shown greater faith than Jews. I suppose it will be reversed presently. But what Christ said then, He has often had reason to say since, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."

But the comparison is a very humbling one, not between Jew and Gentile only, but between the Church and the world. A man who is not a real Christian sometimes shows a trust which might well put to shame the truest child of God. I ask any man, if he has not known what it is to feel utterly condemned by the simple faith of one whom he had regarded, and who was, greatly his inferior, not in privileges only, but in the divine life itself.

The marvel of Christ was not so much at what the man said and did, though it was exceeding kind,—as at the principle which prompted it. We look at actions most, because we can read them best.

God, reading both

equally, sees the motive before the action; because the motive is before the action.

Since, then, brethren, what Christ saw and honored in that man was greatness of faith, it is our duty to look carefully at what composed its greatness.

With, doubtless, very few advantages, the centurion had gone far in advance of the age he lived in. He was in a frame of mind that could recognize the beauty, and the power, and the claim of truth, as soon as ever truth presented itself to his view.

Seizing the first opportunity, with personal exertion, and on a loving purpose, he came to Christ. He set aside early prejudices, and disregarded public opinion. He approached Christ through difficulties which it is impossible for us now to estimate.

Arrived in His presence, he was earnest, simple, devout,

beseeching Him, and saying, “Lord." It does not appear that he directly asked anything; he just stated his case,"My servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented."

Jesus, as we might have been sure, showed willingness and tenderness of heart,-"I will come and heal him.” At that exhibition of Christ's favor to him, immediately his faith rose higher, and his heart went lower. He accepted the word, and more than accepted it. But as he put Christ more up, he put himself more down. While, at the same moment, his faith took a more practical and realizing view than it had done before. He saw the unseen, clothed in the vividness of material substance. Health and sickness, ease and pain, gladness and sorrow, life and death, were to him as one great army, and He to whom he was speaking, the Lord of Hosts. They marched at His bidding. He threw his own familiar life into the images of his holy confidence; and he reasoned up from the natural to the spiritual,-“If I, a man in authority, commanding soldiers, am obeyed, much more Christ by the whole universe;"-" Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 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." And this it was, which, "when Jesus heard, He marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."

We gather, then, the characteristics of a great faith:the perception of the truth,-the love of the truth, for the

truth's sake; then, effort, effort of thought, effort of action; -then, a simple casting,-a case told, the rest left to God, -the most eloquent of all beseeching, when you tell a fact,-He fills in the consequence out of His own loving heart, then, abasement, deepening as faith gets victories, and yet the more achieved, the more expected; -then, grand views of God,-of His hand, of His heart, of His universal reign, of His minute care, the imagery of common life sanctified to the soul's great health;—then, gathering itself up at last into an implicit reliance upon a single word, making a word a fact, finding space, distance, human reasoning, physical difficulties, unworthiness, past sin, self, all nothing,—the mind of God, the character of God, the will of God, the promise of God, supreme, absolute, alone. As far as I can analyze it, those are the elements which went to make that large word,-a "great faith."

How the centurion got that "great faith," we are left in entire ignorance. The faith which commanded the cure is as great a mystery as the healing itself. It is all in the field of miracle,—all in the range of marvel.

Say, is not it always so? Which is the greater wonder, -that your faith prevailed, or that you had the faith? Is it not the greater wonder that God ever gave such faith to such a soul?

But how did that faith come? Just as the answer came: -by ways you cannot see;-a thing unfathomable,—a grace, a creation.

But there is another important truth, to which our Saviour's words bear testimony,—a testimony which every one's own heart will confirm,- that all faith is in Christ. There is the hope that trembles,-there is the confidence

that commands,—there is the assurance that grasps. There is a distant future,—there is an almost present,—and there is an actual, living possession. The question is,-How do we travel up? What makes faith grow larger?

To answer that enquiry, you must look into the constitution of faith. Faith is, first, a clear understanding of truth. Secondly, it is a converting of the abstract truth. that you understand, into a thing real and existent to the mind. Thirdly, it is an appropriation,-a making your own, a personal apprehension of that understood and realized truth. That is faith;-first, to comprehend what is invisible, then to picture what is invisible, then to appropriate what is invisible. You understand the necessity and the character of the atonement, then you accept the faith that Jesus died for sinners, then you see Jesus on His cross, and you look into His wounds,—then you hear Him say, "I do this for you;" and you take it into your heart of hearts, and you feel, and you answer, “Yes, Lord, for me." That is faith.

To increase faith, then, all those three parts must be cultivated. You must study truth, and pray for the light of the Holy Ghost upon the truth you are studying. You must sit, and meditate, and cherish holy imaginings, and habituate the mind to deal with the unseen as you deal with the material things about you. And then you must make it quite personal; you must not be afraid to lay your own hand upon it, and take it home. This is the

truest, hardest, most critical part of the process. You must take the promise out of generalities. You must individualize the great love of God to your own soul.

But you will say, This does not help me; this is only shifting the difficulty; how is all this to be done? I cannot

exactly say. All do not travel the same road to faith. It will be just as God pleases to lead you. All faith, and

every increment of faith, is a

separate act of creative power.

distinct gift of God,—a But even the actings of

God's free, omnipotent grace are subject to laws. And I will lay down one or two of them.

If

Faith lies in the affections, and not in the intellect. only you keep your heart in a soft, pure, loving state, you are, in so far, in a condition capable of faith, and promotive of faith.

Secondly, faith, in any of its highest exercises, will never co-exist with known and allowed sin. Any immorality dwarfs, and gradually kills, faith. And not only grosser sins, but such as the world would not call sin, -for instance, a low ambition, a love of popularity, a desire to be liked, an excessive regard for opinion,-will impoverish faith. "How can ye believe, which receive honor one from another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?"

Thirdly, faith grows by its own actings. Any act of faith, however small, reverts to feed the faith from which it sprang. This is God's method. He gives a little grace, neglect it, and it stands alone; and being alone, is lost: use it, and He will add more grace, and then the more grace used will bring more grace again; and so on and on to glory.

I do not speak now of that school of life,-sorrows and disciplines, without which, faith seldom attains any very high measure. No doubt, the illness of the servant he loved, was part of the secret of the greatness of the centurion's faith,-for "loving correction," and loving correction only-makes all things "great."