Fifty sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London, and elsewhere whereof twenty on the Lords Prayer / by ... Anthony Farindon ... ; the third and last volume, not till now printed ; to which is adjoyned two sermons preached by a friend of the authors, upon his being silenced.

The One and Twentieth SERMON. (Book 21)

MATTH. XV. 28. O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.

THis woman came from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, saith our Evangelist, v. 21, 22. was a Greek, a Syrophoenici∣an by nation, saith St. Mark, 7. 26. and so a Gentile by birth. Which when we remember, saith St. Chrysostom, we cannot but consider the virtue of Christs coming, and the power of his most glorious dispensation, which reached from one end of the world unto the other, and took in those who had not only forgot God, but had also overturn'd the laws of Nature, and darkned that light which was kindled in their hearts; which called sinners to repentance, even gross idolaters, and admitted doggs to eat of the childrens bread. A Greek she was, and in this she bespeaks us Gentiles exire è fini∣bus Tyri & Sidonis, to come out from those coasts which whilst we remain in we are indeed no better then doggs; to leave our sins, and the occasions of sin; to leave the coasts where Sin breaths, and to come to Christ, to be dispossessed of those evil spirits which vex our souls, and will destroy them.

The Story of this Cananaean concerns us, you see. But wherefore comes she out of her own coasts? You shall hear that in her loud cry, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith the Text, v. 22. she speaks it in a still voice, Her daughter was grievously vexed with a devil. No wind so powerful to drive us from Tyre and Si∣don to Christ, from the coasts of Sin to the land of the living, as Calamity. When we are vexed, eximus; when this wind blows, we presently be∣think our selves, and depart out of those coasts.

But better stay at home then not be heard when we cry. She cryes; but Christ answers her not a word. Yet she cryes still. His Disciples come, and beseech him: and then he answers; but his answer is rather a reason of his silence then a grant. He answers that to help her was beside his errand, that he was not sent to that purpose, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Non ostiolum spei, not the least wicket of hope is set open to her, not any beam of comfort shines. Lost indeed she was, but not a lost sheep, a dogg rather; and of Canaan she, not of the house of Israel.

Here is a linguarium, one would think, a muzzel to shut up her mouth in silence for ever, a hedge of thorns to stop up her way: but Faith and the Love of her daughter drive her on even against these pricks, and pull her on her knees; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith the Text; Like a Dogg she crouch∣eth before him, she falls down and worships him, saying, Lord help me. And now he who seemed to be deaf to her cry, makes answer to her silence; and he who regarded not her noyse makes a reply to her reverence and adorati∣on. Not a word from Christ till he sees us upon our knees. Our noyse is

not alwayes heard, but he speaks when we worship. But yet his answer carries less fire with it to kindle any hope of comfort then did his Silence. Indeed Menander will tell us,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

that silence to a wise man is an answer. But a flat denyal must needs come more unwelcome then silence; and here is not a bare denyal, but a denyal with a reason, with an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, It is not good to take the childrens bread, and to cast it to doggs. What now can this distressed woman reply? or how will she be able to hold up her side, now she is come ad 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to the hardest part of the Dialogue, which the Orators call Contention? What can she answer to Reason? Behold, I will not say a facelious or witty, but a wise answer. Behold an apple of gold in a picture of silver. Here is a cloud drawn over her; yet her faith sees a star in this cloud: and by a strange kind of Alchi∣my she draws light out of darkness; and makes that sharp denyal the foundation of a grant. She answers by way of concession, Truth, Lord: The Jewes are Children; nay, Masters: let them have the bread. I am a Dogg, and am content with a Doggs reward; even with the crums that fall from the Table. His silence she answers with her knee, and his bitter an∣swer with humility; an answer which Wisdome it self doth not only ap∣prove but admire; Then Jesus answered, and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. Before, silence; now ad∣miration: before, a reproof; now, a commendation: before, a dogg, now, a woman: before, not a crum; now, more bread then the children. She cryed before and Christ answered not; but now Christ answers, and not only gives her a crum, but the whole table; answers her with a FIAT TIBI, Be it unto thee even as thou wilt!

