Either

the appearance they present. party, by itself, is an object of stirring interest; united, they form a spectacle striking indeed! On the one side stands the Lord of Life, surrounded by a wondering multitude, who had lately been witnesses of his miracles, and who now began to perceive that there was no work too mighty for him to perform. They were full of admiration, and joy, and triumph. From the other quarter comes the king of terrors-represented by the prostrate corse of his victim, and followed by a dismal throng of his reluctant and unwilling vassals. Here too there is triumph but it is the triumph of death, celebrated by the sobs, and groans, and wailings of his subjects. We cannot but be interested at this meeting; we cannot but be deeply anxious for the result, when two such powers are brought into collision. Let us recur to the sacred narrative.

"Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother,

and she was a widow and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.”

It was not probable that he who was all tenderness and mercy, and loving kindness, would suffer such a procession to pass by him unnoticed. It was not likely that he who came to bind up the broken-hearted, would fail to minister some consolation to the bitter griefs of this desolate one. Accordingly, "when he saw her, he had compassion on her." But his mode of declaring his sympathy must have sounded at first, somewhat

harsh and peremptory. "He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not!" " Weep not!" she might have answered, "Wherefore weep not? shall not I weep, who am now following to the grave, my strength, the joy of my glory, the desire of mine eyes, that whereon I had set my mind','-my son, mine only son? Surely the words of the prophet apply literally to me, and to the very

D

letter may

I follow them:-'O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thyself in ashes; make thee mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation. What meanest thou then by thine unnatural injunction, 'Weep not.'

If any such thoughts as these obtruded themselves upon the wretched widow, but little time was given her to indulge them. Jesus "came and touched the bier, and they that bare him stood still." They began to conjecture, perhaps from the multitude that followed him, that this was that prophet of Nazareth of whom so many wonders had been related :—or, they might have been told so by some of those followers, or, as is more probable than all, there was that air of majesty and dignity about Jesus, especially when on the point of working so signal a miracle, which left no choice to the persons addressed by him. They obeyed, immediately and involuntarily. If these were their feelings, the result proved that there were ample

1 Jer. vi. 26.

6

grounds for them. "He came and touched the bier, and said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." It was a strange saying that "Weep not," to the childless widow. What shall we think of this Arise' to the lifeless corpse? Fortunately there is no time allowed us for speculation. Behold! he that was dead sits up, and begins to speak; and ere we have yet recovered from our amazement, Christ hath" delivered him to his mother." Surely, "a great prophet hath risen up among us!" Surely, "God hath visited his people."

The review of the passage has occupied so much of our time, that but little remains for a particular application of it. This, however, is the less to be regretted, since the incidents themselves speak in language so plain, as to stand in no great need of an interpreter.-I said that from this portion of Scripture might be derived the most convincing arguments, and the most effectual consolations, for the relief of those who are suffering under the pressure of worldly sorrow. To per

sons so situated, what consolation can be more full than to be assured, that there is a Being above who sees, and feels for them in all their sufferings-who has full power to assuage, or remove themand has provided for them eventually, a remedy which should animate them in the endurance of their afflictions, by the prospect of the compensation which awaits them when they are past. Assurance is given us on all these points, by the events which took place before the gates of Nain.

"And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not." He who on another occasion wept over his bitter enemy, Jerusalem, when he thought upon the woes that awaited her-he who at the grave of Lazarus shed tears of sympathy with those who were lamenting a brother and a friend-he who, in short, never witnessed any scene of human wretchedness without feeling for it, nor perhaps without relieving it-could not, as we have before remarked, suffer distress like that