scallop, was worn by pilgrims of old, as a token that I they had crossed the seas on a visit to some shrine, and were consequently entitled to "Fixth scallop on their bat before." THE EARLY PROTESTANT CHURCH parties, who, contending for the succession to the throne, often disguising their ambition under religious pretexts, it is to be remembered that the aggressor was not the true religion of the Scriptures, but Popery, its great caricature and corrupter, and that Christianity is not responsible for its misdeeds. When Protestants resisted, it was, for the most part, simply in self-defence. It is not the Gospel which creates discord, or war, or which leads to destruction. It is the depravity of man, which hates the Gospel with such thorough hatred as to be lighted into a flame at the very sight of it. And this is no more than what our Saviour taught his Church and people to expect in every age, when he said that his coming would not bring peace but a sword. The appalling facts to which I have referred, especially when conjoined with St. Bartholomew's massacre of seventy thousand persons, will enable us to understand the high importance of the edict of Nantes, imperfect and intolerant as that measure in some respects was. Under its protection the ministers who had been dispersed by persecution were recalled, and the Protestant Church made decided progress for many years. The doctrine was sound, the discipline strict, and not a few of the ministers and professors in the universities were eminent men. But Henry was assassi BY THE REV. JOHN G. LORIMER, Minister of St. David's Parish, Glasgow, We have already seen the remarkable rise and progress of the Protestant Church of France, in the course of twenty years, beginning with 1560; and the serious decline which it suffered, in the same space of time, in the next twenty years, through the influence of persecution and the apostasy of leading men, particularly Henry IV. We now pursue the history from 1598. This was a memorable year, being the year when the first effectual protection was granted to the Protestant cause, under the name of the edict of Nantes. The author of this most important measure was Henry, and apostate though he was, such was the estimation in which it was held by the poor Protestants that it pro-nated in 1610, and soon the Romish principle, that faith cured for his name the title of "great," and for his. memory the character of "blessed." Indeed he may be said to have been the only French monarch who ever yielded cordial justice to his Protestant subjects; and well he might, for no one had better opportunities of knowing their worth. It was with no small difficulty the edict was passed, such was the force of Popish opposition, and the very provisions of the measure shew how dreadful must have been the state of matters before. According to the edict, the Protestants were to have the free exercise of their religion, and access to all offices of honour. They were to be tried by judges of their own persuasion. They were to receive so many cities as pledges of security, or cautionary towns, and their churches as well as their garrisons were to be upheld, in part at least, from the public resources. The garrisons were to receive a yearly sum of 80,000 crowns. But, by a clause in the edict, it was provided that the Protestants were to have places of public worship only within certain limits,-none within so many miles of the capitol,-and they were otherwise subjected to various harassing regulations, all in deference to the Church of Rome. Still the edict of Nantes was a mighty boon; and when we take a glance at the persecutions issuing in civil wars, with which the country had been oppressed for many years before, we cannot wonder at the Protestant joy. is not to be kept with heretics, came to be exemplified in the perpetual encroachments on, and violations of, the edict. Louis XIII., a son of Henry, was a bigoted Roman Catholic. He dedicated himself, and kingdom, and all that he had, to the Virgin Mary. In 1620 he established Popery in Bearn and drove the Protestants to arms, refusing to make peace with them, except on the conditions that they should demolish their garrison s and abandon their cautionary towns, which the edict recognised. In 1625 he attacked Rochelle, one of the greatest Protestant strongholds, and after a siege of many weeks, carried it with a sacrifice of thirteen thousand citizens. This, in a great degree, broke the power of the Protestants, and the evil was aggravated by the success with which Richelieu, the celebrated prime minister of Louis, prevailed, by bribes, upon many of the leading Protestant chiefs, to desert the Protestant cause. Such were Dukes Sully, Bouillon, Lesdeguieres, Rohan, &c. Amid all these discouraging circumstances, so discouraging as to drive some eminent men to England, still the Protestants, as a body, did not fall off in numbers, but rather gained during the course of this reign. The king dying in 1643, was succeeded