The words which I have read are the last part and conclusion of the Dia∣logue; a happy conclusion. For where Misery begins well, and holds out and perseveres, Christ alwayes concludes in mercy. Truth, Lord, is an∣swered with O mulier; and a prayer for a crum is rewarded with a grant of all we can desire. So then the parts are two; a Commendation of the womans faith, and a Grant of her request. And of these we will speak in their order.

The commendation is not ordinary, nor delivered by way of common expression: but here we have 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, an holy exclamation; O wo∣man, great is thy faith! This is not Signum perturbati animi, sed docentis Magistri; We must not conceive this to be the sign of any motion or per∣turbation in Christ, but the lesson of a good Master, who would move us to admiration, that admiration might win us to faith. Exprimit in se, ut exprimat de te; In himself he expresseth it, that he may bring it from us. In anger he is, that we may be angry with our sin: In grief he complains, that we may be grieved for our selves: and he is loud in his approbations, to awake our sloth, and to make us active in the pursuit of that which he admires. Per tropum probat, aut miratur; when he commends, or admires, he doth it by a trope. If his plain instructions will not prevail, he is con∣tent to condescend, and bring us to belief by a figure.

But now what is it that Christ commends and admires? It is the greatness of the womans faith. Now Faith may be said to be great either in respect had to the Understanding, or to the Will. For the act of Faith proceeds from them both: and it may be said to increase and be great, either as the Understanding receives more light, or the Will more warmth; as the one doth more firmly assent, and the other more readily embrace. In the Un∣derstanding it is raised by certainty and assurance, and in the Will by de∣votion

and confidence. This womans faith was great in both respects. She most firmly believed Christ to be the Lord, able to work a miracle on her daughter: and her Devotion and Confidence so strongly built, that neither Silence nor Denyal nor a Reproach could shake it! And because we are told, Magnitudo virtutis ostenditur in effectu, that the greatness of virtue is best seen in the effects; as we best judge of a Tree by the spreading of its branches, and of the Whole by the parts; we will therefore contem∣plate this womans Faith in those several fruits it brought forth; in her Pa∣tience, in her Humility, in her Perseverance; Which are those lesser stars that shine in the firmament of our souls, and borrow their light from the lustre of Faith, as from their Sun.

And first, we cannot but admire her Patience; Which is bona valetudo fi∣dei, the very health of Faith, saith Tertullian, and shews it to be of a good growth. And surely if Socrates was stiled senex perpessitius for his great sufferance, this Canaanitess may well be called mulier perpessitia, a woman which endured much; in her misery, reproach; in the bitterness of her soul, a repulse, silence, and denyal, and the name of dogg. Fabius Verru∣cosus was wont to call that grant which was given with some roughness and asperity, panem lapidosum, stony and gravelly bread, which will sooner break the teeth than nourish the body. What then think you is a denyal with a reproach? Not bread, but a stone. Yet we see this womans Patience was able to digest this stone, and turn it into bread. And indeed this is one part of a Christians Omnipotency; his Patience is infinite, and suffereth all things: It swalloweth down stones. Christ himself was a stone of of∣fense, but yet Patience digests this stone with disgraces, with poverty, with afflictions, with martyrdome, with sword and persecution, and makes them beatitudes. Never any contumely, never any loss, never any smart so great, which could weary a true Christian Patience: Talia tantáque do∣cumenta, saith Tertullian: Such precepts, such examples have we of Pati∣ence, as that with Infidels they seem incredible, and call in question the truth of our profession. But with us they are the very ground and foundation of our Faith. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Gordius the Martyr in St. Ba∣sil; What a loss am I at, that I can dye but once for my Saviour? No Christi∣an whose Patience hath not met with a stone; if not Martyrdome, yet Po∣verty; if not Poverty, yet Contumely. In labors abundantly, in stripes a∣bove measure, in deaths oft. And could St. Paul do no more? Yes; he could: Sed ubi historiam perstare non potuit, votum attulit; when he could not fill up his history; he brings in a wish, even to endure the pains of hell for the salvation of Israel, his kinsmen according to the flesh; I cannot now say that this womans Patience was so great; but she received those darts of denyals, of disgrace, clypeo patientiae, upon the buckler of Patience: and a Denyal with Reproch, is, if not so terrible as Hell, yet many times as bitter as Death. I may be bold to say, A Patience it was that represented to our Saviour (though a dark, yet) a picture of his own. Hinc vel maximè, Pharisaei, Dominum agnoscere debuistis. Patientiam hujusmodi nemo homi∣num perpetraret, saith Tertullian to the Pharisees. If there had been no o∣ther argument to prove Christ God, yet his wonderful Patience had been sufficient. So we may truly say, Were there no other argument to prove that this womans Faith was great, yet this great measure of Patience were enough to make it good: For so great a Patience could scarce have subsisted if Christ had not been in her of a truth.

