I. A mother's love is the most powerful of human affections.-This is God's special gift to her, for purposes of the highest mercy to man. This gift is indispensable to fit her for her high function of rearing the rising race. Such love alone can sustain her under her varied and overwhelming burdens; nothing but love can enable her to triumph over the obstacles which beset her path. But, whence arises the power of a mother's love? From its purity. It is, above all other love, pure, disinterested, and constant. The might of its power, the magnitude of its operations, the depth of its devotion, are but Îittle known, and seldom praised among mortals. She is the guardian that never sleeps, the nurse whose patience never fails, whom danger never appals, and for whom the most malignant disorders have nothing offensive. The mother, far beyond even the father, possesses the power of identifying herself with her child. Of this love, and its operations, we have a striking example in the woman of Canaan. She does not distinguish between herself and her daughter the case, the calamity, was one and the same, and her own! She saw God in Jesus, and desired Jesus to see her daughter in herself. Although a heathen, she had by some means been found of the grace of God; she had heard and learned of the Father, and hence she came to Christ. She had by the same means been informed of David, and of David's Son; and hence her prayer, which was such as might have been expected only from Jewish lips. Her piety added both to the intensity of her love and to the fervour of her devotion.

:

II. A pious mother, even when surrounded by circumstances of the most desperate nature, has still one resource left.-That resource is prayer; a never-failing refuge to the distressed. The woman of Canaan, accordingly, betakes herself to Christ in prayer. The words of her petition are few, but their import is mighty; they are comprehensive of all she wants. The brevity of her prayer shows at once her sense and her earnestness. The greater the feeling, the less the amount of language employed to express it. Where one word suffices, intense emotion never employs two. The more language, the less emotion. Here is a perfect example: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David!" Her bursting heart obtains partial relief by this mighty utterance. She explains the cause of her sorrow: "My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." A fallen angel, a devil in her house, nay, resident in the very heart of her daughter! How terrible, how agonizing, such a calamity! The suffering was in the child, the sorrow in the parent who beheld it. This calamity was all the more distressing because utterly beyond the reach of man. There was on the whole earth only one who could bring the desired relief, and to him she now repaired. It was now, or never! She believed in his power. She had heard of his miracles, numerous and marvellous, which were so many proofs of his goodness as well as of his might. Her prayer was attended by the proper conditions of success, sincerity, earnestness, and faith. So far there was reason for hope; but the hope so excited appeared to be fallacious," He answered her not a word." He moves on as if he had not heard her. How unlike him such conduct! It was an exception to the entire course of his history. Why is it? It would now seem as if nothing remained for her but to return to her home, and there wait till death put an end to her affliction. But it was not so.

III. A pious mother's prayer is not to be discouraged by circumstances.— For the moment darkness rests upon her path; but as she cannot tell the cause, so she does not suffer herself to be overwhelmed by the fact. Two things at least remain unchanged,-her child's affliction with her own misery through that of her child, and his ability to deliver them, whatever may be his indisposition to exert it. She was well convinced that he had only to say it, and it was done. This was a great point gained, and here she rested her

thought. This quite simplified the matter; there was but one difficulty, and that difficulty was to be overcome only in one way, and to this she resolutely gave herself. She determined to cleave to him, and to persevere in her pleadings till she gained her object. Jesus and his attendants advance in their journey, and the suppliant mother goes along with them, at a proper distance from the Master, ever and anon repeating her request. This fact comes out with an affecting simplicity in the remark of the disciples: "She crieth after us. But she not only cried; she also followed. Had she stood and cried, her cry would soon have ceased to be heard, as they would soon quickly have got beyond her; but she kept advancing as she repeated, step by step, her piercing supplication. When a mother's heart is set upon a favour from the Lord, she is to be guided not by appearances, but by principles. Nothing but a direct communication from Heaven should put an end to her prayer for things according to the will of God. The case before us is all the more remarkable, because this woman was pleading not the Divine promise, but her own necessity. She had no authority for her act, other than that which was supplied by the prompting of her own labouring bosom, animated by the reports she had heard of Jesus's power and mercy throughout Judea. Her appeal was, therefore, an experiment; her success a peradventure. Do you ask, How could she, under such circumstances, continue to persevere? Rather say, why, under such circumstances as yours, you are not more encouraged to ceaseless importunity in prayer.

