully forgiven our sins. The Lord's

word to us is "Go thy way, and offer thy gift." And what gift? The gift of thy restored life, thyself, thy soul, thy body, to be "a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto God." "Thou art made whole," saith the Saviour to the man whom he had cured of an infirmity of thirty-eight years' standing. Thou art made whole, go thy way, and sin no more, lest a worse thing happen to thee.

Bear this also in mind, there is great encouragement in this miracle to all who are grieved and wearied with the plague of their sins-Christ is there exhibited to us as our Hearer, who at the cry of faith puts forth His merciful Hand, and makes us whole; says, "I will, be thou clean.”

And He is also exhibited to us as upholding the laws, and requiring from the cured leper obedience. See we then to this, that we be careful how we live, we whom Christ has set free, having forgiven us all sin! And let us who once yielded our members servants to sin, so now regard these members as sacred to our Benefactor, and yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto God. That is the gift we ought to offer, that is the testimony and the witness to the world that the hand of Christ has been stretched out towards us, that we have been indeed cleansed from our old sin.

So far of the first of the two miracles in this

Sunday's Gospel. Let us go on to consider the

second.

When Jesus had 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." The centurion, we may notice, came to our Lord, not for himself, but for another, for his servant, who, we read in St. Luke, was dear unto him. And this should teach us to bring to our Saviour's notice, not our own griefs and sins only, but the griefs, and sorrows, and troubles of others. The Gospel requires us to seek the welfare of all around us. The Gospel religion is not a selfish religion. It would have us care for each other, and remove hindrances out of each other's path, and be fellow-helpers one of another into God's Kingdom.

Well, this Roman centurion, heathen as he was, had in his heart this principle of true religion, this thought and care for others. When his servant fell sick, he did not turn him away, and get another to fill his place, and think no more about him, but he laboured diligently to get him cured-he came unto Jesus beseeching Him, and said, "Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.' Our Lord, pleased with the man's request, and its unselfishness, said at once, "I will come and heal him;" whereupon the centurion answered, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my

roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." So lowly is this man in his own eyes, that he does not dare to ask the Lord to visit him ; so full of faith, that he is content if the Lord will only say the word, say that He wills it, and his servant, he feels sure, will be healed. And notice the argument by which he brought himself to this pitch of faith—“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." As much as to say, "if I, a captain only, in the Roman army, not commanderin-chief, am obeyed by those who are of lower rank, have my orders executed without dispute, how much more shalt Thou be obeyed, Thou who art head over all, King of kings, Lord of lords, who hast at Thy bidding all the powers of the world-how much more shalt Thou be obeyed when Thou givest Thy command, Thou hast but to speak the word, and Thy will shall and must be accomplished."

Such appears to be the sense of this remarkable answer of the centurion: and quickly was it approved by our Lord-"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 he added words of very solemn meaning, words which, while they condemn the Jews for their blindness and unbelief, open a wide door of