Next follows her Humility, a companion of Patience. Quis humilis, ni∣si patiens? saith Tertullian: There cannot be Humility without Patience, nor Patience without Humility. But here we have even 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Father speaks, an extreme humility; Humility on the ground: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

she worshipt him. Not a humility which stayes at home, but which comes out of her coasts after Christ. She cryes after him; he answers not. She falls on the ground; he calls her dogg. A humility that is not silent; but helps Christ to accuse her. A Humility not at the lower end, but under the table, content with the crums which fall to the doggs. Thus doth the Soul by true Humility go out from God to meet him, and beholding his im∣mense Goodness looks back unto her self, and dwells in the contemplation of her own poverty; and being conscious of her own emptiness and nihi∣liety, she stands at gaze, and trembles at that unmeasurable Goodness which filleth all things. Ecce, saith St. Augustine, factus sum mihi regio egestatis. This consideration hath laid me waste; I am become to my self a wilder∣ness, where I can discover nothing but unruly passions and noysome lusts, ready to take my soul and devoure it. Foelix anima quae taliter exit à Deo! Happy soul that so departs from God! It is a good flight from him which Humility makes. For thus to go away from God into the valley of our own imperfections is to meet him. We are then most near him when we place our selves at such a distance: As the best way to enjoy the Sun is not to live in his sphere. We must therefore learn by this Woman here to take heed how we grace our selves. When Perseus the Macedonian King had re∣belled against the Romans, and was now overthrown by Aemilius, he wrote unto them letters of submission, but dated them with the name of Perseus the King; and therefore the Consul would not answer them. Sensit Per∣seus cujus nominis esse obliviscendum, saith Livy; Perseus quickly perceived what name he was to forget, and therefore leaving out the title of King, he writes the letters again, and so received an answer. What Perseus there did by constraint, this woman here performs in true humility; forgets the name of child, nay of woman, and to gain but a crum stiles herself a dogg. A pattern for us, to learn to think our selves but Doggs, that we may be Children. For nothing can make the heavens as brass unto us, to deny their influence, but a high conceit of our own worth. If no beam of the Sun touch the in the midst of a field at noon day, thou canst not but think some thick cloud is cast between thee and the light; and if amongst that myriad of blessings which flow from the Fountain of light, none reach home to thee, it is because thou art too full already, and hast shut out God by the conceit of thy own bulk and greatness. Certainly, nothing can con∣quer Majesty but Humility, which layeth her foundation low, but raiseth her building to heaven. This Canaanitess is a Dogg; Christ calls her wo∣man: She deserves not a crum, he grants her the whole loaf, and seals his Grant with a FIAT TIBI: It shall be to Humility even as she will.

