without trying at least to come a little nearer His example, before your time of trial is over?"

Again, the Name of our Lord is here used to put us in mind to Whom we are accountable; as if it were said, "In the Name of Him Who will come to be your Judge, I charge you to be careful of every moment of your time, every talent of your mind and body. I charge you, make the most of them all; for you know not how soon you may be called to answer for all, in a world where it will be too late to think of improving."

Lastly, the Name of Christ is used to remind all who have ears to hear, of His aweful warnings concerning those who are too soon contented with their own imperfect repentance. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest." The evil one being driven. out of our souls and bodies, either by Baptism or by true and sufficient repentance, will not rest until he have obtained a lodging in one miserable person or another and if he possibly can, he will return to the same again. Beware of him: for if he find the house empty, he will not return alone, but with "seven other spirits more wicked than himself." They will "enter in and dwell there :" there will be little or no chance of their being ever any more cast out: "and the last state of that man will be worse than the first;" by how much he has abused greater grace, and become more like a fallen angel.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus;" by His Cross and Passion; by His continual Fatherly Presence; by His gracious and perfect Example; by His severe threatenings

against the unprofitable; and by His coming again to be our Judge:-I beseech you, "that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."

SERMON XIV.

THE WOMAN OF CANAAN.

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT.

S. MARK Vii. 28, 29.

"And she answered and said, Yes, Lord; yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. He said unto her, For this saying go thy way: the devil is gone out of thy daughter."

WE heard just now in the Gospel, the history of the woman of Canaan, how she came begging of our Lord to cast the unclean spirit out of her daughter, how He kept her long waiting, and made as though the mercy could not be granted: and how at last as one even wondering at her faith, and as if He were unable to resist such prayers, He said, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." A most beautiful and touching history it is, most full of comfort to all loving hearts, when any belonging to them are in affliction or in sin, and they kneel before God to pray for them; full of comfort to fathers and mothers offering up their supplications for their little ones when they cannot pray for themselves: full of comfort to us all, when our hopes, as must often be the case, are deferred and we feel sick at heart, with waiting so long on our God, and wondering whether

or no He will grant us the desire of our soul. I think there is something practised continually in this and other Churches, which may well remind us of this history. We are continually asking your prayers, my brethren, the prayers of the Church for this or that sick person, for this or that portion of our fellow Christians, on whom the Lord seems to be laying His afflicting hand. Day after day, week after week, month after month, nay often year after year, the same names are repeated, the same objects of intercession recommended to you, before the Litany, and also before the Holy Sacrifice and Sacrament of our Lord's Body and Blood; and I dare say the thought at times crosses many of our minds, why should we go on so long mentioning the same objects? is it really worth while? Now, my brethren we do not mean it so, but this is at the bottom an unbelieving thought. If the prayers of the Church were good for a sick man or for one in trouble a twelvemonth ago, they are just as good now, supposing the grief or sickness to go on. Ask the poor man himself: if he have true considerate faith, he will not wish the Church to leave off praying for him. You would not in his place: do then as you would be done by: try to remember in earnest each one of your brethren who so asks your prayers, however often he may have asked them before. Perhaps one hearty prayer more is the very thing God is waiting for to bestow on him some great comfort or blessing.

But now I go back to the history of the woman of Canaan. Besides the comfort it offers to a Christian at prayer; I want to shew you how it is very

particularly a Lent lesson; how it may help us in the spiritual work of this holy season in particular. In the first place it helps us to war against the devil. Last Sunday the Gospel, as you know, was the account of our Lord's Temptation shewing us each one how to resist that wicked one when he attacks us in our own proper persons. To-day's Gospel shews us how to fight against him when he seems to be having his own way with some one whom we are bound to care for, whose soul we are bound to care for. You have a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, a friend or companion, or some one committed to your charge: and that person we will suppose is unhappily living in some grievous deadly sin; he is in such a condition, that if he died this moment, there is no help for it, he must perish for ever. What are you to do? you have spoken to him over and over, but he will not hear, you have tried all ways you can think of with him, and it still seems to do him no good: well then, this Gospel tells you that if you can do nothing with him, at least there is one thing which you may do for him. You may cast yourself down as Moses did, forty days and forty nights praying for his stubborn unbelieving countrymen, you may do the same this very Lent, for any one belonging to you, who seems to be going the wrong way. Every day you may add to your prayers a short petition for your friend whose soul is in danger: and who knows but that petition may be answered even before you have got up from your knees? Put the case which our Lord's words most especially put us in mind of, the case of unclean, impure behaviour. The woman's daughter