to be an action of no small importance; being a prelude to the disclosure of the great mystery, that through Him the gate of mercy was to be opened to the Gentiles. It was fit, therefore, that she should be put to some previous trial of her faith, and show herself in some sort worthy of so high a preference". To this address of the woman, "He answered her not a word." The disciples were, doubtless, surprised at the coldness and silence of Christ; and, not presuming directly to press Him, they take another method, and ask Him to relieve them from the importunity of the petitioner', and to "send her away." The woman, still urging her request, was answered by a proverb, upbraiding her unworthiness, and seemingly chiding her presumption, in conceiving any hopes of relief, as one beyond the pale of the law of Moses. Still she desists not; being content to be reckoned as a dog in comparison of the Jews, who regarded themselves as being the children of God. But from thence she puts forward an argument to a claim for one miracle in her behalf, bearing a very small proportion to the numberless mercies of that kind vouchsafed to the children of Israel; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Our Lord then not only grants her application, which before He in appearance had denied, but even commends it;

66

12

Bishop Horsley.

1

Dr. Jortin.

and does it signal honour. How rare is this example of resignation to the will of God, and of complacency and satisfaction in the general arrangements of His providence, which he is the best Christian who best imitates! The faithful Canaanite thankfully accepts what God is pleased to give, because He gives it; she is contented as a heathen to fill the place which He assigns to her, according to the common speech of His nation, because He assigns it, and does not repine because another fills a higher station 3.

SECT. LXIV.-Christ healeth one Deaf and Dumb.Matt. xv. 29-31; Mark vii. 31-37. It is not quite easy to follow the next progress of our Lord. "Jesus, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis." St. Matthew says, "He came nigh to the sea of Galilee," and afterwards "took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala ;" and this, from the position of the countries on the map, must have been His course; since the sea of Galilee intervened between Syro-Phenicia and Decapolis, which was a district beyond Jordan, that had formerly constituted part of the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh; but which, since the captivity, had been occupied by heathens, who could not be driven out. As Bishop Horsley.

2 Dean Stanhope.

3

its name denotes, it comprised ten principal and renowned cities, of which we have seen Gergesa, where the devils entered into the swine, was one. Here, again, "great multitudes followed Jesus, the lame, the blind, the dumb, the maimed, were laid at the feet of Jesus, and He healed them." "And they bring unto Him one that was both deaf and dumb,' and although He might have cured Him merely by a word, or without any outward action, yet He chose on this occasion to represent the invisible efficacy of His power by an outward sign. On two other occasions our Saviour, in miraculously performing a cure, made use of a deliberate external application to the part which He intended to heal; and in all these cases, the reason for employing it seems to have been one and the same; even to convey to the individuals on whom the miracles were performed, a clear assurance that Jesus was the person at whose command, and by whose agency, the cure was wrought; and to enable them to state to others, the grounds of this assurance fully and circumstantially. Besides, His power had been questioned; it had been said, that He performed His miracles by the aid of Satan ; and He chose to evidence that the virtue was in Himself'. Again, however, Jesus charges

4

* Encyc. Brit.

"Dr. Graves.

7

5 Dr. S. Clarke.

Archbishop Sumner.

them to tell no man; doubtless, as might be expected, He had motives for many of His actions which are not obvious to us; He had reason to apprehend, by the too wide circulation of His mighty works, a premature termination to His Divine mission; or, He may have desired to set an example of humility by doing good entirely for its own sake, and without any appearance of ostentation. The astonishment, however, which these miracles occasioned, could not be restrained, "they were beyond measure astonished." The Evangelist does not tax their astonishment with extravagance, but only intimates that it was carried to a height which no astonishment could exceed. They knew that the finger of God Himself was the efficient cause of what they saw; and to that cause, they without hesitation, yet not hastily and by surprise, but upon the most solid principles of belief, referred it. "They glorified the God of Israel." "He hath done all things well; He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak."

SECT. LXV.-Christ feedeth Four Thousand.-Matt. xv. 32-39; Mark viii. 1-9.

AGAIN He put forth His creative power, as on a former occasion, to supply the necessities of those who attended His ministry. "He had

Dean Stanhope.

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Bishop Horsley.

compassion on a multitude," consisting of "four thousand men, besides women and children," who had continued with Him three days together, and were then quite destitute of food, and many of them at a distance from their own homes. With seven loaves, and a few fishes, He furnished a table for them in the open fields, and directed His disciples to impart to them out of this poor stock of provisions-all the people "did eat and were filled,” and yet the remains of this miraculous feast, as of the former, exceeded the original store'.

The distribution of food by the disciples, in this miracle, is one of the passages of Scripture perverted by the Roman Church to serve its purpose of claiming undue and excessive honour to the priesthood'.

SECT. LXVI.—Christ refuseth a sign to the Pharisees and Sadducees.-Matt. xvi. 1-12; Mark viii. 22-26. HAVING dismissed the multitude, Jesus took ship, and crossed over, and came near to the coasts of Magdala or parts of Dalmanutha; the country into which He came at this time is thus variously denominated by the Evangelists. It lay between or adjoining both those towns which were situated to the east of the sea of Galilee. Here the Pharisees and Sadducees are related as coming to Him together; for though these two sects were completely

1 Dr. Robinson.

2

Abp. Sumner.

3 Dr. Wells.