i Mark vii. 17.

and wicked teachers. By whatever plausible arguments men may be deluded into the belief that they may innocently sanction them by attending on their ministrations, our Lord's words fully decide the question.

Verse 15. Declare unto us this parable. -This is an instance in which the word parable is used to signify any figurative or enigmatical speech. The disciples had only a general conception of our Lord's meaning, and desired a further explanation; but our Lord's words, "Are ye also YET without understanding," convey a mild reproof, that, after so long an attendance upon his instructions, they had not at once thoroughly comprehended his meaning; also intimating perhaps, that they were not themselves sufficiently freed from that superstitious importance which the Jews in general attached to distinctions of meats.

Verse 19. For out of the heart.-Never was a stronger and more humbling picture drawn of the corruption of human nature. Of whatever evil we can conceive, of whatever evils manifest themselves, and spread desolation and misery through society, the human heart is the fountain. The seat is there; they all spring from that source; and on this is grounded the necessity of that renewal of the heart, that entire regeneration of the will, affections, and all other moral faculties of the soul, upon which our Lord insisted in opposition to the Pharisees, who placed holiness in external acts, and

j Gen. vi. 5; viii. 21.

left the vices of the heart unremedied. And it is here to be remarked, that "the heart" of which our Lord speaks is not the heart of any individual exclusively, nor of the Pharisees, nor of the Jews, but the HEART OF MAN; and so this is a most unequivocal declaration and proof of the fall of man's nature from that original state of "righteousness and true holiness," in which it was first created. It is similar indeed, both in its generality and import, to the testimony of Jeremiah on the same subject: "The heart is deceitful above. all things, and desperately wicked;

who can know it?" and to that of Solomon: "The heart of the sons of men is full of evil." This indeed could not be a new doctrine; the whole scheme of our redemption is built upon it: for if the first Adam had not been a fountain of sin and of death to his posterity, we had needed no second Adam to be a fountain of salvation and holiness.

Evil thoughts. This is feebly rendered by Doddridge, evil reasonings; and not happily by Campbell, malicious contrivances. Evil thoughts appear to comprehend both those wicked imaginings upon which corrupt minds love to dwell, and also evil desires and purposes, and secret mental oppositions of temper to persons and to truth, which, our Lord had already taught, subjected men to condemnation as effectually as the overt acts to which they usually lead. "Evil thoughts" is a more extensive term, and includes all that can be meant by either "evil reasonings," or

me.

earth, that he was even then training up apostles to "preach the gospel to every creature ;" and in a few instances, even during his stay on earth, he extended both temporal and spiritual mercies to individuals of different nations.

Verse 25. Then came she and worshipped him, &c.-Perhaps the foregoing reply to the disciples was made in the hearing of the woman, waiting with intense anxiety the result of their application in her behalf; but as she had not been discouraged by his apparently repulsive silence, neither was she driven to despair by those still more forcibly repelling words, I am not sent but to the house of Israel. Still, the pressure of her case, and her mighty faith, which yet persuaded her that the Son of David must have mercy upon her, urges her to a more direct attempt. She came and worshipped him, throwing her whole case upon his compassion in one burst of agonized feeling,-Lord help me.

Verse 26. But he answered and said, &c. -From the known character and compassionate conduct of Christ, as displayed in all former instances, the conclusion in every mind would be, "Now this pleading mother MUST prevail in behalf of her daughter; that daughter is afflicted with the most grievous calamity; that mother is distressed to agony, and lies imploring at his feet who never yet rejected a prayer, and her faith is equal to her earnestness." But a further trial awaited her; and the reply of our Lord rose even to seeming austerity, and Jewish moroseness-It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. "Dog 99 was the common term of contempt used of every Gentile, by the Jews; but our Lord

adopted it only to bring forth the pious perseverance of this affectionate mother into so strong a light as to shame those who should, hereafter at least, indiscriminately apply it. He only could safely apply so severe a proof to this good woman; for he well knew the strength of that resolution with which her faith had inspired her.

Verse 27. And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs, &c.—Her humility is such that she spurns not at the offensive title; she is too intent upon the case of her daughter for this she knew too well, that if not relieved by Christ, there was no hope in any other; and, instead of cavilling at the reply, she, with admirable readiness, prompted by the working of a heart intent upon its object, finds a reason for urging her request in the very terms of the refusal,

-"Let the full provisions of THE TABLE be reserved for the children; but at least let the CRUMBS of thy mercy be vouchsafed to me." Nat is sometimes a particle of beseeching, as Philemon, verse 20, vai, adeλpe, yea, brother, I beseech thee, brother, and answers to the Hebrew N. The rejoinder of this extraordinary woman may therefore be taken to import, “Still I beseech thee, Lord, to help me, for even the dogs eat of the crumbs," &c. Or, if vai be understood to mark assent, there is an ellipsis to be supplied, as, "Truth Lord; but nevertheless grant my request, yap, for, even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table." This sense is, however, well expressed by the yet in our translation.

Verse 28. O woman, great is thy faith. —For the manifestation of the power of faith in man, and to commend this great principle to all, the faith of this Canaan

m

n

m Mark vii. 31.

ite was put to so severe a test; but the moment that end was answered, the compassion of our Lord, which throughout the whole scene had been rising still higher, at once breaks forth in its fulness of grace and power. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt; and her daughter was made whole from that very hour; as she found upon her return to her house. It is here most instructive to mark the character of the faith which our Lord thus commends and rewards. It was not faith merely in his Messiahship, though that was the ground of its higher exercises; it was grounded upon the knowledge which the woman had attained of his character, as manifested in his acts of power and compassion; and on this it rested all through the trial to which it was subjected. To his ABILITY and his kindness the piercing eye of that faith looked through all the veils with which even our Lord himself had surrounded them: he was silent; he refused the intercession of his disciples; he answered in the contemptuous language of the Jews to her own imploring supplication; yet still she received no DIRECT denial. The language was contemptuous, but to faith it seemed not to sound like his own; and still she resolutely clung to the full persuasion that he was "full of grace and truth." Such 13 true faith in its highest exercises in all. It looks through every thing simply to the LOVE, PITY, and POWER of the

n Isaiah xxxv. 5.

Saviour; and presses its plea until it triumphantly carries off the blessing.

Verse 30. The maimed.-Not deprived of one or more limbs, but the use of them by distortion or paralysis. The maimed are by some distinguished from the lame, by referring the infirmity of the former to the arms, and that of the latter to the feet; by others the "maimed,” Kuλλous, are supposed to have suffered distortion of the limbs; and "the lame," xwλous, to have been rendered so by accident rather than disease.

Verse 31. They glorified the God of Israel —The place where these astonishing miracles were wrought was near the sea of Galilee; yet, in a desert place into which the multitudes had followed him : and if we consider the number and nature of the miracles suddenly effected upon all who came or were brought to Christ; the joy which the afflicted persons themselves must have manifested at their instant and perfect relief from the most melancholy infirmities, as blindness and dumbness, and from the most painful sicknesses and infirmities; the absence of the Pharisees, whose captious and detracting remarks did not here interpose to prevent the full flow of those grateful feelings which the people at large had so often manifested,— we cannot wonder that the deserts of Galilee were made to resound with the high praises of the God of Israel. To this multitude, so well disposed, and many of whom