forth to lead them to himself, is appointed | with and consoles her. But how different to make their hearts burn with joy in their is his conduct towards the gentle Mary! way to him. And this is not all. Even She hears from Martha, that he was come, when sorrow and crying shall be done away, when all his people are brought to heaven, and not a grief can be found among them all, what is his language? It seems as though he could not bear the thought of ceasing from the work he loves. He speaks of himself as still employed in it. He "shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." 2. This saying of Christ may show us also his knowledge of the human heart. Deep grief will not bear many words. Reasoning is thrown away upon it. Offered in such a form, comfort is worse than useless; it wearies and oppresses. The fact is, that a severe sufferer cannot reason. He is alive to feeling only; and it is by feeling that we must reach his heart. Reason with him, and though your words be wise as an angel's, they will do him no good. He will only say with another harassed mourner, "I have heard many such things. Miserable comforters are ye all." But show the man compassion, and he understands your kindness. Feel for him and with him; he thanks you, and is comforted. Look at the friends of Job. They acted at first with a wisdom and tenderness that make us love them. As soon as "they heard of all the evil that was come upon him, they came to mourn with him and to comfort him." And how did they proceed? "They lifted up their voice and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads towards heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights; and none spake a word unto him, for they saw that his grief was very great. It was precisely in the spirit of these men, that our Lord acted towards this bereaved mother. "He had compassion on her." He said just enough to show the feeling, and then was silent. It was the same at Bethany. Martha meets the Saviour as he was drawing near to her afflicted home. She was in sorrow. She loved her brother, and she mourned for him; but she had not Mary's depth of feeling; her grief was calm. She addresses her Lord like one who could listen to consolation, and who wished for it. He accordingly speaks to her; he reasons at whose blessed feet she had often sat; and with all the speed which love could give her, she rises up and runs to him. One sentence is all that her bursting heart would allow to come from her; the next moment she is on the ground at his feet. Mark his conduct. He probably loved this woman more than he loved Martha: she loved him more; she was more like him but not a word of consolation does he offer her. He shows his love in another manner. He groaned in the spirit;" he "wept." And then, as though he could bear no more, as though he were impatient to end her anguish, he abruptly asks, "Where have ye laid him?" and calls the departed Lazarus from his tomb. If this, brethren, be not human feeling, and tender and refined human feeling, where shall we find it? The Lord Jesus Christ knows the heart. He knows all its workings, and feelings, and windings. He knows it altogether. No peculiarity of disposition or of situation can hide one of its thoughts from him. We cannot thus enter into each other's hearts. We are not all formed alike; we do not feel alike; we are not all affected in the same manner and degree by the same circumstances. We therefore perplex one another. Our fellow-man seems strange to us, and we strange to him. But Christ can understand us all. He can fathom every heart to the very bottom of its sorrows. And why? Because he knows by experience what is in man. There was laid on him the misery, as well as the iniquity, of us all. He is acquainted with our griefs, because "he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;" all our griefs and all our sorrows. Hear the apostle's statement of this truth; "We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted," or troubled, "like as we are." The subject we have thus considered, may be applied to many practical uses. It shows us the importance of a frequent remembrance of the Redeemer's manhood, We are all born to trouble. However diversified our lots may be, every one of us will find, in the end, that sorrow is his birthright. Now sorrow, when it is heavy and long continued, weakens the mind. It can | Hear his own gracious invitation; "Come be effectually relieved by God only, but unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy its tendency is to render us less disposed laden, and I will give you rest." If you to lift up our hearts to God, less ready to are heavy laden, no matter what the burcall into exercise those principles which den may be which weighs you down, this have been in ordinary troubles our support call is addressed to you. It may be true and solace. The great God seems so high that you are not his followers, that you above us, so distant from us, that we de- have never sought the cleansing of his spair of reaching him. We say indeed, blood, nor accepted his great salvation; it with Job, "O that I knew where I might may be true that you have lived in ignofind him! that I might come even to his rance of him all your days; but are you seat!" but then we too often add with de- weary? are you burdened? are you opsponding Zion, "The Lord hath forsaken pressed? Then come to the