t so God-like was His
presence, that He must be likewise the Son of God.

And so had this good soldier his reward; his reward for the soldierly
qualities which he had acquired; for subordination; for reverence; for
admiration of great and able men. And what was his reward? Not merely
that his favourite servant was healed at his request: but that he learnt
to know the Lord Jesus Christ, whom truly to know is everlasting life;
whom the selfish, the conceited, the envious, the slanderous, the
insolent, the mutinous, know not, and never will know; for they are not
of His Spirit, neither is He of theirs.

But more: What is the moral which old divines have drawn from this story?
"If you wish to govern: learn first to obey." That is a moral lesson
more valuable than even the use of arms. To learn--as the good Centurion
learnt--that a free man can give up his independence without losing it.
Losing it? Independence is never more called out than by subordination.
A man never feels himself so much of a free man as when he is freely
obeying those whom the laws of his country have set over him. A man
never feels so able as when he is following the lead of an abler man than
himself. Remember this. Make it a point of honour to do your duty
earnestly, scrupulously, and to the uttermost; and you will find that the
habits of self-restraint, discipline, and obedience, which you, as
soldiers, have learned, will stand you in good stead for the rest of your
lives, and make you each, in his place, fit to rule, just because you
have learned to obey.

But now go on a step, as the good Centurion went on, and say--If there is
no succeeding in earthly things, whether in soldiering or any other
profession, without subordination; without obeying rules and orders
strictly and without question: then perhaps there is no succeeding in
spiritual and heavenly things. For has not God His moral Laws, His
spiritual Laws, which must be obeyed, if you intend to prosper in this
life, or in the life to come?

"Thou _shalt_ love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul, and thy
neighbour as thyself. Thou _shalt_ honour thy father and thy mother.
Thou _shalt not_ kill, steal, commit adultery, slander, or covet." So it
is written: not merely on those old tables of stone on Sinai; but in The
Eternal Will of God, and in the very nature of this world, which God has
made. There is no escaping those Laws. They fulfil themselves. God
says to them, "