ing of Christ ; Bnd it was not. It is not the quantity of sins, hut the conscience of sin, the sense of its sinfulness Bnd bitterness and tyranny, which determines the ques- tion of the IBrger or smaller debtor. In the ca.qe before us, one steeped in iniquity represents the larger, the l'hBrisee the smaller. But, to prove that the consciousness of owing a great debt-the being, in one's own judgment, the five-hundred-pence debtor, yea, the chief of sinners-does not involve a wicked course of life, recollect the Apostle PBul, who had been zealous towards God above his eqnals. When he thinks of his" exceeding madness" ~gainst Jesus, he confesses, "I have nothing to pay. No debt could have been greater than mine, wretched man that I am." The much love is measuretl by the sense of there having been much forgiven. The love is as the knowl!:clge of sin. If you think there is little to forgive, you will love only little. 2. 'l'here are two words to the woman herself (ver. 50). "He said to her, 'l'hy sins are forgiven." An absolution, accepted by all who heard it, as full and authoritative. They are amazed : "Who is this that even forgives the sins?" Oh I who UJ he'/ Hartley Coleridge finely says- " All the blame And the poor malice of the worldly shame To her were past, extinct;, and out of date: Only the sin remained, the leprous state." It wo.e to this leprous state that the word went down. With the voice of a declared pardon, there was felt the power of a new purity. "Daughter, thy sins a.re sent away from between thy God and thee. They are blotted out, no more to be remembered. And lo I as thou art justified, thou art washed throughly from thine iniquity, and cleansed from thy sin. Thy faith bath saved thee" (ver. 50). The Lord gave no heed to the murmurs of those reclining at table. He answers these murmurs by not answering, or rather, by this additional word to the woman. 'l'he salvation was the entrance of forgiving love; and it was the trust in him th"-t drew her to the Pharisee's house, which had opened her soul to his healing power. The power is only, is wholly, in him, but the faith is the condition and the means of the deliverance. "Saved, rejoicing sinner, go in peace." Wondrous, glorious gospel I his, hers, who wills to have it as the poor woman willed I Sinners of modern Christendom, you must be stripped of all the soft complacencies of Pharisaic righteousness; consciously poor and needy-sinners, and nothing else, yon must get to the Christ of God. Until thus you have reo.ched him, there is ouly a "something to say to you." The frank forgive- ness, the fulness of the eternal life, is when he looks into the clinging soul, when he says," Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1-10.-Faith in itsfulness. The greatness of the centurion's faith is attested by our Lord himself; he declared that it was superior to anything he had "found in Lrael." We see evidence of its fulncss in that- I. IT TRIUMPHED OVER NATIONAL PRKJUDICE. Here is a Roman exercising the most perfect confidence in a Jew-put.ting one in whom he was closely and deeply interested into the bands of an Israelite. We must remember all the pride of the Romans as such, and all their hatred as well o.s contempt of the Jews, to realize the fulness of this triumph. II. IT WAS BASED ON COMPARATIVELY SLENDER EVIDENCE. "When he heard of Jesus, he sent." Clearly, then, he had not seen him, had not witnes,ed his works, had not listened to his wisdom; he was without the larger part of the evidence which was befure the people of that neighbourhood. He had but "heard of" him, and yet he believed in him. III. IT WAS CIIERISHED IN SPITE OF CONSCIOUS UNWORTHINESS. He took a very humble view of himself. This we gather from his action in sending the elders of the Jews to intercede on his behalf (ver. 3), and from'his language in statiug that he wa.,i not worthy that Christ should "enter under his roof" (ver. 6). Yet bad lie such an Pssnrnnce of our Lord's kindness of heart that he was persuatlcd he would pity aud hcl1, him, notwithotandiug this Ulltlese1·vctlue~s on his l)ait. 186 TIIE GOSPEL A1..00RDING TO ST, LUKE. [on. vn. 1-fiO.
IV. IT ASSUMED THAT CJmIST WOULD RESPOND TO ... BESPEOTFUL AND ■ ARNENT PLEA. V. IT !!ROWED A WONDERFUL OONl"IDRNCE IN HIii ABILITY TO HEAL, The sending of the deputation, in the first instance, showed the confidence of the centurion in the p0wer of Christ. But the fulness of his faith in this direction was manifested in the sending of ,the eec?n~ deput.ft;tion-in ~barging them wiJh that most striking message ('"ers. 6--8). It 1s mte:estmg to nolice bow the soldierly profession, which mi(7ht ~ell seem t-0 b~ m~st unlikely to help a man to ~isciplcship to the Prince of peace, did, m fact, Mr1""0 hun ID good stead. It enabled him to grasp fully the idea of Divine authority. He was, he said, a man who knew well what was meant by command and obedience. He was accustomed to obey implicitly those who were over him in position and he was also in the habit of receiving the full and immediate obedience of thos~ who were under him. To them he said, "Come," and they came; "Go," and they went. Whatever forces of nature this Divine Healer might wish to employ, he had only to do the like; he had but to command, and they would instantly obey. Thus his military training helped him to a faith in the authority and power of Christ which distin,:uished him above others, and which brought down the blessing he sought (ver. 10). We learn: 1. That unbelief in Jesus Christ is wholly inexcusable in us Consider how, in contrast with this centurion, we have no prejudice to overcome, but have been baptized into (or brought up in) the faith of Jesus Christ. Consider also how, in contrast with this man, we have had constant access to the Saviour, and are the children of privilege in the fullest sense of the word. And consider also what evidence we have had before ns of Christ's willingness and power to save in all that we have heard, read, and seen. 2. The validity of any sincere belief, weak or strong. It may be that something in our spiritual constitution or in our religious training may make us incapable, at the beginning, of exercising BO strong a faith as that here illus- trated. This need not, and must not, keep us from making an appeal to the Saviour. Kot all that sought his aid had faith like this; yet he healed them also. We must come as we are and as we can. Ee is One that "does not break the bruised reed." A faith that is feeble, but i;incere, will not go home unblessed.-C.