There is in your course, a cor

the beginning of His public life. responding moment it is the interval which separates the conclusion of your studies from the commencement of your ministry.* Be careful of this interval; it may decide your whole career. Consecrate it as a spiritual retreat; spend it in the company of Jesus wrestling in the desert; and when you enter the church, let men recognize in you the men who have just left the wilderness. The wilderness, and not the world! If you are full of the recollections of the world, if you have just breathed the impure atmosphere of its vanities and pleasures, you are not fit for the service of Jesus Christ. The wilderness, and not Nazareth! If you are governed by family affections; if, in selecting a field of labor, your first consideration is a father or a mother, a wife or child, you are not fit for the service of Jesus Christ. The wilderness, and not the school! If you are still covered with the dust of the academy; if your faith, your knowledge, is only that of books, you are not fit for the service of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has need of ministers separated from the world, unfettered by creature engagements, and nourished by the teachings of the Holy Spirit. Either be men of the wilderness, or not be men of the church! Amen.

* The reader is again reminded that these three discourses were preached particularly

to the theological students at Montauban.

DISCOURSE VII.

THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH.

Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying: Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord help me. But he answered and said: It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs. And she answered and said: Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her: O Woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.-MATTH, xv. 21-28.

THERE is a faith which makes man more mighty than God. But this assertion we would not dare to make, had not God himself authorized us, when he said to Jacob, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God, and with men, and hath prevailed." We find in our woman of Canaan an accomplished model of this faith; and if she was not an Israelite by birth, she was truly one by sentiment. For what do we see in our text, but a struggle between the Lord and her, from which she comes forth " more than conqueror?" Let us notice the successive phases of the combat; we shall learn therefrom in a few words, more of the power of faith than the most perfect treatise could impart.

We will begin by observing the position of this woman, and the conduct of the Lord towards her.

Doubtless the woman of Canaan believed in Jesus Christ pre

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vious to the scene narrated in our text. But how did she attain to such faith? It is well to inquire; for in her conversion may be remarked that strength of soul which triumphs over all obstacles, and such a commencement explains all that follows. She was a Gentile, as her name indicates; and had not acquired, with other Gentiles who had been converted to the Lord, such as Zaccheus, or the Centurion, the privilege of dwelling among the Jews. Thus, living at a distance from the Lord, from his disciples, and from all the privileges of Judea, she had become acquainted with the word of God only through the medium of Jewish prejudices, the fame occasioned by the Saviour's discourses, and the miracles which He had performed either for the benefit of His own people or for the good of strangers. By such insufficient means had she been led to faith; and to what faith, while a multitude of Jews were closing their eyes to the flood of light with which the "Word of God made flesh" was inundating them! So true it is that salvation depends less upon the position than the disposition. The Abrahams, the Rahabs, the Naamans believe, while the Caiaphases, the Judases, and the Demases harden themselves or turn aside. And we, my dear friends, are also of the number of those who have much light. Are we also among those who have much faith? Ah! if any of you complain of a want of resources, or of evidence sufficient for belief, it will not be a Peter or a Paul alone who will rise up at the last day to testify against you, but there will also appear this woman of Canaan. You cannot believe, because you will not; and that will be your condemnation.

The conduct of the Lord in the case of the woman of Canaan, is consistent with His manner of acting towards Gentiles in general, and with the particular motives for His mercy in this

instance.

Jesus had come to the Gentiles, in the sense that His doctrine and His reign were to extend to all the nations. But He had come solely to the Jews, in the sense that His personal ministry It was was to be exercised only within the limits of Judea.

reserved for His disciples to pass beyond these limits, and this they were to do only after He should have left the earth. Hence a double point of view, and, as it were, two distinct phases in the Lord's conduct towards the people; so distinct, indeed, as to appear inconsistent, if His special mission is not kept continually in view. Faithful to His special mission, Jesus confined His ministry to his own country, and commanded His disciples to do the same, as long as He was with them. "These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not." Meanwhile, from time to time, He bestowed, in passing, the gifts of His grace upon Gentiles who fell in his way, and whom faith united to the people of God; and thus He indicated what He would do at some future day, and corrected mildly the prejudices of His disciples, making them familiar, by degrees, with the doctrine, so incredible to them, the calling of the Gentiles: "And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."

But are these considerations sufficient to explain the attitude of the Lord in regard to the woman of Canaan? Did He not treat her with a severity, an apparent harshness which He exhibited neither towards the Centurion, nor towards Zaccheus, nor towards any of those who had recourse to Him? And does He not seem, in her case, to have divested Himself of that gentleness and of that inexhaustible patience which formed the basis of His character? Ah! observe more closely, observe especially what St. James calls "the end of the Lord," and you will judge otherwise. Jesus assumes this inflexible air only to make His mercy more striking; while at the same time the blessing which He accorded to the woman of Canaan, was the more precious, and salutary, as it was more painfully bought and longer expected. Let us not forget that He who speaks here, is not a man, but the Lord. He reads the heart, nay, He operates threin according to his good pleasure. Fear not that he will

tempt his poor servant beyond what can be borne; while he tries him, he strengthens him, and will, in the end, give him "an issue" worthy of his fidelity. Besides, He knows with whom he has to do, and He has different ways for souls differently disposed. To the feeble He makes advances, and accommodates Himself to their infirmities; the strong, it pleases Him to make to wait, to withdraw from, to provoke to holy combat, in order to exercise their courage, and, at the same time, to display before the eyes of men and angels the beautiful spectacle of their victory. Thus He strengthened the faith of the woman of Canaan, while he instructed His disciples so much the more, as he had, at first, appeared to adopt their prejudices. Doubt it not; it is for choice souls, for beloved children, that He reserves these extraordinary trials. "What coldness in His language !" you say; yes, but what love in His heart!

With this explanation, let us now see how the woman of Canaan struggles with the Lord, pursues Him, if we may be permitted to speak thus, from retreat to retreat, and finishes by obliging Him to say: "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt."

Jesus often sought retirement, and for different reasons. Sometimes it was for the sake of allowing His body repose; sometimes from reasons of prudence, when desirous of avoiding the hatred of His enemies; sometimes from humility, in order to escape the applause of the multitudes; sometimes from the pious wish to apply himself to secret prayer. But, at this time, His reason for retirement was a special one, and closely connected with our narrative He was approaching a country of the Gentiles, where His ministry must not be carried. Saint Mark represents Him as taking means to conceal himself: "And He entered into a house, and would have no man know it; but," adds the Evangelist, "He could not be hid ;" and why? Because the woman of Canaan would not permit Him.

This pious woman who ardently desired to see Jesus, this sorrowing mother, who expected her daughter to be healed only through the Lord's mercy, kept her ear continually open to