II. Our Lord met the corpse, not by chance, but by design, and offered, of His own accord, to raise the dead man. Oh, how frequently has He offered His assistance, to raise you from the death of sin, and you have refused. Beware lest you wilfully resist and contemn the grace which He offers you, for fear He may utter the dreadful sentence against you: " I will laugh in your destruction." (Prov. i. 24.)
III. Christ, moved with compassion for the forlorn widow, said to her, " Weep not," for you shall soon be comforted. In the same manner, do not you weep or be overcome with temporal losses which will soon be remedied; but rather reserve your tears for the everlasting evils that are the results of your own and others' sins. Of such as these it is said, " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matt. v. 5.)
THURSDAY.
Raising of the Widow's Son.— II.
I. "And He came near and touched the bier, (and they that carried it stood still,) and He said, Young man, I say to thee arise." (Luke vii. 14.) He speaks in the most imperious manner, to show that He is the Lord of all things, " that hath power of life and death, and leadeth down to the gates of death, and bringeth back again." (Wis. xvi. 13.) Sin is the death of the soul, and hell its grave, " For the rich man died, and he was buried in hell." (Luke xvi. 22.) The bier on which the sinful soul is conducted to hell is the body, and the bearers are our vicious habits; and as the bier of a dead man is often ornamented with silk and gold whilst the corpse
