CHAPTER VIII. The leper cleansed, 1-4. Centurion's servant healed, 5-13. Peter's motherin-law, 14, 15. Many miracles, 16, 17. Self-denial taught, 18-22. Storm hushed, 23-27. Miracle near Gergesa and herd of swine, 28-34. God. Were these doctrines obeyed, and loved, how pure and peaceful would be the world! How would hypocrisy be abashed and confounded! How would impurity hang its head! How would peace reign in every family and nation! How would anger and wrath flee! And how would the race-the lost and benighted tribes of men, the poor, and needy, and sorrowful-bend themselves before their common Father, and seek peace and eternal life at the hands of a merciful and faithful God! CHAPTER VIII. 2. There came a leper. No disease with which the human family has been affficted, has been more dreadful than that which is often mentioned in the Bible as the leprosy. It first exhibits itself on the the surface of the skin. The appearance is not always the same, but it commonly resembles the spot made by the puncture of a pin, or the pustules of a ring-worm. The spots generally make their appearance very suddenly. Perhaps its appearance might be hastened by any sudden passion, as fear or anger. See Num. xii. 10. 2 Chron. xxvi. 19. The spots commonly exhibit themselves, at first, on the face, about the nose and eyes, and increase in size a number of years, till they become as large as a pea or a bean. There are three kinds of leprosy, distinguished by the appearance of the spots: the white, the black, and the red leprosy. These spots, though few at first, graduaily spread till they cover the whole body. HEN he was come down from the mountain,1 great multitudes followed him. 2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, 1 Ver. 18; Ch. xii. 15; xv. 30. 2 Mark i. 40, &c. Luke v. 12-15. istence. A leprous person may live twenty, or thirty, or even fifty years, if he received the disease at his birth, but they will be years of indescribable misery. The bones and marrow are pervaded with the disease. The malady advances from one stage to another with slow and certain ruin. Life still lingers amidst the desolation; the joints, and hands, and feet, lose their power; and the body collapses, or falls together, in a form hideous and awful. There is a form of the disease in which it commences at the extremities: the joints separate; the fingers, toes, and other members, one by one, fall off; and the malady thus gradually approaches the seat of life. The wretched victim is thus doomed to see himself dying piecemeal, assured that no human power can arrest for a moment the silent and steady march of this foe to the seat of life. This disease is contagious and hereditary. It is easily communicated from one to another, and is transmitted to the third and fourth generation. The last generation that is afflicted with it commonly exhibits the symptoms by decayed teeth, and fetid breath, and diseased complexion. Moses gave particular directions by which the real leprosy was to be distinguished from other diseases. See Lev. xiii. To avoid contagion the leprous person was very properly separated from the congregation. The inspection of the disease was committed to the priest; and a declaration on his part that the person was healed, was sufficient evidence to restore the afflicted man to the congregaBut though the appearance of the disease tion. It was required also that the is at first in the skin, yet it is deeply seat- leprous person should bring an offering to ed in the bones, and marrow, and joints of the priest of two birds, commonly doves, the body. We have reason to suppose one of which was slain, and the other that in children it is concealed in the sys- dismissed. See Lev. xiv. In compliance tem for a number of years, till they arrive with the laws of the land, Jesus directed at the age of puberty; and in adults, for the man that he had healed to make the three or four years, till at last it gives fear-customary offering, and to obtain the ful indications on the skin of its having testimony of the priest that he was healed. gained a well-rooted and permanent ex- The leprosy has once, and but once, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.1 1 2 Kin. v. 14. Luke xvii. 14, 15. appeared in America. This loathsome and most painful disease has in all other instances been confined to the old world, and chiefly to the eastern nations. It is matter of profound gratitude to a benignant God, that this scourge has been permitted but once to visit the new world. That awful calamity was in the island of Guadaloupe, in the West Indies, about the year 1730; and is thus described by an eye-witness: * "Its commencement is imperceptible. There appear only some few white spots on the skin. At first they are attended with no pain or inconvenience; but no means whatever will remove them. The disease imperceptibly increases for many years. The spots