IV. A pious mother's prayer should be supported by that of such disciples. as know her case: -On the present occasion the disciples seem more compassionate than their Master; seemed, for in reality it was not so. They calmly observed all that passed, without taking any part in the matter; and it does not appear that they were much concerned about her repulse; but either their pity or their impatience was kindled by her clamorous importunity, which commanded that attention which she had failed to excite by the brief recital of her afflictions. The position the disciples occupied, on this occasion, was not very unlike that of the unjust judge, who, although he "neither feared God nor regarded man," yet determined to do justice to the poor widow, "lest, by her continual coming, she should weary" him: Be this as it may, the disciples, or several of them, at length drew near, and "besought him, saying, Send her away;" the next verse plainly shows that they wished him to grant her request, not simply to exert his authority in commanding her to be gone. This was an anxious moment to the suppliant. She saw, at a glance, that she had made some impression upon them, and now that she beholds one and another of them approaching their Master, her heart leaps within her, she is agitated between hope and fear. But oh! the cup is soon dashed from her lips; to her dismay she finds that he not only continues to repulse her, but to defend the deed by assigning a reason for it. Her heart, for the moment, sinks within her; but she soon rallies again, showing that, V. A pious mother, however she may value, will not rely on the prayers of other disciples.-Not an instant is now to be lost. Quick as thought, she rushes on, and falls before him. Behold her on her knees, with her eyes fixed on his, in imploring anguish, while again she cries out, "Lord, help me!" The disciples might abate their solicitude; by them her distress might soon be forgotten, but the iron remained in her soul; and hence while she varied her posture, she continued her petition, "Lord, help me!" Her case was special, and nothing but an answer could put an end to her prayer. She had now brought things to a crisis, and succeeded to open the lips of the great Physician, who, at length, condescended to assign a reason for his repulse, and a reason of such a nature as rather tended to increase her slight feeling of hope, than to quench it: "It is not meet to take the children's

bread, and cast it to the dogs." He speaks in a figure, meaning by chil dren the Jews, and by dogs the Gentiles. Her answer was inimitably happy, and such as indicates the possession of a mind of a superior order. In this sentence she utters the elements of a treatise. The modesty, the wit, the tact, the pertinence, are all and alike admirable. She meekly bows to his decision, but, catching the figure, she turns it to her purpose in a manner not to be resisted: "" Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table." The children had long been feasting, while the dogs had been receiving nothing. He had been working miracles of mercy throughout all Judea; for the Jews, during the whole period of his public ministry, had been enjoying one perpetual feast, and she thought they would not be injured by one stray act of power and pity to her afflicted child, although a poor heathen descendant of Canaan. For the first and the last time, in the whole of Messiah's sublime career, he permits a party to have what might be designated the better of the argument. She conducted her case in a manner not to be surpassed. The disciples made their request; they received their answer, and there was an end of their interference. They had nothing to say in reply. Not so the mother! To her, success was all the world; and it was now, or never! No advocate like a mother! Whether with God or with man, he has the best of all advocates, who has an intelligent and godly mother. She succeeded to the full extent of her desire. Great, however, as were her discretion, energy, and importunity, they were not the chief instruments of her success.

VI. A pious mother will believe as well as pray.-It is clear, we repeat, that, from the outset, this woman had the most implicit confidence in the sovereign power of Messiah; on this score she had no scruple whatever. The only thing she conceived to stand in the way of immediate and complete success was, his disposition to exert it; and to this point her entreaties are wholly directed. That he can is certain; that he will she fully believes. She is confident that he will grant her request. To her mind no difficulty seems to have stood in the way of success, on account of her heathenism. She clearly knew that both Jew and Gentile were made of one blood, and she presents her plea on the ground of a common nature. She thought worthily of the Son of God, and acted on her thoughts. She had heard much of his mercy, and resolved to prove it for herself. The faith which honours God, is the faith which God will honour. The Lord having thus tested her belief, first proclaims, and then rewards it, by delivering her daughter from the sorest calamity that can befal a human being. Let the mother who reads these lines be encouraged by the example.

