not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel'? Clearly it must be in his own personal ministry.' That ministry, for wise purposes in the counsels of God, should be confined to his own nation; and every departure from this, the prevailing rule of his whole earthly activity, was, and was clearly marked as, an exception. Here and there, indeed, there were preludes of the larger mercy which was in store," first drops of that gracious shower which should one day water the whole earth. Before, however, the Gentiles should glorify God for his mercy, He must first be a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers' (Rom. xv. 8, 9). It was only as it were by a rebound from them that the grace was to light upon the heathen world; while yet that issue, which seemed thus accidental, was laid deep in the deepest counsels of God (Acts xiii. 44-49; Rom. xi.). In Christ's reply, as St. Mark gives it, 'Let the children first be filled,' the refusal does not appear so absolute and final, and a glimpse is youchsafed of the manner in which the blessing might yet pass on to others, when as many of these, 'the children,' as were willing, should have accepted it. But there, too, the present repulse is absolute. The time is not yet; others intermeddle not with the meal, till the children have had enough.

The woman hears the repulse which the disciples who had ventured to plead for her receive; but is not daunted or disheartened thereby. Hitherto she had been crying after the Lord, and at a distance; but now, instead of being put still farther from Him, 'came she and worshipped Him,

1 Augustine (Serm. lxxvii. 2): Hic verborum istorum oritur quæstio: Unde nos ad ovile Christi de gentibus venimus, si non est missus nisi ad oves quæ perierunt domûs Israel? Quid sibi vult hujus secreti tam alta dispensatio, ut cum Dominus sciret quare veniret, utique ut Ecclesiam haberet in omnibus gentibus, non se missum dixerit, nisi ad oves quæ perierunt domûs Israel? Intelligimus ergo præsentiam corporis sui, nativitatem suam, exhibitionem miraculorum, virtutemque resurrectionis in illo populo eum ostendere debuisse. Jerome (Comm, in Matt. in loc.): Perfectam salutem gentium passionis et resurrectionis tempori reservabat. 2 Calvin: Præludia quædam dare voluit communis misericordiæ.

saying, Lord, help me.' On this He breaks the silence which. hitherto He has maintained towards her; but it is with an answer more discomfortable than was even the silence itself: 'He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.' The children' are, of course, the Jews, the children of the kingdom' (cf. Matt. viii. 12). He who spoke so sharply to them, speaks thus honourably of them; nor is there any contradiction in this: for here He is speaking of the position which God has given them in his kingdom; there, of the manner in which they have realized that position. On the other hand, extreme contempt was involved in the title of dog' given to any one, the nobler characteristics of this animal, although by no means unknown to antiquity, being never brought out in Scripture (see Deut. xxiii. 18; Job xxx. 1; 1 Sam. xvii. 43; xxiv. 14; 2 Sam. iii. 8; ix. 8; xvi. 9; 2 Kin. viii. 13; Matt. vii. 6; Phil. iii. 2; Rev. xxii. 15).

2

There are very few for whom this would not have been enough; few who, even if they had persevered thus far, would not now at length have turned away in anger or despair. Not so, however, this heathen woman; she, like the centurion, and under circumstances more trying, is mighty in faith; and from the very word which seems to make most against her, draws with the ready wit of faith an argument in

1 Maldonatus: Habent canes panem suum minus delicatum, quam filii; res naturales, Sol, Luna, pluvia, et cetera idem genus canum, id est Gentilium, panis sunt; quæ providentiâ quidem Dei, sed generali minusque accuratâ dispensantur, et omnibus in commune, sicut porcis glandes, projiciuntur: Evangelica gratia, quæ supra naturam est, panis est filiorum non projiciendus temere, sed majore consilio rationeque distribuendus.

2 Many, as Maldonatus, find a further aggravation of the contempt in the Kuvapios (catellis, Vulg.), not even dogs, but whelps. I should rather say with Olshausen that in the diminutive lies a slight mitigation of the exceeding sharpness of the words. Calvin brings out well the force of the Baleiv: Projiciendi verbo utitur significando non bene locari, quod Ecclesiæ Dei ablatum profanis hominibus vulgatur. Clarius exprimitur consilium Christi apud Marcum vii. 27, ubi habetur, Sine prius saturari filios. Nam Cananæam admonet præpostere facere, que velut in mediâ cœnâ in mensam involat.

her own behalf. She entangles the Lord, Himself most willing to be so entangled, in his own speech; she takes the sword out of his own hand, with which to overcome Him:1 'Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.' Upon these words Luther, who has dwelt on all the circumstances of this little history with a peculiar love, and is never weary of extolling the mighty faith of this woman, exclaims, Was not that a master-stroke? she snares Christ in his own words.' And oftentimes he sets this Canaanitish woman before troubled and fainting hearts, that they may learn from her how to wring a Yea from God's Nay; or, rather, learn how to hear the deephidden Yea, which many times lurks under his seeming Nay. 'Like her, thou must give God right in all He says against thee, and yet must not stand off from praying, till thou overcomest as she overcame, till thou hast turned the very charges made against thee into arguments and proofs of thy need, till thou too hast taken Christ in his own words.'

The rendering of her answer in our Translation is not, however, altogether satisfactory. For, indeed, she accepts the Lord's declaration, not immediately to make exception against the conclusion which He draws from it, but to show how in that very declaration is involved the granting of her petition. Saidest Thou dogs? it is well; I accept the title and

2 6

1 Corn. a Lapide: Christum suis verbis irretit, comprehendit, et capit. Rationem contra se factam in ipsum leniter retorquet.

