Dear [[firstname|Friend]],

It is impossible to state a great portion of the truth of God in the way of doctrine. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ;" and it is by tracking Him in His way as He walked through this world, that we discover how much higher His ways are than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts. Faith always gets a great deal more than faith can possibly reckon on. Faith receives that which God gives, and none can know the extent of that but "the Spirit who searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God," and whose office it is to reveal to us "the things that are freely given to us of God." If faith picks up a crumb, it finds in that crumb that which satisfies for ever.

In the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, ..."Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." She was a woman of Canaan, one of a cursed race, who could prefer no claim to the protection of the God of Israel; she was a "stranger to the covenants of promise." ... "But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away ; for she crieth after us. But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

"Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me." The Lord had taken away from her all ground of claim ; but this, instead of repulsing her, only brings her closer to Him, and low before His feet. There was that in her which said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." There was faith in her, however unconscious she was of its existence and preciousness; for faith, like charity, never vaunts itself. On the contrary, it expresses need and helplessness, vileness and ignorance. "Lord, help me." But still the help does not immediately come. The Lord waits to be gracious. He knows how to call faith into exercise, and to make it plain, that " He has mercy on whom He will have mercy ;" and this is His glory.

"But He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." "Without are dogs." Will she take the place of an outcast? Will she not resent as an insult the name? Will she acknowledge Israel to have title to the Lord's favour, as being "children of the covenants, and of the promise which God made unto Abraham," and herself to have no such ground to stand on? Will she snatch the children's bread from them ?

"And she cried, Truth, Lord : yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table."

Faith can never take too low a place; it leads to self-humbling, and, at the same time, to the exaltation of God into His right place. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." It is God Himself with whom faith has to do. Without faith we may seek things which God alone can give, but faith seeks God Himself. "Truth, Lord," is the language of faith. ...

Little did that poor outcast woman, who took the dog's place and used the dog's plea, know the depth of the meaning of that which she uttered. But there was One there able to answer her above either what she asked or even thought. "Then Jesus answered and said unto her, 0 woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour."

"All things are possible to him that believeth." Let the desires be raised to the utmost, still the answer of God to faith will be found beyond our largest desires. It is God in all the riches of His grace, the immensity of His power, and the unsearehableness of His wisdom, who really interprets the cry of faith, and answers it according to what He Himself is. "Be it unto thee, even as thou wilt."

But what a crumb did this poor dog pick up! ... The cross of Christ is the real crumb, and is the very means by which all the fulness of Jesus is laid open to a needy sinner. ... Could we suppose the largest expectations of an Israelite, or even of the Lord's own immediate disciples, to have been granted them by Jesus when He was among them, how infinitely short would all this be to the crumb which faith picks up in confessing a rejected Christ. Their thought was, that He would have redeemed Israel. This would, indeed, have been blessed for them; but look at the crumb -- "In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace."

This is the crumb which faith picks up now; and when once tasted, it becomes the warrant for the largest expectations; for God's way is to give at once the greatest blessing as a security for all others. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" ... And it is only when under "the manifold grace of our God," who is excellent in working, that one and another is constrained to say, "Truth, Lord;" I am a sinner, I am lost, that the rejected Gospel is really received; and that wonderful crumb, even the doctrine of Christ crucified, becomes to the soul "the power of God, and the wisdom of God." To the burdened, weary, empty, craving sinner, the crumb is proffered ; and wherever it is received, the gracious word is added, "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt."