ect, we may certainly conclude that his notions of mo tality were of a much higher standard than theirs, and that his difpofition peculiarly fitted him for the reception of the Gofpel. For humility is that virtue, which, more than any other, difpofes the mind to yield to the evidences, and embrace the doctrines of the Chriftian revelation. It is that virtue which the Gofpel was peculiarly meant to produce, on which it lays the greatest stress, and in which perhaps, more than any other, confifts the true effence and vital principle of the Chriftian temper. We, there fore, find the ftrongest exhortations to it in almost every page of the Gofpel. "I fay to every man that is among you," fays St. Paul, "not to think more highly of himfelf than he ought to think, but to think foberly. Mind not high things: be not wife in your own conceits, but condefcend to men of low eftate. Stretch not yourselves beyond your measure. Bleffed are the poor in fpirit, fays our Lord, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Whofoever fhall humble himself as a little child, the fame is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect to the lowly. As for the proud, he beholdeth them afar off. Humble yourselves in the fight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. God refifteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.— Learn of me, fays our Saviour, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find reft unto your fouls*.”

I come now, laftly, to confider that remarkable part of the centurion's character, more particularly noticed by our Lord, I mean his FAITH. "Ifay unto you, I have not found fo great faith, no, not in Ifrael." Now the reafon of the high encomiums bestowed on him by our Saviour on this account was, because he reafoned himself into a belief of our Lord's power to work miracles, even at a distance; because he who had been bred up in the principles of heathenifm, and whofe only guide was the light of nature, did notwithstanding frankly fubmit himself to fufficient evidence, and was induced by the accounts he had received of our Saviour's doctrines and miracles, to Rom. xii. 3. 6. 2 Cor. x. 14. Matth. v. 3. xviii. 4 Pfalmi cxxxviii. 6. James iv, 6. 10. Matth. xi. 29.

acknowledge that he was a divine perfon. Whereas the Jews, to whom he was firft and principally fent, who from their infancy were inftructed in the Holy Scriptures! in which were fuch plain and express promises of the Mefsiah, and who actually did expect his coming about that time, fuffered themselves to be so blinded by their prejudices and paffions, that neither the unspotted fanctity of his life, the excellence of his doctrine, nor the repeated and astonishing miracles which he wrought, could make the flightest impreffion on the greater part of that stub born people. Hence we may fee how impoffible it is for any degree of evidence to convince those who are determined not to be convinced? and what little hopes there are of ever fatisfying modern infidels, if they will not be content with the proofs they already have. They are continually complaining for want of evidence; and fo were the Jews always calling out for new figns and new wonders, even when miracles were daily wrought before their eyes. We may, therefore, fay of the former what our Saviour faid of the latter, "if they hear not Mofes and the prophets, neither will they be perfuaded, though one rose from the dead." It is poffible, we find, for incredulity to refift even ocular demonstration; and when obftinacy, vanity, and vice have got thorough poffeffion of the heart, they will not only fubdue reafon and enflave the understanding, but even bar up all the fenfes, and fhut out conviction at every inlet to the mind. This was moft eminently the cafe with fome of the principal Jews. Because our Saviour's appearance did not correspond to their erroneous and preconceived idea of the Meffiah, because he was not a triumphant prince, a temporal hero and deliverer; but above all, becaufe he upbraided them with their vices, and preached up repentance and reformation, every teftimony that he could give of his divine authority and pow er was rejected with scorn. In vain did he feed thousands with a handful of provifions; in vain did he fend away diseases with a word; in vain did he make the graves give back their dead, rebuke the winds and waves, and evil fpirits ftill more unruly and obftinate than they. In an fwer to all this they could fay, "Is not this the carpenter's * Luke xvi 3

fon? Does he not eat and drink with publicans and finners, and with unwashen hands? Does he not even break. the fabbath, by commanding fick men to carry their beds on that facred day*?” Thefe, doubtlefs, were unan fwerable arguments against miracles, figns, and prophecies, against the evidence of fenfe itself, against the uni verfal voice of nature, bearing testimony to Christ.

The honeft centurion, on the contrary, without any Judaical prejudices to distort his understanding, without afking any ill-timed and impertinent queftions about the birth or family of Christ, attends only to the facts before him. He had heard of Jefus, had heard of his unblemifhed life, his heavenly doctrines, his numerous and afton. ifhing miracles, had heard them confirmed by fuch tefti mony as no ingenuous mind could refift. He immediately furrenders himself up to fuch convincing evidence; and fo far from requiring (as the Jews continually did, and as modern fceptics ftill do) more and stronger proofs, he seems afraid of fhewing the flightest diftrust of our Saviour's power. He declares his belief of his being able to perform a miracle at any distance; and entreats him not to give himself the trouble of coming to his houfe in perfon, but to speak the word only and his fervant should be healed.