2 There is nothing adversative in kai yap etenim (see Passow), to justify the yet' of our Version, or the 'nevertheless' of Tyndale's. Wiclif, Cranmer, and the Rhemish Version have the right translation; so too the Geneva: 'Truth, Lord, for indeed the whelps eat of the crumbs;' as the Vulgate: Etiam, Domine, nam et catelli edunt. So De Wette: Ja, Herr! denn es essen' ja die Hunde. Maldonatus, always acute, and with merits as an interpreter, which, setting apart his bitter polemical spirit, deserve the highest recognition, has exactly caught the meaning here: Hoc est quod volo, me esse canem, nam et catelli comedunt de micis quæ cadunt de mensâ dominorum suorum.-The 'crumbs' are more than the accidental offal from the table: it was common at meals to use, instead of a napkin, the softer parts of the bread (apayĉadia), which were afterwards thrown to the dogs; Eustathius: Eiç ö rác xepas ἀποματτόμενοι, εἶτα κυσὶν ἔβαλλον (see Becker, Charicles, vol. i. p. 431).

the place; for the dogs have a portion of the meal,-not the first, not the children's portion, but a portion still,-the crumbs which fall from the masters' table. In this very putting of the case, Thou bringest us heathen, Thou bringest me, within the circle of the blessings which God, the great householder, is ever dispensing to his family. We also belong to his household, though we occupy but the lowest place therein. According to thine own showing, I am not,wholly an alien, and therefore I will abide by this name, and will claim all which in it is included.' By the 'masters' she does not intend the Jews, which is the mistake of Chrysostom and many more; for thus the whole image would be deranged and disturbed-they are the children'—but the great Heavenly householder Himself. She uses the plural, masters,' to correspond with the plural, 'dogs,' which Christ had used just before; compare 'sons' to correspond with 'kings' at Matt. xvii. 26; while yet it is the one Son only, the Only-begotten of the Father, who is intended there. He who fills all things living with plenteousness spreads a table for all flesh; and all that depend on Him are satisfied from it, each in his own order and place, the children at the table, and the dogs beneath it. There lies in her statement something like the

1 Thauler, on these words (Homil. p. 162): Felices nimium vereque beatos, qui hoc pacto ad ipsissimum veritatis fundum, pertingere possent, ita ut nec Dominus Deus nec creaturæ omnes tantum eos dejicere, vilipendere, et deprimere possent, quam ipsi in veritate sese multo amplius intra se absque fictione dejicerent, vilipenderent, deprimerentque; nec tantum eis vel Deus vel creaturæ denegare, aut adeo eos repellere et dejicere valerent, quin semper stabiles perseverarent, plenâque cum fiduciâ magis ac magis Deo propinquare niterentur; et studium denique atque conatum suum non solum non remitterent, sed intenderent etiam et augerent, instar feminæ hujus, cui quamvis dure Dominus loqueretur, ipsa tamen minime cessit, nec quidquam fiduciæ illius deposuit, quam erga divinam gerebat gratiam; ideoque tandem quod voluit adepta est, et quicquid postulârat a Domino plenissime obtinuit.

So Ludolphus (Vita Jesu Christi, pars 1a, c. 89): Vide mulieris patientiam et humilitatem. Deus enim vocat Judæos filios, et illa dominos; nec doluit de inimicorum laudibus, nec de suo molestata est convitio.

3 Maldonatus: Loquitur pluraliter propter canes, quorum suum quisque dominum habet.

Prodigal's petition, 'Make me as one of thy hired servants, -a recognition of diverse relations, some closer, some more distant, in which divers persons stand to God,-yet all blest, who, whether in a nearer or remoter station, receive their meat from Him.

She has conquered at last. She, who before heard only those words of a seeming contempt, now hears words of a most gracious commendation, -words whose like are addressed but to one other in all the Gospel history: 'O woman, great is thy faith!' He who showed at first as though He would have denied her the smallest boon, now opens to her the full treasure-house of his grace, and bids her to help herself, to carry away what she will: Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.' He had shown to her for a while, as Joseph showed to his brethren, the aspect of severity; but, like Joseph, He could not maintain it long;-or rather He would not maintain it an instant longer than was needful, and after that word of hers, that mighty word of an undaunted faith, it was needful no more: For this saying go thy way; devil is gone out of thy daughter.'

the

Like the centurion at Capernaum (Matt. viii. 13), like the nobleman at Cana (John iv. 53), she made proof that his word was as potent, spoken far off as near. She offered in her faith a channel of communication between her distant child and Christ. With one hand of that faith she laid hold on Him in whom all healing grace was stored, with the other on her suffering daughter, herself a living conductor by

1 Luther (Enarr. in Gen. xxxii. 27): Fuit profecto pulcherrima et præclara fides, et insigne exemplum quod monstrat rationem et artificium luctandi cum Deo. Non enim ad primum ictum abjicere statim animum et omnem spem debemus, sed instandum, orandum, quærendum, pulsandum est. Et ut maxime fugam meditetur, tamen tu ne cessa, sed sectare sedulo perinde ut mulier Cananæa faciebat, quam non poterat latere Christus, sed intravit, inquit Marcus (vii. 25), in domum, et procidit ad pedes ejus. Si enim in domo se abdit in cubiculum, nec vult cuiquam patefieri aditum, ne recedas tamen, sed sequere. Si non vult audire, pulsa fores cubiculi, obstrepe. Id enim est summum sacrificium, non cessare orando et quærendo, donec vincamus ipsum.