112 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED at the time when we expeeted deliver ance, we meet with new diftreffes; and though the Lord follows us with flroke after ftroke, and lays one affliction upon another, ítí11 we ought to continue pur petitions, to lay them at his feet, to take no ref} till he anfwers our prayers, and to determine, that we will not let him go until he blefsus. And we may ref} affured, that whofoever is enabled, like the Ca- naanitifh woman, thus ardently, vehe- mently, humbly, and perfeveringly, to continue their fupplications to the Son of God, will fooner or later, like her, find the defired relief. JEsus being returned from the coafts of Tyre and Sidon, and taking a tour through the region ofDecapolis, a man was brought to him who was deaf and dumb. The divine Phyficianwas always ready to relieve fuch objects of affliction and diflrefs as ap- plied tohim : but, as the multitude thronged about him, expecting he would foon fet up his kingdom, he thought proper to take the difeafed perfon and his relations afide from the throng; he then put his fingers in his ears, and touched his tongue, that the deaf man, who could not be informed by lan- guage, might mark the great perfon who was his benefaé}or. He then looked u1 to heaven, and fighed, and faid unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened : andfiraight- way his ears were opened, and the firing of his tongue was looted, and he fake plain. And he charged them, that they jhould tell no man. This injunction, however, was very little regarded ; for, the man and his rela- tions were fo elated with the benefit they had received, and the miraculous manner in which that benefit had been conferred, their hearts were fo full of gratitude to the great perfon from whom this unfpeak- i able favour had been received, that they t publifhed it in every part of the country; b doubtlefs, thinking they could not be too t lavifh in the praifes of fo great a benefac- tor, efpecially as the modefly in which g he performed the miracles, fully manifefted the uprightnefs of his intentions, and (hewed, that he did not aim at popular applaufe, but only fought after the real benefit of mankind. The waft crowds that gathered about our exalted Redeemer, were fuch as it was a trouble to bear: he, therefore, to avoid fuch prodigious numbers of people as the fame of his miracles had brought together, retired to a defert mountain near the fea of Galilee. But the folitary (hades of the wildernefs could not long conceal the great Benefactor of the human race : multitudes, who were related to helplefs objects of diftrefs, foon dìfcovered the place of his retreat, and brought to him from all quar- ters, the fick, the lame, the blind, the dumb, and the maimed. The compaflion- ate Saviour of finners was moved at the fight of fo many piteous objeas ; he gra- cioufly releafed them from their feveral complaints, and reflored them to health and flrength. Miracles like thefe could not fail of exciting the veneration and wonder of the numerous fpectators: but, above all, the refloring the dumb to the faculty of fpeech, filled the beholders with aflonifhment; for, it mutt be obferved, that he not only conferred on thefe per- fons the faculty of hearing, and pro- nouncing founds, but inflantaneoufly con- veyed into their minds the whole language of their country : they were inflantly ac- quainted with the various words it con- tained, their fignifications, their forms, their powers, and their ufes, and, at once, acquired the habit of fpeaking properly, and fluently. This furely was fufficient to have convinced the molt ignorant and flupid of the human race, that fuch works could be efleaed by nothing lefs than the mighty power of God; and, we are nformed, that the multitude wondered when heytaw the dumb tofpeak, the maimed to e whole, the lame to walk, and the blind ofee ; and theyglored the God ofIfrael. The attending to the various cures our reat Redeemer performed, detained the multitude three days in the defert ; during. which 3
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