made up to him, and he therefore, without hesitation, departed from Capernaum.

Such was the history of the nobleman who stood before our blessed Lord on His arrival at Cana. His faith had been sufficient to bring him to the feet of Jesus-it enabled him even to bear the gentle reproof with which our Lord replied to his first earnest entreaty that He would heal his child; "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe." His only reply to this was, "Lord, come down ere my child die ;" and yet, in that very answer, we see how weak and imperfect his faith was. Observe his words: "Come down, ere my child die."

E. Ah! I see. "Come down;" as if Christ could not have cured him at a distance, as easily as by the side of his sick bed.

M. Yes; and "ere my child die," as if the same power, which could heal him at the point of death, could not raise him up again though he were really dead.

E. Perhaps, Mamma, he only looked upon Christ as a great prophet, and did not quite believe that He was God Himself, and that a word from Him could raise the dead.

M. This, I have no doubt, was exactly the case; the impatience of the father too seems to have led him to some degree of disrespect to our blessed Lord; since he not only asked Him to heal his son, but seemed to expect that this Great Physician should leave every thing else immediately, and follow him ; as if the sorrow with which he was overwhelmed, was of more consequence than every thing else beside. Poor man! it was well for him that he addressed

himself to One, who is ready to make a gracious allowance for the infirmities of His weak and sinful creatures, who does not measure His mercies by the worthiness of those who apply for them, but by His own infinite compassion, and their exceeding need! Let us attend to the Saviour's reply—it was full of dignity and compassion. "Go thy way, thy son liveth." How calm, how kind! Not a word of reproof; although his faith had been so imperfect, so mixed with unbelief, and even with presumption. Not a moment did He lose in relieving his distress ; not a moment did He keep him in suspense. No; the blessed Jesus knows how "a father pitieth his children," and He felt for this father's sufferings, made allowance for his impatience, and immediately spoke the blessed words which were to heal his child; showing to him at the same time that it was not his place to teach Christ how to work; but rather to receive His mercies humbly and thankfully in the way that He saw fit to bestow them. Yea, and He would convince him too, that time, and place, and distance are nothing to Him; that sickness and health, life and death hang upon His lips, and that His commands have lost none of their power since that day when "he made the worlds with a word; when he spake and they were done, he commanded and they stood fast." He is equally able to say now, "Go thy way, thy son liveth."

E. I am so glad that He had not come all that way in vain! How happily he must have returned home!

M. Yes; for he had obtained even more than he had sought. "Christ had not only cured the child

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of his fever, but the father of his unbelief;" the nobleman no longer thought it necessary that Jesus should come down" to perform the cure: he believed at once the word that Jesus had spoken, and went his way. Nor was his faith in vain! No disappointment shall ever attend those who believe in Christ. None shall ever have cause to regret that they trusted in Him. No! they shall only have cause to grieve, that they did not trust Him more; that their faith was so imperfect; so mixed with sin and unbelief: for never will He fail or deceive those who hope in Him. It shall be with all such, as it was with this nobleman in the Gospel; they shall find that the Lord Jesus has done for them far more than they venture to expect.

Long before the anxious parent had been able to reach his home, his servants came out to meet him, to tell him at once the delightful news, "Thy son liveth." What was the father's reply? Did he rush at once to the child's embrace, and in the happiness of seeing him restored to health, forget the means by which it had been done? No; he stopped to enquire particularly at what hour his son had begun to amend; to examine carefully at what time the fever had left him; and when he found that it was at the same hour, when Jesus had said unto him, "Thy son liveth," he acknowledged at once the power of that wonderful word, and became in good earnest a disciple of Jesus ; "himself believed and his whole house." Thus the sickness of his child, which had caused him so much grief and suffering, turned out the greatest blessing which he had ever known. The fever, which threatened to deprive him of what he loved best on earth,

had sent him to Christ; had brought him to the knowledge of One, who could not only cure the body but the soul too! That severe sickness, and that anxious journey, would from this moment be treasured up in his memory as the happiest events of his life! If he had not known sorrow, he would most likely never have known the Lord Jesus Christ!

Histories such as these should, and by divine grace they may, make lasting impressions on our hearts. We too must expect our seasons of sorrow and sickness. We shall not be always well, nor always happy: we too may see those we loved stretched upon a dying bed. What a blessing will it be to us, then, if we know where to seek at once for help, and have not in the midst of our distress to go a long way to look for the Lord Jesus Christ; but can hope, and believe, and feel that He is already with us; that no trouble can happen to us without His permission; that all is intended for our good; that He has no need to "come down" from His bright throne in the heavens to help us; but that a word, that a look will do. Happy thought, to reflect that He will not allow us to suffer one moment more than is for our real good, and that, if we are supported and comforted by Him, the time will surely come when we shall look back with thankfulness upon all that He has done, and find our faith increased and strengthened by all that we have gone through.

E. You said, I think, Mamma, that Capernaum was about thirty miles from Cana?

M. I did; so that, in the miracle we have now been considering, we have a proof, not only of our Lord's kindness and power, but of His spiritual presence

every where. He can heal, as we observed before, at a distance as well as near: He is a Saviour "afar off," no less than "at hand." Though now in bodily presence removed from us as far as the highest heavens, where He sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high, He is still, by means of His divine presence, near us continually, and ready as well as able to save us to the uttermost.

See John iv. 43–54.

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY EVENING.

CHRIST PREACHING IN GALILEE.

M. Soon after the performance of the great and gracious miracle mentioned in our last conversation, our blessed Lord appears to have visited His own city, Nazareth. But how different was His reception there, to what it had been in the other parts of Galilee! Most completely did it prove the truth of His own words, which we noticed before, "A prophet hath no honour in his own country." He did not visit Nazareth, until there had "gone out a fame of him through all the region round about ;" that is, till all the country round was engaged in talking of Him, dwelling with wonder on the wisdom with which He had taught in the synagogues of Galilee, and on the miracles which He had wrought: as, for instance, the extraordinary one at Capernaum, and, no doubt, many others which are not mentioned in the Bible. For, as St. John tells us at the end of