blasphemies; those which S. Mark has added are not so many more sinful actions, but they belong to a different kind of sin. CHAP. VII. 14-31. XV. 21-29. 24. And from thence He arose, and went into the s. Matt. borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but He could not be hid. 25. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell at His feet: 26. The woman was was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28. And she answered and said unto Him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 29. And He said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed. 31. And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, He came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. The manner of dealbrought before Him miracle. This miracle, according to S. Mark's report of it, Eleventh exhibits very strikingly the two sides of our Saviour's being, the human and the divine. ing with the case of possession demonstrates the Lord's divine power, as do all other of His miracles; indeed, if preeminence be possible, this is a preeminent instance of that power; it realizes the centurion's conception, which Christ so much commended, Say in a word and my servant shall be healed; the healing words are merely these, Go thy way, the devil is gone out of thy daughter. Nothing could better illus VII. 24-31. CHAP. trate the Lord's power, or His own declaration that He had seen Satan like lightning fall from Heaven. But then, on the other hand, we gather from S. Mark's account that our Saviour was led to perform this great miracle in the most human manner possible, if I may so venture to express myself. He went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon apparently to rest from His ministry: He entered into an house and would have no man know it He desired retirement; He seems to have needed rest, and therefore He betook Himself secretly to a part of the country lying beyond the usual round of His journeys: but though He entered into an house, and wished no one to know it, He could not be hid. And so the Lord was, as it were, forced out of His retirement, and compelled by the importunity of a heathen woman to perform a notable miracle. It may be said that He foresaw the miracle from the first: doubtless He did so: but the task of reconciling such foreknowledge with His desire to be hid is one beyond our powers, and involving the very mystery of our Lord's compound being: we must be content to leave such questions unsolved, and must not diminish the force of expressions which declare the human nature of Christ. The thirtieth verse may be noted as very characteristic of S. Mark's style. He tells us not only that the girl was healed, but that the mother found her laid upon the bed. And this instance of exactness is more especially to be observed, because it shews us that the minuteness of description which characterizes this Gospel is not wholly due to the fact of the narrative having come from an eyewitness; in this case there is no probability that either S. Peter or S. Mark witnessed that which the Gospel records; no, minuteness of detail belongs to the style of this Evangelist; and it is useful to observe this, because it shews that the inspired writers did not cease to guide human pens when they wrote under the influence of the Holy Ghost. CHAP. VII. 24-37. miracle. S. Mark. 32. And they bring unto Him one that was deaf, Twelfth and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech Peculiar to Him to put His hand upon him. 33. And they took Him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers into his ears, and He spit, and touched his tougue; 34. And looking up to heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 35. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 36. And He charged them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; 37. And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. This is one of the two miracles for the report of which we are wholly indebted to this Gospel. It is related with great particularity, and S. Mark gives us (as in some other cases) the very word which Jesus spake when He performed the miracle. In taking that general view of the miracle, which befits the character of this commentary, two points present themselves as chiefly worthy of attention. private. In the first place, Jesus took the man aside from the The miracle crowd, and afterwards charged him to tell no man of his cure; the act of mercy was therefore what may be called a private one, and all the circumstances of it acquire a peculiar interest from the fact of their having been intended, not as lessons for the public, but as parts of CHAP. VII. 32-37. The Lord's sigh. a work of mercy in which the suffering man alone was concerned. This consideration leads me to lay stress upon the fact that the Lord did not merely say Ephphatha, but also put His fingers into the man's ears and spit and touched his tongue: why did He do this? For the spiritual benefit, I apprehend, of the man himself and his friends. He shewed thereby that mere touch would not do the work required. Christ put His fingers into the man's ears, and they still remained deaf; He spit and touched his tongue, but the impediment of speech remained. It was only when the divine will was exerted, and the creative word put forth, that the ears were opened, and the string of the tongue loosed, and the powers of speech restored. The other point of especial interest is the Lord's sigh. Looking up to Heaven, He sighed. This sigh has been made the subject of an exquisite poem in the Christian Year, and I apprehend that the solution of 1 Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. O'erwhelming thoughts of pain and grief Over His sinking spirit sweep ;- Out of yon sere and withered heap, Or tossing in th' autumnal blast?" The deaf may hear the Saviour's voice, Not even in healing cloudless shine. VII. 32-37. the question there given is not less poetical than true. CHAP. The performance of a miracle of healing might well bring to the mind of the Saviour the thought of the enormous amount of sickness, both bodily and spiritual, unhealed, and in consequence of human perversity to a great extent unhealable. The explanation is simple; our own poor limited experience of doing good seems to testify of the possibility of sadness of heart arising from such a cause. The only difficulty, if difficulty it be, is to say why Christ did not always sigh when He performed a work of mercy: perhaps He did: certainly He sighed, and more than sighed, at the grave of Lazarus. CHAPTER VIII. CHAP. I-9. 1. In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples S. Matt. unto Him, and saith unto them, 2. I have compassion xv. 32—39. on the multitude, because they have now been with Me three days, and have nothing to eat: 3. And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. 4. And His disciples answered Him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? 5. And He asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. 6. And He commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and He took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave |