sermon on the mount, with desiring you, my dear nieces, not merely to peruse it, but to commit it to memory; and let its precepts sink deep into your hearts. Dr Jortin, a learned divine, observes, "If there be any part of the New Testament which deserves a more serious consideration than the rest, it must needs be our Saviour's discourse upon the mount, recorded in St Matthew's Gospel, which contains the sum and substance of the Christian religion. In it our Lord explains morality, condemns several Jewish opinions, commands some things which the Law of Moses did not require, and forbids some things which it permitted. He enables us to resolve a question which exercised, embarrassed, and divided the wise and learned of the ages which preceded the Gospel, viz. What is the chief good of man, and consequently, what is the great end which man should always have in view? The chief good of man, as it may easily be collected from this discourse of our Lord, is eternal happiness in the life to come, and, in this present life, peace of mind and the advantages flowing from it. Whatsoever, therefore, tends to this, is good; what may deprive us of it is evil. To make his hearers more attentive, Christ begins his discourses with some short and remarkable sentences, in commendation of certain neglected virtues ; sentences which may be called Christian paradoxes, in which he declares those persons

most happy, who, according to the estimation of the world, are most miserable."

LETTER XII.

Of the Miracle performed by our Lord, in healing the Centurion's Servant.

MY DEAR NIECES,

Having, in my preceding letters, made some remarks on our Lord's admirable sermon on the mount, I will now direct your attention to the miracle he performed on the centurion's servant, recorded in Mathew viii, and Luke vii.

Judea, being a conquered province, had Roman soldiers stationed in it, who were appointed to keep the people in subjection. Among these soldiers, a centurion, or captain of an hundred men, having heard the fame of our Saviour's miracles, was desirous of procuring his assistance in behalf of a favorite servant, sick of the palsy. To obtain his healing aid, he sent to him some of the elders of the Jews, beseeching him by them, that he would come and heal his servant. They earnestly enforced the centurion's request, saying, "he was worthy for whom he should do this; for he loveth our nation, and has built us a synagogue."

Then Jesus went with them, and when he

was not far from the house, the centurion sent other friends to him, saying by them, "Lord, trouble not thyself; for I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof. Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee; but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed."

The miracles of our Lord appear to have been the subject of popular conversation and belief; and the manner in which he performed them seems to have been spoken of by those who had witnessed them, as evidence that he possessed an uncontrolled authority over the laws of nature; so that he appeared like an absolute sovereign giving his commands, while all diseases, and even the elements, obeyed him with the instant submission of menial dependents. The centurion had doubtless heard that, by the command of Christ, given at a distance, the son of a nobleman at Capernaum was restored to health; and he doubted not that he had power to produce, in the same way, a similar effect upon his servant. Hence he confidently expresses his belief, that Jesus exercised the same power over the maladies of men, which he himself did over the soldiers under his command: "For," says he, even I, who am a man under authority, have soldiers under myself; and I say to one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it."

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A late writer observes, that " our Lord appears to have had, from the beginning, a perfect knowledge of the great events which in after times should befal him; and his death, his resurrection, the rejection of the Jews, and the conversion of the gentiles, were so frequent in his mind, so familiar to his thoughts, that the slightest circumstance, calculated to revive the idea of them, instantly brought them to his recollection. Here we meet with a remarkable instance of this fact.

"A heathen, in terms the most decisive, expressing his faith in him, while Israel, to whom he came as his own, to whom he offered salvation as their expected Saviour, rejected and persecuted him, directs his attention to the time when multitudes among the heathen would embrace him; while his countrymen, by their obstinacy and guilt, would be deprived of their high hopes and privileges; and in the midst of the subject, he introduces a prophecy respecting it."

Our Lord not only admitted the centurion's request, but honoured him with his unerring and distinguished approbation.

"When Jesaid to them

sus heard it he marvelled, and that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom

shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.""

The kingdom of heaven is represented in this and other texts of scripture, under the figure of a sumptuous entertainment, where the guests sit down with the master of the feast. These entertainments were usually made at night, and continued to a late hour. The place for the reception of the guests was illuminated in a splendid manner; while those who were denied entrance, were in outer darkness, or the darkness without, where they not only suffered disgrace, but were exposed to cold and hunger. Therefore it is said, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The prediction of our Lord displays a striking contrast to the opinions of the Jews, who used to say, that "all Israel shall have a part in the world to come, but the heathen shall be fuel for hell-fire."

Our Lord, after applauding the centurion's faith, grants his request; and the persons who had been deputed to address him on this subject found, to their great astonishment, that the servant was restored to perfect health.

The intereresting history of the Roman centurion affords a striking instance of our Saviour's divine power, which enabled him to restore the sick servant to health, by only speaking a word at a distance and without so much as seeing him.

This narrative also exhibits, in the character