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ARE WE THANKFUL?

"And Jesus answering, said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine ?"-LUKE xvi. 17.

In the various miracles performed by the Son of God, so much majesty and mercy are displayed, and the hand of Omnipotence is so clearly visible, that they at once stamp the character of divinity upon the Man Jesus, and force every candid and unprejudiced mind to echo the language of the centurion who witnessed the horrors of the crucifixion: "Truly this man was the Son of God."

But, independently of this grand and valuable purpose (not altogether unnecessary, I fear, at the present day), these interesting miracles contain much useful instruction; and from that particular one, which I wish you now to contemplate minutely, a lesson may be derived both humiliating and awakening. May it please God to bestow upon us in abundance the Spirit of wisdom, whereby we

shall be enabled to consider the subject with profit to our souls!

Our Lord (as the narrative informs us), while passing through Samaria and Galilee, was met at the entrance of a certain village by ten persons, who were suffering under the loathsome and inveterate disease of leprosy. This disorder was highly contagious; and by the Jews was dreaded as the very worst of all pollutions. It was, moreover, considered to be an undeniable mark of God's displeasure, incurred by the commission of some enormous sin. The wretched sufferers were consequently separated from all civil and religious communion, and were left to pine away in solitude, or (as the Psalmist has forcibly expressed it) "to eat ashes like bread, and to mingle their drink with weeping." (Ps. cii. 9.) Besides, by the law of Moses (as fully laid down in Leviticus xiii. and xiv.), sacrifices and sin-offerings were directed to be made, and a vast variety of purifications were requisite before the convalescent person could be restored to his forfeited privileges; and so firmly was this malady believed to be a malady inflicted by God for some particular offence, that any attempt to alleviate or heal it by human skill was deemed presumption and impiety. Thus, of those unhappy beings, who now solicited the compassion, not of man, but of the Lord of life, we are informed that they "stood afar off." Under the legal defilement which they had contracted, they dared not approach

nearer to His person, nor mingle in the society of their fellow-countrymen. Outcasts even from their families, banished from the abodes of happiness and health, and confined within the limits of their own infection, their sole resource was to lift up their voices, and cry aloud: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

Misfortune may, and often does, cause the world to frown upon the destitute, and coldly to avoid all intercourse with them; but the case is far different with respect to God. "Behold," says Isaiah (lix. 1), "the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear,” being open to the humblest petition; and, if men will but acknowledge His power, appeal to His mercy, feel deeply their need of it, and truly lament their own unworthiness to become its objects, the faithful prayer shall be fully answered, the door of mercy opened wide, and the boon that is so earnestly desired, if expedient for us, most graciously vouchsafed. That this is certain, we have innumerable assurances in Scripture; and, in the miracle which we are considering, a practical illustration has been afforded to give us encouragement and confidence in our prayers to heaven.

In the exercise of His almighty power for the relief of His creatures, our Lord, it appears, sometimes made use of external applications, sometimes merely touched the afflicted member, and sometimes spake the word only, and the sufferers were healed.

Now, in the choice of these different modes of cure, He was doubtless guided by the peculiar circumstances of each case, making use of that mode which was best calculated to prove to those who were present the energy of His Divine power. In the case, however, of these lepers, He adopted another course. He silently exercised His healing mercy, commanding them, in compliance with the established law, to go and show themselves unto the priests; "and it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.”

We must not pass over in silence the lesson of humility and obedience which our Lord has here so plainly taught us. On this, as well as on every other occasion that offered, He has left us an example of respect to the civil authorities, and of strict conformity to the established customs of the country in which we live. For, He who was "Lord of lords, and King of kings," to whom thrones and principalities and powers were subject, and whose word was a law even to the winds and the waters of the deep, even He refused not to give "tribute to whom tribute was due, and custom to whom custom;" thus strengthening by His high authority those civil and social ties whereon the comforts of society depend, and proving the truth of the apostle's assertion, that "the powers that be are ordained of God." (Rom. xiii. 1.)

But to proceed with the narrative. Of all the persons who had so earnestly petitioned for relief,

and had ascertained their cure before the priests, to whom they had been referred, one only (and he was a Samaritan) returned to give God the glory. Deeply affected by what had been vouchsafed, he hastened to throw himself at the feet of his Benefactor. No longer obliged to stand afar off from the society of his brethren, no longer the object of their aversion and contempt, and very unlike his companions, who instantly sought intercourse with those who had shunned them in the hour of distress, he alone sought the presence of Him who had restored him to health and happiness: his primary object was to give to the God of Israel the honour due unto His name, to praise Him for his goodness, and, prostrating himself before Him, to "declare the wonders that He doeth for the children of men." Our Lord, upon receiving his solitary acknowledgment, exclaimed, as if in surprise, "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."

Perhaps the first emotion excited in the breast, on the mention of these things, is one of mingled astonishment and indignation; of astonishment at the hard-hearted insensibility, and of indignation at the ingratitude displayed by those nine persons who had experienced the healing power and tender mercy of Jesus of Nazareth. And why so? Because ingratitude is universally allowed to be one of the darkest in the long catalogue of our sins. It admits

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