CHAPTER V. RESTORES TO LIFE THE WIDOW'S SON AT NAIN; MIRACULOUS CURE AT THE AVING received their commission, the apostles visited all the parts of Palestine where the Jews inhabited, preaching the doctrine of repentance, working miracles for its confirmation, and par ticularly healing the sick, while our blessed Saviour continued the course of his ministry in Galilee. The apostles being returned from their tour, Jesus went to Nain, a town situated near Endor, about two miles south of Mount Tabor, attended by many of his disciples, and a great multitude of people. On their coming to the entrance of the city, a melancholy scene presented itself to the eyes of Jesus and his followers. "Behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow." Who would not have imagined that God had indeed "forgotten to be gracious, and in his anger shut up his tender mercies" from this poor widow, suffering under the heaviest load, and laboring under the most oppressive burden of distress? deprived of her only son, in the flower of his youth, when he might have repaid his mother's toils, and been to her in the place of a husband; of that husband she had not long since lost, and whose loss was supportable only through the comfort of this child, the surviving image of his departed father, the balm of all her grief, the hope of her afflicted soul. Who now shall administer consolation to this solitary widow, to this lonely parent, bereaved of her husband, deprived of her child? What misery can be more complicated? What can be more natural than that she should "refuse to be com forted?" that she should "go down to the grave with mourn ing," and visit the chambers of death, the residence of the beloved remains of her husband and son, with sorrow? Toward the receptacle of mortality, that dreary waste of forgetfulness, the mournful funeral with slow and solemn pomp was advancing, when the compassionate Redeemer of mankind met the melancholy procession, composed of a long train of her weeping neighbors and relations, who pitied her distress, sympathized with her in this great affliction, and were melted with compassion at her deplorable circumstances; but sighs and tears were all they had to offer; relief could not be expected from a human being: their commiseration, though grateful to her afflicted soul, could neither restore the husband nor the son; submission and patience were the only lessons they could preach, or this afflicted daughter of Israel learn. But though man was unable to relieve the distresses of this disconsolate widow, the Saviour of the world, who beheld the melancholy procession, was both able and willing to do it. There was no need of a powerful solicitor to implore assistance from the Son of God; his own compassion was abundantly sufficient. "When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her;" he both sought the patient, and offered the cure unexpectedly. "Weep not," said the blessed Jesus to this afflicted woman. Alas! it had been wholly in vain to bid her refrain from tears who had lost her only child, the sole comfort of her age, without administering the balm of comfort to heal her broken spirit. This our compassionate Redeemer well knew; and, therefore, immediately advancing toward the corpse, "he touched the bier;" the pomp of the funeral was instantly stopped, silence closed every mouth, and expectation filled the breast of every spectator. But this deep suspense did not long continue; that glorious voice which shall one day call our dead bodies from the grave, filled their ears with these remarkable words: "Young man, I say unto thee, arise!" Nor was this powerful command uttered without its sure effect. "He spake, and it was done;" he called with authority, and immediately "he that was dead sat up, and began to speak; and he restored him to his mother." He did not show him around to the multitude; but, by a singular act of modesty and humanity, delivered him to his late afflicted, now astonished and rejoicing mother, to intimate that, in compassion to her great distress he had wrought this stupendous miracle. A holy and an awful fear fell on all who heard and saw this astonishing event; "and they glorified God, saying, a great prophet is risen up among us; and God hath visited his people." Soon after this, having concluded a public address, one of the Pharisees, named Simon, desired he would "eat with him;" the blessed Jesus accepted the invitation, accompanied him to his house, and sat down to meat. He had not long continued at the table, before a woman who had lately left the paths of vice for those of virtue, placed herself behind him, and from a deep conviction of her former crimes, and the obligations she owed the Saviour of mankind for bringing her to a sense of them, shed such quantities of tears that they trickled down on his feet, which, according to the custom of the country, were then bare. But observing that her tears had wet the feet of her beloved instructor, she immediately wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed them with the most ardent affection, and anointed them with a precious ointment she had brought with her for that purpose. It was a custom among the inhabitants of the east, to pour fragrant oils on the heads of such guests as they intended particularly to honor, while they sat at meat; and probably the woman's original intention was to anoint Jesus in the usual manner. But, being exceedingly humbled on account of her former crimes, she could not presume to take such a freedom with him, and therefore poured it on his feet, to express at once the greatness of her love, and the profoundness of her humility. The Pharisee, who had attentively observed the woman, concluded from thence that the Saviour could not be a prophet. "This man," said the Pharisee to himself, "if he were a prophet, would have known who, and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him; for she is a sinner." But though Simon spoke this only in his heart, his thoughts were not concealed from the great Redeemer of mankind, who, to convince him that he was a prophet, and knew not only the characters of men, but even the secret thoughts of their hearts, immediately conversed with him upon the very subject he was revolving in his mind. He did not indeed expose him before the company, by relating what he said in secret, but with remarkable delicacy pointed out to Simon alone the unreasonableness of his thoughts. "Simon," said the blessed Jesus, "I have something to say to thee: there was a certain creditor which had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most?" Simon answered and said, "I suppose that he to whom he forgave most." And he said unto him, "Thou hast rightly judged;" and then immediately applied this short parable to the subject of the woman, on which the Pharisee had so unjustly reasoned with himself. "Simon," continued our Saviour, "seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss; but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment." This woman's kind services were in no danger of losing their reward from the blessed Jesus, who possessed the softer and finer feelings of human nature in their utmost perfection. Accordingly, he added, in pursuance of the kind invitation he had made before to weary and heavy-laden sinners, "Wherefore, I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." The blessed Jesus having thus commended the conduct of the woman to the company, and rebuked, with great delicacy, the unjust suspicions of Simon, turned himself to the woman, and in the kindest manner assured her that "her sins were forgiven." The next day Jesus traveled from Capernaum to different parts of Galilee, "going through every village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God." That is, he declared to the people the welcome tidings of the Almighty's being willing to be reconciled to the children of men, on condition of their repentance, and embracing the gospel of the grace of God. Leaving Galilee, he repaired to Jerusalem, to keep the passover, being the second feast of that kind since his public ministry. In this journey he was accompanied by certain. pious women, "who ministered to him of their substance." Our Lord had no sooner entered the ancient city of Jeru salem, so long famous for being the dwelling-place of the Most High, than he repaired to the public bath or pool, called in the Hebrew tongue "Bethesda," that is, "the house of mercy," on account of the miracles wrought there by the salutary effects of the water at certain seasons. This bath was surrounded by five porches, or cloisters, in which those who frequented the place were sheltered both from the heat and cold, and were particularly serviceable to the diseased and infirm, who crowded thither to find relief in their afflictions. These porches were now filled with a "great multitude of impotent folk,—of blind, halt, withered,—waiting for the moving of the water." Among these objects of pity was one who had labored. under his infirmity no less than thirty and eight years. The length and greatness of this man's affliction, which were well known to the Son of God, were sufficient to excite his tender compassion, and make him the happy object to demonstrate that his power of healing was infinitely superior to the sanative virtue of the waters of Bethesda, while the rest were suffered to remain in their affliction. Our compassionate Lord approached the man whom he had singled out as the person on whom to manifest his power; he asked him whether he was desirous of being made whole, |