answer the woman at first, not from pride, but he would not that his speech should be inconsistent with that in which he enjoined his disciples before his passion, thus saying, "Go not in the way of heathen men, and come not into the cities of the Samaritans." He would not give the plea to the Jews, that he despised them who held God's law, and drew to him the heathen folk who worshiped idols. Now Christ was silent at first on the crying of the woman, because while present he would conceal his vital announcement from the heathen nations. But after his resurrection from death, he commanded his apostles, thus saying, "Go, and teach all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Almighty Father, and of his Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and teach them that they observe all the things which I have commanded to you."

Christ's disciples approached him, and interceded with him for the woman, thus saying, "O Sir, dismiss her, for she crieth after us." As if they had said, Dismiss the sin, and grant her thy mercy, for she seeks our aid with inward heart. She did not cry exclusively to Peter, nor did she exhort Andrew, nor any of them exclusively, but besought all the apostolic company together with great earnestness, that they would intercede for her with the merciful Jesus. The Lord answered his apostles with these words, and said, "I am not sent save unto the sheep of the family of Israel that are lost." Verily the Almighty Father sent his onlybegotten Son invested with true humanity to the Jewish people, that they might the first, if they would, turn to baptism through Christ's doctrine. It was befitting them that they should the first believe in Christ, because they held the old law, and had knowledge of God from old days. Christ, therefore, preached himself to that one people, and from them chose his apostles and many other chosen saints: but when he saw that the greatest part of that people despised his doctrine, and that some also plotted against his life, he left them in

HOM. VOL. II.

I

he hí on heora geleaflæste, and geceas da hædenan leoda, þe geond ealne middaneard on deofolgyldum gelyfdon oð þæt.

Pæt wif com, and hí astrehte ætforan Drihtne, pus cweðende, "Drihten leof, help min." preo halige mægnu we gehyrað be disum wife on dissere rædinge: þæt is, geleafa, and geðyld, and eadmódnyss. Geleafan heo hæfde, forðan de heo gelyfde þæt Drihten mihte hire aweddan dohtor gehælan. Geðyld heo hæfde, ðaða heo forsewen wæs, and swaSeah anrædlice on hire benum purhwunade. Eadmód heo wæs, daða heo hí sylfe to hwelpum geemnette. Drihten cwæð to dam wife, "Nis na god þæt man nime his bearna hlaf, and wurpe hundum." pæt Israhela folc was gyo geteald to Godes bearnum, and hæðen folc geond ealle woruld to hundum, for heora fulum deawum. Nu is seo endebyrdnys þæra namena awend mid ðam geleafan. Hí sind gehatene hundas, and we scép. Witodlice se witega cwæð be Cristes ehterum, de hine acwealdon, "Fela hundas me ymbe eodon." Se witega, þurh Godes Gast, het da Iudeiscan Cristes slagan hundas, pe hine mid facenfullum mode ymbe eodon. Eft Crist sylf cwæð be ús, "Ic hæbbe oðre scép, pa de ne sind of dyssere eowde, and da ic sceal lædan, and hí gehyrað mine stemne."

pæt wif cwæð to Criste, "Gea, leof Drihten, swa-deah da hwelpas etað of dam crumon pe feallad of heora hlafordes mysan." Swide getácnigendlice spræc pis wif. Witodlice seo myse is seo bōclice lar, seode ús denað lifes hlaf. Be Sære mysan cwæð se witega, "Drihten, þu gegearcodest mysan on minre gesihde, togeanes dam þe me gedræfdon." Soolice after gastlicum andgite pa hwelpas etað ða cruman þe of heora hlafordes beode feallað, þonne da deoda, þe on hæðenscipe ær lagon, nu sind mid geleafan to heora Scyppende gebigede, and pære gastlican láre haligra gewrita brucað. We hêdað þæra crumena dæs hlafes, and ða Iudeiscan gnagað þa rinde; forðan de we understandað þæt gastlice andgit þæra boca, and hí rædað þa stæflican gerecced

their unbelief, and chose the heathen nations, which throughout all the world believed in idols until then.

