are unwilling to expect the blessing, which we ask for at his hands, in any other way than that which we esteem right. Let us bear in mind, then, that God himself is the only judge of the best method of dealing with his creatures, and of bestowing upon them the blessing of which they stand in need; and as He is most wise to determine on the fittest way of dealing with us, so also, he is most powerful to execute whatever he thinks right. We are sometimes too apt to do, what this nobleman did, form our idea of what GOD can do, or not do, according to our own weak apprehension; and often we are al-him to go down to Capernaum and But here, there is one thing we must particularly notice, it is this, that while Jesus no longer rebuked him, yet he required him to manifest that very faith for the want of which he had been rebuked. He assured him his child was healed; but required | | most ready to say in our hearts, that We find that our Lord's rebuke was little heeded by the individual to whom it was addressed. His was the anxiety of an over burthened spirit on account of his child's dangerous condition, he could think of nothing, and attend to nothing else; and in almost impatient urgency reiterated his application,-" Sir, come down ere my child die." Now Jesus was not one to trifle with the feelings of a wounded heart; and, therefore, instead of saying yet more in the tone of rebuke, his answer was, "Go thy way; thy son liveth." expect to find him healed. It is as if Christ had said; “Go thy way, behold I have power to heal thy son without going down to him; and if you have faith to believe it, you shall find him well." Here, then, is the fourth particular to be observed-the manner in which Jesus shows mercy to such as call upon him. He shows mercy indeed; but then he does it in such a way as calls forth the exercise of their faith in his own power, and on his own word. Of the nature of that faith, the conduct of the nobleman will lead us presently to speak; but the point to which I would now fix your attention is this that Jesus united, on this occasion, pity for the nobleman's distress, and yet firmness, in demanding from him that proof of confidence which it became him to show. Jesus did not say, "Since you have not faith enough to believe I can heal your child without going to him, I shall do nothing for you;" Jesus was too kind to say this. On the other hand, he did not say, "Well then, since you are so weak in faith, as not to trust my power, I will comply with your wish and go to Capernaum;" Jesus was too firm to say that. But he so treated the man, as to show the greatest compassion for | where Jesus was, to speak unto him; not a moment was to be lost. For aught he knew, a very few hours, and his son would be dead. My brethren, your souls may be in like danger; they may be, as it were, at the point of death. You know not what a very few days, or even hours may bring forth. Soon, very soon, you may be gone into another world; and if this disease of sin is not healed now, you perish for ever. I would, then, that you all imitated the example of this nobleman of Capernaum, and came at once to Jesus. Lose not another day. you have never yet applied to him, do it now. To-morrow may be too late-your souls may ere to-morrow's dawn be sunk into eternal death. If The second point on which I would make a remark is, the advantage we have in knowing that when we desire to seek the Physician of our souls he is ever at hand. The nobleman before us had to travel all the way from Capernaum to Cana, ere he could find Jesus; and, doubtless, while on his road, he had often painfully reflected, that, perhaps, while he was seeking Christ his child might die. How natural is it to suppose, that as he went, he frequently gave utterance to his fears, lest ere he reached Cana all would be over with his child. My brethren, let us be thankful that, as it regards the healing of our souls, he who alone has power to save is always near. There is the spiritual presence of Jesus manifested wherever, and whensoever, we call upon him. Pray when you will, and where you will, Jesus is listening to your cry, and will not suffer it to be in vain. To all of us, wherever we may be, however remote from one another; and different as our wants, our feelings, and our supplications are--to all of us Jesus is ever near. So that, if indeed we feel our misery, our guilt, and our danger in con sequence of sin-if with sincerity and penitence we do earnestly seek deliverance from its power, we need not travel any distance to find the Saviour-he is already present with us. Let us but in real earnestness of supplication call on him, and we shall find the declaration true: “the Lord is nigh unto them who are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Now The third point to be observed in the narrative before us is, the manner in which this nobleman evinced, on the one hand, his belief of Christ's