by his son, the well known Louis XIV., in whose hands the edict continued to receive the most cruel infractions, until, in 1685, it was by an act of inexpressible infamy and wickedness wholly repealed. We need scarcely add that it led to the most serious disasters to France. We do not mean to bring the history of the Protestant Church at present, down to this date, but shall limit ourselves by the year 1659, the year in which the last General Assembly of the Protestant Church was permitted to be held. Our survey of the spirit and proceedings of the Church will thus extend over sixty years. And though her ministers and members might be said to live in perpetual alarm, during all that time, and were often and cruelly persecuted, especially towards its close, yet we shall find a most beautiful contrast between the sad civil history of the nation, to which we have referred, and the history of the Church of Christ. So early as the year 1525, in the very dawn of the Reformation, Popery began her efforts to extinguish the truth by burning its professors alive; and down to 1557, or for more than thirty long years, scarcely one was permitted to pass without its complement of victims. Not less than one hundred and seventeen public martyrdoms were spread over this period of time. And when the Protestants, in spite of persecution, grew in numbers and acquired sufficient strength, and were, moreover, tempted to make resistance to their oppressors, what was the result? In the course of the forty years which elapsed, from the meeting of the first General Assembly of the Protestant Church to the granting of the edict of Nantes, there were not less than nine civil wars,-four pitched båt- 1. One of the first and most interesting features with tles, three hundred engagements. Several hundred which one is struck, in contemplating the early Protesplaces too were besieged, and one million of French sub- tant Church of France, at this period, is the warm enjects lost their lives. About thirty years later, it was couragement which she lent to the preparation and pubestimated that not less than one hundred and fifty mil-lication of good books. The Church of Rome had been lion livres had been expended in protracted wars and the great enemy of the press; but the Protestants had persecutions, and two thousand churches and as many nothing to fear from the diffusion of knowledge. In monasteries destroyed. Infidels would fain lay the blame early days they had experienced the value of printing to of all this devastation on religion. But not to plead their cause, and had published tracts against Popery, that a considerable share of it was owing to political serious and humorous, to a considerable extent, and with It great success. The Queen of Navarre, with the ladies of her court, had, even through tapestry, representing a fox's head, looking out from under a monk's cowl, and other devices, dealt some hard blows at the Church of Rome, and so when the Protestant Church became more consolidated, she did not fail to work the press. were well that the Protestant Churches, of modern times, acted more largely on the same principle. It is certain that the opposing force of infidelity has owed almost all its success to the unwearied plying of the press. And the interests of religion seem too sacred to be left to random advocates or interested politicians. Like pious men, the Protestant ministers of France sought to perpetuate the memory of what God had done in their behalf. So early as 1603, the thirteen provinces into which the Protestant Church was divided, are charged to collect the memoirs of those remarkable events which had taken place in the course of the previous fifty years, and to transmit them to Monsieur D'Aubigny, to be inserted by him in the history which he was writing. Nine years later, the same provinces are exhorted carefully to collect the history of those ministers and other Christians, who, "in these last times have suffered for the truths of the Son of God," and to transmit them to Geneva, to be inserted in the book of martyrs, and be published by the pastors of that Church. In compliance with this exhortation, we read that the deputies of Bearn brought with them the history of the martyrs of that province, and that it was sent on to Geneva, "to be added to the next impression of our Martyrology." It would seem that at this period, the Protestants were not permitted to publish, in France, the account of their martyrs, and hence, sooner than lose the memory of those they so sacredly revered, they had recourse to Geneva. So impressed were they with the importance of such an undertaking, that in the last General Assembly which sat, in 1659, ministers are blamed for not sufficiently attending to this express article of ecclesiastical appointment, and all provinces and particular Churches are required to keep an exact record of memorable events connected with the Protestant Religion, and to send them, by a careful hand," to the person who