become larger, and spread over the whole body. When the disease advances, the upper part of the nose swells, the nostrils become enlarged, and the nose itself soft. Tumours appear on the jaws; the eye-brows swell; the ears become thick; the points of the fingers, as also the feet and the tocs swell; the nails become scaly; the joints of the hands and feet separate and drop off. In the last stage of the discase the patient becomes a hideous spectacle, and falls to pieces." Worship him. Bowed down before him, to show him respect. See Note, Matt. ii. 2. If thou wilt. This was an exhibition of great faith, and also an acknowledgment of his dependence on the will of Jesus, in order to be healed. So every sinner must come. He must feel that Jesus can save him. He must also feel that he has no claim on him; that it depends on his sovereign will; and must cast himself at his feet with the feelings of the leper : 4 And Jesus saith unto him, 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. 2 Ch. ix. 30. Mark v. 43. 3 Lev. xiv. with this feeling, who was not received, and pardoned. T Make me clean. Heal me. The leprosy was regarded as an unclean and disgusting disease. To be healed, therefore, was expressed by being cleansed from it. 3. And Jesus-touched him. It was an offence to the Jews to touch a leprous person, and was regarded as making him who did it ceremonially impure. Lev. xiii. 3. The act of putting forth his hand and touching him, therefore, expressed the intention of Jesus to cure him, and was a pledge that he was, in fact, already cured. 4. See thou tell no man. This command is to be understood as extending only to the time until he had made the proper representation to the priest. It was his duty to hasten to him immediately; not to delay by talking about it, but as the first thing, to obey the laws of God, and make proper acknowledgments to him by an offering. The place where this cure was wrought was in Galilee, a distance of forty or fifty miles from Jerusalem; and it was his duty to make haste to the residence of the priest, and obtain his sanction to the reality of the cure. Perhaps also Christ was apprehensive that the report would go before the man, if he delayed, and the priest, through opposition to Jesus, might pronounce it an imposition. A testimony unto them. Not to the priest, but to the people. Show thyself to the priest, and get his testimony to the reality of the cure, as a proof to the people that the healing is genuine. It was necessary that he should have that testimony, before he could be received to the congregation, or allowed to mingle with the people. Having this, he would be, of course, restored to the privileges of social and religious life, and the proof of Happily, no one ever came to Jesus the miracle, to the people, would be put 'I can but perish if I go; For if I stay away, I know I shall for ever die." *M. Peyssanel. beyond a doubt. 5¶ And when Jesus was entered | roof: but speak the word only,3 into Capernaum, there came unto and my servant shall be healed. him a centurion,1 beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my Lake vii. 2-10. Psa. x. 17. Luke xv. 19, 21. 5. Capernaum. See Note, ch. iv. 31. There came unto him a centurion. A centurion was a commander of a hundred men, in the Roman armies. Judea was a Roman province, and garrisons were kept there to preserve the people in subjection. This man was probably by birth a Pagan. See ver. 10. 6. Sick of the palsy. See Note, ch. iv. 24. The particular form which the palsy assumed is not mentioned. It seems it was a violent attack. Perhaps it was the painful form which produced violent cramps, and which immediately endangered his life. 8. I am not worthy, &c. This was an expression of great humility. It refers, doubtless, to his view of his personal unworthiness, and not merely to the fact that he was a Gentile. It was the expression of an humble spirit; a conviction of the great dignity and power of the Saviour, and a belief that he was so unlike him, that he was not fit that the Son of God should come into his dwelling. So every truly penitent sinner feels, a feeling which is appropriate when he comes to Christ. 9. I am a man, &c. He had full confidence in the ability of Jesus to heal his servant, and requested him simply to give the command. This request he presented in a manner appropriate to a soldier. I am a man, says he, under authority. That is, I am subject to the commands of others, and know how to obey. I have also under me soldiers who are accustomed to obedience. I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes. I am prepared, therefore, to believe that your commands will be obeyed. As these obey me, so do di 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. 10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I 3 Psa. xxxiii. 