And now, in the third place, her Humility Ushers in her Heat and Per∣severance in prayer. Pride is as glass: Vitream reddit mentem, saith Da∣mianus; It makes the mind brittle and frail. Glitter she doth, and make a fair shew; but upon a touch or fall is broken asunder. Not only a Re∣proach, which is ictus, a blow, but Silence, which can be but tactus, a touch, dasheth her to pieces. Reproach Pride and she swells into anger, infermento est; she is ready to return the Dogg upon Christ. But Humili∣ty is murus aheneus, a wall of brass, and endureth all the batteries of op∣position. Is Christ silent? she cryes still, she follows after, she falls on her knees. Calls her Dogg; she confesseth it. She will endure any thing, hear any thing, bear any thing, do any thing; and all this to gain but a crum: From Humility springs this her Fervor and Perseverance, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, from the depth of an humble and low conceit of her self. A common er∣ror it is reigning amongst us, and our Pride begets it, when we frame unto our selves a facil and easie God; a God who will be commanded of us, and led as it were in a string; a God that will welcome us whensoever we come,

and be content with whatsoever little we bring. This is nothing else but to set up a God of our own making, an idole. For what else is Idolatry but the mistake of that God whom we chuse to serve? But if we knew our selves, if we knew the distance between heaven and earth, the difference between God and a Worm, we should find God to be a God of state and magnificence, qui solet difficilem habere januam, whose gates open not so ea∣sily as we suppose; a God who expects that our addresses unto him should be accurate, and joyn'd with long attendance and expectancy. Did we rightly dread his Majesty, and weigh our own baseness, we should think then with Pythagoras, Deum non esse salutandum in transitu, that God will not be spoken to in the By and passage; we should fear that by our slight and trivial prayers we were too bold with him, and that in wrath and indig∣nation he should reply as Augustus did to his friend who entertained him coena percâ & quotidianâ, with course and ordinary fare, Non putâramme tibi tam familiarem fuisse, I did not think I had made my self so familiar with my creature. Christ here no doubt knew the Womans faith before he heard it in her cry, but he is silent, but he denyes, but he calls her Dogg; and all this, to make her importunate; ut exploret affectum recurrentem, to see whether her desire would recoyl upon the repulse. He withdraws himself, that she may follow closer after. He puts her back, that she may press forward in pursuit, and invade him with violence; ut excitet affectum languentem, to fet an edge upon her affection, to inflame her love, and to raise her importunity with delay. For the prayer of Faith res est seria & gravis & improba, a serious, a daring, an imperious thing, which will take no denyal; but looks upon the very face of God, and stares upon him, if he refuse to hear. Which the ancients used to express by a strange kind of phrase: They said this was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, an holy importunity to make God ashamed. For certainly even in this sense it is true, Est quaedam prevaricatrix modestia, est quaedam sancta impudentia; there is a kind of Modesty that betrays us, and there is a holy and sanctified Impudence, when with the Woman here we will not be answered neither with silence, nor with a denyal, nor with a reproch. Though he kill me, saith Job, and, Though he call me Dogg, saith the Woman here, yet will I pray, and double my cry; I will not leave till a FIAT be spoken, till the devil doth leave my daugh∣ter. Haec est illa grata vis Deo; This is that welcome violence, with which the kingdome of heaven is taken by force; This is the way by which God delights to be wooed and won. Servat tibi Deus quod non vult citò dare, God lays up that for thee which he will not give thee at the first, ut magna magnè desideres, that what thou accountest great in the possession, thou mayest make also great in the purchase. Thou must hunger for a crum, nè fastidium veniat ad panes, that thou loath not the whole loaf. Our Saviour himself, when he negotiated our reconciliation, continued in sighs and sup∣plications, praying 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, with strong crying: and now be∣holding as it were himself in this Woman, and seeing though not the same yet the like fervor and perseverance in her, he approves it as a piece of his own coin, and sets his impress upon it, O MULIER, MAGNA EST FIDES TUA; O woman, great is thy faith.

And these three, Patience, Humility, Perseverance and an undaunted Constancy in prayer, measure out her Faith. For Faith is not great but by opposition: Non nisi difficultate constat, It cannot subsist, much less increase, if it find no difficulty to struggle with. If there were nothing to make me doubt, where were my Faith? What I see I believe not: but when some mountain, some difficulty, comes between my eye and the ob∣ject, the virtue and crown of Faith is to look through it. The woman cryes; Christ is silent; she doubles her cryes; he denyes; she cryes still;

he answers with a term of reproach; she is the more importunate: Quic∣quid est, id porrò est; What she was before, she is still.

