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Prayer.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who orderest all the affairs of men according to Thy never-ceasing providence, wisdom, and love, Who makest both rich and poor to glorify Thy holy name, and with Whom is no respect of persons, Grant, we earnestly beseech Thee, that we may be contented each one with that station in life which Thou hast assigned to us. Save us from setting our hearts upon uncertain riches, which can neither profit nor deliver, for they are vain. Give Thy Holy Spirit to those to whom Thou hast imparted a larger portion of this world's goods, that they may be ready to give, and glad to distribute, and that being good and faithful stewards of that which Thou hast entrusted to their charge, they may see Thy dearly-beloved Son's face with joy at His appearing. Have mercy upon the poor and the sick, and especially upon this our sick brother. Grant that, through Thy Holy Spirit, he may say to Thee : "In the midst of the sorrows that I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed my soul." If Thou willest that his should be, in any degree, the portion of Lazarus in this life, give him, we pray Thee, a renewed heart, and for Thy dear Son's sake, because

of His precious blood-shedding and intercession, grant to him a portion like that of Lazarus, in the world to come. Quicken him with Thy salvation, draw near to him in his gloom and heaviness; give to him warm, glowing, fruitful faith, patient hope, and a lowly, submissive heart. Hear us, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, for Thy dear Son's sake, to Whom with Thee, oh Father, and Thee, oh Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, for ever and ever.

Amen.

XXVII.

THE LORD JESUS RAISING THE WIDOW'S SON.

ST. LUKE vii. 11-17.

How often, my brother, have you heard this surpassingly wonderful history before, without having bestowed more than a brief moment or two on the consideration of it! Placed as we are at a distance of eighteen centuries from the time when that which is here related took place, though we may believe

implicitly its details, we cannot feel the lively clamorous excitement, and admiration for the Lord, of the multitudes who were eye-witnesses of it. But our faith too often gives only a cold assent to this history of Christ raising the widow's son, when we ought rather to turn it over and over again in our minds, with devout thankfulness and joy. May God graciously enable us to meditate upon it in such a manner now, as shall serve to dissipate from your mind the gloom of sickness! When the sick believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is reduced to bodily weakness and mental depression, it is time for him to follow in imagination and in faith the footsteps of that Saviour, Whose he is and Whom he serves, that he may see the wonders He has done for the children of men, and may have confidence, through God's grace, that, if He sees it to be fit, the unchangeable Saviour can and will exert the same. omnipotent love and power in his own behalf.

This great miracle, like all the others wrought by our adorable Lord, was not done in a corner. There were very many witnesses of it. Christ had many of His disciples with Him, and much people. On the day before He had healed the centurion's servant. Our blessed Saviour's miracles, both on account of their number, and of the power and compassionate love they displayed, must have fascinated and entranced all reasonable beholders. We cannot wonder

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that immense crowds followed Him about, possessed by a kind of half-believing curiosity, anxious to add proof to proof, that in Him they beheld the One of Whose works Isaiah had written (xxxv. 5, 6) "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." And besides the many people that followed in our Saviour's train on the present occasion, there were very many citizens with the bereaved widow, anxious to show their sympathy with her in the crushing loss she had sustained. Our Saviour came to show Himself Almighty over the ills that desolate mankind. Those ills are common to us all-misery, disease, and death. And He permitted multitudes to behold His power to renovate fallen and suffering humanity, that so the faith of those who should then and afterwards believe in Him, might be thereby strengthened.

How very precious it is to contemplate the compassions of Jesus, in union with His Almighty Power to save, and with the unchangeableness of His nature. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." And thereby we know that he bears our griefs, and carries our sorrows now. The desolate and grief-stricken widow of Nain was no more to him than are those in our own days who are similarly

placed. Your sorrows are known to Him, and rest assured He loves and compassionates you no less than He loved and compassionated the afflicted when He moved visibly in and out among them. Oh with what infinite tenderness would He bid the widow of Nain-"Weep not." My brother, what inconceivable bliss should you and I experience in the season of deep sorrow, if we could only see That loving face bending over us in our sufferings, and saying to us "Weep not." But why should you not feel that at this moment, He is with you? Why should you not feel that to Him who created you, all your sorrows must be known, and not only known but felt. This is one of the deep blisses of union with Him, that then, just as in the natural body, when one member is in pain, the others sympathise with it, so the glorified Head feels acutely all that distresses His suffering body, the Church, during her sojourn below.

But blessed truth, the Saviour does more than sympathise. When He wills, He can exert Omnipotence, and set aside the ordinary course of things to give the sufferer relief. We may be very deeply comforted by this thought, though He does not raise our dead in these days. It may safely be concluded that during our Lord's sojourn among men in the flesh many deaths took place. There were many widows then in Israel, and very possibly not a few among them would be similarly circumstanced with

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