9; cvii. 20. seases, storms, and seas obey you. If men obey me, who am an inferior officer, subject to another, how much more shall diseases obey you the original source of power-having control over all things! He asked, therefore, simply that Christ would give commandment, and he feit assured he would be obeyed. 10. I have not found so great faith. The word faith, here, means confidence, or belief that Christ had power to heal his servant. It does not of necessity imply that he had saving faith; though from the connexion, and the spirit manifested, it seems probable that he had. If this was so, then he was the first Gentile convert to Christianity, and was a very early illustration of what was more clearly revealed afterwards, that the heathen were to be brought to the knowledge of the truth. ¶ Jesus marvelled. Or wondered at his faith; or deemed it remarkable. Not in Israel. Israel was a name given to Jacob, Gen. xxxii. 28, 29, because, as a prince, he had power with God; because he persevered in wrestling with the angel that met him, and obtained the blessing. The name is derived from two Hebrew words, signifying prince and God. He was one of the patriarchs; a progenitor of the jewish nation; and the names Israel and Israelites were given to them as the name Romans was in honour of Romulus; and the name Americans after Americus Vesputius. It was given to the whole nation till the time of Jeroboam, when only the ten tribes that revolted received the name, probably because they were a majority of the nation. After the captivity of Babylon it was given to all the Jews indiscriminately. See Matt. x. 6. Mark xv. 32. not in Israel. 1 have not found so great faith, no, 12 But the children of the kingdom 3 shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping * and gnashing of teeth. 11 And I say unto you, That 2 many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 1 Ch. xv. 28. Isa. ii. 2, 3. Luke xiii. 29. Acts xi. 18. Eph. iii. 6. Rev. vii. 9. Acts vii. 42. Heb. viii. 8. It here means, I have not found such an instance of confidence among the Jews.' 11. Many shall come from the east, &c. Jesus takes occasion from the faith of a Roman centurion, to state that this conversion would not be solitary; that many Pagans --many from the east and west-would be converted to the gospel, and be saved, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were. The phrase, from the east and from the west, in the scripture, is used to denote the whole world. Isa. xlv. 6; lix. 19. The phrase, shall sit down, in the original, refers to the manner of sitting at meals. See Note Matt. xxiii. 6; and the enjoyments of heaven are described under the similitude of a feast or banquet-a very common manner of speaking of them. Matt. xxvi. 29. Luke xiv. 15; xxii. 30. The phrase is used here to denote felicity, enjoyment, or honour. To sit with those distinguished men was an honour, and would be expressive of great felicity. pro 12. The children of the kingdom. That is, the children, or the people, who expected the kingdom; or to whom it perly belonged; or, in other words, the Jews. They supposed themselves peculiarly the favourites of Heaven. They thought the Messiah would enlarge their nation, and spread the triumphs of their kingdom. They called themselves, therefore, the children of the members of the kingdom of God, to the exclusion of the Gentiles. Our Saviour used the manner of speech to which they were accustomed, and said that many of the Pagans would be saved, and many Jews lost. Shall be cast out into outer darkness, &c. This is an image of future punishment. It is not improbable that the image was taken from Roman dungeons or prisons. They were commonly constructed under ground. They were shut out from the light of the sun. They were, of course, damp, dark, 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed,5 so be it done unto 8 Ch. vii. 22, 23 Ch. xiii. 42, 50. 5 Ch. ix. 27-29. John iv. 50-53. and unhealthy, and probably most filthy. Masters were in the habit of constructing such prisons for their slaves, where the unhappy prisoner, without light or comfort, spent his days and nights in weeping from grief, and in vainly gnashing his teeth from indignation. The image expresses the fact, that the wicked who are lost will be shut out from the light of heaven, and from peace, and joy, and hope; will be confined in gloomy darkness; will weep in hopeless grief; and gnash their teeth in indignation against God, and murmur against his justice. What a striking image of future woe! Go to a damp, dark, solitary, and squalid dungeon; see a miserable and enraged victim; add to his sufferings the idea of eternity, and then remember that this after all is but an image, a faint image, of hell! See Note on Matt. xxii. 13. 