VII. A pious mother's believing prayer will always be in the end triumphant.-The Lord Jesus had troubled the soul of this woman by his silence, but he now gladdens it all the more by his speech, such a speech as he seldom addressed to any of his auditors: "O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." By the record of these facts, she is handed over to immortality. This gracious answer will go down to the latest ages. They will last as long as language. By these few mighty words he at once and for ever relieves her from her affliction. The boon went to the full extent of her wishes "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." : The power went forth with the declaration; in an instant the evil and cruel spirit, by whom the young woman had been tormented, was cast out! We may well conceive of the wonder and joy of those who waited upon the sufferer when, in a moment, by some invisible means, she was brought to her right mind. Nothing was wanting to complete that joy, but the presence of the tender mother, who, as they naturally concluded, was in utter ignorance of the great change which was thus effected. Such, moreover, as knew the errand on which she had gone,

might regret her labour on a journey to the great Prophet, to solicit the bles sing which had come without his interference. They little knew how much she had been engaged in the business, and that this very work was the fruit of her intercession, which had put in motion the Prophet's power. Often do spiritual events in the history of children take place at the distance of half the globe, in answer to a mother's prayers. Well, the woman of Canaan believed the words of Jesus; her burden dropped; her soul was filled with grateful joy; she hastened to her home, where she was doubtless greeted on her arrival with shouts of welcome, and the intelligence of the wonder, which, in her absence, had been wrought in her daughter. What with her had been faith, had with them been sight; but now she shares the blessed vision! The scene may better be conceived than expressed. Happy mother! Happy child! Precious meeting! Let us leave them to their joyful tears, and fervent praises, and turn to our maternal readers.

the

Christian mothers! the history of this honoured woman speaks in tones of great tenderness and power to your loving bosoms, and calls upon you to apply to yourselves the lessons furnished by the analogy. Your beloved children are by nature in a condition far more awful than that of the daughter of the Syrophenician. Her case, how afflictive soever during her earthly pilgrimage, was yet compatible with the everlasting wellbeing of her soul. Not so the natural condition of your beloved offspring! Notwithstanding the blessing of sound minds in sound bodies, they are by nature in darkness, and under power of Satan. You know what is needful to be done in them, in order to their welfare both for time and for eternity, and who alone can bestow the blessing. You also know, and ought to be deeply convinced, that your gentle and godly agency is a primary element in the system of means by which this great work is to be brought about. It is impossible to express or even to conceive the extent of the importance which attaches to the instrumentality of a mother! Who can tell us the power of her instruction, her example, her tears, and her prayers? Ecclesiastical history and religious biography are full of facts illustrative of the general truth. Oh! British Mothers, exert that power for the salvation of the rising race, the good of your country, and the glory of the Son of God. Awake to a due sense of the magnitude of the work assigned you, to a full appreciation of the dignity of your character, and of the responsibility of your parental relation ! London, July, 1846.

X. Y. Z.

IMPORTANCE OF CHRISTIAN UNION.

STATEMENT ADOPTED BY SEVEN SCOTTISH DENOMINATIONS.

Ir is not a figment, but a reality, and the worth of the blessing cannot be overestimated. There is much to admire in the social compact, by which all the individuals in a state become fellow-workers and fellow-helpers; and elements seemingly feeble when apart, become sublime and invincible in their collective strength. But this confederation, grand as it is, and precious as it is, is not to be compared to the unity of Christ's church. There is such an alliance here as human wisdom never suggested, and human power never achieved. It subsists in the earth, but transcends all terrestrial restrictions, and

finds no interruption to its maintenance in the stable mountains or flowing ocean -in climate, rank, government, languages, or lineage. It embraces the infant and the veteran, the barbarian and the philosopher, the servant and the master-all classes, all peoples, all epochs. It defeats the stroke of death and the dissolution of the grave; and, in defiance of both, constitutes the church above and the church beneath one whole family. If anything could break these sacred bonds, it would be the folly of Christians themselves-the criminal heedlessness with which they violate the claims of a