that meats being of a corporeal nature cannot defile the mind, or make a man a sinner in the sight of God, unless when used immoderately, or in opposition to the commandment of God; in which case the pollution arises from the man, and not from the meat. Mark vii. 17. And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples (Matth. Peter) asked him concerning the parable (Matth. Declare unto us this parable.) 18. And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive (Matth. under stand) that whatsoever thing from without entereth (Matth. in at the mouth) into the man, it cannot defile him? Are ye so stupid as not to see, that what a man eats or drinks cannot defile him in the sight of God:-19. Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, (es zov aQrdęwva) purging all meats: being of a corporeal nature, it cannot enter into the mind, and consequently cannot pollute the soul. Whereas that which proceedeth out of a man's mouth, coming from his heart, really pollutes his mind. 20. And he said, that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man, (Matth. But those things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.) 21. For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adul teries, fornications, murders, 22. Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, * foolishness. 23. All these evil things + come from within, and defile the man. Matth. xv. 20. These are the things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashen hands, defileth not a man. Thus our Lord defended his disciples by a beautiful chain of reasoning, wherein he has shewed the true nature of actions, and loaded with perpetual infamy the Jewish teachers and their brood, who in every age and country may be known by features exactly resembling their parents, the main strokes of which are, that by their Ver. 22, Foolishness.] AQgorurn, foolish ungovernable passion, in opposition to owocum, as the critics observe. It is remarkable, that three of the crimes here mentioned, as pollutions of the mind, viz. murder, false witness, and blasphemy, were on this very occasion committed by the persons who charged our Lord with impiety, because he neglected such ceremonial precepts of religion as were of human invention. For whilst they feigned the highest reverence for the divine law, they were making void its most essential precepts. At the very time that they condemned the disciples for so small an offence as eating with unwashed hands, contrary only to the traditions of the elders, the Scribes and Pharisees were murdering Jesus by their calumnies and false witnessings, notwithstanding it was the only study of his life to do them all the good possible. +Ver. 23. Come from within.] Matthew, ver. 18. represents these evil things as proceeding out of the mouth, not so much by way of contrast to meats which enter by the mouth into a man, as because some of them are committed with the faculty of speech, such as false witness and blasphemy; and others of them are helped forward by its assistance, namely, adultery, deceit, &c. their frivolous superstitions they weaken, and sometimes destroy the eternal and immutable rules of righteousness. LXV. Jesus in the country of Tyre and Sidon cures a Canaanitish woman's 's daughter, who was vexed with a devil. Matth. xv. 21, 28. Mark vii. 24,-30. It may easily be believed, that the Pharisees were highly of fended at the liberty which Jesus took in the preceding discourse, for he had plucked off from them the mask wherewith they co vered their ugliness, and rendered themselves so venerable in the eyes of the vulgar. Accordingly, their plots being levelled against his reputation and life, he judged it proper to retire with his disciples into the remote region, which lay between the cities of Tyre and Sidon *, proposing to conceal himself a while. Mark Sidon was a very ancient city, having been built by Sidon the eldest son of Chanaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah. The patriarch Jacobe mentions it, Gen. xlix. 13. In the days of Joshua, it was a large city, for chap, xix. 28. it is called Great Zidon. Its inhabitants were the first remarkable merchants in the world, and were very early noted for their luxury. For in the days of the Judges, the inhabitants of Laish are saidto have dwelt careless and secure, after the manner of the Sidonians, Judges xviii. 3. Strabo, the Greek geographer, tells us, that the poets have cele-. brated Sidon more than Tyre, and that Homer hath not mentioned Tyre, though he speaks of Sido and the Sidonians in several places, Strabo, lib. 16. Tyre was built by a colony from Sidon. For Isaiah says to her, ch. xxiii. 2. Thou, whom the merchants of Zidon that pass over the sea, have plenished. Hence, ver. 12. he calls Tyre the daughter of Zidon. The antiquity of Tyre may be learned from Isaiah xxiii. 7. Is this your joyous city whose antiquity is of ancient days? Even in Joshua's time it was strongly fortified For it is called (Josh. xix. 29.) the strong city Tyre. Justin, the epitomizer of Trogus, tells us, that the Sidonians being besieged by the king of As-, calon, went in ships and built Tyre, lib. xviii. cap. 3. . In process of time, Tyre excelled Sidon, and became the most celebrated place in the world for its trade and navigation, being the seat of commerce, and the center of riches. Hence it is called (Isa. xxiii. 