mile under a heavy load, and fought, probably, many a bloody battle
in foreign parts. That had been his education, his training,
namely, discipline, and hard work. And because he had learned to
obey, he was fit to rule. He was helping now to keep in order those
treacherous, unruly Jews, and their worthless puppet-kings, like
Herod; much as our soldiers in India are keeping in order the
Hindoos, and their worthless puppet-kings.

Whether the Romans had any _right_ to conquer and keep down the Jews
as they did, is no concern of ours just now. But we have proof that
what this centurion did, he did wisely and kindly. The elders of
the Jews said of him, that he loved the Jews, and had built them a
synagogue, a church. I suppose that what he had heard from them
about a one living God, who had made all things in heaven and earth,
and given them a law, which cannot be broken, so that all things
obey him to this day--I suppose, I say, that this pleased him better
than the Roman stories of many gods, who were capricious, and
fretful, and quarrelled with each other in a fashion which ought to
have been shocking to the conscience and reason of a disciplined
soldier.

There was a great deal, besides, in the Old Testament, which would,
surely, come home to a soldier's heart, when it told him of a God of
law, and order, and justice, and might, who defended the right in
battle, and inspired the old Jews to conquer the heathen, and to
fight for their own liberty. For what was it, which had enabled the
Romans to conquer so many great nations? What was it which enabled
them to keep them in order, and, on the whole, make them happier,
more peaceable, more prosperous, than they had ever been? What was
it which had made him, the poor common soldier, an officer, and a