LECTURE VIII.

THE WOMAN OF CANAAN, THE HEROINE OF

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FAITH.

ILTON tells us that "peace hath her victories no less renowned than war;" and of all the victories of peace the greatest are the victories of faith. Nay, "this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

Marathon and Pharsalia, Austerlitz and Waterloo, Yorktown and Appomattox Court House, though filling the world with their fame, are not so glorious as those victories whose record we read in the word of God. The heroes who achieved the former triumphed over mere men, often poorly equipped and not equal to them in numbers. The heroes of faith wrestled not against flesh and blood merely, “but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews and see what faith has accomplished. I can only mention a few of the things there recorded." By faith the elders obtained a good report; by faith Abel offered unto God. a more excellent sacrifice than Cain; by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; by faith

Noah, being warned of God, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come; by faith Jacob when he was dying blessed both the sons of Joseph; by faith Joseph when he died made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; by faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; by faith the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea dry shod, which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned; by faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days; by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace, and what shall I say more, for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens."

Had the Apostle constructed a "roll call," of the celebrites of faith under the New Testament dispensation, I feel confident that at the very top of the list he would have placed the woman of Canaan, for Jesus Christ praised her more highly than He ever did any other woman, saying, "O woman, great is thy

faith!" I propose to consider, in the first place, who this woman was; secondly, how it was that Jesus met her; thirdly, what was the object of her solicitude; and, lastly, the trials and the triumphs of her faith.

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Who was she? Mark says she was a Greek, why it does not appear, but certainly not because she belonged to that classic land called Greece. Luke says she was a "Syrophoenician by nation," that is that she belonged to that mixed race, which was composed of Syrians and Phoenicians. Matthew tells us she was a woman of Canaan," and so I prefer to style her. She belonged to that despised people called Canaanites, who dwelt in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and on the borders of Judea. She was a Gentile, a heathen, and labored under a peculiar curse, for she was a descendant of that Canaan concerning whom it had been said: "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren." She was, therefore, a very humble woman. But the question arises, How did Christ happen to meet her, how came it that He passed through the country where she lived? I answer He went there to rest from the arduous labors in which He had been engaged, and from the persecutions with which He had been visited. There is no work so exhausting to mind and body as that of a faithful religious teacher, and if ministers, especially in large cities, are not granted seasons for rest and recuperation they must of necessity find their repose in premature graves. We have in Christ and His Apostles the highest authority for such vacations. We find Christ here leaving His work and going into the retired lowlands