I might add a fourth, his Prudence, but that I scarce know how to di∣stinguish it from Faith. For Faith indeed is our Christian Prudence: which doth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Philo, inoculate the soul, give her a clear and pearcing eye, by which she discerns great blessings in little ones, a talent in a mite, and a loaf in a crum; which sets up 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a gol∣den light, by which we spy out all spiritual advantages, and learn to thrive in the merchandize of Truth. We may see a beam of this light in every passage of this Woman; but it is most resplendent in her art of thrift, by which she can multiply a crum. It is but a crum she demands: For so in∣deed are not only temporal blessings, Honor, and Riches, and Health, but Miracles also themselves, if compared to that Bread of life, to our spiri∣tual estate. Yet she will make use of this Crum, and dispossess at once both her daughter and her self, her daughter of a devil, and herself of her for∣mer impiety. A Crum shall turn this Dogg into a child of Abraham. To our eye a Star appears not much bigger then a candle; but Reason corrects our Sense, and makes it greater then the globe of the Earth: so Opportuni∣ties and Occasions of good, and those many Helps to increase grace in us, are apprehended as atomes by a sensual eye; but our Christian Prudence beholds them in their just magnitude, and makes more use of a Crum that falls from the table, then Folly doth of a sumptuous feast. A little, saith the Psalmist, which the righteous hath is more then great revenues of the * 1.1 wicked. A little wealth, a little knowledge, nay a little grace, may be so husbanded and improved that the increase and harvest may be greatest where there is least seed. It is strange, but yet we may observe it, many men walk safer by star-light then others by day. There is, saith St. Hierome, sancta rusticitas: Many times it falls out that Ignorance is more holy then Knowledge: Do any of the Scribes and Pharisees believe in Christ? What saw they, in Christ? A carpenters son; a friend of publicanes, a conjurer. What gain'd they by his miracles but their own obduration, and to be worse than they were; But this simple Woman saw a Lord, a Divine power in his miracles, and knew how to satisfie her desires and fill herself even with a crum that fell from his table. Where then is the fault? Not in the light but in him that bears it. For commonly we are more bold in the day when it is clearest: we attribute all to the light, and think not of our feet; so that peradventure we should see more had we less light. Great wits are commonly ambitious, and loath to yield. What once their error hath set down, they think they are bound for ever to maintain. For a Pharisee to believe in Christ, were to pull off his phylacteries, and banish him the sect! But this Woman here, though she sate not in Moyses chair, was more skil∣ful then they who did; saw that in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon which they could not in Jewry, and became there a child, a Daughter of Abra∣ham, whilst they remain'd Doggs at Jerusalem; a child indeed of Abra∣ham, heir to his Humility, who called himself Dust and ashes; heir to his Patience, qui tam grave praeceptum quod nec Deo perfici placebat, patienter audivit; O si Deus voluisset, implesset, saith Tertullian; who heard patient∣ly that heavy command to sacrifice his son, which God liked not himself; and had fulfilled it, had God given him leave: heir to his zealous Fervor in prayer, which followed and urged God from Fifty to Ten. Lastly, heir * 1.2 to his Faith: and for this we need no more proof than our Saviours Elogi∣um, then my Text, O woman, great is thy faith.

Shall we now take the pains to measure our Faith by this Canaanitish womans? We may as well measure an Inch by a Pole, or an atome by a mountain. Here was a patience that could digest stones; ours will not digest bread, no not Christs blessings. His Gospel we take down as a pill,

and his Precepts as poyson: Do this, and live. We had rather dye then do it. Well said Tertullian, Malùm impatientia boni; Evil is nothing else but im∣patience of that which is good. We are not only impatient of Afflictions, of Poverty, of Reproaches, but also impatient of Godliness, of Sobriety, of common Honesty, of the Gospel, of Christ, of Heaven it self upon those terms it is profer'd us. And all that bread which should nourish us up to everlasting life we turn into stones. Blow what wind will, we are still in finibus Tyri & Sidonis, at home in our own coasts.