power; and yet, on the other, the imperfect idea he had of the extent of that power. Had he not been persuaded that Christ was able to heal his son, he would not have made any application to him. He, doubtless, felt, that Jesus was able to recover his child; but at the same time you observe, he fancied that Christ could not do this without going to visit the child. "He besought Jesus to come down and heal his son;" plainly showing, that in order to heal him, he conceived, Jesus must go and visit him. for this our blessed Lord gently rebuked him; "Jesus said unto him, except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe." It was as much as to say, "You ask me to go to your child in order to heal him, and suppose that unless I do go, I cannot be of any service to him—you believe not that my power is of such extent, as to reach a case so far distant from me." Now the man's error was this, that, while he requested Christ to bestow a certain favour upon him, he supposed that Christ could do it only in one way; and would not believe that he had another way in which it was possible to be done. And too often, my brethren, I fear, we are prone to fall into the same mistake, we are almost ready to prescribe to Almighty God what he shall do, and nothing, and attend to nothing else; and in almost impatient urgency reiterated his application,—“ Sir, come down ere my child die." Now Jesus was not one to trifle with the feelings of a wounded heart; and, therefore, instead of saying yet more in the tone of rebuke, his answer was, "Go thy way; thy son liveth." are unwilling to expect the blessing, which we ask for at his hands, in any other way than that which we esteem right. Let us bear in mind, then, that God himself is the only judge of the best method of dealing with his creatures, and of bestowing upon them the blessing of which they stand in need; and as He is most wise to determine on the fittest way of dealing with us, so also, he is most powerful to execute whatever he thinks right. We are sometimes too apt to do, what this nobleman did, form our idea of what GOD can do, or not do, according to our own weak apprehension; and often we are al-him to go down to Capernaum and most ready to say in our hearts, that We find that our Lord's rebuke was little heeded by the individual to whom it was addressed. His was the anxiety of an over burthened spirit on account of his child's dangerous condition, he could think of But here, there is one thing we must particularly notice, it is this, that while Jesus no longer rebuked him, yet he required him to manifest that very faith for the want of which he had been rebuked. He assured him his child was healed; but required expect to find him healed. It is as if Christ had said; "Go thy way, behold I have power to heal thy son without going down to him; and if you have faith to believe it, you shall find him well." Here, then, is the fourth particular to be observed-the manner in which Jesus shows mercy to such as call upon him. He shows mercy indeed; but then he does it in such a way as calls forth the exercise of their faith in his own power, and on his own word. Of the nature of that faith, the conduct of the nobleman will lead us presently to speak; but the point to which I would now fix your attention is this that Jesus united, on this occasion, pity for the nobleman's distress, and yet firmness, in demanding from him that proof of confidence which it became him to show. Jesus did not say, "Since you have not faith enough to believe I can heal your child without going to him, I shall do nothing for you;" Jesus was too kind to say this. On the other hand, he did not say, "Well then, since you are so weak in faith, as not to trust my power, I will comply with your wish and go to Capernaum;" Jesus was too firm to say that. But he so treated the man, as to show the greatest compassion for his sorrow and distress; and yet at the same time, a determination to have his own power known and confessed. take my word for it, the child is restored, go home and expect to find him as I have said." Now that which Christ required of the man was faith; the same principle it is that he requires of us. Let us, then, now proceed to examine a little further of what this faith consists in the conduct of the nobleman; and to this the fifth point in our narrative will greatly assist us. "The man believed," it is said, "the word which Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way." A few moments before the impression on his mind evidently was, unless Christ went to Capernaum and saw the child he could not heal him. Now we find him giving full credence to the Saviour's declaration that the child was healed, although Jesus neither went nor promised to go. There is little doubt that when Jesus spoke the words, "thy son liveth," he did it in such a way as, at once, to carry conviction to the nobleman's mind that it was so, and that belief