had been appointed to compile them into a volume. Nay, a particular pastor is nominated in every province, to whom the account of these remarkable providences was to be directed. Such care as this was at once a proper expression of gratitude to God for his distinguishing goodness to the Church, and also an important mean of preventing that misapprehension or misrepresentation to which Church history is too frequently exposed in the hands of the mere worldly historian. How much error, as to the early history of the Church of Scotland, might have been prevented or neutralised, had the Church more carefully collected and preserved the memorials of her most prominent events. But it was not about her own history alone that the Church of France discovered so much interest. She encouraged various theological works, and, among others, a History of the persecuted Albigensian and Waldensian Christians, by M. Perrin. He is entreated to finish his history of their true condition, and all having memoirs of the "doctrine, discipline, or persecution of these poor saints of Christ," are charged to transmit them with all diligence and care. Two years after, a draught of the history was laid before the synod, and warmly approved, and five of the brethren were appointed to assist. At the same time, the synod agreed to aid in bearing his great expenses in books, and in bringing out the first impression. This shews how warm was the interest which one Protestant Church, in those days, took in the welfare of another, and how anxious that of France was to vindicate the character of the unjustly aspersed. There were many similar cases of encouragement to authors. The thanks of the Synod of Ton neirs was given to the Rev. Andre Rivet for his learned works against the adversaries of the truth, and six hundred livres out of the common stock of all the Churches were awarded, "as a testimony of love and honour;" while M. Blondel, an eminent minister of the Church, "because his great excellency lieth in Church history and antiquity, he is earnestly desired to follow his genius, and to combat and confute the adversaries with that weapon." One thousand livres are. awarded him to buy books; and the synod promise to defray the charges of the first edition of his works. A Scotchman of the name of George Thomson, who was a minister of the French Church, received in the same way three hundred livres, to assist in printing a book in French on the Romish controversy. Mr Daniel Chamier, a still more eminent controversial writer, was requested to print three large volumes of his works at once, and two thousand livres were advanced by the Church as a compensation for his labour. So highly were his works valued, that the Synod of Vitrè entered into a bargain with the printer about their publication, and advanced eight thousand livres for that end, anxious that the book should be sold "unto the pastors of our Churches at a very moderate price, and reserving always twelve complete copies to be presented unto their revered and learned author, free of all costs and charges whatsoever." The character of those works shews how sound the Church was on the great doctrines of the Gospel, as opposed to the errors of Popery, and how desirous of spreading abroad the truth as it is in Christ. Chamier dying before his work was completed, several of the most eminent ministers were appointed, in 1645, to finish it at the public expense. Various other works were undertaken and encouraged in the same way; such as Drelincourt's, and the answers to Cardinal Baronius' Corruptions of History, and to Bellarmine, the great advocate of Rome. But we have time to refer only to one, that of the lord Du Plessis, on the Eucharist. The author was a most eminent layman, the governor of Saumur,-and the Church manifested the deepest interest in his work. It would seem that he had consulted the synod assembling at Gergeau, in 1601, about the publication; for they write," We advise him to send his book unto Geneva, because of the advantage of libraries; and letters shall be sent to our brethren, the pastors there, recommending to them the examination and the verifying of all the quotations in it." Two years after, we find, that the pastors and professors at Geneva gave their very honourable testimony, and the National Synod render their hearty thanks to his lordship for his great zeal and affection for the truth of God, and for his worthy labours in its defence. At the same time, they order it "to be printed out of hand, believing that the Lord will give his blessing to it." The Jesuits of Bordeaux were so incensed, that they petitioned the Parliament of that town publicly to condemn it to the flames; a request which it does not appear was complied with. Many and important were the services which Du Plessis rendered to the Protestant cause. 