Lord Jesus me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." And Christ for relief. This widow was a stranyet at this very time perhaps, we can talk ger to him, yet "he had compassion on of our griefs to a fellow-sufferer, and feel her;" why should he refuse to pity you? them lessened as we tell him of them. If you have rejected him as a Saviour, de not reject him as a Friend. It would indeed be awful to be the objects of his mercy for a few short years, and then to endure his wrath forever. But if you will not stretch forth your hand for his richest blessings, go to him for his least. Any thing that brings you to his feet, brings you near the source of every mercy. None ever offered to him a single petition, but he received more than he sought. For six thousand years he has been wont to give more than either we desire or deserve. You may ask him only for the healing of a broken heart; he may give you salvation for a lost soul. The consolation you receive may be the beginning of an eternity of joy. Here then we discover the means by which we may hold communion with the God of heaven. Set him before you as the Son of man. Look on him as he appeared in mortal flesh, "a man of sorrows;' a man of deep experience in all the woes which can rack the heart; a man of the liveliest, tenderest, most intense compassion. Place him, as it were, by your side. Regard him as your "companion in tribulation." Like Enoch, walk with him. Like John, lean on his bosom. He is not ashamed to call his people brethren; Olet them not be afraid to use him as a Brother and a Friend! This scripture directs us also where to go for compassion. You are ready, brethren, to turn for it to earthly friends. Your hearts often ache for the sympathy of some fellow-worm. Which of you has not said in his trouble, "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me?" And what is their pity when you obtain it? You feel that it seldom reaches your case, that it never goes so far as your sorrows go. There is something in your grief, which you cannot make even your tenderest friend comprehend; something which you must bear alone. These disappointments bid you look higher. They tell you that the earth cannot afford a wounded spirit the sympathy it craves. There is but One in all the universe, who can show or feel it. He feels it already; he is prepared to show it, ready to meet you as a Friend. He has endured much, that he might be qualified to have compassion on you. O that you could be prevailed on to make trial of his love! They who make light of Christ, may see here how gracious a Being they despise. And all of us most assuredly make light of him, who refuse to avail ourselves of his love towards us. That respect cannot be sincere, which allows us to seek our happiness anywhere rather than in him, which sets no value on any of his mercies, which rejects him in every character that he assumes, treating with equal neglect his offers for eternity and for time. It is not from infinite greatness only, that you are turning away, brethren. It is from infinite kindness, and compassion, and grace; from tenderness which exceeds that of the mother who bare you; which you may search for elsewhere, through earth and heaven, and will never find. Need I say that there is folly in your conduct? O that there were nothing worse! There is guilt in it, the deadliest guilt that can lie on the soul. And there is danger too. Insulted greatness is fearful, but despised love is tremendous. It is the sting of that worm which never dies, it is the fierceness of that flame which is never quenched. No wrath so dreadful as "the wrath of the Lamb;" none more certain. It is coming on. Ere long it will triumph over the patience which now seems boundless, and rise above the compassion which nothing else can exhaust. "Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him." Shall I say, "Lift up your heads with joy, for your redemption draweth nigh?" Let me rather say, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God?" WE often say that nothing teaches like affliction. But affliction is not our only teacher. Mercy instructs, as well as sorrow. Indeed it is only when it leads to mercy, when it shows us our need of mercy and makes us seek it, that sorrow does us any lasting good. The grand means which the Holy Ghost employs to relieve and bless wretched man, is love, a discovery of the abounding grace of God in Jesus Christ. It follows, therefore, that signal mercies have lessons for us, as well as signal calamities. Their errand is not done when they have gladdened us; no, nor even when they have warmed our hearts with thankfulness. They are teachers sent from heaven, and, like afflictions, they will bear witness either for or against us at the judgment-seat of God. A woman in deep affliction had arrested the notice of our Lord. She was a widow, and at the time he saw her, she was following to the grave an only son. His soul was moved with her misery. He paused for a moment to address to her two short words of kindness; and then followed one of the most extraordinary displays of mercy that ever brought glory to the living God. It is described in the text with admirable simplicity and force. So great indeed is the beauty of the apostle's narrative, that we are in danger of forgetting, in our admiration of it, that it was written for our instruction. The subject which it