not by the need of the suppliant, but by reference to their own convenience and dread of trouble. "Send her away," they say, "for she crieth after us," just as we are tempted to give a coin to the beggar to get rid of him.

But the Master never seeks the easy or more comfortable way for His own convenience. He knows that it is for her good and the good of others that her faith should be tested, and through apparent harshness and indifference He is really leading her to a more full and complete declaration of trust in Him.

When she perseveres in her request and worships Him with the words, "Lord, help me," He says, "It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs." The words are apparently very harsh. Our Lord has just said that His mission was particularly to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the covenant people of God; and He reminds her that she did not belong to the chosen race.

But her faith is strong. Where many would have gone away offended, she is humble and accepts the truth. There was and is a difference between those in special covenant with God, and those who have not received the blessings and advantages of the covenant. But out of the Lord's own words she draws hope. The very dogs do, in a way, belong to the Master's family. They are not children. They have no right to expect the children's portion. But they have something. They pick up the crumbs under the table; the master throws them portions of meat and bread. Christ said, "It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs." She assented. Yes, Lord, I know that the Israelites are children, and that we Gentiles are in a

far inferior position, even like the dogs about the table. I do not ask that you should take that which belongs to the children and give it to us. But you have enough for all. It is fitting that you should grant my request, for even the dogs are connected with the household, and get something from their master's table. I believe that you, the Master, have so much to give that even though I do not get the child's portion, though my share be only that of a dog, it will be enough to bring healing and relief to my daughter and myself.

Here, surely, was an example of remarkable faith. She does not complain with the laborers in the vineyard, or with the elder brother of the prodigal, that more has been done for others than for her. She recognizes the right of the potter to do what he will with the clay in his hands, to make one vessel, for a noble, and another for an ignoble use. She does not try to search out the ways of God, and tell how the world could have been made better than it is; but accepting her own position with all its limitations, acknowledging that there were others higher and more worthy than herself, she yet asked for God's kindness and love, and believed that even a small share of His mercy would be more than enough to supply all her needs.

And she is not disappointed. Our Lord had seemed unkind and slow to grant her request, but it was because He knew her need better than the disciples, and by delay would increase the blessings; "O woman," He said to her, "great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." As in the case of the nobleman's son and the centurion's servant, it was enough that He should

speak the word and the cure could be effected at a distance.

We see, too, in these cases the power of intercessory prayer. There are many cases in which we seem able .to do but little for our fellow men. Their own unwillingness to come to Christ in His Church and Sacraments, their weakness and feebleness through sin, their possession by the demons of worldliness and indifference, may seem to put them beyond our reach. But we can always come to Christ, like the Syro-Phoenician woman, to pray for them, and even though He seems at first not to hear, we may be sure that He will in, the end listen to those who come to Him by faith,, and grant their requests for those who cannot help themselves.

If she, a heathen outcast, not one of the covenant; people of God, could obtain such answer to her request,. how earnestly ought those to pray who can plead the new covenant of the blood of Christ, who in baptism have been made members of His Body, the Church, and in. the Holy Communion are strengthened and nourished: by their vital union with Him.

She pleaded, Lord, help me, even though it be as one of the dogs beneath the table. Those who in Baptism have been made members of Christ, children of God by adoption, born again into the kingdom, may now plead for the children's portion, and be sure of an answer from Him who said: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

The earlier part of Lent brings before us particularly the thought of penitence and humiliation for our own. sins, of humble confession to God, and earnest prayer

for pardon. In the Collect for to-day we pray in our weakness for defence from "adversities which may happen to the body, and from evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul;" and the Epistle brings to our mind the same need. But the Church would teach . us not to think of ourselves alone. The poor woman of Canaan acknowledged her own unworthiness, but did not forget to bring before God the needs of her afflicted daughter. "No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself;" and if we realize how closely we are thus connected in the family of God, we shall of necessity join our intercessions with our own private confessions and prayers, as we try to draw nearer to God.

And God is never too busy or too much occupied to hear even the humblest of His creatures. Men will sometimes despise those who are in lowly circumstances. The twelve were disturbed because the poor woman followed after them, and interfered with the desired retirement of their Master. But, as He then had thought and care for all, and by apparent severity brought out more plainly the reality and greatness of her faith, so now there is no one too weak or too humble to reach His ear; and where there is apparent delay in answering the request, it may be that in the end the strengthening of faith may lead to still greater blessings.

Having in His love put into our own control the power of prayer, and the will to use it, He does not interfere and compel us to come to Him against our will; but even when apparently indifferent, He is ready and anxious to help us, and rejoices to have us so act that He can say to us as to the Syro-Phoenician Woman, "Great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt."

THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT.

TEXT: "He was casting out a devil, and it was dumb."St. Luke xI. 14.

By the REV. C. B. BERGIN WRIGHT, M. A., B. D.,
Assistant at All Saints' Cathedral, Milwaukee.

EW afflicted persons appeal more strongly to our sympathy, or more surely win our pity, than the dumb. Who is not deeply affected to see a fellow-being doomed to silence,-silence that can never be broken? Whatever be the depth or the constancy of his longing desires to talk or pray aloud, or sing, he cannot gratify them. Whatever be his thoughts, or reflections, or ideas, he cannot give them utterance. Whatever be the questions he would ask or the inquiries he would make, he cannot express them. He has indeed the organ of speech, but is powerless to use it.

Hopeless, indeed, seems to be the case of the dumb, and yet, in to-day's Gospel, we read of a Physician who could give the dumb man speech. The Great Physician, the blessed Jesus, could, and did, do so. He cast out. the cause of the disorder, the evil spirit, the dumb devil, and straightway the man was healed and spake. All things are possible with Him; all things obey His Will, whether they be material or spiritual, visible or invisible, yea, even devils are subject to the merest intimations of that divine Will; the dumb spirit was cast out, and like another of his tribe, he could also say,-"I know Thee who Thou art, the holy one of God."