to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy FAITH hath MADE

THEE WHOLE."*

Two remarkable cases are recorded, in which Jesus had no direct communication, nor even personal interview, with those who are said to have been healed, but was, at the moment when the cure was effected, at some distance from the spot-how far distant we are not certified, and this is, perhaps, immaterial. We are told that when, on one occasion, he "entered into Capernaum,

the hem of his garment." Mark and Luke (neither of whom ever asserts or intimates having been a companion or personal acquaintance of Jesus, or having even once seen him) both enlarge somewhat upon this account. They say that Christ was instantaneously conscious that healing virtue had departed from him. "Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?" Mark, v. 30. "And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me." Luke, viii. 46. * Luke, xvii. 11-19.

there came a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, griev ously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, 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. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said unto them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the self-same hour."*

At another time, when Jesus journeyed "into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and be sought him, saying, send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto *Matt. viii. 5-13,

the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour."*

Was there anything superhuman in the mode by which the cures, mentioned in these two passages, were effected? What connection was there (if any) between the word of Jesus, spoken to the parent of the sick person, and the speedy convalescence? All that we are told Jesus said, as a direction pertaining to the cure, was simply this: "As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." We are not distinctly informed whether the sick persons themselves—the centurion's servant and the woman's daughter-exercised faith, or not; though we may, perhaps, rightfully infer that they did.

Faith will sometimes accomplish wonders now. The precise mode we may not be fully able to explain; but the fact, we well know, cannot be gainsayed. The connection between mind and body is mysterious; and often inexplicable is the re-animating as well as the enervating effect of the former upon the latter. Some persons, after having been gradually reduced by illness to little more than a skeleton, and rendered as helpless as a new

* Matt. xv. 22-28.

born infant, insomuch that their lives have been despaired of by experienced physicians, have (to the astonishment of relatives and attendants) recovered from their indisposition. And in many such cases, it has been found that the sick person himself has had strong hope of recovery, which he did not relinquish even when the prospect was darkest; and which, doubtless, exerted a powerfully sustaining influence, amid the ravages of disease, aiding Nature in her efforts to repair the wasted energies. I have now in remembrance a case of which I was personally cognizant. An elderly man was about given over by his attendant physicians, but shortly after showed some signs of recovery; and when he had in a good degree regained his strength, he stated that he had never for a moment believed that his disease would prove fatal-he somehow felt persuaded to the contrary, and spoke of it accordingly, even when brought very low by pain and weakness. Had this confident expectation of recovery died within him, we cannot tell but that the exhausted powers of nature would really have sunk beneath the pressure of his malady.

We should, perhaps, do no injustice to the evangelical record, were we to place the healing of the centurion's servant and the woman's daughter in the some category with some remarkable instances of the exertion of Mesmeric power, at the present day. If Jesus, by a word, (and, to all human appearance, by that only) healed a sick person, even while he was standing at a distance from the house where that person lay, how much more

wonderful is it than some well-attested cases of apparent ly Mesmeric control, exerted by one person upon another quite distant, which have occurred in many places, in this country and in Europe, within a few years past? I have read statements, avouched by individuals of great intelligence and high moral worth, to the effect that some well-known adepts in Animal Magnetism have given directions to extremely susceptible subjects, to fall asleep at a certain hour, designated by the clock; and precisely at the appointed time those subjects have lapsed into unconsciousness, although the magnetizer, whose direction they have obeyed, has been absent, either in another part of the house, or out-of-doors,-or, as in some cases, at a distance of several miles. I have but very little doubt that many of the wonderful cures, often attributed wholly to some newly-discovered medicines, (cures, the reality of which is most abundantly certified) are more than half effected by the faith of the invalid-faith in the efficacy of the prescription. In saying this, I do not mean to assert that I believe the extolled panacea to have been wholly inefficient. In giving great credit to faith, I merely recognize the truth of a well-known principle: for the best medicine in the world, and the most judicious health-restoring regimen, may doubtless be to some extent counteracted, if not wholly neutralized, by a lack of faith in their potency. I have ventured to surmise that somewhat of the re-invigorating property ascribed to some far-famed mineral springs, may have been infused into their waters by the faith of the hundreds and thou