The woman came and prostrated herself before the Lord, thus saying, "Dear Lord, help me." Three holy virtues we hear of this woman in this reading namely, belief, and patience, and lowliness. She had belief, because she believed that the Lord could heal her distracted daughter. Patience

she had, when she was neglected, and yet steadfastly persisted in her prayers. Lowly she was, when she compared herself to the whelps. The Lord said to the woman, "It is not good that a man take his children's bread, and cast it to the dogs." The people of Israel were of yore accounted as the children of God, and the heathen people, throughout all the world, as dogs, for their foul practices. Now is the order of those names changed with the belief. They are called dogs, and we sheep. Verily the prophet said of Christ's persecutors, who slew him, "Many dogs encompassed me." The prophet, through the Spirit of God, called the Jewish slayers of Christ dogs, who with guileful mind encompassed him. Afterwards, Christ himself said of us, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold, and those I will lead, and they will hear my voice."

The woman said to Christ, "Yea, dear Lord, yet the whelps eat of the crumbs that fall from their master's table." Very significantly spake this woman. Verily the table is the written lore, which ministers to us the bread of life. Of the table the prophet said, "Lord, thou hast prepared a table in my sight, against those who troubled me." But in a ghostly sense the whelps eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table, when the nations, which before lay in heathenism, are now with belief turned to their Creator, and partake of the ghostly lore of the holy writings. We heed the crumbs of the bread, and the Jews gnaw the crust; for we understand the ghostly signification of those books, and they read the literal narrative without signification. All their books,

nysse buton andgite. Ealle heora bec, de se heretoga Moyses oððe wîtegan be Godes dihte gesetton, ealle hí sprecað ymbe Cristes menniscnysse, and ymbe cristenra manna líf mid digelum andgite, and ða Iudeiscan ne hedað na mare buton Sære stæflican gereccednysse. We cristene men soðlice licgað under Godes mysan, and etað þa cruman his gastlican lare; forðan de we sind eadmódlice, mid lichaman and mid sawle, godcundlicum spræcum underdeodde to gefyllenne his beboda, þæt hé ús his behát gelæste.

"Drihten andwyrde pam Chananeiscum wife, and cwæð, Eala du wif, micel is ðin geleafa. Getimige de swa swa du wylt. And hire dohtor wearð þa gehæled of dære tide." For dam micclum geleafan þære meder forlet se deofol da dohtor. Mid dam is geseald bysen urum fulluhte, þæt da unsprecendan cild beod gehealdene on dam fulluhte, ðurh geleafan þæs fæder, and dære moder, and pæs foresprecendan godfæder, deah de þæt cild nyten sy.

Cristenra manna geleafan hæfð se Elmihtiga God mid manegum tacnum gewurdod purh his halgan: ærest on heora life, and sidðan æt heora halgum byrgenum, þam sy wuldor and wurðmynt á on ecnysse. Amen.

IIII. ID. MART.

SCI GREGORII PAPE URBIS ROMANE INCLITI.

GREGORIUS se halga papa, ENGLISCRE DEODE APOSTOL, on ðisum andwerdan dæge, æfter menigfealdum gedeorfum, and halgum gecnyrdnyssum, Godes rice gesæliglice astah. He is rihtlice Engliscre deode apostol, forðan de he, þurh his ræed and sande, ús fram deofles biggengum ætbræd, and to Godes geleafan gebigde. Manega hâlige bếc cyðað his drohtnunge and his halige líf, and eac Historia Anglorum,' da de

!

which the leader Moses or the prophets composed by God's direction, all speak of Christ's humanity, and of the life of christian men, with a hidden signification, and the Jews heed no more than the literal narrative. We christian men truly lie under God's table, and eat the crumbs of his ghostly lore; for we are humbly, with body and with soul, and by divine precepts, made subservient to the fulfilling of his commandments, that he may perform his promise unto us.

"The Lord answered the Canaanitish woman, and said, O thou woman, great is thy belief. Betide thee as thou wilt. And her daughter was healed from that time." For the great belief of the mother the devil forsook the daughter. Thereby is given an example for our baptism, that the unspeaking children will be saved by baptism, through the belief of the father and of the mother, and of the responsible godfather, though the child be unconscious.

The Almighty God has honoured the belief of christian men by many tokens through his saints: first in their lives, and afterwards at their holy sepulchres, to whom be glory and dignity ever to eternity. Amen.

MARCH XII.

ST. GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE OF ROME.

GREGORY the holy pope, THE APOSTLE of the English NATION, on this present day, after manifold labours and holy studies, happily ascended to God's kingdom. He is rightly the apostle of the English nation, for he, through his counsel and mission, withdrew us from the worship of the devil, and turned us to the belief of God. Many holy books manifest his conduct and his holy life, and also the Historia Anglo