But next, for Humility, who vouchsafeth once to put on her mantle? Hu∣mility! it is well we can hear her name with patience: But humi serpere, to creep on the ground, is not our posture. You will say Christ doth not call us Doggs. Yes; he doth; For, though he be in heaven, yet he speaketh still, and in his Scripture calleth every sinner a Dogg, a Swine, yea, a Devil. He up∣braids us to our faces, as oft as we offend. But we will not own these titles; but call our selves Priests, when we sacrifice to Baal; and Kings too, when we are the greatest slaves in the world. If Humility still live in the world, sure it is not the same Humility which breathed here in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

Lastly, For our Perseverance and Fervor in devotion, we must not dare once to compare them with this Womans. For, Lord! how loath are we to begin our prayers, and how willing to make an end! When God is silent, we think he will not speak: when he answers, we think he is silent: But when we are told that our sins do hinder our prayers, and that Christ can∣not help us because we are Doggs, then we desist, and will pray no more, because we will sin more, and rather suffer the Devil to vex our souls, then dipossess him with noyse. Yea, which is ridiculous and monstrous, Quod affectu volumus, actu nolumus; we pray for that we would not have, and de∣sire help which we would not enjoy. Every day we pray for Grace, and every day we quench and stifle it: Every day we desire Christs help, and every day we refuse it: So that we may well, with a little altera∣tion, use our Saviours words, The woman of Canaan shall rise up in the judg∣ment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from Tyre and Si∣don, and would not be denyed; we live in the Church, and are afraid that Christ should grant our requests. Her devotion was on fire, ours is congealed and bound up with a frost. We talk much of Faith; but where are its fruits? Where is our Patience, our Humility, our Perseverance in devotion? which gave the just proportion to this Womans faith, and commend the greatness of it to all posterity. For these are glorious virtues, and shew the full growth of her Faith. These answer St. James his OSTENDE MIHI, Shew me thy faith by thy works. But yet to come up close to our Text, our Saviour mentions not these, but passeth them by in silence, and commends her Faith: Not but that her patience was great, her Humility great, and her De∣votion great: But because all these were seasoned with Faith, and sprung from Faith, and because Faith was it which caused the miracle, he mentions Faith alone, that Faith may have indeed the pre-eminence in all things.

First, Faith was the virtue which Christ came to plant in his Church. Non omnium est credere, quod Christianum est, saith Tertullian; This vertue belongs not to all, but is peculiar to Christians. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, It is the first inclination to health, and the ground-work of our salvation. Let the Heathen accuse the very title and name of Faith; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Theo∣doret calls it; let them object that our Religion brings in meram credulita∣tem, a meer and foolish credulity, and that we do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, but play the fools, in taking up things upon trust; yet this Perswasion, this Belief, this Faith is it which draws us from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, takes us from the num∣ber of Doggs, and makes us citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. When we

could not do what we should, not fulfil the Law God taught us to believe: and it was the riches and glory of his Mercy to find out this way, and save us by so weak an instrument as Faith. Besides, Faith was the fountain from whence these rivulets were cut, from whence those virtues did flow. For had she not believed, she had not come, she had not cryed, she had not been patient, she had not humbled herself to obtain her desire, she had not per∣severed; But having a firm perswasion that Christ was able to work the miracle, no silence, no denyal, no reproach, no wind could drive her a∣way. A sign that our Faith now-adayes is not so strong; it falls off so soon, at the least opposition, and fails and falls to the ground with a very breath, a sign that we have paralyticas cogitationes, as one speaks, paralytical thoughts, which cannot reach a hand to our Will, nor guide and govern our desires to the end.