3.) a mart of nations, and (ver 8.) the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the bonourable of the earth. An idea of the trade and luxury of Tyre may be formed by reading Ezek. xxvii. The account which Justin gives from Trogus of the peopling of Tyre, implies that the insular Tyre was built before Tyre on the continent. Accordingly, isaiah who wrote many years before Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre on the continent, and by so doing, occasioned, as is supposed, the building of the insular Tyre, in his prophecy of the destruction of Tyre, calls the Tyrians twice inhabitants of the isle, xxiii 2, 6. and the city itself the sea and the strength of the sea, ver. 4, 1. Mr Maundrell describes the present state of Tyre as follows, Travels, pag. 48.-"This city standing in the sea upon a peninsula, promises at a distance something very magnificent. But when you come to it, you find no similitude of that glory for which it was so renowned in ancient times, and which the prophet Ezekiel describes chapters xxvi. xxvii. xxviii. On the north it has an old Turkish castle, besides which you see nothing here but a mere babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, &c. there being not so much as one entire house left Its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and sub sisting Mark vii. 24. And from thence he arose and went into the bor ders (us τa urtogia, the parts which bordered upon Galilee, Matt. Ta μign, the parts, the country) of Tyre and Sidon, 25. And entered into an house, and would have no man know it (him); but he could not be hid. It seems he was personally known to many of the heathens in this country, who no doubt had often heard and seen him in Galilee, (see on Mark iii. 8. § 47.) And as for the rest, they were sufficiently acquainted with him by his fame, which had spread itself very early through all Syria, (see on Matt. iv. 24. § 25.) In one of the towns of this remote country, there lived a Canaanitish woman whose daughter was possessed with a devil, and who for that reason received the news of his arrival with great joy. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him. This person was a descendant of the ancient inhabitants, and * by religion a heathen. So Mark informs us afterwards, verse 26. She was therefore ignorant of the true religion. Nevertheless, she had conceived a very great, and honourable, and just opinion, not only of our Lord's power and goodness, but even of his character as Messiah, which she had learned the notion of, by conversing with the Jews. For when she heard of his arrival, she went in quest of him, and meeting him accidentally as he passed along the street, she addressed him by the title of Son of David, and cried after him for a cure to her daughter. Matt. xv. 22. 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, sisting chiefly upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, viz. that it should be as the top of a rock, a place for fishers to dry their nets on." It appears from Joshua xxii. 9. that the whole country westward of Jordan was called Canaan, that on the east being named Gilead. From the same book, ch. xix. 28, 29. we learn, that Tyre and Sidon were cities in the lot of Asher; which tribe having never been able wholly to drive out the natives, their posterity remained even in our Lord's time. Hence he did not preach the doctrine of the kingdom in this country, because it was mostly inhabited by heathens to whom he was not sent, (see on Matt. x. 5. 40. p. 181.) neither did he work miracles here with that readiness which he shewed every where else. The reason was, he proposed by concealing himself to shun the Pharisees. *By religion a heathen.] I think this plain from Mark, who calls her a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation. For since the woman's nation is men. tioned in the latter clause, the title of a Greek that is given her in the former, must certainly be the denomination of her religion. Keuchenius thinks, that the epithet xxvavaux denotes the woman's occupation, she merchandized, and supports his notion by the like use of the word in the Old Testament. But his conjecture will not hold, because our Lord's reply to her, It is not meet to give the childrens bread to dogs, plainly imports, that she was a heathen. I think this evident likewise from what he said to the disciples, verse 24. I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 23. But 24. David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. he answered her not a word: he did not seem to regard her, intending that the greatness of her faith, should be made to appear, an end highly worthy of the wisdom of Jesus, because it not only shewed how great the fame of his miracles now was, on which the woman's faith was built, and justified his conduct in working a miracle for an heathen, but it was a sharp rebuke to the Jews for their infidelity. In the mean time, his disciples being ignorant of his design, were uneasy at the woman's importunity, thinking, if she was permitted to follow them, they would soon be discovered. Desiring therefore to get rid of her, they intreated their Master to dismiss her. 