1590 he built a church for the Protestants of Saumur, and obtained a grant from the King (Henry IV.) for instituting a university there, which was afterwards carried into effect, He wrote an earnest remonstrance to the king on the change of his religion, entreating, at the same time, the continuance of his favour to the Protestants. He was instrumental in healing a controversy between Du Moulin and Tilenus of the university of Sedan upon the effect of the union of the natures in Christ: and he so intimidated Cardinal Du Perron, by his knowledge of the Romish controversy, that the Cardinal, though urged by the king, was unwilling to encounter him, pleading, as an apology, that he was "waiting for some manuscripts from Rome; an expression which the king came afterwards to apply In as a proverb to those who made idle excuses, saying, "I see you stay for manuscripts from Rome too.' The Protestant Church of France, however, did not only, by all wise means, encourage the publication of important works; she took steps for the collecting of books into libraries, and for informing her ministers and students with their contents. Among express articles of discipline in 1601, we find the following: "Richer Churches and great Lords are entreated to erect libraries for the benefit of their ministers and proposans," that is, candidates for the ministry. The same call is earnestly repeated six years later; and it is not only the Churches which are addressed; the Protestant universities are exhorted to do their utmost to obtain a public library, "and, in particular, the King of Spain's Bible in many languages, printed at Antwerp." This was in 1603, when books were scarce and expensive, and when ministers were poor. It is interesting to see that a Polyglot Bible was the book above all others which the poor persecuted Protestant Churches of France wished to stand conspicuous in their university library. It shewed at once their love of learning and of the Scriptures, and so was not an inapt type of their true character at that early period. manner. Though there were particular circumstances in the history both of France and Scotland, which demanded, on the part of their Churches, a special attention to the culture of knowledge and learning-though authors are not now so dependent on the recommendations, whether of individuals or corporate bodies, for their success, as they were of old-still there can be little question that a great deal might be done by the General Assembly and other Church courts, in aiding and encouraging well qualified men in the prosecution of particular studies, and in the defence of assailed truth, whether by public thanks, or rewards, or more substantial assistance; and now that the influence of the press is so predominant, the call to such measures is the more urgent. In the next paper, we shall direct the reader's attention to another important feature in the character of the Protestant Church of France, at the period of which we write. THE FAITH OF THE SYROPHENICIAN WOMAN: A DISCOURSE. BY THE LATE REV. ROBERT COUTTS, One of the Ministers of Brechin. It may not be unsuitable to inform our readers, that the fine spirit of knowledge, and the wise encouragement of theological learning, which marked the Protestant "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even Church of France, was shared by the Church of Scot- as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole land in her early days, and manifested in a similar from that very hour."-MATt. xv. 28. Travelling no farther back than the begin- ALL the miracles of Christ, besides being proofs ning of last century, we meet with perpetual recommendations of good books by the General Assembly. of his power, and affording evidence of his divine In 1708, a Mr Semple, the minister of Liberton, is en- mission, are calculated to excite in us feelings of couraged to write the History of the Church of Scot- love, and esteem, and admiration of the Redeemer, land, and all Presbyteries are enjoined to favour him and to improve us in wisdom, and diligence, and with materials and assistance. About the same period goodness, from the excellent moral lessons they a sum of money is voted to a minister engaged in convey. Of the many which he wrought, thera writing a Commentary on the Scriptures. The excellent works of Binning, a faithful minister of the Church, is not one more full of instruction than the mirawho died when a young man, were recommended by the culous cure of the young Syrophenician woman, Assembly of 1704, and sums of money were repeatedly who was grievously vexed with a devil. Our Lord, voted to his family, out of respect to the father. Wod- in the course of his ministry, passing along the row's History was not only recommended, but it ap- coasts of Tyre and Sidon, is accosted by an pears that, in 1742, L.30 were paid to the Rev. Mr Wod- anxious mother who had heard of his fame, and had row of Eastwood for manuscripts. Directions were given to obtain the manuscript writings of the eminent come to him on purpose to beseech him on behalf Samuel Rutherford on Esther and Isaiah; and a Mr of her daughter. The unhappy