houses of Godr! What doubting of Christ's power and grace, yea, what a proud conceit too of their own worthiness, is to be found among professing Christians ! Surely what our Lord said respecting the unbelieving Jews shall be realized in Chris- tians of this character8 : and the humbler heathens, who walked agreeably to the light that they enjoyed, shall be preferred before them. Nor can we doubt but that the Centurion, in reference to whom these things were spoken, shall be among that blessed number.]
Application —
[Let us then learn to plead earnestly for ourselves ; nor let a sense of unworthiness keep us from carrying our wants to
Jesus Let us also sympathize with, and intercede for,
others. Job, like the Centurion, found benefit from his own intercessions4: nor shall our supplications be in vain, either for ourselves or others.]
r What a contrast to him who, entirely at his own expense, erected a synagogue for people of another communion!
s Matt. viii. 12. * Job xlii. 10.
Luke vii. 14 — 16. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.
THE more faithful any servant of God is, the more he will abound in labours. Of those who were men of like passions with us, none ever equalled St. Paul ; but our blessed Lord far exceeded all the children of men. No day elapsed without fresh manifestations of his power and compassion. He had on the pre- ceding day raised the Centurion's servant from a bed of sickness ; now we behold him employed in re- storing a dead man to life. We shall consider,
I. The miracle —
The Jews used to bury their dead without the pre- cincts of their cities. At the gate of the city of Nam
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