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: though I am come to save all the nations of the world, my ministry must be confined to the Israelites, (see on Matth. x. 5. § 40.) Thus at the first, Jesus seemed to refuse both the woman's request, and the disciples' intercession in her behalf. She however, far from being discouraged by the repulse, drew near, and falling on her knees before him, urged her petition with much earnestness. 25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Mark expresses the matter thus, And came and fell at his feet. 26. (The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation) and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. Matth. xv. 26. But he answered and said, (Mark, unto her, Let the children first be filled, For It is not meet to take the childrens bread, and to cast it to (Mark, the) dogs. The Jews gloried greatly in the honourable title of God's children, because of all nations they alone knew and worshipped the true God. They gave the name of dogs unto the heathens, for their idolatry and other pollutions, by which they had degraded themselves from the rank of reasonable creatures. This appellation therefore marked the impurity of the Gentiles, and their odiousness in the sight of God. At the same time, conveying an idea of the contempt in which they were held by the holy nation, though in some respects it was applicable, it must have been very offensive to the heathens. Nevertheless this good woman neither refused it, nor grudged the Jews the honourable title of children. She acknowledged the justness of what Christ said, and by a strong exercise of faith drew an argument from it, which the candour and benevolence of his disposition could not resist. Matth. xv. 27. And she said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs (Mark, under the table) eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table: (Mark, eat of the childrens crumbs) let me have such kindness as the dogs of any family enjoy. From the plenty of miraculous cures which thou bestowest on the Jews, drop the offal of this one to me, who am a poor dis tressed tressed heathen; for by it they will suffer no greater loss, than the children of a family do by the crumbs which are cast to the dogs. Jesus having thus made it evident, that the womam possessed a very high degree of faith, a just notion of his power and goodness, and of her own unworthiness, wrought with pleasure the cure which she solicited in behalf of her daughter, and at the same time gave her faith the praise that was due to it. 28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt. Mark vii. 29. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way, the devil is gone out of thy daughter. As soon as she had uttered the sentiment that was so acceptable to Christ, he had willed the ejection of the demon. And though scarce any time passed between her uttering that sen timent and his answer, so great was his power and goodness, that the devil was expelled before he spake; go thy way, the devil is gone out. Matth. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Mark vii. 30. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed. The success which this Canaanitish woman's suit met with from Jesus, teaches us two lessons of great importance: First, That God is no respecter of persons, but always accepts sincere faith and fervent prayer, proceeding from an humble penitent heart. Secondly, That it is our duty to continue in prayer with earnestness, although the answer thereof should be long defer red. § LXVI. In Decapolis Jesus cures one who was deaf, and who had an impediment in his speech. Mark vii. 31,-87. AT length Jesus departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, returned to the sea of Galilee through the region of Decapolis, on the east side of Jordan. Mark vii. 31. And again departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Gali lee through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. Somewhere in this country, they brought to him a man who was deaf, and who had an impediment in his speech. 32. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech, poyiλañov: He was not absolutely dumb, but stammered to such a degree, that few understood his speech (ver. 35.) However the circumstance of his being able to speak in any manner, shews that his deafness was not natural but accidental. He had heard formerly, and had learned to speak, but was now deprived of hearing, perhaps through some fault of his own, which was the reason that Jesus sighed for grief when he cured him. And they beseech him to put his hand upon him. His friends interceded for him, because he was not able to speak for himself, so as any one could understand him. His desire however of a cure, may have prompted him to do his utmost in speaking, whereby all present were made |