mother, in the Currie, minister of Kinglassie, was presented with L.60 earnestness of her importunity, entreats the favour for his able Vindication of the Church. The works of of his interposition as if for herself," Have Poole, at least his Annotations, Durham, Flavel, P. mercy on me." But neither her distress, nor the Gillespie on the Covenants, Spalding on the Sacra: acknowledgment of the dignity of his character, ment, Blackwell's Methodus Evangelica, &c., are all recommended. Nor was the recommendation confin- could draw from him a kind word or a favourable ed to books strictly theological. Other works, such look. Even the intercession of his disciples was as M'Colin's Dictionary, Sir Nicolas Trot on Oriental unavailing, and the homage of worship which she Learning, Maitland's History of Scotland, meet with paid, only called forth a forbidding reply. Notthe same encouragement. Nay, like the Protestant withstanding, convinced of his good-will, she perChurch of France, steps were taken for every Presby-sists in arguments, in entreaties, and in worship, tery enjoying the benefit of a library. This was strongly recommended in 1727; and it is well known that in the beginning of that century, not fewer than one bundred libraries were sent down from London, chiefly for the use of the Highlands and Islands. It is remarkable, how similar are the plans pursued by good men in different countries and periods in doing good, and that without any concert. It would seem, that the same evils suggest the same remedies; and doubtless all good men are under the guidance of one and the same good Spirit. Most of the facts to which I have referred, are passed over by civil or ecclesiastical historians, as too minute; but the real character of a Church may, like the real character of an individual, be better learned from the little minute proceedings of ordinary life, than from greater events, in which motives are generally much more mixed. until she not only gains her suit,—the recovery of her daughter, but his approbation of her importunity-his testimony to the truth and greatness of her faith. “Ó woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." You have here a striking example of the power and success of faith, in the conduct of the woman; you have an instance of faith remarkably great, put to a severe trial. Let us consider, then, the greatness or excellence of this woman's faith. I. The greatness of her faith is seen in the disadvantages under which she laboured. Faith, it may be observed, is the assent of the understanding to something testified, and hence, | in believing, there can be no merit, agreeably to what Paul says, (Rom. iv. 16,) that salvation "is of faith, that it might be by grace," and that "boasting is excluded; by what law, by the law of works? nay, but by the law of faith." This assent is founded on evidence, and is not derived from any predisposition to believe, any bias of the affection or choice of the will. And hence, also, no disadvantage of situation can render faith meritorious, or afford occasion to boast. The testimony, therefore, which Christ gave to the excellence of this woman's faith, and the peculiar blessing he pronounced, after the confession of Thomas, on those who have not seen and yet have believed, ought not to lead us to infer, that those Christians are most noble whose situation is most unfavourable, or that there is a merit in faith in proportion to the weakness or scantiness of the evidence on which it is founded. But though the disadvantages under which many have laboured do not attach any merit to their belief, they are strong proofs of its genuineness, and serve to exhibit its greatness in a clear point of view. As the darkness of the night does not communicate new brightness to the flash of lightning, but renders it more conspicuous to the eye; or as the rough billows of the sea do not give additional strength to the rock, but shew that by which for ages it has resisted their violence; so the unfavourable circumstances under which some have lived, who have been called to the belief of the Gospel, do not impart vigour to their faith, or merit to the act of their mind, but display the power of divine grace, and the truth and greatness of that belief which God hath granted them through the preaching of his Word. Having suggested this necessary caution, let us now attend to the greatness of the woman's faith, as exhibited by the unfavourable circumstances in her situation. This woman dwelt on the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and, as we are told by Mark, (vii. 26,) was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation. She dwelt among a people who were idolaters, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenant of promise; and we have no reason to believe but that she had been educated according to the manners of her country and relations, and had imbibed all the doctrines of a religion, which attaches to it the human mind, by the laxity of its precepts, the splendour of its ceremonies, and the indulgence it allows to the propensities of our nature. But the nature of the human mind, in reference to the power of habit and prejudices of education, seems to exhibit the greatness of this woman's faith, as much as the nature of heathenism itself. The impressions, whether good or bad, which we acquire at an early period, commonly continue through life. We receive them before we can judge for ourselves; we approve of and venerate them from our respect and love to our parents and teachers, who have been at pains to instil them; and, by degrees, they become fixed principles of reasoning and action, a part of our habits ana constitution. In this way do we receive the prejudices of education in general; but those that have a reference to religion strike deeper than others into the human mind, for these are connected with every feeling of our nature, and embrace both the present state which we enjoy, and the future which we hope and fear. But when these prejudices are not only in favour of religion, but of the religion of our fathers, and not of that of our fathers only, but (which embraces a wider circle) that of our kindred, and of our country, you may sooner tear the heart from the bosom than tear them from the mind, and nothing but the Spirit of God, operating through the Word, which cuts even to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow, and soul and spirit, can divest us of them, to turn us to that which is good and true. There is something so dear, so venerable in the names Parent, and Country, that we cannot allow ourselves to think that in so material a circumstance they can err. Can so many, and among these many wise men, be in a mistake? Can those whom I love and revere; can my parents, my. friends, my countrymen, have led me into a delusion? No. By these highly honoured virtues, filial reverence, friendship, gratitude, patriotism, it cannot be that I have been led astray. Such was the unfavourable situation of this Syrophenician. But she was a woman, and in her sex, and in the education of the female sex in the country in which she lived, we may trace other disadvantages. That gentleness and flexibility of nature, that benevolence of disposition, unsuspicious temper, and tenderness of heart which characterize the female sex, and peculiarly predispose them to the sentiments of friendship, affection to relatives, and filial reverence, render them exceedingly liable to prejudices of education, and especially to those which regard religion. This observation is less applicable in our happy country, where the system of female education is more improved, where access to information is not shut to woman, where she is allowed her place in conversation and discussion, and the parent is more anxious to inform the judgment than to enslave the heart. It was not so in the country of this Syrophenician. There, woman was degraded to be the slave, rather than caressed as the companion of man; the education of the female mind was systematically neglected; both the soul and body of the daughter were subjugated to the opinions and will of her father, and her whole faith was a mass of prejudices. Custom would, no doubt, in some measure, reconcile one-half of the human race to this bondage, and in this enslaved state the flexibility and tenderness of the female character, combined with an uninformed mind, would operate with peculiar force in rivetting the opinions instilled, the very absurdity of which would, in such a situation, strengthen attachment and bigotry. The very name of parent, husband, brother, friend, and countryman, would outweigh, in the judgment, the most solid arguments of a stranger. From such a state of mental bondage how glorious to see one rise to the knowledge, the belief, and confession of the truth! Though she had lain among the pots, yet she came forth like a dove whose wings are covered with silver, and feathers with yellow gold. The inviting nature of the heathen mythology, the prejudices of education and country, and the contractedness of mind produced by her situation were all overcome, -the fame of Christ reaching her, an enlargement of soul was given her to apply to him, and she came, saw, and believed. Her affection and respect for her friends and countrymen, yield to her faith in the Messiah, and she boldly avows him to be her only Lord and Saviour. She believed, therefore she spake. Truly great was this woman's faith, and great that power which delivered her mind from the thraldom of a superstition, sensual, devilish,-none other, surely, than that which was afterwards wrought in Christ when he was raised from the dead. II. The greatness of this woman's faith will appear from the severe trial which it stood. : Jesus, and how great her faith, when she could still persevere in her request, for we are told that she cried after him! The disciples are surprised at this behaviour of their Lord, so unlike his usual conduct, and they intercede in