Lastly, Faith is that virtue which seasons all the rest, maketh them use∣ful and profitable, which commends our Patience and Humility and Perse∣verance, and without which our Patience were but like the Heathens, ima∣ginary, and paper-Patience, begotten by some premeditation, by habit of suffering, by opinion of fatal necessity, or by a Stoical abandoning of all af∣fections. Without Faith our Humility were pride, and our Prayers bab∣ling. For whereas in natural men there be many excellent things, yet with∣out Faith they are all nothing worth, and are to them as the Rainbow was before the Flood, the same perhaps in shew, but of no use. It is strange to see what gifts of wisdome and temperance, of moral and natural consci∣ence, of justice and uprightness did remain not only in the books but in the lives of many Heathen men: but this could not further them one foot for the purchase of eternal good, because they wanted the Faith which they derived, which gives the rest 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a loveliness and beauty, and is alone of force to attract and draw the love and favour of God unto us; These graces otherwise are but as the matter and body of a Christian man, a thing of it self dead, without life; but the soul, which seems to quicken this body, is Faith. They are indeed of the same brotherhood and kindred, and God is the common Father unto them all; but without Faith they find no entertainment at his hands. As Joseph said unto his brethren, You shall not see my face except your brother be with you; So nor shall Patience and Humi∣lity and Prayer bring us to the blessed vision of God, unless they take Faith in their company. You see our Saviour passeth by them all; but at the sight of Faith he cryes out in a kind of astonishment, O woman, great is thy faith! And for this faith he grants her her request, Be it unto thee even as thou wilt: Which is my next part, and which I will touch but in a word.

FIAT TIBI is a grant; and it follows close at the heels of the Com∣mendation, and even commends that too. For what are Commendations with ut a Fiat, but as that Faith in St. James which bids the naked and de∣stitute, Be warmed, and filled, but gives them nothing which is needful? And such are our Commendations for the most part, no more then a sound, verba sine penu & pecunia, as he in Plautus speaks, words without profit or com∣fort. A miracle it is to hear a charitable panegyrick: But Christs Com∣mendations end here in a miracle. For as St. Augustine speaking of those words of the Gospel, Stulte, hâc nocte, giveth us this descant, STULTE: Tale in quenquam Dei verbum judicium est, Such a word from God as FOOL is a judgment. For when God calls us Fools, he passeth a sentence: So may we say that O mulier, with Christ is a FIAT, his Commendations a Grant. For what he approves he rewards, and what he commends be crowns: And the best approbation is her Reward, the best commendations a Crown.

The FIAT follows close upon the Acclamation. And indeed a large grant

it is. Yet some have strived to improve and enlarge it. Origen thinks that Christ did not only heal this womans daughter, but gave her power to do it herself, and was so pleased with her that he was content to give her part of his Power, and a hand in the miracle. But a meer phansie it is, without shew of sense. But even our age hath coined the like; That Christ did not on∣ly merit for us, but by his merit purchast us a patent of meriting our selves. One would think these men had slept upon Origen's pillow, and dreamt the same dream; these for the soul, as he for the body. For to what purpose is this new invention? FIAT, Let it be done, let but her daughter be cured, and the womans noyse is laid. Nor can the miracle be less welcome be∣cause Christ works it himself. Or; let her do it, yet she must do it by Christs power; and so the FIAT is Christs still, and we are where we were before. And why should we affect to merit our selves? Is it not enough that Christ will bring us to heaven? Or is the Crownless welcome if our hand do not help to put it on? And if our merit be not coin'd without the impression of Christ, what then have we gained! For the payment is his still. This is no∣thing else but interpretationibus ludere de scripturis, by false glosses to sport with the Truth and the Scripture: And we may say of these additions as the Orator spake of Figures in speech, Possumus sine istis vivere, We can live and be saved without them. Let Christ say, FIAT TIBI, to the Ca∣naanitish woman, and it is enough; her daughter shall be made whole by that very FIAT, from that very hour. And let him say unto us, FIAT VOBIS, Be unto you as you will; and we shall be dispossest of our spiritual enemies, of our lusts and foul affections; and, as his children, we shall not only have the crumbs, but shall sit at his table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with this Canaanitish woman; and shall enjoy not only quicquid volumus, what we will, but more then we can will or desire. Which the Lord for his mer∣cies sake set a FIAT to, and grant unto us all for Christ Jesus sake: To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all honour and glory.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Psal. 37. 16.
• * 1.2

  1 Gen. 18.