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.
Ver. 8. Lord, I am not worthy, &c.] Fidei mendica manus; faith is an emptying grace, and makes a man cry out with Pomeran: Etiamsi non sum dignus, nihilominus tamen sum indigens. Although I am not worthy, none the less I am yet needy. By faith we come to see him that is invisible. Now, the more a man seeth of God, the less he seeth by himself; the nearer he draweth to God, the more rottenness he feeleth in his bones. Lord, I am hell; but thou art heaven (said Mr Hooper, martyr, at his death); I am swill and a sink of sin, but thou art a gracious God, &c.
But speak the word only, &c.] The centurion's humility was not more low than his faith lofty; that reached up unto heaven, and in the face of human weakness descries omnipotence.