the woman's behalf. Concerned for his ease, they often discouraged the applications of supplicants: but moved with compassion, they now came and besought him, saying, "Send her away; for she crieth after us." Condescend to give her a favourable answer, and she will retain the memory of thy kindness, and give testimony to the honour of thy name when we shall have left these coasts; or, at least, give her some reply which will satisfy her, and silence her importunities. It is probable that this intercession of the disciples gave encouragement to the poor woman, and renewed her sinking hopes. And thus it is that God, in his providence, when we are struggling under trials hard to be borne, and are ready to faint, makes light to arise in the midst of darkness, and by some communication of It has been well observed, that whenever faith grace, or favourable circumstance, revives our is professed, God, in his providence, will take an drooping spirits, and gives new strength to our opportunity of trying it; and whenever it is true, faith. But this mediation of the disciples, far it will not only stand, but come forth strengthened from appearing to be effectual, drew from Christ and purified from the trial. This was the case with a reply even more forbidding than his former sithose eminent patterns of faith, enumerated by lence. It exceeds my commission to help her, as Paul in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews; and it you may know from what I said when I sent you was also the case with the Syrophenician woman. out to preach for "I am not sent but unto the Convinced of his tenderness and his power, she lost sheep of the house of Israel." This, it is cried unto Jesus, saying, "Have mercy on me, O probable, the woman heard; yet she still persistLord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievous-ed, she could not persuade herself that his kindly vexed with a devil." One would think that this petition, uttered in faith and with respect, would have been received, at least, with a kind look, as an apology full of tenderness and sympathy, if there were any impropriety in granting it. But he treated her with every appearance of coldness and neglect. His heart, doubtless, glowed with the warmest affection; yet he concealed his regard under seeming displeasure. She was a stranger, and who would be unkind to a stranger? He might use greater freedom with his brethren according to the flesh, the posterity of Jacob; but this was a Syrophenician by nation, and generosity required that she should be treated with attention. Even Moses remembered in his laws the condition of strangers: "Ye shall not," said he, "vex a stranger; for ye know the heart of a stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." She was a woman, and tenderness was peculiarly due to a woman. She was a mother, and a mother in distress, wounded in the affliction of her daughter. She made no ambitious request, as did the mother of Zebedee's children, who besought of our Lord for them preferment in his supposed temporal kingdom. She solicited only the recovery of her child. This desire was prompted by the laudable feelings of nature; and the open request was warranted, and her hope justified, by the acknowledged character of the man she solicited, whose business was to go about doing good. How severe the trial, when neither the circumstance of her being a stranger and a mother, nor her wellfounded expectation, could draw even a reply from ness was so contracted, or his nature so implacable, and she again came near and worshipped him, saying, "Lord, help me!" But her importunity only seemed to irritate him, and called forth, if not a flat denial, a most discouraging reply. “He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs." We are never more hurt than when we receive an injury or disappointment from a friend. "It was not an enemy that reproached me," said the Psalmist, "else I could have borne it, but thou, mine own acquaintance;" and next to ill treatment from an intimate friend is reproach from a character we esteem, and whom we have approached to solicit.. What more discouraging treatment could this poor woman have met with-treatment unexpected, and which, therefore, she was unprepared to meet? Was it not enough for Christ to be silent? and after this, was it not at most sufficient to say, that to cure her daughter exceeded his commission? Was it necessary thus to weigh her down with pain, to make "deep call unto deep" in a succession of griefs, to add refusal to the natural distress of her mind, and reproach to refusal? Was she possessed of gentleness and tender susceptibility of soul, it was enough to overwhelm her with despair; or did she possess irritability of temper, it was sufficient to kindle her pride to a flame, and provoke her indignant mind to the most raging abuse. But our Lord knew the strength of grace that was in her, for he was its author, and he proportioned the trial to her strength. Behold the great triumph! |