3. The request, fhe makes to him, with the ground thereof; Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou fon of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. This was a common cafe in our Saviour's time for as Chrift came to destroy the works of the devil, the malicious spirit raged fo much the more, and was permitted to do fo, to advance the glory of the Redeemer in conquering and cafting him out. The daughter was grievously vexed, in which affliction the tender parent deeply fhared; and therefore in the language of love, fpake of her child's diftrefs as her own, Lord have mercy upon me. It touches and moves the bowels of gracious parents to see the mifery their children fall under, or are haftening to; and this makes them the more earneft with Chrift in prayer for them, as, it may be, they are not fenfible of their own cafe, or cannot, or will not pray for themselves. They that defire their childrens falvation as their own, will, and ought to go to Chrift as the great phyfician, and pour out their fouls before him. My child is fore vexed with a devil; is led captive by him at his will, thrown fometimes into the fire, and fometimes into the water; hurried from one fin to another, and hafting apace to hell. O how it wounds my foul to think of the danger the is in! Lord, have mercy upon me, and help me by healing her.

Having thus feen the fupplicant, and the occafion and errand of her coming to Christ: in the following verfes we have an account how her faith was tried by Chrift's carriage towards her, how it may be discovered in her waiting on him,

and

and in the iffue, how it was commended and rewarded. And thefe fhall be the heads to which I shall reduce what I defign from this memorable paffage.

1. The trials and difficulties this fupplicant's faith

met with.

II. How it was difcovered in its trials, and worketh through all.

III. The happy iffue of this, how gloriously it was rewarded; which will lead to the ufe we ought to make of it.

I. The trials and difficulties this fupplicant's faith here met with.

These are several :

1. Though the cries, Chrift is wholly filent, ver. 23. He answered her not a word.

The evangelift Mark tells us, Chap. vii. 24. that being come into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, he entered into an houfe: and hither fhe comes to him, and falls at his feet, with this humble cry, Have mercy on me, O Lord. But he takes no notice of her, answers her not a word. How great a trial is this, to speak to the only Saviour, and have no return. To cry to a merciful Saviour, and meet with no more regard than if he did not hear! In the deepest distress to have none else to go to, and yet to have no relief or anfwer from him who alone was able to help, and of whofe compaffions and grace she had

heard fo much.

From Chrift's carriage here compared with the iffue, it is plain, believers may have their prayers heard and accepted, and a gracious anfwer de

figned them, when yet by the filence of heaven, they may be for a time kept in fufpence.

This has often been the manner of God's dealing with his people, as we may learn from their complaints, and confeffions how hardly they could bear up under their cafes.

The church speaks of it as the bitterest ingredient in her cup, the greatest aggravation of her affliction, that no answer was given to the loudeft cries fhe could fend to heaven, Lam. iii. 8. Alfo when I cry and fhout, be fhutteth out my prayer. And afterwards the complains that he barred the way of access to him, and thereby deprived of her moft fenfible fupport in diftrefs, Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through, ver. 44. And with how mournful an air doth the spouse speak of her disappointment when seeking her Beloved, Cant. v. 6. I fought him, but I could not find him: I called him, but he gave me no anfier. Pfalm xxii. 2. O my God, faith the Pfalmift, I cry in the day time, but thou heareft not; and in the night feajon, and am not filent. But God was ftill fo: and this continued fo long, that he declares, Pfalm lxix. 3. I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. And in this diftreffed cafe how earnestly doth he plead, Pjalm lxxvii. 7, 8, 9. Will the Lord caft off for ever? Will he be favourable no more? Is his merclean gone for ever? Doth his promife fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious?

cy

This is not a new, though a difficult cafe to a believer, confidering the encouraging character under which God is made known to his people,

viz. as a God that heareth prayer, to whom all flesh should come, Pfalm lxv. 2. Confidering he has a perfect knowledge of what his people fuffer confidering his great affection for them, the compaffion of his nature, the power of his arm, or his ability to help them, and the many kind intimations he has given to expect it, Pfalm , 1. 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Ifaiah lxv. 24. It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will anfwer, and while they are yet speaking, I will bear. After all this, how hard is the believer put to it, whofe cries are entertained with filence, as if only poured into the air, to reconcile his treatment with God's goodness, &c. and to keep up faith in him? But, that faith is not unprovided of arguments to folve the difficulty, and carry the foul through it, we may fhew afterwards.

Yet in the mean time the trial is fore, and was the cafe of the woman in the text. How humbly and earnestly doth the plead! She threw herself on the ground, and from the duft cried for help. Her cafe was most deplorable, Lord, my daughter is fore vexed with a devil: O let her be delivered from the tyranny of that foul malicious fpirit, and no longer be fubject to his power and rage. None befides him could do it, and to him it was the eafieft thing in the world. She did not claim, but beg; begged it as an inftance of mercy, and what he would efteem and acknowledge a mercy to herself, if she could be heard for this relief for her child.

Chrift faw, and was witness to all her inward grief, the commotions of her foul, the troubling

I

of

:

of her bowels, as well as heard her cry but for all this, anfwered her not a word.

This was the first trial, but not the only one; a greater follows.

2. Upon the inftances of the difciples concerning her, Chrift feems to intimate, that he had nothing to do with her. It is faid, His difciples came and befought him, faying, Send her away, for fhe crieth after us. But he answered and faid, I am not fent, but to the loft sheep of the houfe of Ifrael.

and that

I cannot think as fome, that the disciples fpake this only out of impatience of her cry, they would have their Lord fend her away any how, so they might be rid of her importunity.

Indeed their manner of fpeaking feems to intimate too little commiferation of her cafe, and that they spake for themselves and their own quiet, rather than for her relief; this being the argument they used for fending her away, even her crying after them. But however, But however, taking these words in the kindest sense, as the best plea they could make for her, Send her away, for fhe crieth after us. They might mean by them; This is not a flight affliction she is under, nor is she cold in begging relief: her fupplication is earnest and vehement, anfwerable to her preffing diftrefs: O let her speedily obtain the mercy for which the loudly cries, and has fo much reafon to do fo.

Admitting this, how much difcouragement is there in the answer Chrift gives? How intirely does it seem to dash and cut off all hope, and leave her despairing? If his filence was discou