This, then, is the difpofition of mind we ought more particularly to cultivate; that freedom from felf-fufficien cy and pride and prejudice of every kind, that fimplicity and fingleness of heart which is open to conviction, and receives, without refiftance, the facred impreffions of truth. It is the want of this, not of evidence, that still makes infidels in Europe as it did at first in Afia. It is this principle operating in different ways which now imputes to fraud and collufion those miracles which the Jews afcribed to Beelzebub; 'which now rejects all human teftimony, as it formerly did even the perceptions of fenfe.

Such were the diftinguished virtues of this excellent centurion, the contemplation of whofe character fuggests to us a variety of important remarks.

* Matth. ix. II. xiii. 55. Luke xi, 38. John v. 18.
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The firft is, that the miracles of our Lord had the fullest credit given to them, not only (as is fometimes afferted) by low, obfcure, ignorant, and illiterate men, but by men of rank and character, by men of the world, by men perfectly competent to afcertain the truth of any facts prefented to their obfervation, and not likely to be impofed upon by false pretences. Of this description was the centurion here mentioned, the Roman proconful Sergius Paulus, Dionyfius a member of the fupreme court of Areopagus at Athens, and feveral others of equal dignity and confequence.

Secondly, the hiftory of the centurion teaches us, that there is no fituation of life, no occupation, no profeffion, however unfavorable it may appear to the cultivation of religion, which precludes the poffibility or exempts us from the obligation of acquiring those good difpofitions, and exercifing thofe Chriftian virtues which the Gospel requires. Men of the world are apt to imagine that religion was not made for them; that it was intended only for those who pafs their days in obfcurity, retirement, and folitude, where they meet with nothing to interrupt their devout contemplation, no allurements to divert their attention, and feduce their affections from heaven and heavenly things. But as to those whofe lot is caft in the busy and the tumultuous fcenes of life, who are engaged in various occupations and profeffions, or furrounded with gaities, with pleafures and temptations, it cannot be expected that amidst all thefe impediments, interruptions, and attractions, they can give up much of their time and thoughts to another and a diftant world, when they have fo many things that prefs upon them and arreft thier attention in this.

Thefe, I am perfuaded, are the real fentiments, and. they are perfectly conformable to the actual practice of a large part of mankind. But to all these pretences the inftance of the centurion is a direct, complete, and fatisfactory anfwer. He was by his fituation in life a man of the world. His profeffion was that, which of all others, is generally confidered as moft adverfe to religious fentiments

and habits, moft contrary to the peaceful, humane, and gen tle fpirit of the Gofpel, and most exposed to the fafcination of gaiety, pleasure, thoughtleffness, and diffipation. Yet amidst all these obftructions to purity of heart, to mildness of disposition and fanctity of manners, we see this illuftrious CENTURION rifing above all the disadvantages of his fituation, and inftead of finking into vice and irreligion, becoming a model of piety and humility, and all thofe virtues which neceffarily fpring from fuch principles. This is an unanswerable proof, that whenever men. abandon themselves to impiety, infidelity, and profligacy, the fault is not in the fituation but in the heart; and that there is no mode of life, no employment or profeffion, which may not, if we please, be made confiftent with a fincere belief in the Gospel, and with the practice of every duty we owe to our Maker, our Redeemer, our fellowcreatures, and ourselves.

Nor is this the only instance in point; for it is extremely remarkable, and well worthy our attention, that among all the various characters we meet with in the New Testament, there are few represented in a more amiable light, or fpoken of in ftronger terms of approbation, than those of certain military men. Befides the centurion who is the fubject of this Lecture, it was a centurion, who at our Saviour's crucifixion gave that voluntary, honest, and unprejudiced teftimony in his favor, "Truly this was the Son of God" It was a centurion who generously preserved the life of St. Paul, when a propofition was made to deftroy him after his fhipwreck on the island of Melitat.→→→ It was a centurion to whom Saint Peter was fent by the exprefs appointment of God, to make him the firft convert among the Gentiles: a diftinction of which he feemed, in every respect, worthy; being, as we are told, "a juft and a devout man, one that feared God with all his house, that gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway‡."

We fee then that our centurion was not the only military man celebrated in the Gofpel for his piety and virtue ;

* Matth. xxvii. 54. † Acts xxvii, 43. Acts x, 2,