But shall we suppose that the centurion, by his humility and his faith, deprived himself of the bliss of receiving CHRIST, that CHRIST, _therefore_, turned away, and thought no more of him? Even in that case he would not have been without his reward. The servant, who was dear to him, was preserved and healed, the Jews, whom he loved, must have honoured and loved him, when he had thus prevailed with GOD, and, besides, what a conviction was his of the power of CHRIST, what a token of approval, in the fact that he had, as it were, proposed his own conditions for a miracle, and those conditions had been graciously accepted and fulfilled! He needed no vision after this to prove to him that JESUS was the Son of GOD; no voice from heaven to speak to him comfort and assurance of hope. He had sought CHRIST. He had found Him and been found of Him. Great was his reward; and his joy such as could not be taken away. He would have been greatly blessed, then, had no more been done for him. But did that CHRIST, Who bestows such honour on humility, Who so loves them that love Him and His, Who has made the best of His promises, yea, all of them to faith, did He, think you, give no further token, no higher blessedness to that centurion? Did He not rather prove to him, that he had made a wise choice, that he had chosen the best kind of blessing, in asking for spiritual presence rather than bodily presence? Did He not manifest Himself to him, in that peculiar way of which the world knows, and can know nothing? Did He not go, He and the Father, and make spiritual and permanent abode with him? Yes, surely, this is all implied in the words, “Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.” This view of the subject has its evident lessons and promises for us. Be it ours, brethren, to learn and practice the lessons, and doubt not but GOD will fulfil to us the promises. In dismissing now the general subject, and attempting only to deduce practical instruction from the words of the text, I would ask you to notice first, the kind of answer which prayer gets; it is blessed in the way it asks to be blessed. When the elders besought our LORD that He would come and heal the servant, then we read, He went with them. When presently the centurion, through his friends, urges, “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed,” then CHRIST stays His own progress, and sends on His grace. “Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.”