13. He was healed in that self-same hour. This showed decisively the goodness and power of Jesus. No miracle could be more complete. There could be no imposition or deception. This account, or one similar to this, is found in Luke vii. 1-10. There has been a difference of opinion whether that was the same account, or whether a second centurion, encouraged by the success of the first, applied to our Saviour in a similar case and manner, and obtained the same success. In support of the supposition that they are different narratives, it is said that they disagree so far that it is impossible to reconcile them, and that it is not improbable that a similar occurrence might take place, and be attended with similar results. To a plain reader, however, the narratives appears to be the same. They agree in the character of the person, the place, and apparently the time; in the same substantial structure of the account, the expression of similar feelings, and the thee. And his servant was healed | wife's mother laid, 1 and sick of a in the self-same hour. fever. 14¶ And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his same answers, and the same result. It is very difficult to believe that all these circumstances would coincide in two different stories. 15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her and 1 Mark. i. 30, 31. Luke iv. 38, 39. circumstances. He says that the centurion made the application, and received the answer. He does not say whether by himself, or by an agent. Luke explains particularly how it was done. There is no more contradiction, therefore, than there would be if it should be said of a man in a court of law, that he came and made application for a new trial, when the application was really made by his lawyer. Two men, narrating the fact, might exhibit the same variety that Matthew and Luke have done; and both be true.. One thing is most clearly shown by this narrative: that this account was not invented by the evangelists for the sake of imposition. If it had been, they would have agreed in all the circumstances. 14, 15. This account is contained also in Mark i. 29-31, and Luke iv. 38, 39. Mark adds that Simon and Andrew lived together, and that James and John went with them to the house. He adds, also, They differ, however. Matthew says that the centurion came himself. Luke says, that he at first sent elders of the Jews, and then his particular friends. He also adds, that he was friendly to the Jews, and had built them a synagogue. An infidel will ask, whether there is not here a palpable contradiction? In explanation of this, let it be remarked: 1. That the fact that the centurion came himself is no evidence that others did not come also. It was in the city. The centurion was a great favourite, and had conferred on the people many favours and they would be anxious that the favour which he desired of Jesus should be granted. At his suggestion, or of their own accord, they might apply to Jesus; and press the subject upon him, and be anxious to represent the case as favourably as possible. All this was probably done, as it would be in any other city, in considerable haste and apparent confusion; and one observer might fix strongly on one circumstance, and another on another. It is not at all improbable that the same representation and request might be made both by the centurion and his friends. Matthew might have fixed his eye very strongly on the fact that the centurion came himself, and been particularly struck with his deportment; and Luke on the remarkable zeal shown by the friends of a heathen; the interest they took in his welfare, and the circum-ing to their view, is the successor of this stance that he had done much for them. Full of these interesting circumstances, he might comparatively have overlooked the centurion himself. 2. It was a maxim among the Jews, as it is now in law, that what a man does by another, he does himself. So Jesus is said to baptize, when he only baptized by his disciples. See John iv. 1; xix. 1. Matthew was intent on the great leading facts of the eure. He was studious of brevity. He did not choose to explain the particular that before the miracle, they spake to him about the sick person. The miracle was direct and complete. She was so completely restored as to attend them, and minister to them. The mention of Peter's wife's mother, proves that Peter either then was or had been married. The fair and obvious interpretation is, that his wife was then living. Compare 1 Cor. ix. 5; and see Note on that place. Peter is claimed by the Roman catholics to be the head of the church, and the vicegerent of Christ. The pope, accord apostle. On what pretence do they maintain that it is wrong for priests to marry? Why did not Christ at once reject Peter from being an apostle for having a wife? How remarkable that he should be set up as the head of the church, and an example and a model to all who were to succeed him. But all this is human law, and is contrary to the New Testament. That Peter had a wife was no objection to his being an apostle, and marriage has been expressly de |