offers for our meditation, is the relief which this distressed woman received in her affliction. We may consider this in five points of view ;the time when she obtained it, the manner in which it was given her, the power which wrought it, the love which was displayed in its communication, and the effects which it produced in those who witnessed it. I. Consider the time when her relief came. It was a time when she least expected it. None but a parent can tell how hope clings to a parent's heart. A few days ago, a word of kindness from Christ, or even his presence, would perhaps have made this woman eager with expectation. He had healed many that were sick; with what imploring earnestness would she have besought him to heal her son! But now her case seemed hopeless. Her son was dead. His grave-clothes were wrapped around him. The gate of the city was passed. In another hour he would be closed up in his tomb. We accordingly find her silent; grateful perhaps for the pity shown her by this strange Comforter, but neither imploring nor expecting his aid. Learn here then this lesson-Never think your case desperate; never deem yourselves beyond the reach of help. It is never Some of us greatly need this caution. No sooner does grief come to us, than despair comes with it. We no more expect relief, than we expect the sun at midnight. But what does this history say? What do a thousand histories tell us? too late for Christ to help us. On this side of eternity, not a spot can be found nor a situation thought of, where man need despair. There is no guilt which may not be pardoned, no evil which may not be cured, no darkness which may not be turned into light and joy. Indeed relief is generally the nearest to us, when our case appears the most desperate. It is God's way to delay his help, till all hope from every other source is gone. No situation could be more perilous, than that of Israel in their departure from Egypt. Their destruction seemed inevitable. On one side of them rose Pihahiroth, a range of lofty cliffs; on the other side were the forts and garrisons of the Egyptians. Before them was a roaring sea; behind them, the enraged Pharaoh, with his army and chariots. This helpless people gave themselves up to despair one hour, and saw in the next the salvation of God. Before another day had well begun, their enemies were overwhelmed in the waters, while they themselves were making the shore resound with their song of deliverance. Lazarus of Bethany was sick. His sisters sent to Jesus a most touching message; "Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest, is sick." But Jesus hastened not to his friend; He abode two days still in the same place where he was. Lazarus died, and then at last said the Saviour, "I go." He went, and the buried Lazarus lived. 66 II. Observe the manner in which, in this instance, his aid was given. It came from a Being from whom nothing was expected, and in a way of which this afflicted woman never thought. If she thought at all of comfort, she looked for it perhaps only in death, in joining her husband and her son, in going to them who could not come to her. Not one in all the multitude around her expected Jesus of Nazareth to be her Comforter, much less her lost son to rise up from the dead to dry her tears. Signal mercies seldom reach us in the way we look for them. The Lord generally draws near to us in an unexpected manner, as well as at an unexpected time. Israel, in the desert, were perishing with hunger; their food came from the clouds. They were dying with thirst; "he brought them forth water out of the rock of flint." And think of that greatest of all Jehovah's doings, the redemption of his church. Had men and angels sat in council to devise a Even when his aid is earnestly sought, plan by which lost sinners might be saved, it is often for a time denied. It lingers: could it ever have entered into their hearts the wheels of his chariot tarry. Nay, to conceive of the incarnation of the Son of while we are on our knees before him, our God? of bringing him from the bosom of situation may become darker, and our af- his Father, and placing him in degradation fliction heavier. Jairus had an only daugh- and misery in such a world as this? And ter. Like many an only child, she was how have our own best mercies come? struck by God. Her father trembled for And how are they daily coming? her life. He flies in his anguish to Christ. from the friends on whom we have most He falls down at his feet, and "beseeches depended; not through the channels which him greatly to come and lay his hands on we have thought must bring them. No. All his little daughter, that she may live." these have again and again failed us. They Jesus goes with him, but he moves not with have been sent us by means of which we a father's haste. He stops in his way to never dreamed. They have come in a commend the faith of another sufferer, and way which has filled us with wonder, while poor Jairus hears a healed woman while it has shown us the hand and amabless him, his rising hopes are at once de-zing greatness of our God. stroyed. There came one from his house, III. Consider now the power manifested which said, 66 Thy daughter is dead." in the case before us. She was dead; and yet this very child, ere another hour had passed, breathed and moved. "Her spirit came again, and she arose.' And why does the Lord act thus? For