Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

242 ST. MATTHEW.
. healed
severing hope, which grows the stronger by being
huinblcd and refused.
" 28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her,
O woman, great is thy faith : be it unto thee even
as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour."
Faith remains victorious at the last, triumphs, as
it were, over God himself, and, by a holy violence,
wrests out of his hands what he seemed determined
not to bestow. Jesus admires this faith, to the end
that we may admire and imitate it, and may reap the
same fruits and advantages from it. O woman,
great indeed is thy faith ! but, O my God, much
greater is thy mercy ! because this great faith is the
gift thereof. Faith is the foundation of the whole
Christian building ; but the foundation, as well as
the building, is the work of God. Faith, and the
desire to belong entirely to God, increase equally
together in a penitent's heart, and his cure is an-
swerable to them both. This is wrought in a mo-
ment, but the sinner is not so suddenly prepared
for it.
Sect. IV. Many healed. The Miracle of the
Seven Loaves.
" 29. 5f And Jesus departed from thence, and
came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into
a mountain, and sat down there. 30. And great
multitudes came unto him, having with them those
that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many
others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and he
them;"
That which we have here to imitate, is to follow