working in his breast, enabled him to receive the conviction; and forthwith he went away, as Jesus directed him, confidently believing that he should find his son healed. Here then, you see his faith, he had nothing on which to depend but Christ's own word-he had no token, no sign, that the fact was as Jesus had said; but he believed, that what Christ declared was true; and so he went his way, thoroughly assured, although he knew not how, that the power of Christ had reached his child, and he was healed. Let us bear in mind, brethren, that it is so Jesus will deal with you. He is ever ready to listen to your prayers: and when you come to ask of him those spiritual blessings, of which, as guilty helpless sinners, you stand in need, oh, be assured, he is far more ready to hear, than you are to ask, and to give more than you either desire or deserve! I pray GoD then, in all our approaches to the Saviour, we may cherish this conviction of his readiness to bless us; for too often do we come to him, in so heavy and cheerless a fra.ne of mind, as though we regarded him as a being reluctant to pity us, as one from whom we should find it difficult to obtain a blessing. Let us be ashamed of the low feelings, of the feeble desires, and the backwardness of spirit with which we too often pray. Let us recollect that what Jesus was, that he is still, and ever will be, to the end. Let us come to him cheerfully. Let us have in remembrance the goodness and mercy which he has already manifested; and when we call upon him, let it be with the feeling of those who know that they are imploring his mercy, who said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." | But while we contemplate that mercy which he is so ready to bestow upon us, we must also remember, what is the disposition and frame of mind which he requires us to show towards him. It is precisely that, which we have recorded of this nobleman, namely, simple and implicit reliance on his word and belief of his power. "Go thy way," said Christ, "thy son liveth, I have healed him, Now, brethren, Christ has given you in his gospel, many a declaration and many a promise on which he bids you to rest your faith. What he requires of you is, that you should rest on his word with the simplicity and confidence which this nobleman did, by acting under the influence of it even as he did. (To be continued.) | And now, in order to explain, and apply, this part of our subject, let me call to mind the reflection to which we were led in the opening of this discourse. We said, my brethren, there is a disease in our souls, which it is of the deepest importance to us to have removed. Sin is that disease; and unless it be removed, death, eternal death will assuredly be the result. Now there is but one cure, and that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts, removing the love of sin, checking and subduing all unholy desires, and, in their stead, teaching us to look up to GOD with affectionate reverence and submission, and seeking to please Him in obedience to his holy will. Now how is this cure to be bestowed? Jesus is the physician. He alone it is who can administer the antidote to the deadly poison of sin. He it is who, alone, can restore our souls to health and spiritual vigour. The Holy Spirit is his gift, and he has promised to bestow it on all who do truly, and earnestly, and with faith implore it. But observe, you must seek it with faith. You seek in vain if you do not seek as those who really desire the blessing-as those who believe that Christ will, according to his word, bestow this blessing on them. You must act just as this nobleman did; VOL. VI. [Price 3d. you see he implored the blessingChrist told him the blessing was granted-he believed what Christ said and left the presence of Jesus confident that he had obtained what he desired. He did not see the cure wrought, but he was satisfied that it was accomplished. Now you have a blessing also to implore. There is a spiritual cure which you must ask of Jesus. Your souls, as I have said, are in danger and you must come to Christ and be healed, or your souls must die. I hope, brethren, that many of you have already come to Jesus, I hope that the supplication of your hearts already has been :-" Lord give me thy Holy Spirit that I perish not-set my soul free from sin-deliver me from its power, or I am lost." But, my brethren, when you thus ask help of Jesus, do you honour him by believing his word of promise which tells you, you shall have the blessing for which you pray. When you have been offering your supplications, do you rise from your knees with something like an assurance that the mercy you ask shall be granted? Do you go away from the presence of Christ just as this nobleman did, believing that what Christ has promised, you shall receive? Alas, brethren, is not this too often the very point in which you C |
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