wise and gracious ends-to call us off from earthly confidence and lying refuges, to bring down the pride of our rebellious hearts, to lay us in conscious littleness and helplessness at his feet, to make us glorify his matchless wisdom when our deliverance comes. He has often too the very same ends in view, in the mode which he adopts to help us. Not In order to form a correct idea of this affecting scene, we must recollect that the mode of burial among the Jews was not precisely the same as among ourselves. The dead were not shut out from sight, when they were carried to the tomb. Their bodies were carefully wrapped in linen, and then laid on an open bier. Thus after the resurrection of our Lord, we are told of the linen clothes and napkin that were left in his forsaken sepulchre, but not a word is said of any coffin. There was none. And it is of importance, in the instance before us, to bear this circumstance in mind. It proves this young man to be actually dead. The multitude saw him dead. His restoration to life was therefore a real, and not a pretended miracle. He can raise us. Look forward. When a few more years are gone, we shall all be in the situation of this young man; we shall be dead. Not a man of us will Behold the Saviour then turning from the breathe the air or see the sun. Our friends weeping mother to the corpse of her son. will carry us out of the houses we now "He came and touched the bier." Awed inhabit. We shall be left alone in the by that countenance before which the earth ground. And what will become of us and the heavens will one day flee away, there? We shall see corruption. This "they that bare him, stood still." For a breathing clay, these bodies which we love moment all is suspense and wonder; and so well, will be as the clods which cover then this compassionate Man takes on him- them, vile earth and dust. And what if it self the majesty and authority of God. be so? He that said to a sorrowful mother, "By his word the heavens were made," "Weep not," says to his dying saints, and now by the breath of his mouth he con"Fear not. I am he that liveth and was trols the dead. The silent multitude hear dead, and, behold, I am alive forever more; the command go forth, " Young man, I say amen; and have the keys of hell and of unto thee, Arise ;" and before their won- death." If, when we die, we “die in the dering eyes, the dead obeys. Whence the Lord," this is the promise he gives us to spirit came, we know not; in a moment it take with us to our graves, "He that be. was there, entering and animating its for- lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet mer clay. "He that was dead, sat up, and shall he live. I will raise him up at the began to speak." And what were his words? last day." The same voice that reached It is useless to ask. Let us rather inquire this widow's son on his bier, can reach us what ought to be our own. Are they not these, in our beds of dust. It will be as power"Verily, this man was the Son of God?" ful around this church, as in the gate of 1. We have before us a signal proof of Nain. We ourselves shall hear it. the Redeemer's Godhead. shall come forth and live. We 3. We may discover also here the power of Christ over the human soul. When it has left the body, he can recall it at his will from its unknown abode. He can therefore reach it and control it while in the flesh. If he can by a word restore natural life, he can surely with as much ease restore spiritual life also. Their Others have raised the dead; but they have done so by means which plainly declared that the power they exercised was not their own. Elijah, we are told, "cried unto the Lord" at Zarephath. Elisha "prayed unto the Lord," when he restored to the Shunamite her son. Peter" kneeled down and prayed," before he said to Tabitha, "Arise." Our Lord, on the con- Our souls are dead, brethren. trary, acts like one who needs no assist- spiritual and better life is gone; they are ance, who knows no limits to his power."alienated from the life of God;" they He commands, and is obeyed; he speaks," are dead in trespasses and sins." The and it is done. A word brings Lazarus scripture tells us so. It discovers to us from his sepulchre; a word raises this also the evil and danger of this state. It widow's son from his bier. Where is the assures us that before we can see God, we mortal man who could thus perform such must be raised out of it; we must expea work as this? Where is the angel who rience within us a change as real and great would dare attempt it? The power which as the reanimation of a corpse. And how accomplished it, is the same which breathed is this great change to be accomplished? into man at first the breath of life. The Only by the "working of that mighty Being who exercised it, is the mighty God. power" which can raise the dead. If then And what follows? any of you are mourning over your own dead souls, Christ is your life. Neither men nor angels can help you; but this is your consolation, that he who said to this young man, "Arise," can work in you both "to will and to do of his good pleas ure." 2. A second fact of which this miracle reminds us the ability of Christ to raise all the dead. Nothing but omnipotence could restore life to one dead body; omnipotence can quicken whom it will. He who raised one, can raise a thousand, can raise a world. But you are mourning perhaps over the |